reyn3545

So.. just curious.. what value did Tower find in Goldberg and Lanier? Both have been completely phased out within 2 years, and I don't see anything that has emerged from the patents or IP that either had. I can't believe that either company had a large enough footprint to give Tower any serious competitive threat... just strange.

My first bipe was a Lanier Ultimate that I bought used from a guy in California. It arrived crated on a bus. When I unpacked and assembled it, the covering needed to be replaced, but the aifframe was as sturdy as anything I've seen before or since. I stripped and recovered it, put a new Saito 180 on it, and it flew like a champ. I sold it to a club member, but never saw it at the field again... it's a mystery!

Anyway, I just wondered what Tower would find of value in these two companies,and why after buying them, they chose to shut them down so quickly.

smithcreek

My Feedback: (25)

I guess you'd first have to know how much they paid for them. My guess is they got them for next to nothing. CG was already owned by Lanier, so Tower really only bought Lanier. If at the time Lanier was valued at more than their debts I'd be amazed. On top of that, who else would have been interested? Exactly who was going to shell out money to buy a failing company whose main products were outdated with a generally poor reputation? Tower was probably the only company interested and paid them what it was worth, very little. Now Tower has come to the point where they have to figure out how it affects their bottom line, and by getting rid of these designs and most of their own kits like the Super Skybolt, and it appears they don't make money. I'm glad Tower kept the kits around for a couple more years. I had time to pick up an Ultimate and Extra for future projects, too bad I didn't get a Jungmann.

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

I actually liked most of the lanier kits, not arfs, they were easy to build and fun to fly, most of the goldberg line was excellent products, but quality control took forever to get back into shape, the lite ply that they made them with back in the 90's was a totally different animal than the stuff they were building them with today. Same goes for the GP kits, the extra kit I bought, I replaced almost 1/3 the lite ply due to large voids in the wood or delaminating. But lanier, always seemed to have good wood and excellent cutting on the foam cores for the wings.

Constrictor

My Feedback: (46)

I think you guys are reading wayyyy to much into this. Goldberg was almost out of business, that means either their product wasnt very good, or demand for it was drying up. When tower bought them, Tower owns goldberg and if the kits were selling would have no reason to discontinue them. Bottom line they are not selling enough of them to make another run once the current stock was gone. look at the other thread around here wanting to bring back planes, after over a year there is only a couple dozen people wanting any particular kit. There simply ( sadly) isnt enough demand. on a positive note, i recently aquired a couple of Goldberg Bucker kits! woo hoo!

reyn3545

That was my point... with so little active sales, no real intellectual property, stale products (overall), etc.. why would Tower buy them? I guess if it was priced cheap enough, you could buy the company for a fraction of inventory value, spend the next 2 years trying to firesale the stuff out of your warehouse, and eventually call it dead... but that doesn't make a lot of sense for a company the size of Tower.

A company is no different than a screwdriver... you don't buy it unless you plan to use it for something. All they appear to have done is sell off the inventory and kill the brands. Maybe there was some licensed access to offshore manufacturing, maybe there were a couple of people that were of value.. who knows.

Anyway, it is what it is... Goldberg and Lanier will soon be forgotten... who's next?

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Gotta love corprate monsters, they eat up anything smaller than them and spit out the leftovers.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

I think that if the "corporate monster" had not stepped in, this thread would have been started 2 years before. These companies failures had nothing to do with being swallowed up. Look at what most people are flying now. Large gassers, Arfs etc. there are many ARF offerings for Ultimate biplanes. And while the CG Ultimate was probably one of the best designs, most just do not want to build them. I owned one and it was by far, one of the best flying aircraft I have had. But I myself, purchased the GP 1.60 ARF to replace mine. I wanted to have a gasser. Nothing remains the same and even though us old modelers are sentimental sorts, it is time to let go of these kits at some point.
I never had many feelings for Lanier, but I am saddened to see CG go away. They were a very important company in the evolution of RC.

TFF

I always had a feeling that the deal of Hobbyco buying Lanier hinged upon them getting Goldberg first. The biggest problem with Hobbyco gathering companies is the person who made the brand what it was is not there. Anderson of GP is doing this with the new stuff, but ignores what is not their babies. GP does great with the large advertising for new things, but forgets the old. The want to see them die; they just want to make money on them on the way down. If they clean them up and make a Gold Edition like they did with Top Flight, people will want them again because they are "new".

icebox1

I just ordered the kit from Graves . The website listed 1 in stock . Thanks for the heads up .

dickster

Lucky I caught this thread, just ordered one (in the UK). I've just got back into modelling after pretty much 25 years out and there are so many good new developments (no more crystals for radios!), but so many ARTF and RTF models now - I've bought one or two but dont people like building any more?!!!

