E-Bay Short Kit Seller Inquiry
 

Anyone bought or seen the quality of the wood used in the short-kits advertised on E-Bay by seller: e-shopper15, out of
Mukilteo, Washington? Has quite a few RCM plans short-kits and others not found elsewhere. I am interested in a couple
of his pattern planes he has listed but would like to know the quality of the product before ordering...…….

Thanks for all comments

Bill D

Curious about this too. Almost seems too good to be true in our increasingly kitless world.......

There is quite a selection of kits offered at reasonable pricing.

Yes a great selection of "Short Kits" but I would like to find someone that has actually purchased
one of his kits to see if the quality of the balsa is good or not, hard to tell from the pictures on E-Bay
as the balsa doesn't look natural, it looks too yellowish, like very hard balsa or a different wood
altogether.
He does advertise quite a few short kits no one else in the laser cutting business show in their inventory.

Bill D.

This caught my attention too though haven’t bought one yet (shipping outside the U.S. is too expensive).

Two things to consider though - accurate parts fit depends on how accurate the original plans are (could be an issue with older paper plans) and in some cases it appears from the pics that whereas the original part was made up of several pieces each with its optimal grain direction, the short kit appears to have combined them into one piece of wood meaning grain direction and therefore part strength would need to be reviewed for potential degradation. I’ve seen this with some fuselage formers, though wing ribs are probably ok.

Well there's 547 positive feedbacks and 1 negative in the past 12 months, that should tell something? And the people buying these are builders, I would expect wood quality to be high on their list of complaints!

Well I guess there is only one thing to do, order one of the kits I'm interested in to see for myself!!!

Hello Bill, long time no see. That fellow sure does have a lot of kits. It was tough for me to keep up with my five, not to mention the fifty this guy is selling!!

Jeff Petroski

Hey Jeff where ya been, still doing any of the kits? Last I heard you had moved out in the desert somewhere!!!!
Man if you are producing kits again I'll be calling on you. Had a guy up on the east coast make me an offer I couldn't
refuse for the King Altair kit I got from you, so I never got to build it, but I was sure impressed with the quality...….
PM me you phone number if you get a chance, sure would like to keep in touch with you.

Did you ever order the kit?

Whats the verdict? So far I have only ordered plans from ebay, a kit would be sweet to get though!

So I went through the process and in the description a few of his WW2 German models don't come with T.E., L.E.(not sure what those are supposed to be) or sticks or stringers, just sheets of ribs and spars, and fuselage parts it looks like. Not sure if that's a good deal for a "short kit" at 145$... I'm pretty new, so I will defer to you guys for advice.

Most short kits provide the cut parts, ribs, formers and the like. The builder provides the sticks and sheeting, I wouldn't think TE and LE would be provided in the short kit. Nice thing about a short kit is the builder get to choose the wood and hardware. Is $145 a good deal? Not sure but if you are looking for WWII German models your choices are limited. I looked over the listing on Ebay this thread started and I thought the prices were reasonable. There are many more positive reviews on Ebay for this Seller

I have bought a bunch of short kits, TE and LE are never included. A short kit is defined as the shaped parts only and the number of parts for the same design can vary between individual cutters. Companies still offering shaped leading edge are hard to find. I usually cut one or more strips to laminate and then sand them to shape after they are glued on. I build a lot tapered wings so you can't find a preshaped tapered LE any way. I have sanding bars 33" and 44" long so that helps. Here is a link for LE and TE if you need it.

https://specializedbalsa.com/product...ileron.php#CLE

Learning a lot from reading all these forum threads, thanks for the info guys!

Back to the OT… has anyone actually purchased a kit from this Seller?

Too funny,, the guy is using a stolen picture of my Stearman,, buyers are going to be disappointed if they think that cowl is included,, I scratch built it
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25463847754...8AAOSwqZFeLnNi

LOL, if you ever posted that picture on a public site it’s fair game. He also clearly states that the buyer gets what is pictured, his plans don’t show a cowl either.

Uh huh,, and based on all the drama threads we see you don't think anyone might assume they are buying a super Strearman version that might include a cowl,, after all there are no pictures of a military version is there

Also,, no pictures are shown of the parts to make the Dummy Engine which is shown on the plans and was included with the original Royal kit, I might still have those parts in my scrap box

LOL right back at ya Shawn

Yes Tommy Boy, we all know you tend to gravitate towards drama. There was zero drama in this thread until you started crying about your “ stolen “ picture and looking for some praise over a scratch built cowl.

Look who's talking,, turns what I saw as funny into a fight,,, done with you here

Hello. Two weeks ago I received a short kit from EBay, but from a different seller. If interested, I can share my impressions.

I would be happy to read of your experience with the kit and its supplier.

Seller rchub20. Model 64" Ws Royal F6F-3 HELLCAT. I don't like the quality. Many details are missing, poor quality of laser cutting. But good quality balsa

Please do!