ORIGINAL: icrashbipes
I am having a 115" wendell hostetler plans SD built and it's gonna cost me a forturne before I put motor and servos in it.
50+shipping for the plans, 350.00+shipping for the kit (from a cutter), 350 + a midwest citabria kit just to have it framed up by a local builder, 75 or so for the cowl and gear from Stan's Fibertech., plus another 100 or so for the covering that I will have to put on! That's a total of 925 & a 150 dollar kit for a 30% airplane and I have not bought any hardware for it yet. My luck they (rcguys) will make available the big one about the time I'm picking mine up from my builder for 399 shipped. Don't ya just love the Chinese?
I checked into the Wendal Decathlon too. I'd build it myself, so there's no builders fee in there. But there's no way a guy could build that airframe for less than $600--$650. By the time you add covering, the kit, the hardware, the glass--your easily up to $600 for it.
The Chinese will have it built and sell it to us for $425. Sure, the hardware sucks, and you may even spend another $100 for good quality hardware and some other odds and ends. But, you don't have to spend 4 months framing and covering it either. Thats worth something.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE to build. But, I'll be darned if I'll put that much work into building and covering a balsa plane when I can buy an ARF for a few hundred cheaper and be flying it next weekend. Thats just being a sadist. [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]