Tower Hobby Kits Gone!!!!!
10-21-2018, 06:46 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Tower Hobby Kits Gone!!!!!
I guess with Horizon buying out Tower Hobbies they are going to drop all of the kits
from the Great Planes & Top Flite lines and all others, can't say I am surprised. So it
looks like Sig Mfg. and a very few other companies will be supplying the kit builders market
in favor of Horizon / Tower Hobbies going with just the ARF's. Well I don't think the Tower
Savers Club will exist much longer either, before it gets the axe from Horizon.
Bill D.
from the Great Planes & Top Flite lines and all others, can't say I am surprised. So it
looks like Sig Mfg. and a very few other companies will be supplying the kit builders market
in favor of Horizon / Tower Hobbies going with just the ARF's. Well I don't think the Tower
Savers Club will exist much longer either, before it gets the axe from Horizon.
Bill D.
10-21-2018, 09:01 AM
#2
I emailed Tower about a Top Flite Contender and a Great Planes Escapade. I received a nice email from their customer service that TF and GP were not part of the merger and did not know what the future was. However, they hoped both product lines would eventually come back. Now, why the TF new Hellcat is in stock, etc, I have no idea. No telling who owns what company and how they are intermingled. I think most people agree that our hobby is in a state of change in a lot of ways. If I had to guess, I would say Horizon hit the hot button with E-Flite foamies and Spektrum. But kits, nitro engines etc are probably on the down elevator. Kids seem to have little interest in our hobby. And note that Model Airplane News is about 30 pages thinner?
I see the new E-Flite Pitts is in stock so moving over to the PC to order one
Regards
bob
I see the new E-Flite Pitts is in stock so moving over to the PC to order one
Regards
bob
10-21-2018, 03:15 PM
#3
Hate to see it. I really enjoyed building a Great Planes .40 J3 Cub kit last winter and have enjoyed flying it since completion. I certainly realize it's a dying segment of the industry, but there's a certain satisfaction that comes from building and flying that ARF's and foamies just don't offer.
Thankful for Sig still making quality kits!
Thankful for Sig still making quality kits!
10-22-2018, 08:45 AM
#5
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Conflicting information. The original press release stated that Horizon was picking up both GP and TF.
My guess is the reply you received referred to kits and not ARFs. The TF Hellcat is even listed on Horizon’s website.
My guess is the reply you received referred to kits and not ARFs. The TF Hellcat is even listed on Horizon’s website.
10-22-2018, 04:42 PM
#8
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Hi Bill welcome to the new reality and that being that there won't be any kit makers in the US but for now at least there is Sig and Balsa USA and a few Lazer cutters out there. There are very few nitro flyers at the club I belong to. It is a shame my friend may he rip would roll over in his grave to see the condition and he was one of the most prolific builders I ever knew.
Michael Johnston
Michael Johnston
10-27-2018, 08:35 AM
#9
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Hi Bill welcome to the new reality and that being that there won't be any kit makers in the US but for now at least there is Sig and Balsa USA and a few Lazer cutters out there. There are very few nitro flyers at the club I belong to. It is a shame my friend may he rip would roll over in his grave to see the condition and he was one of the most prolific builders I ever knew.
Michael Johnston
Michael Johnston
10-28-2018, 04:04 AM
#10
All is not gloom and doom. We still have options for the models that we want to build, and in the size that we want to build them in.
The sky is not falling. LOL
10-28-2018, 07:27 AM
#11
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that is correct. Horizon picked up the top flite and great planes brand. They did not buy the kit cutter and machinery that made the kits for top flite or great planes.
10-28-2018, 11:03 AM
#12
as with a lot of things, the method of marketing kits has changed......
where as kits were sold by retail shops years ago,.... now...., kits are being made and sold diectly by the kit cutters themselves on line. there's still plenty of kits, you just have to approach finding them differently.
it would be great if there was a central on line site that listed all the cutters that have kits for sale.
where as kits were sold by retail shops years ago,.... now...., kits are being made and sold diectly by the kit cutters themselves on line. there's still plenty of kits, you just have to approach finding them differently.
it would be great if there was a central on line site that listed all the cutters that have kits for sale.
10-28-2018, 02:01 PM
#13
As long as there's balsa and ply available, the ability to build the airframe itself won't go away.
However, what bothers me, is the resources to support building including traditional glow power becoming scarce: i.e. hardware like spinners, spinner nuts, propellers, engine mounts, mufflers, fuel tanks, fuel tubing, fuel, and glow support equipment, not to mention all the other hardware that goes into building a model airplane like covering materials, pushrods, horns, clevises, wheels, wheel collars, canopies, fuel proof paints, decals, Hobbypoxy, Ambroid, and Pica Gluit. Also hardware from these guys: Goldberg, Craft Air, Kraft/Hayes, Klett, C.B. Associates, Fourmost, Dave Brown, Ernst, Edson, Macs Products, and even Great Planes.
DuBro's still around.
How do you complete the kit if you don't have all the stuff?
However, what bothers me, is the resources to support building including traditional glow power becoming scarce: i.e. hardware like spinners, spinner nuts, propellers, engine mounts, mufflers, fuel tanks, fuel tubing, fuel, and glow support equipment, not to mention all the other hardware that goes into building a model airplane like covering materials, pushrods, horns, clevises, wheels, wheel collars, canopies, fuel proof paints, decals, Hobbypoxy, Ambroid, and Pica Gluit. Also hardware from these guys: Goldberg, Craft Air, Kraft/Hayes, Klett, C.B. Associates, Fourmost, Dave Brown, Ernst, Edson, Macs Products, and even Great Planes.
