ORIGINAL: bronicabill

Well, some things never change! The poor quality of Goldberg kits is one of them!

The last Goldberg kit I built was about 16 years ago. It was a Goldberg Extra 300 that I built for a friend. I had never cussed as much as I did building that thing! The parts fit sucked, the die cutting was more like die crushing, and the wood quality was poor and frequently the density was not suited for the task. If I hadn't been building it for a friend I probably would have smashed it with a hammer before I finished it.

Fast forward 16 years. I'm building a Goldberg Extra 300 of my own. I had forgotten how bad of a kit it was back then when I ordered mine, and I also didn't realize Great Planes had one in kit form that was only slightly smaller (and $50 less expensive) or I would have bought it instead! Anyway, the only difference I see now, aside from the much higher price, is that the ribs and some other parts are laser cut... or should I say laser scorched. The wood quality still sucks, I have some ribs that are rock hard and others crumble in your hand. I've replaced most of the wing sheeting because what was in the kit was so warped it was useless. What was usable was rock hard and needed to be replaced anyway. The parts still don't fit; I've had to reshape just about everything I've pulled out of the box to make it work. One of the two shaped inboard trailing edge pieces was a shade under 1/16" thinner than it was supposed to be, so I have to laminate some sheeting on it and sand it down to the right thickness. Some of the parts were almost toasted by the laser, and others weren't even cut halfway through. On top of all of that I'm going to have to spend another $60+ on a fiberglass cowling wheel pants, and aluminum gear for this thing because the stock components are of unsuitable quality!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! Well this is twice, and I can assure you there will NOT be another!

Maybe I'm just being too picky, but I remember when I used to build kits all of the time and stuff was of much better quality. Heck, the Japanese kits like Yoshioka and MK were so good you barely had to even touch a knife or sandpaper until it was time to finish the model! Boy do I wish those kits were still available!

Oh well, back to ARFs after this one. I just don't have enough time to waste on crappy quality kits, and I'd rather be flying than building anyway. I just thought it would be fun to build my own airplane again, but the fun is long gone.

Sorry for the long rant, but it's been building (no pun intended) for weeks now! [>:]