What are they going to do, we all rady have the built. We cannot even get them to admit the truth.[X(][X(]

I have finally recovered my Reactor. Purchased in 2007 with many phone calls to Great Planes about the gear and the Covering. 20 flights and the bottom sides of the wings were flapping in the wind, delaminated and peeling. I used Ultracote to recover. I am no newbie and have been building and flying for 20+ years. I cover for a lot of other club memebers as well, to fix crash repair or customize for them. The yellow on the Reactor came off like Monokote. I believe it is monokote. The other colors however including the red on the wing bottoms delaminates from its clear poly film. The clear film comes off and a glossy colored surface in red is what remains. Not one bit of red that was over wood came off with the covering. It made a fantastic mess of things unlike anything I have ever seen before. Even Balsarite wont make a mess like this during stripping. If you notice Great Planes no longer claims "covered with real monokote" in many of their adds including the Reactor add. I agree with Truckracer. It kind of defeats the purpose of an ARF. Give me what you advertise. Sell me what I thought I bought. I have heard it all at this point, there is not excuse for this type of product failure other than "I am sorry, what can I do to help you." Havent heard that one yet.

I have been promised new gear from Great Planes for my Reactor. I am told Spring of 2008.............. I''m still waiting. I am told they are working on it......?

103/17

That color that remains after the clear film comes off can be washed off with acetone, a good lacquer or epoxy thinner. Its a long and nasty job but can be completed without too much work. Traces of the color will remain but no problem covering over that after a good sanding. This nasty job is best accomplished outside as the fumes would be excessive and dangerous otherwise. I use lots of paper towels and liberal amounts of thinner for the task.

The lack of Monokote claims in the GP ARF advertising is notable by its absence. What a shame for otherwise excellent products.

Lucky for me I used Ultracote black for the bottom sides of the wings and elevators, finished off with 4" wide white stripes. It hid the red color without me having to work too hard at it.

I would agree that the advertising switch on Great Planes part admits guilt without having to state the obvious. Its not all covered in monokote, never was and I am sure still is not. my only remaining issue is the gear that was an engineering blunder from the day it came out of prototype.............how it made it into production for a company like Great Planes is nothing short of amazing.

On a good note the poor quality of this Great Planes product shifted my attention to Hangar 9 whom I had never tried before. Their quality and attention to detail is superb. I would highly recommend them and for the record, they are actually covered in Ultracote like they say. The other nice point is the designers at hangar 9 will actually talk to you unlike my experience with Great Planes who dead ends you in a call center even if they cant answer your issue. Maybe others have had a better experience with Great Planes but I am 2 for 2 and wont go to the plate a third time. I wonder if Don Anderson who proudly stands in pictures with his planes knows whats going on with consumer problems. I met him years ago at a show and thought quite highly of him. I have been building their kits since the mid 80''s. I may be enticed into another kit from them but the ARF''s are off my list...........

103/17

I have been flying my Reactor for several months now and the only problems I have had are near the hatch on the bottom. I got some clear fingernail polish to stick it back down. Other than that I have been impressed with the quality of the covering job. I was not very impressed at how cheap the covering is though. You have to handle it very carefully. The plane itself is a blast to fly and is really well constructed. It is a shame that we are shelling out so much money (over $600 for me to buy everything) for a sub-par finishing job. It really does bring a bad name to an otherwise amazing airplane.

It is funny how GP does not respond with these threads. The covering is simply not Monokote like they advertise.[X(]

i am not suprised. though an excellent plane,they never responded to the constant complaining in regards to the poor landing gear on the revolver. i will say that the covering on that plane is as good as i have seen. just the opposite of my other g.p. products.

I just finished stripping and recovering my Reactor. I will post a picture as soon as I get the cowl painted. Finding fuel proof paint these days is getting tough! Rustoleum isnt selling poly colors any more its all enamel and 15% fuel loves to destroy spray enamel. I ordered sig supercoat and will break out the airbrush.............. You guys are going to love the Reactor recover. Its fantastic and renamed to go along with the rebuild............ I still await my new gear I was promised, I hope to see it this summer. Look under the Reactor gear thread for updates on that issue. I ordered the Graphtec gear this morning so I can fly this spring. Sad !!! I was unaware that the revolver had gear issues as well.

103/17

My Reactor was peeling like an exotic dancer. I solved the problem. I crashed it. Flying low and slow, got behind some big bushes. You can’t fly them if you can’t see them.

Don’t know if it was a subconscious intentional move but it did solve the problem. No more peel.

