I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
04-02-2004, 10:53 PM
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I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
I've been thinking about this plane for almost a year since it first got release last year. I finally decided to do the deed @ Toledo. The plane itself is nice, but the purchasing experience is something else.
First, when I was looking at the kit inside the box, the owner walked across and complained that I am opening the box. After indicating my possibility of the purchase, he is still disturbed about the possibility of yet another opened kit getting unsold.
Then when I go to the cashier to pay for it, he gave me a higher total than the guy originally helping me quoted "Out The Door" price. He added sales tax to the "Show Price", which is barely lower than their normal price before tax. With tax, it no less than their normal price. My issue with them is that nobody there charges sales tax at the show, at least none of the merchants I came across.
Finally, I withdrew the "free gift" card-board field stand back to them, to offset the cost difference due to "sales tax". I don't see how a flimsy field stand can benefit me.
I've built the CMP FW-190 before, and the quality is pretty good. I didn't get it from GSP, but from Europe. I'd never imagine GSP's PR to be at this caliber. I can't imagine what kind of customer service I'd get if I ever need it. Wasn't there a post about someone crashed a plane due to servo mount structure failure, and GSP's response is that the "manufacturer" is responsible for this flaw. So what is GSP supposed to be, nothing but a middle man to make a fat profit by doing nothing more than advertising & shipping, and not taking responsiblility for its imported products?
The CMP kits are getting ever better in quality. If there is not a competitive distributor/dealer in the states, there's gotta be a way of getting it directly from the source, without paying the middle man for a middle grade service.
First, when I was looking at the kit inside the box, the owner walked across and complained that I am opening the box. After indicating my possibility of the purchase, he is still disturbed about the possibility of yet another opened kit getting unsold.
Then when I go to the cashier to pay for it, he gave me a higher total than the guy originally helping me quoted "Out The Door" price. He added sales tax to the "Show Price", which is barely lower than their normal price before tax. With tax, it no less than their normal price. My issue with them is that nobody there charges sales tax at the show, at least none of the merchants I came across.
Finally, I withdrew the "free gift" card-board field stand back to them, to offset the cost difference due to "sales tax". I don't see how a flimsy field stand can benefit me.
I've built the CMP FW-190 before, and the quality is pretty good. I didn't get it from GSP, but from Europe. I'd never imagine GSP's PR to be at this caliber. I can't imagine what kind of customer service I'd get if I ever need it. Wasn't there a post about someone crashed a plane due to servo mount structure failure, and GSP's response is that the "manufacturer" is responsible for this flaw. So what is GSP supposed to be, nothing but a middle man to make a fat profit by doing nothing more than advertising & shipping, and not taking responsiblility for its imported products?
The CMP kits are getting ever better in quality. If there is not a competitive distributor/dealer in the states, there's gotta be a way of getting it directly from the source, without paying the middle man for a middle grade service.
04-03-2004, 12:15 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
I have talked to them before at the dayton ohio giant scale fly in. The guy that I talked to there wasn't too nice (for the lack of a better word). From that point on I decided I would never own one of their planes. I like some of them but man he was an #@$.
04-03-2004, 02:03 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
Ah yes, Irwin (GSP owner) sure is a charmer. [sm=thumbdown.gif] I bought a few heli items last year from them....he irritated me so much with his slimey attitude that I won't buy from him again. Remember, in his mind, he is doing YOU a favor by selling you things. Not the other way around unfortunately.
Happy to say that there were plenty of people at Toledo who humbly, genuinely, thanked me for spending my money with them, including Desert Aircraft, Cermark, Northeast Sailplanes, TNT Landing Gear, and Mike at Graphtech to name a few.
Jerry,
The show was okay. Perhaps I've attended too many and I'm getting burned out. Not a ton of items, new Saito 82, bigger Funtana, 3D funfly planes, stuff like that. Nothing Earth-Shattering that caught my eye especially. Would be nice if the vendors would put signs with the word "NEW" on items so you could tell. There was a new large CAP at the H9 booth, but I didn't notice it hanging from the ceiling in their booth until I was on the other side of the convention center!
Bought a DA50 for my soon to be built Hangar 9 80" CAP. Jerry, how's your H9 80" CAP doing? Your son let you fly it yet?
Swap shop was the usual this year, and I didn't spend as much time there as in the past. Not many attractive offerings. The usual large plastic Tupperware tubs full of stuff for sale by modellers/shops who can't be bothered to sort out the junk they've brought so that someone might actually be interested in buying it. Many gnarly looking planes for sale.
