RappyPilot

I just finished a Four Star 40 kit.

I must say, building a kit as opposed to whipping together an ARF was a most satisfying experience.

I live in South Africa and Four Stars are very hard to get. Decided I want to build the Four Star 60 or 120 next. Had a look at Tower Hobbies but I see Tower has discontinued them!

Does also mean that SIG has stopped making them?

Marcel

vpresley

My Feedback: (162)

Hi

No it does not. Tower is just not going to sell SIG products anymore. SIG is still making the kits.


Vince

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

You can order direct from Sig and other mail order houses on the net still sell Sig planes. Good Luck, Dave

mxaexm

Wow, I'm suprised that towerhobbies.com will not be selling Four Stars anymore (they are still selling Mid Star).

Does anyone have any idea what might the the reason behind it?

vpresley

My Feedback: (162)

Yes


In case you havn't noticed, Tower is trying to shut down all its competition. Buys them and discontinues their kits. SIG is in competition with Tower. Im thinking Tower made some demands or just decided to quit carrying SIG kits, so they would not help their competitors. Tower is slowly but surely taking over the R/C market place. Look how many companies they have bought and their kits disappear. Only thing left is Tower kits. Anyone who thinks otherwise just needs to do a reality check at Towers record so far. Its there if you look.


Vince

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

It doesn't have anything to do with them trying to shut down the competition. This exact same thing happened about 10 years ago when Tower stopped carrying Sig then as well. The reason?? The price point of Sig product. Tower wants to maintain a certain pricing structure for the levels of planes it stocks, i.e. 40 sized planes under a given price, and so forth. Back then Sig wasn't willing to supply their product at a price that fit into Tower's structure, so for one year they didn't carry the Sig line. However, the next year they made up and Tower again carried Sig. I'm sure by next year they will have made nice again and you will see Sig product at Tower Hobbies

Ken

Don41

Tower succeeds because it sells so many different products _ one stop shopping if you will. I try to nip them a little by buying from others when possible but that can add up in extra shipping, etc.

Actually you can see Tower's point in discontinuing Sig products. Sig sells kits at the same price as Tower which makes it hard to compete with Sig, the manufacturer.

IMHO though, in spite of the so called slow down in kit buying, Sig will continue to make and sell kits just as they have done for so many years. It won't be much of a loss if they quit ARFs though. Name brand is meaningless, their quality suffers just like all other ARFs. (Even so I do own the 40 size Rascal and it's a real joy to fly). As a long time kit builder I always hate to admit an ARF is my favorite plane (:-).

Regards

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I dont remember the last time I bought anything from Tower. I easily find what I need else where.
Edwin

Campgems

Quote:

Actually you can see Tower's point in discontinuing Sig products. Sig sells kits at the same price as Tower which makes it hard to compete with Sig, the manufacturer.

End Quote

Sig would discount the planes to Tower and any other retailer. When I had my store, not a LHS, i sold equipment that was priced by the manufacturer or distributor. The agrement was to sell it at the "suggest retail" price but no lower. That gave no retailer an edge other than quilty of service. They would also sell direct to the public, but at the same Suggested Retail. I had no problem with that as it put me and the large guys on the same footing. I would get a better discount if I ordered case lots and larger orders, but the big guys could only beat the discounts I got if they bought a truck load.

What did get under my skin would be catching one of my distributers selling to the public at a discounted price. Idropped one complete line when I found that out.

I don't know what the Sig/Tower issue is, but you can bet that there is some strong arm twisting going on. Hopefully Sig has a strong arm.

Don

Nergall

You know Tower has figured out some real magic to keeping their regular customers around. You make one big order and the shipping pays for the "club" price. Then they gotcha. They send out those online coupons where you get nearly 20% off your order. I actually end up ordering alternate brands because the free shipping and 20% coupon mean I'd have to order direct from China to beat their price.

I can switch brands a little buying a servo, or a LiPo, or even covering. The Tower service is the best I've seen, so I'll go out of my way a little to lump my buying into one big coupon assisted Tower order. And, while some might say they are killing off kit manufacturers, they still carry more kits and parts than most other online retailers.

But, I'll have to break out of the cycle on my next SIG kit. And, if Advantage Hobby or Graves RC or whoever I order my next SIG product from doesn't screw my order up, I might not go back.

GaryHarris

I have no idea who is at fault or why the fall out, but Tower will lose some of my bussiness since they don't carry Sig kits anymore.

Sig will lose some of my bussiness because I like Tower and like the "Easy Pay" option!

I see neither winning the Baldridge award anytime soon! lol

ChuckW

If the other companies weren't for sale, Hobbico/Tower wouldn't be buying them.Companies are often for sale because they are in bad financial shape or ownership is retiring and so on. As far as discontinuing products after they acquire the company they'd be foolish to do so if something was selling and profitable. That tells me that the stuff they discontinued from the likes of Lanier and others just collected dust on the warehouse shelf. If people were buying it, they'd sell it in one form or another. Even if they discontinue every product from an acquisition they still get designs, sometimes talent, tooling, equipment, etc. I don't think there is any sort of evil corporate conspiracy at work.