DuBro's still around.
How do you complete the kit if you don't have all the stuff?
Last edited by H5606; 10-29-2018 at 11:12 AM. Reason: Oh yeah moment
10-29-2018, 08:30 AM
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The loss of hardware manufacturers is a problem, but not insurmountable. Arrow shafts and music wire are available from other sources. Some things can be 3D printed. Others can be made individually from “raw” materials (control horns from G10 fibreglass for example).
Where there is a will, there is a way!
Where there is a will, there is a way!
10-30-2018, 10:46 AM
#16
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As long as there's balsa and ply available, the ability to build the airframe itself won't go away.
However, what bothers me, is the resources to support building including traditional glow power becoming scarce: i.e. hardware like spinners, spinner nuts, propellers, engine mounts, mufflers, fuel tanks, fuel tubing, fuel, and glow support equipment, not to mention all the other hardware that goes into building a model airplane like covering materials, pushrods, horns, clevises, wheels, wheel collars, canopies, fuel proof paints, decals, Hobbypoxy, Ambroid, and Pica Gluit. Also hardware from these guys: Goldberg, Craft Air, Kraft/Hayes, Klett, C.B. Associates, Fourmost, Dave Brown, Ernst, Edson, Macs Products, and even Great Planes.
DuBro's still around.
How do you complete the kit if you don't have all the stuff?
However, what bothers me, is the resources to support building including traditional glow power becoming scarce: i.e. hardware like spinners, spinner nuts, propellers, engine mounts, mufflers, fuel tanks, fuel tubing, fuel, and glow support equipment, not to mention all the other hardware that goes into building a model airplane like covering materials, pushrods, horns, clevises, wheels, wheel collars, canopies, fuel proof paints, decals, Hobbypoxy, Ambroid, and Pica Gluit. Also hardware from these guys: Goldberg, Craft Air, Kraft/Hayes, Klett, C.B. Associates, Fourmost, Dave Brown, Ernst, Edson, Macs Products, and even Great Planes.
DuBro's still around.
How do you complete the kit if you don't have all the stuff?
Why worry about it? we have plenty of parts sellers for our hobby right now.
11-02-2018, 03:59 AM
#17
Thread Starter
The sad thing is that Horizon still owns the copy rights to all of the kits that were produced by the likes of Top Flite & Great Planes,
and I don't see the likes of Lazer-Works or Laser Design Services, or any other kit cutter wanting to tread on the toes of Horizon to
cut short kits for any of the now no longer produced kits. Yes many of you are right there are a lot of laser and CNC kits being cut to
the likes of all of the RCM plans from the past and designs from many others that were never produced in kit form, I know Eddie @
Lazer-Works has cut quite a few for me in the past.
and I don't see the likes of Lazer-Works or Laser Design Services, or any other kit cutter wanting to tread on the toes of Horizon to
cut short kits for any of the now no longer produced kits. Yes many of you are right there are a lot of laser and CNC kits being cut to
the likes of all of the RCM plans from the past and designs from many others that were never produced in kit form, I know Eddie @
Lazer-Works has cut quite a few for me in the past.
11-02-2018, 08:42 AM
#19
A friend of mine in the industry says that Horizon is trying to reestablish contracts with whomever was making the TF and GP kits. Horizon owns the brands but evidently the balsa cutting came from elsewhere. Who knows, but as someone mentioned earlier, we still have Sig, Balsa USA etc. And Lazer Works is doing short kits. I recently got an UltraSport canopy from him so Eddie is doing more than just cutting balsa
11-02-2018, 10:02 AM
#20
My Feedback: (125)
11-02-2018, 01:16 PM
#21
Thread Starter
Last edited by Bill Diedrich; 11-02-2018 at 01:18 PM.
11-07-2018, 10:25 AM
#22
If any of you kit builders out there are worrying about the availability of kits, build something from a set of plans. It's NOT hard. All you really need is an exacto knife and some sandpaper to cut out the pieces. Start with something simple like an ugly stik or a Phil Kraft Kwik Fli. Canopies are available from Park flyer plastics for many plans and cowls can be either purchased from fiberglass specialties or made from scratch.
be warned though; once you build a plane from plans, it's hard to go back to kits.
carl
be warned though; once you build a plane from plans, it's hard to go back to kits.
carl
11-07-2018, 02:31 PM
#23
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National Balsa offers Hostetler and Ziroli plans kits. Precision Cut Kits has been sold to another company out in Texas, I believe......Saw that one coming.
last April at the Toledo show National had a huge stack of 1/4 scale kits , from what I heard they sold nearly all of them.
One o'these days I'm gonna spring for the Hostetler 1/4 Aeronca Champ.
last April at the Toledo show National had a huge stack of 1/4 scale kits , from what I heard they sold nearly all of them.
One o'these days I'm gonna spring for the Hostetler 1/4 Aeronca Champ.
11-08-2018, 06:47 AM
#24
Sounds like the old days when, if you wanted a plane, you had to design, gather up all the wood and build it yourself. I see the same foamies everywhere I go. I like to have something different. I'm a builder. Wish I could fly as well as I build.
Skyhawk
Sandusky, OH
Skyhawk
Sandusky, OH
11-14-2018, 05:45 AM
#25
Google man, Google
https://www.google.com/search?q=LASE...hrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.google.com/search?q=LASE...hrome&ie=UTF-8
