Insanemoondoggie

Just was looking thru the .60 size kits on Tower and the UltraSport .60 has been discontinued . Glad I got mine a few months ago.
They still have the .40s left. Must not have went over to big.

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

its an old kit. Been around since last Century

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Ram-bro,
Great Planes re-released this kit last summer (along with the Ultra Sport 40, the Super Sportster 40 & 60, and the Tracer) for a limited production run. They had so many sales that the entire run of these sold out in approximately 6 months!!! The last one was sold sometime yesterday. The only ones that you'll see still for sale is if you find them on a LHS shelf.

Ken

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

Thanks Ken, did nt know...........

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

No wonder kits are becoming a thing of the past. Whenever one is successful and they sell out of them all of the time, they discontinue them. First the BTE Venture 60 and now the Ultra Sport 60; you'd hope somebody at one of these kit manufacturers would go to business school or crack an economics book open sometime!

aerowoof

Gee,That makes too much sense.

Redback

You're the 20th person today I've had to tell there's no demand for these things

airbusdrvr

Guess I can consider myself lucky. I recently found a BTE Venture kit and started it the past weekend. See build thread at http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6775526/tm.htm

vmsguy

I ordered one of the last ones from Tower yesterday (Still awaiting shipping confermation.) But does this mean the Super Sportsters are on the endangered list too????

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I don't know how many of the Super Sportsters, or the Ultra Sport 40's, that they have left. I'm going to pick up a few of the Super Sportster kits though. I've had 3 of them in the past, but never built them myself.

Ken

vmsguy

I'm already 3 kits (4 if I get the US60), 3 scratch builds, and one repair behind already.. I'm building as fast as I can...
And I haven't officially soloed yet!

Oh well.. I've been layed off, and Friday's my last day.. So I can pick up the building pace next week.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Sorry to hear about the layoff. That's got to stink, especially the week before Christmas. Hope everything works out for you.

You've got a long way to go in being behind on your builds!!! I've got probably close to 35 kits stashed away for future use!!!!!

Ken

Teachu2

My Feedback: (133)

Looks like they have 72 of the Super Sportster 60 kits on hand (for sure), with more due in late February (that may be a computer glitch).

Teachu2

My Feedback: (133)

They have at least 84 Ultra Sport 40 kits, and 84 Super Sportster 40 MkII kits. The software appears to prevent you from placing more than 84 in your shopping cart (go figure...).

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Teach2u,
Ok, you got me curious. How can you tell how many they have left??

Ken

Teachu2

My Feedback: (133)

I puts 'em in my shopping cart 'til it says I can't have any more 'cuz they're out of stock. That's how I knew they had 3 US60 kits yesterday morning. Apparently the software will only let you put 84 of a particular kit in the cart - but it'll let you have over 1000 APC 9x6 sport props......

Just make sure you empty the cart.......

vmsguy

Let's see, I started building my LT40 in April. My first plane. And was a one plane pilot for 3 months. But since then I added several. I fear an exponential growth rate here.. If this keeps up, I'll be up to that 35 kits by spring!

I'm thinking a SS40 or SS60 is next on the list. I've got the RCM plans to build a SS40 into a twin. I think that'd be pretty cool. But definitely later in my build list.

Teachu2

My Feedback: (133)

BTW, Omnimodels.com is tied to the same database (heck, same server in same room!) and they update availability when you place one in the cart at the other site.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Cool!!!! Thanks for the tip!!!

Ken

Teachu2

My Feedback: (133)

I've got too much time on my hands,
and it's ticking away, ticking away on me!

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Styx, Paradise Theater album!!!!!

Ken

housedad

Interesting...

Tee Bee

I heard they were discontinued because they were no good. [X(]

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

You are kidding, right??? The Ultra Sport is probably one of the best sport flying planes ever designed. Ask anybody who has ever flown one, they will tell you the same thing. Why do you think they sold out their run in 6 months time? Most of the people buying this kit were pilots that have had one in the past. That kind of loyalty doesn't come from a poor flying plane. If you haven't flown one then it's hard to understand what we are talking about, but if you have flown one you wouldn't say this.

Ken

CrateCruncher

My Feedback: (1)

The reason we have so few kits on the market is not because people don't want to build them, its because the industry tries to use an ancient manufacturing paradigm that is obsolete in a global internet world. In the old days a manufacturer "set-up" for a batch run of 1000 kits, stuck them in a warehouse and slowly sold them off in lots of 100 or 200 planes to its major distributors. In turn, consumers wandered into a hobby shop and said, "Dad, that one looks cool, lets buy It!"

Today, internet savvy individuals can shop all over the globe from the comfort of their living room and have thousands of options from which to chose. The only time he appreciates the true value of a kit is after it becomes scarce. As long as he knows there is a warehouse full of brand new sealed kits in Champaign, why would he want one "now"?

Whats the solution? Flexible production! The kit market is so fragmented today a manufacturer can't build a warehouse worth of production and expect to maintain healthy sales demand past the introduction phase. I think independent kit cutters should move to fill the void between mainstream ARF's and the smaller builder segment comprised of people for which flying is only half of the hobby.

A kit cutter takes a credit card order over the internet, schedules a laser run of unique shaped parts and prints a registered set of plans from his PC. The picker in the warehouse pulls the sticks , sheet stock and hardware from bins, drops by the plans printer to roll up the plans just printed and picks up the laser cut stock from that operation, seals the box, slaps on a label and hands it to the UPS man.

This whole process requires no "set-up" time for each run, avoids the "warehouse full" syndrome and ensures the kit niche has more selection than ever before.