Deadeye

Amen, brother.

redipsekud

My Feedback: (6)

My LHS is Wats Hobby in Syracuse NY, but its about 40 miles 1 way,so i found the wonderful world of the internet,by the time i pay for gas,the
2 1\2 hour drive time,even if i pay shipping its still cheaper,most of the time i just wait for a free shippeng deal,which is even better

sebo

I have to agree with you on this one. Especially if it is a big ticket item. At the LHS the sales tax plus gasoline expense of the round trip will, by far, exceed the shipping costs. I'm lucky that my LHS is only 7 miles away.

freddy s

My Feedback: (33)

nice twice hobbies on wynn road off desert inn.dennis is the owner and he has a real nice old time place

Sunny_B

And a wonderful hamburger eating dog. Nice place to visit, even if you're from out of town.
Sunny_B

rryman

My Feedback: (2)

It must be instantaneous!
-=====Absolutely correct. Also called "instant gratification".

I hear statements about people not having time to build and I feel this is bull-ony!
=========Again, correct. I find it interesting that there has been all this progress in the last 30 or so years of great things that "save us time", yet we seem to have less time now than we did then!

I don't have a problem with the ARF's, in fact have one myself that I really enjoy. It does make you have second thoughts though when you buy a kit for $110.00 and see that the ARF is available for another thirty bucks. That extra thirty won't even cover the covering. (no pun intended!)

I also find the conversations amusing that take place at the field these days. With the proliferation of the ARF's, anyone who glues more than 3 pieces together calls themselves "builders". But when they get a ding in the leading edge from a post or something, they have absolutely no clue what to do to fix it. On the plus side, I've seen some real bargains come about from this. I pulled some pieces out of a trash can at the field about a month ago, took it home and had it flyable in about an hour.

It's the new age I guess. As for me, when I see good deal on a kit, I'm stocking up! If you believe kits are drying up now, stick around about 5 years. I think they will really be scarce by then.
Randy

loser

My Feedback: (37)

Like many of us I've been stockpiling kits for several years. I try and hit the Flea Mkts. and watch RCU, E-bay etc.. pretty regularly.

Steve

Flyboy76

My Feedback: (14)

The last trip that i made to my LHS for supplies was last week and they have about 5 kits in stock and about 45 arfs in stock. Lots of RTF trainers and such. The only thing i can say that is good for builders is that they have an excellent selection of balsa and a huge wall of small parts.

Flyboy76

Thumprding

After talking with the owner of my LHS the reason they he does not stock kits is that an ARF has less investment. The money is not the investment I am talking about. The investment I am talking about is the time and work that is at risk with a kit. Basically it is a mental issue. The ARF flier only has money tied up not hours and hours of personnel commitment. The other reason is that some people just have issues with building planes. Building either stresses them too much or they just have difficulty constructing a plane that flies well.

The other issue / reason is the immediate gratification. With an kit gratification comes after days, or weeks or months of building. With an ARF that gratification comes a lot quicker and it eliminates the time and effort to make sure the airframe is straight and so forth. People will also impusle purchase an ARF because they know how quickly they can be air worthy.

I guess I am "old school" I like to build. I like to see the parts come togheter. I like to make a model unique to me. As I build I anticipate flying it. When I am done and I step back and look at the finished product I am happy. Sure it took me many, many, many more hours to attain this point as compared to an ARF, but that plane is mine. I built it, I modified it and I am going to be proud to take it to the field. An ARF to me is sort of like cheating. Okay I have this great looking plane but all I had to do was glue a few things together, mount an engine and stuff the radio parts in.

Right now I am in the process of building a GP Fun one. I have the air frame almost completed. I am now working on the covering pattern and colors. I have an outline of it on my computer which I am using to figure out the covering pattern. Sure I could make it white with blue and black graphics on the box but that would not be a "Curtis" plane.

There may be a day that I purchase an ARF but at this time I still have the time and desire to build them and then fly them.

Mode One

I find that the gratification from building from kits or from scratch comes every time I complete a session of building. The gratifying part, is the process of building. This is a part the ARFers just don't understand. I've been doing this off and on since 1968. The flying part I am comfortable with, I'm no QuiQue, don't hover well or even have much of an interest in 3D. I get board flying as I've done this for so many years. For about 15 years I owned the flying field the local club flew at. The honest truth is if my flying buddies weren't out at the flying field, I would likely fly very seldom as it just doesn't excite me anymore. However, building has kept me involved in hobbies for almost as long as I've been alive. I have never tired of building a model and will likely die with this same opinion.

ARFs are getting people into the sport part of the hobby, there is no doubt. However the reality is this is at the expense of the other part of the hobby, the part I care the most about, which is building models.