The E-TOC was fun:
George Hicks came in first place with a very cool biplane with wild airbrushed scheme - and excellent flying timed with great music.
Quique Somenzini came in 2nd place. Incredibly smooooth flyer as always. Looked like a profile foamed Yak...surprise, eh?
John Glezellis 3rd - well deserved flying his Shockflyer.
Chip Hyde 4th - bipe - flew well to music, nice flying circles around himself.
Mike McConville 5th -Same bipe as George, but George's looked cooler and did more impressive manuevers.
Andy Jesky 6th - very nice showing for this polite young man.
The flying was really fun to watch.
It was comforting to see talented pilots (Chip, Frank Noll, others) crash their foamies, admittedly doing it with a great deal more style than I did this winter! Funniest part was when Chip was doing a demo flight between rounds. Flew an F86 Sabrejet right up to the ceiling where it got trapped on top of the air ventilation duct. Frank Noll deserves the "Miss Congeniality" award for repeatedly trying to get the F86 down by hovering his own plane near the duct, to try knocking it down!
Happy to say that there were plenty of people at Toledo who humbly, genuinely, thanked me for spending my money with them, including Desert Aircraft, Cermark, Northeast Sailplanes, TNT Landing Gear, and Mike at Graphtech to name a few.
Jerry,
The show was okay. Perhaps I've attended too many and I'm getting burned out. Not a ton of items, new Saito 82, bigger Funtana, 3D funfly planes, stuff like that. Nothing Earth-Shattering that caught my eye especially. Would be nice if the vendors would put signs with the word "NEW" on items so you could tell. There was a new large CAP at the H9 booth, but I didn't notice it hanging from the ceiling in their booth until I was on the other side of the convention center!
Bought a DA50 for my soon to be built Hangar 9 80" CAP. Jerry, how's your H9 80" CAP doing? Your son let you fly it yet?
Swap shop was the usual this year, and I didn't spend as much time there as in the past. Not many attractive offerings. The usual large plastic Tupperware tubs full of stuff for sale by modellers/shops who can't be bothered to sort out the junk they've brought so that someone might actually be interested in buying it. Many gnarly looking planes for sale.
The E-TOC was fun:
George Hicks came in first place with a very cool biplane with wild airbrushed scheme - and excellent flying timed with great music.
Quique Somenzini came in 2nd place. Incredibly smooooth flyer as always. Looked like a profile foamed Yak...surprise, eh?
John Glezellis 3rd - well deserved flying his Shockflyer.
Chip Hyde 4th - bipe - flew well to music, nice flying circles around himself.
Mike McConville 5th -Same bipe as George, but George's looked cooler and did more impressive manuevers.
Andy Jesky 6th - very nice showing for this polite young man.
The flying was really fun to watch.
It was comforting to see talented pilots (Chip, Frank Noll, others) crash their foamies, admittedly doing it with a great deal more style than I did this winter! Funniest part was when Chip was doing a demo flight between rounds. Flew an F86 Sabrejet right up to the ceiling where it got trapped on top of the air ventilation duct. Frank Noll deserves the "Miss Congeniality" award for repeatedly trying to get the F86 down by hovering his own plane near the duct, to try knocking it down!
04-03-2004, 08:08 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
RCAddiction said: "Bought a DA50 for my soon to be built Hangar 9 80" CAP. Jerry, how's your H9 80" CAP doing? Your son let you fly it yet? "
"Our" Cap is in bad shape after I managed to wrinkle it! He loved it! Of course that was before I flew it
I'm still looking for another one....thought I had one on RCU, but it never developed. If you see one (NIB) at Toledo, let me know!
Jerry
"Our" Cap is in bad shape after I managed to wrinkle it! He loved it! Of course that was before I flew it
I'm still looking for another one....thought I had one on RCU, but it never developed. If you see one (NIB) at Toledo, let me know!
Jerry
04-03-2004, 08:57 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
ORIGINAL: tailskid
Other than that.....nice purchase by the way.....how was Toledo?
Jerry
Other than that.....nice purchase by the way.....how was Toledo?
Jerry
I got a close-out CF gear from Graphtech for half price, which I thought was pretty good. I didn't have any $ left after paying for the GSP Zero, not even the $5 to go to ETOC. But I was tired by 5 pm and didn't want to roam around Toledo for 2-1/2 hour waiting for the ETOC. I know I'll be able to watch some videos of it here afterwards. So I just went home.