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

I wonder what the true motivation was for purchasing these companies. I doubt highly it was to retain the products for any length of time. Maybe it was just to gain the rights to these items? Who knows, but it does not change the fact that the products were out of date and not marketable anymore, so it is no wonder Great planes/Hobbico let them die on the vine.
I do not think Lanier and Goldberg had the ability to constantly be creating new product to market like GP. It seems that us airplane guys what more and more new stuff all of the time and I am sure it takes a lot of capital to keep pace. Something Goldberg and Lanier did not have.

bigal126

My Feedback: (18)

Maybe it's a marketing thing? They announce that the plane is discontinued and boom all their inventory gets bought up. I bet we'll see a production run when the time is right. Just like they did with the ultra sports. Just a thought. Who knows?

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Who knows, maybe your right, if it is a marketing scheme, then it seems to be pretty risky. But then again, I should have seen the writing on the wall, months ago I saw that to club members the ultimate was on sale, and almost every month it was "On sale" to members.So it was just a sign that I ignored, just like the midwest stearman kit went on sale, then midwest called it quits with planes. In hind sight, I'm glad sig said " go ahead, don't sell our kits" and is still doing well and has a great following.

CaptRKO

My Feedback: (3)

I just bought one from R/C Planet

http://www.rcplanet.com/Ultimate_10_...54_p/gbg53.htm

$165! Looks like they still have a few kits


I was putting this one off, I LOVED this airplane in the 80's, she flew like a champ and really made me into a Acro pilot!

barndawg77

That could be, and I hope it's the case but more than likely...GP bought their competitor(s) when the price was right, thus eliminating the competition. I will almost bet that they'll buy out more as time goes on, if they stay on top that is. If not, it'll happen to them! It's the reason I'm unemployed right now, my company merged with one of their competitors, and then bought out another one that was hurting the next year, and then promptly started to shut down and phase out all the plants they didn't need. Come to find out, this company (that I worked for) has been doing that slowly for many years...buying the competition, keeping what they need and phasing out what is costing them money...and the wheels on the bus go round and round....

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks CaptRKO,
I just ordered mine, 184 shipped is the same deal omni would have given me, tower I could have gotten it for around 160 shipped with thier discount coupon, but I'm sure alot of people snatched thiers up that way and that's how they were sold out in days. I don't mind buying an obsolete biplane, it flies great and the size means I can put it in my suv in one piece and save the hassle of connecting all the hardware. just like my skybolt, or jungmiester.

CaptRKO

My Feedback: (3)

MY ORDER WAS CANCELLED! I guess they really are dead! :{

Oh-well I will find something else to build.....

CaptRKO

My Feedback: (3)

MY ORDER WAS CANCELLED! :{

JNorton

My Feedback: (2)

Well dog gone it I wish I'd found this post a couple of days earlier! I've got a CG Chipmunk kit and have a Bucker but it looks like I've waited too long for the Ultimate. Expletive deleted.............. RATS
John

icebox1

MY ORDER WAS CANCELLED! :{

reyn3545

looks like they was showing it as "in stock" and were going to drop ship it from Tower.

H5606

Was thinking about that CG Super Chipmunk after hearing about all this, but really, when you come right down to it, are you really going to be better off with having "hoarded" another model airplane you may never even look over to see the quality of materials that went into producing the kit? The reason I say this is I'm questioning my own concerns of this nature I get caught up in this frenzy and keep buying stuff that I don't do anything with except store away for what? Will I really get around to building it before the termites get to it? I say I will... It's not really worth anything to anyone except a modeler who really wants it and it may just as easily be thrown in the trash when nobody shows any interest in after an estate sale when I'm dead and gone. I've been hoarding kits for the last ten years without opening them; do I really know what's in the box?! It's time to start building something I REALLY want to build...
I'm just ranting and trying to get myself motivated out of this lethargy to do something...
Some feedback from info I've acquired leads me to believe that quality of materials in recent CG products may have been compromised (e.g. lite ply parts full of voids and 1/4" sq. spar pieces made of basswood after TH acquired them) so I don't feel as great a loss here. You can always build from plans or scratch build and plans take up a whole lot less space...

barndawg77

I found out this past weekend a LHS about an hour's drive from me might still have one of these kits. They haven't had it out on display, it's in the back since they've had it a long time and it never sold ( according to the guy at the store saturday). I'll call tomorrow and see if they do actually have it, and how much they want for it if anyone's interested.

barndawg77

I'm actually going to build the one that I ordered as soon as my other projects are finished

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

H5606, whatya got in the line of scale kits? I might be 'interested' if you are interested in selling...

Jerry