ORIGINAL: MikeL

I don't blame the Hobbico Empire. They've only taken advantage of market opportunities. When it comes to Irvine, I blame Irvine and to a greater extent their former US distributor, Sig. Irvine had a great product--far better than OS in every respect. Sig recognized that, and charged a premium price. I forget what they wanted for a .53, but it was far more than I would pay for a two stroke. Maybe some others would have paid the price, but not enough. This was when the dollar and English pound were trading very close to a 1:1 ratio. I did what a lot of other cheap skates did--ordered from Just Engines in the UK and paid considerably less than I would have paid from Sig or one of their resellers.

I'm unclear who actually owns the rights to Irvine now, whether it's OS or Hobbico. Who ever it is surely is a bean counter rather than a modeler. The Jetstream carb is a thing of beauty, and should be copied to other brands rather than done away with.