Like earlier said, the show is okay, nothing spectacular. But if you need some items, that's the place to get some deals.
04-03-2004, 09:06 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
Jerry, I don't recall seeing an H9 80" CAP at the show, but I do know of one that could be available. Email me and I'll check for you offline. And please let me know how yours got "wrinkled". So sorry for the wrinkling...awfully pretty plane that flies great from those I know who have them. I want to avoid doing any "wrinkling" myself since I'm not as skilled a pilot as Jon. I just worried I'm gonna yank the elevator too hard one time and.......oops.
04-03-2004, 09:41 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
Oh, other new stuff now that I'm awake:
TNT - awesome new titanium tailwheel - gorgeous, light, CNC, $$$ at $80. The aluminum wheel carrier is anodized in a variety of colors.
Horizon - new, expensive color-changing UltraCote - like the cool car paint that looks purple or copper from different angles....
New Hitec digital servos, all with Karbonite gears
6965HB replaces 5975 - faster .10/.08 sec, lower power consumption, same torque as 5975... 92/111 oz-in
6975HB 119/144 oz-in, .13/.10 sec, and
6985HB - 144/172 oz-in, and .16/.13 sec - should compete w/8411 JR w/out the metal gear slop
New Hitec Optic 6 radio - PCM and FM, similar to JR 642/662 radios, but takes their Spectra Module, too!
New fast Multiplex Titan servo - 95/119 oz-in, but .08/.065 secs! Supposed to have very tight deadband. Karbonite also
New combo charger LiPoly/Nicd/Nimh - old Hitec midrange (235?) charger case, but labelled Multiplex now.
Aeroworks - new Stearman PT-17 Bipe - not on display, but in their hand-out.
Morris - Sledge 540 ARF
Morris Jerry's Big Boy - ARF - unfortunately used the same ugly scheme as on their website. $219 street price on the literature they handed out. Glad I built and covered mine. Would have to strip their color scheme. However, it's absolutely a wonderful plane and worth stripping and recovering the ARF.
Carden - new Cuda - huge 1600 sq inches, 80" wingspan. I like the looks, but not convinced yet how it flies. Gorgeous color scheme on one of the 2 display models done by Brian Huffmeier.
WildHare Edge on display as well. Was hoping to see their Extra there but not on hand yet.
TNT - awesome new titanium tailwheel - gorgeous, light, CNC, $$$ at $80. The aluminum wheel carrier is anodized in a variety of colors.
Horizon - new, expensive color-changing UltraCote - like the cool car paint that looks purple or copper from different angles....
New Hitec digital servos, all with Karbonite gears
6965HB replaces 5975 - faster .10/.08 sec, lower power consumption, same torque as 5975... 92/111 oz-in
6975HB 119/144 oz-in, .13/.10 sec, and
6985HB - 144/172 oz-in, and .16/.13 sec - should compete w/8411 JR w/out the metal gear slop
New Hitec Optic 6 radio - PCM and FM, similar to JR 642/662 radios, but takes their Spectra Module, too!
New fast Multiplex Titan servo - 95/119 oz-in, but .08/.065 secs! Supposed to have very tight deadband. Karbonite also
New combo charger LiPoly/Nicd/Nimh - old Hitec midrange (235?) charger case, but labelled Multiplex now.
Aeroworks - new Stearman PT-17 Bipe - not on display, but in their hand-out.
Morris - Sledge 540 ARF
Morris Jerry's Big Boy - ARF - unfortunately used the same ugly scheme as on their website. $219 street price on the literature they handed out. Glad I built and covered mine. Would have to strip their color scheme. However, it's absolutely a wonderful plane and worth stripping and recovering the ARF.
Carden - new Cuda - huge 1600 sq inches, 80" wingspan. I like the looks, but not convinced yet how it flies. Gorgeous color scheme on one of the 2 display models done by Brian Huffmeier.
WildHare Edge on display as well. Was hoping to see their Extra there but not on hand yet.
04-03-2004, 09:55 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
TAILSKID...
I have a MIdwest kit ( arf ) I purchased from hobby people 6 months ago. It is suposedly a H-9 ( 1 piece wing) under a generic name. Its red n white w black trim, no graphics. Im moving in the next couple of months. Im not likly to take it out of the box by then. If you will be in San Diego soon you can pick it up for a reasonable price.