Sounds easier than recovering................ I should have bought a Cermark Javelin. Nice inexpensive pattern plane that doesnt tip over or loose its covering in mid flight.

103/17

I figured I would share my recent experience with the covering on a new GP Super Skybolt. Taking it out of the box, the covering was flawless. It had that nice supple Monokote shine except for the bottom of the wings and stab. These areas clearly weren't Monokote. It is some pre-printed stuff. This has been been discussed on here and is well known. It looked good though and knowing it going in, I didn't mind much. Then I started to assemble the plane... the clear layer on the checkered covering started separating bad when removing tape and even during normal handling. I tried ironing it back down but it still looked like garbage. An otherwise gorgeous airplane was ruined because of this covering.

I called Great Planes this morning and guess what? They acknowledged the problem, took my information and said replacement parts would be shipped ASAP. They even agreed to send a new fuselage since I had already glued the stab in place. I was assured that the replacement pieces would have much better checkered covering.

Having the covering issue kind of upset me at first but the excellent customer service From Great Planes made it crystal clear to me why I like buying from them. Sure, they had a product defect. These things unfortunately happen. It was likely something caused by the manufacturer in China that GP wasn't even aware of. I don't think there is any sort of corporate conspiracy or anything misleading going on. A product was defective and they are standing behind it with outstanding customer service.

Will I buy from them again? You bet I will and I'll recommend them to others as well.

I wish they would have given that much customer service. I have almost given up. May contact the Illinois States Atorney's office and see what they have to say about the false advertising. I am in the prosses of striping it down and covering it with UltraCoat. If I wanted a Chinacoat plane I would have bought a cheap import plane!!!!!!!!!!!![:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(]

Larry D.

I too was told by Great Planes service that they had no problem with their covering. Then if you notice the "covered in genuine monokote" ads went away on the Reactor and the RV4. I would give them one more call. Based on the last post from Chuck W they may have a different approach to the "chinacote" issue. I believe the Yellow transparent stuff is indeed monokote, when you strip it, it comes off like monokote. The red is 100% for sure without a doubt in my mind something other than monokote. The trim colors like the black peels off like the protective strips on the back of roofing shingles.......... Give them one more shot. Too late for me, I recovered mine already. I got sick of the old "I have never heard of that problem before" comeback from the folks at Great Planes.

103/17

PJ_TankPilot , did you save any parts from your Reactor? I need the first three ribs to repair mine, even a tracing of them would do. Can anyone else out there help? Thanks[:-]

No, it went in the dumpster.

After constantly fighting with the covering it felt kinda good to crash it and trash it.

I have a reCTOR....
Recovered it....

It is However, Monokote....not Chinakote.....

Chinakote separates COMPLETELY,,,,so that the
clear layer is TOTALLY clear,,,Unlike monokote,
which separates like a non-rythm pokadots....

Monkote has had issues ever since the buyout....
They have denied it every time ......though when asked if it was changed...

Ask ANY Old timer about his "OLD" Monkote Stock.....and
He will surely tell you that the new monokote isn't the same.....in ANYWAY shape or form
Otherthan ///IT SURE IS SHINNY....

But I have seen a difference in recent ARF's with Monokote covering......
NO wrinkles....
Perhaps the *****ing worked???

I have been flying my Reactor for about 1 1/2 years. This is a very nice flying plane and it's a shame the covering is so bad. I use to clean the plane and iron everything down when I would get home from the field but that doesn't work anymore. I now carry a roll of clear packing tape and normally after a couple flights I have to add tape to hold the covering on or hold the clear to the pigment. The wood is getting so fuel soaked that the plane wont be worth recovering if I ever decided to go that route. I hate it when your told "send it back and we'll take a look at it". 99.9% of us are not going to box up a completed model and pay the expense of shipping it back. They know this so that's why they make that statement. I never liked GP that much anyway for the fact that they always made big planes with a one piece wing. Very hard to transport.

To the question of old monokote VS new monocote. I have been building since the mid 80s and I can say without question Monokote has changed. I dont give a rip what Great Planes says about it. Old monokote shrunk evenly and stayed put once you were done with it. It never delaminated and it never peeled. The new stuff I dont use and havent used since it became impossible to keep tight. The new stuff peels easily from Fuel creep and once shrunk and in place will often bag up again as the humidity or temp changes. I have an early 90s pattern ship that hangs next to a few newer models and the covering difference is very clear to see. The "OLD" monokote was much better. I now use and have for the last 10 years Ultracote ( oracover). Its far superior is ease of use, durability and color match from roll to roll. Its not as shiney as Monokote but I can deal with that.....................