I have said this before, I don't know if it was this thread, or not. The ARF market will get more expensive, when the people building them start to demand more money for their hard work and effort. I only wonder, if kits come back at that time, will there be any modellers left.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Yes it is Nice Twice. Great service too, I even had Dennis going through the boxes of covering for me last week so I could get A color he had A paint match to. He took pitty on the poor color blind old guy. Everyone there is always willing to help find something when you are over wellmed with all the neat stuff. NOt only can the beast eat A hot dog, he can sit on your feet so you can't get out the door. Figure he just knew I was forgetting something and should take another look.
Hate it when the dog is right.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

We got a second hobby shop in our area. They are stocking up steadily. The best part is the shop area in the back where they are building an 80+ lb B-17 and other giants scale planes. You can see just about anything going on there. The place usually has a nice glow or gas smell as they run up engines inside. I've seen a 250cc 5 cylinder radial run a few times there. Got to see a 215cc run the last visit. They have some turbines on order and I guess they will run those in the shop too. They sometimes fly off of the parking lot and it is something to see planes in the air as you get near the shop. No dogs though.....

Fili

Our LHS has a big r/c car track in the middle of it, and that's all the owner cares about. This guy has lost thousands of r/c airplane and r/c heli dollars annually due to his condesending attitude towards fliers when they stop in. I recommended a particular plane radio combo for a friend to learn on, but they stopped in the store without my knoweldge and he totally pointed them in a different direction, selling them junk in the process.....

I really want to support the LHS, really I do. But...........

robflyer82

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah, I was hoping to save some shipping but they just don't have what I want. The downside to Tower is that I'm Illinois so I have to pay both tax and shipping. Oh well. I want to start build big warbirds in the future so I guess sooner or later I'll be building from plans.

Rob

sebo

There are other companies out there besides Tower. You may be able to get what you want from out of state. Take a look at your magazines and see if they have what you are looking for. If they have it or can get it, you may be able to avoid those taxes. You may even pay less. While you are looking, decide what some of the hardware and glues and covering may be needed and order it too. One big shipment and no taxes sounds good to me.

Thumprding

The one thing I notice in this thread is the use of the term LHS. Local Hobby Shop. Hobby to me is the key word. To me flying both R/C and Control lines planes is a hobby and part of that hobby is building them. I can understand an ARF. I can understand the reason some one would want to buy one. I just look at them as bypassing a major part of the hobby.

sebo

I prefer building. However, since I purchased an ARF I am enjoying flying more. I have very little time invested in my ARF and don't care if I crash it. When I am flying my own creation I tend to "baby" it more and not take chances with it such as a low inverted pass down the runway. To me, ARFs allow me to expand my flying abilities while I am building so that I may use those newly learned skills with my newly built plane.
That's my final nickles worth.

TopThumbs

LOL...

LAS = Local ARF Shop
LHS = Local Hobby Shop

The future ??

Flyboy76

My Feedback: (14)

This post is in response to GreyBeards post on the first page. I live in Saskatchewan and there are only 2 hobby shops that would be inside of a 4 hour trip for me. When i go online and search around through a couple of hobby stores in Calgary and Edmonton they have their engines on for almost half the price of the shop in Saskatoon. I got pretty frustrated with the hobby shop in Saskatoon and talked to the manager about it. I know the guy a little and complained to him one time about the fact that i could by an O.S. .46 AX for 119.00 CAD online from edmonton and they would ship it for free and he was charging 219.00CAD plus i have to pay an extra 7% tax for it. His response was well i have to make a living to you know!!! Then when i was leaving the store i see him pull away in his brand new fancy BMW SUV. So i stopped him and asked comented that life must be good and he just rolled up his window and drove away. When i was dabbling with RC cars a little bit to by traxxas fuel was 20 more a jug than it was in Calgary. The only time i will buy anything from him is when i am desperate or need some balsa or small parts. I am in the retail business myself but obviously the hobby shop in calgary is making a profit and granted they buy a little better due to volume but the numbers don't add up. Just gets me upset thinking about it.

Flyboy76

HollywoodHitman

The tough part about my LHS is that the prices are in some cases 2x higher than I can get things from online, add shipping etc...I still most times come out of it for cheaper.

Not to mention that when I go into the shop, when they give me service they make me feel like they are doing me a favour by talking to me......

Insanemoondoggie

Thats to bad. We have a little LHS in our small town. no he does,,nt carry many kits, more ARFs, but will match the online companies price when I order from him and it arrives as fast if not faster and with no shipping.
Since I`ve been going there the lat 6 months he has brought his inventory up on the kits, but they just set there, while the ARFS move off the shelves Thus more ARFs than kits.
I do order from Tower, some of the deals with the coupons can,t be match by the LHS. Try them if your having problems, thier service is top of the line and they ship fast.

MormonMike

My Feedback: (2)

UuuWwww FlyBoy , I'll bet you you hit a "tender spot". I fully understand what you have to contend with. And yes, I too have been through that situation. Having built many kits and buying even more ARF's I wonder just how much longer I will stay at this hobby. I mean, I'm not going to jap-out soon [ especially with retirement just a few years away ] but, I'm getting a little tired of the supplier game. Go have a cup of coffee and relax for a little bit. Seeya, MM

Flyboy76

My Feedback: (14)

Ya i needed to vent a little. I must say though that when i need stuff there are a couple of staff members there that do thier best for me and it is almost like they are apologetic when i ask the price on some stuff. As far as the owner it's a good thing he has some good staff otherwise he would be in trouble

Flyboy76