I have a MIdwest kit ( arf ) I purchased from hobby people 6 months ago. It is suposedly a H-9 ( 1 piece wing) under a generic name. Its red n white w black trim, no graphics. Im moving in the next couple of months. Im not likly to take it out of the box by then. If you will be in San Diego soon you can pick it up for a reasonable price.
04-03-2004, 10:00 PM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
After my son was playing with ours for a couple of flights I requested some stick time and sure enough, right after one landing attempt, the engine quit! Dead stick landings are nothing new to me, but this one didn't want to come down and I THOUGHT I was clear of anything when I touched down and BINGO - a fence jumped up and bit me!
Cracked her fuse right in the middle and that one hurt - it was HIS favorite plane and I had to go and screw it up. It hasn't flown much since then for one reason or another. I'm thinking of selling the engine (G-45 + muffler) and upgrade and maybe I'll play with the old one, and get a new one for him......
Jerry
Cracked her fuse right in the middle and that one hurt - it was HIS favorite plane and I had to go and screw it up. It hasn't flown much since then for one reason or another. I'm thinking of selling the engine (G-45 + muffler) and upgrade and maybe I'll play with the old one, and get a new one for him......
Jerry
04-04-2004, 01:05 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
Yeah, Bob, thanks. She sure did look exhausted at the DA booth, sitting on the floor in the aisle, didn't she?
But, all in all, she was a real trooper and I'm so glad she was able to come with me. We both had a fun time at the show and E-TOC. She's fully recovered, having spent hours this afternoon instant messaging with her buddies and watching UConn amazingly beat Duke tonight. Yay!
But, all in all, she was a real trooper and I'm so glad she was able to come with me. We both had a fun time at the show and E-TOC. She's fully recovered, having spent hours this afternoon instant messaging with her buddies and watching UConn amazingly beat Duke tonight. Yay!
04-04-2004, 08:13 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
"seanychen", I seen the samething that happen to you at the WARM Show in N.Y.
Guys being over charged for a plane, Tax added at the show, Customers yelling and fighting with the owner and other workers of G.S.P.
Also when I was there, I seen a guy buy the G.S.P. ZERO for $335.00,they have it listed here for $299.00
Its nice of them to rip people off.
I walked off without buying anything after seeing this happen.
G.S.P. sucks to deal with!!
Guys being over charged for a plane, Tax added at the show, Customers yelling and fighting with the owner and other workers of G.S.P.
Also when I was there, I seen a guy buy the G.S.P. ZERO for $335.00,they have it listed here for $299.00
Its nice of them to rip people off.
I walked off without buying anything after seeing this happen.
G.S.P. sucks to deal with!!
04-04-2004, 09:12 AM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
Yeah, but people continue to buy their stuff; even AFTER being treated rudely.
There are several comments regarding this on another forum for helis; he spreads cheer and good will wherever he goes. Seems he was especially grumpy this year, from the number of comments I've seen this week-end. We (heli guys) have known about the sterling personality and true character of this individual for a long time; now that he has expanded his operation to include airplanes, you guys are getting a taste.
But it simply amazes me how a modeler, having been treated like dirt by him, STILL hands over the cash for the product! I dunno, perhaps I'm missing something. Irwin doesn't have anything that cannot be found elsewhere; and usually of better quality.
What's really funny is that the man could triple his business if wasn't such a... whatever.
.
There are several comments regarding this on another forum for helis; he spreads cheer and good will wherever he goes. Seems he was especially grumpy this year, from the number of comments I've seen this week-end. We (heli guys) have known about the sterling personality and true character of this individual for a long time; now that he has expanded his operation to include airplanes, you guys are getting a taste.
But it simply amazes me how a modeler, having been treated like dirt by him, STILL hands over the cash for the product! I dunno, perhaps I'm missing something. Irwin doesn't have anything that cannot be found elsewhere; and usually of better quality.
What's really funny is that the man could triple his business if wasn't such a... whatever.
.
04-05-2004, 06:11 PM
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RE: I picked up a GSP Zero @ Toledo today
My wife and I were standing in front of his booth at Toledo, and she says: "Hon, these look really nice, why don't you see if they have something you like.." Right in front of a guy, that I hope was Irwin, I said in my best, loud voice: "I've never bought anything from them, but I hear their customer service is deplorable, and Irwin, the owner seems like a real JA.... I'd never buy from them."
Made me feel better
Made me feel better
