franchi

Hello:

Why are PAW engines so expensive?

Thank you,

Frank McCune

Ployd

Quote: "Why are PAW engines so expensive?" Compared to what??
Prices reflect the cost of manufacture plus a bit of profit (PAW is not a charity). As an owner of 7 of their engines I consider them value for money and will still be running long after I have fallen off the perch.
Ployd in OZ

qazimoto

My Feedback: (1)

PAW engines aren't particularly expensive. The British Pound has collapsed it's value compared to the US Dollar. This morning it was about $1.20 USD to buy a GBP. About the best deal you're ever going to get. Parcel Postage is expensive, but that's the same worldwide. Look at the price of new OS Engines from the few sites that have stock. That's expensive!

franchi

Thanks for the replies.

I was looking into a PAW .40 engine to purchase and it would cost me more than $200.00. It would have to start first flip at that price. Lol

aspeed

Around here in Canada add another 37% on top of that $200 + 13% tax. Even a lowly LA .15 is $200 plus tax here, and the liner could peel. I think it takes about 20 hours to build a motor from scratch, so in a way they are all a deal. I always get used stuff for a song, so it is not an issue. The competition motors are $500 now and that is what is needed to play, so I guess $200 is reasonable. (sigh) Being a machinist I can understand the cost. There are very close tolerances.

peterburford

Mmmm. So $10.00 per hour, without considering materials cost and all other expenses.
A business opportunity?

aspeed

Yes a business opportunity. Not a profitable one. A CNC would cut the time down considerably. I don't know how the Sanye engines were $40. Then send out for castings and off to the grinder.... Oh and then a 5 year warranty. :-)

qazimoto

My Feedback: (1)

Aspeed old chap,

Mr Burford is a model motor manufacturer, from an illustrious family of manufacturers. He is being ironic.

aspeed

I am well aware of the name. Taipan, right? I have a couple.

1967brutus

Were they ever? They were cheap, but not THAT cheap to my knowledge...

But chinese labour cost of 10 years ago, and little to none environmental requirements (Chrome plating is a nasty process, environmentally speaking) explain a lot...

aspeed

Yes, I got some AP .15s for $35 to $40, and ASP .15s (Magnum XLS) for $45. Even the .90 was only $75. Got them from Nitroplanes. Not sure what their status is now. China Hobbies, and Bidproducts was another source. Bidproducts worked for me. They said allow 3 months delivery, and it was closer to 6, but they did come through. Lots of servo extensions etc too. I doubt they are still going. Wish I ordered more of the ASP XLS engines back then when Sanye was still going. My wife did plating back in the 1970s and it was pretty stinky back there in that room. Later on, it cost more to dispose of the chemicals than it did to buy them here in Canada. I don't think they were much worse than many other chemicals. Look at gasoline or acetone. They are pretty nasty too. I did chromating and passivating at work and it was not really that bad overall, but the government put a stop to that too.

1967brutus

I think those were the sales when the factory closed? I remember HobbyKing selling their .91 heli engine for 50 bucks around the time the factory closed, but back when they were still in production that was a 200 dollar engine.
The AP engines indeed were cheap and they came from the same factory but apart from that, I seem to remember a .46 being slightly over 100 bucks.
Still cheap, and nowhere close to what an OS would cost. But when still in production, the "typical ASP sports engine" was not a 40 buck item. Only the tiny AP engines were, but then again, so were Cox engines once...

aspeed

They were the prices for a few years at least. They would go in and out of stock, I think because guys would buy a bunch and they would reorder a variety of sizes that no one wanted. I also got a .21 that was pretty cheap too. Even the "huge" .46s were only a bit over $50. I guess they wanted to put the other manufacturers out of business to kill off competition. Then it backfired and it killed everyone including them IMHO. I think your $100 prices were from smaller shops that suffered from middle man markups.