103/17

I actually havent purchased anything from Great Planes / Tower Hobbies in over 2 years since my "Reactor" experience. [:@]They lost a cutomer over that airplane and Don Andersons lack of attention to the problem. I never saw a problem so ignored. I finally got some satisfaction with the gear issue which they said didnt exist until they redesigned the gear and sent new ones to everyone. The covering issue was kind of silly. It was a cheap overseas covering, modelers arent dumb we saw the delamination and called it rigfht off the bat that there was an issue. The Reactor wasnt the only one that suffered from this problem and Great Planes "officially" denied it. Talk to a Great Planes employee off the record and they freely admitted to a cheap immitation covering. The advertisment for " Covered in real monocote" even left their adds for a while as they didnt want any issues with folks coming back on them. Reactors and RV-4s peeled on their second or third flights. The color would stick and the clear would peel. I believe the Yellow on the Reactor was of higher quality but the red and the black trim were of very poor quality indeed. I recovered mine in Ultracote and never had another problem. Shame of it was it flys nice and performs well but due to the covering problems and the lack of "honest" response, they lost me as a customer. Try to get past their well insulated call center to someone who can make a decision. You cant!!!! Since I couldnt I decided they were not worth dealing with anymore. I guess their well insulated call center worked. It kept me out and now I dont go back. I dont order from Tower and I wont buy a Great Planes model. The Reactor bipe looks nice but I'm going to spend my money with a company I feel is worthy of my business. I have found Horizon and Hanger 9 to be much better to deal with. I also started to deal with Hobby People who have awesome customer service skills and answer your questions without hesitation.

The Reactor is a sad story for Great Planes. Don Anderson, if you are reading this..........as a customer I really did try to get my issues solved. You have a customer service policy that needs to be upgraded. Fix problems dont deny them. I'm just being honest.

103/17

L-no.. im not gonna recover the reactor..i got it in june of like 2007 and man can i put on a show w/ it....but when people chk it out i say...oh she flys great, but look @ the covering... that pretty much says it all ,most if not all of them would never buy one because of that alone...so i'm out here doing p.r work for great planes..steering customers far away..it's kinda sad because it is a great fly'n plane...oh well...sorry don [>:] how bout that reactor bipe????? does it have the same crap on it....either way NO THANKS!!!!!!!!! p.s i never got no new gear sent to me????? i still got the orignal stuff turned backwards ...thanks again don

If you call and complain and ask for the new gear they will send it to you. Three guys in our club got it and it works much better than stock gear backwards. Looks better as well....................

Anyone can see that the covering is a cheap copy of the old Monocote. It's a real shame there nothing can be done about it. Seems to be a simple cause of fraud. Great Planes shame on you! Cheat me once, shame on you, Cheat me twice, shame on me. [:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(][&o]

I really didn't think it was a cheap imitation....But if Employees will admit it ,then that is proof enough....

I thought it was Crap SEE through monokote??....

L:ame.....

Say 103/17, What is this about Great Planes providing different gear for the Reactors? What are the details?..........??????

Lats summer I had enough with Great Planes customer service telling me The Reactors didnt have a problem, they did and we who purchased them all knew it. Then GP / Tower Customer service telling me I needed to "flair" better. I said it tips over while taxing holding full up!!!! They told me flip the gear around, I said it looks stupid, I wont do it. This went on and on and they managed to damage me as a customer forever with their continued denials of the problem. Eventually a fellow from Great Planes ( who knew there was a problem) picked up on the thread and brought it to the attention of the Reactor's product manager. They started working on the gear and before long had new gear designed. I received three sets to distribute to other members in our club who owned Reactor's. They have less of a sweep and correct the problem. I was told if anyone needed this gear to have them call Great Planes and Great Planes would supply them with the new gear free of charge to correct their problem. If you call and tell them you need the new gear the call center folks are supposed to tell you they are on the way. My understanding is the new kits have the new gear in them and the "Chinacote" covering is no longer used although thats not an official position and they wont admit to the covering problem.

Too bad............... I built great planes stuff for over 20 years and loved it. Hell I still have their .40 cap 21 from the 80S !!!! Not any more, I wont buy anything Great Planes. Reactors fly really well. They are a pain in the butt to repair and keep from tipping over. All and all the Reactor was a very bad experience and Great Planes customer service was less than what I expected by a long shot !!! I hope Don Anderson has taken notice of the Reactors damage to their purchasers.

Good luck 103/17