As for Sig, Hobbico did not buy them. Sig is still around; they just lost one distributor. They have others plus they sell direct.

vpresley

My Feedback: (162)

Buy the competition and shut them down, almost to a kit every time?????? Hey I have some real good swamp land in florida for a real good price, are you interested ???

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Same here, I avoid Tower like they had the plague. As for discounts and shipping I just bought servos and RXs from Servocity and made a killing compared to anything Tower could match. Shipping on orders over $100.00 was also free. Only thing Tower has going for it is people new to the hobby can find what they need all at one place, most the time. After anyone has been in the hobby for a year or two you should have outgrown Tower, too many better places to do your shopping and you can always find better deals. If you have a computer a search takes a few moments and new places are very easy to locate.
Tower swallows!!!

KitBuilder

All retailers have their place in the grand scheme. I order from tower tower when i get the 20 bucks off of 50 coupon.

ChuckW

I understand what you are saying and how it might appear that way on the surface but if the competition is a threat and you buy them, you now own that product and can reap the benefits of all future sales. If people want it and are buying it, you will continue selling it and make the money for yourself instead of your competition. That makes sense. Buying something that is a money maker then shutting it down makes no sense. So I am saying they wouldn't discontinue what they buy unless they had sales data showing that it had fallen out of favor with the consumer. If I somehow bought Apple Computer tomorrow I sure as heck wouldn't discontinue the iPhone. If they made typewriters though there'd be a good chance that I'd discontinue those.

Nergall

I checked Servocity and for name brand servos and receivers, you can't beat Tower and their online coupon. If you haven't ordered from them recently, you aren't looking at the same coupon I am.

I did recently buy some off brand servos from Grayson Hobby for far less than Tower, but that's not a totally fair comparison. There is some value in a name brand - especially since reliability is sooo important to us.

OTOH, if you want J.R. or Spectrum, then Tower ain't so good...

The depressing thing about Tower is their shrinking stock. It seems like if it isn't a Hobbico product, they look for reasons to drop the line. I like Hobbico products - especially those over-priced OS Max engines, but I like other stuff as well - especially SIG.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Go look again, Hitec servos and RXs were on sale and gave Tower a black eye, they gave Hobby People a pretty good beating too.
I still get Towers big book and there talk but they have nothing I require or can't get cheaper someplace else and I'm not going to be using them again if I can help it.
Reason I still get there books is for my students. They are one stop shopping for people just getting started so I loan out my catalogs to new people. After a year or so my students advance to the point Tower no longer has much for them that they can't get at our LHS, it's a very good LHS by the way, not one of the chains.
If I can help it I also avoid there Hobby Services but they tend to keep items/parts out of your hands so you are forced to use them. If you do use the services you will never have to worry about your sex life again.

Nergall

I don't have time to check every servo, but I checked the HS-55 for you since that seems to be a very popular Hitech model.

http://www.servocity.com/html/hs-55_sub-micro.html

$13.99

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXTX42&P=ML

$10.49

Also, I'm getting close to 20% off the Tower order, so my comparison is:

Servo City: $13.99
Tower Hobbies: $8.40

OTOH, these are the ones I bought recently:

http://www.graysonhobby.com/catalog/...roducts_id=696

for about $6.67 each

I think HobbyKing (China) sells equivalent servos for $3.

reincarnate

And Tower will continue to sell those cheap little sub-micros cheaper, because they deal in quantity with their slickly packaged RTF deals they stick new pilots with.

Keep going up the line in quality and you 'll see it even out, then ServoCity (or virtually any other on-line retailer) becomes a much better bargain. Buy two 7955's and you've saved $8.00 at ServoCity PLUS got free shipping...no coupon or code or any other gimmick required. Throw in ServoCity's great promotional sales, and Tower isn't even a factor. Tower just can't compete with a retailer that does not cater to the "One Stop Shop" crowd.

You can have your coupons and your "membership" from Tower. Like Greybeard said, they're great for new fliers to find parts when they start. After that, they become nothing but a glossy catalog by the crapper.

Nergall

http://www.servocity.com/html/hs-7955tg_servo.html
$114.95
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...ARCH=HS-7955TG
119.95 - 20%
= $95.96

You might think you're saving $8 for two, but I know I could save $38 for those same two, and get free shipping.

But, whatever, please do keep the competition in business. Without them, I'm sure Tower wouldn't need to discount as much.

pjanders

I have made a few kit purchases directly from Sig's web site recently. This was in response to Tower discontinuing Sig's product line. I have to say it was a very positive experience. My merchandise always arrives within three business days from the receipt of my order and the boxes—both the shipping container and its contents—have always arrived in excellent condition. Shipping seems to $8.99 regardless of what you're ordering. That may hurt if you're ordering small accessories. I can't speak for shipping costs when ordering outside the United States.

If you're looking for a Sig kit and can't find it at your favorite store or web site don't hesitate to order directly from Sig. I've really been happy with their service.

Augie11

I ordered a few Sig kits when I was living overseas and they took care of me very well.

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

It has been suggested here that Tower Hobbies stopped carrying Sig products to hurt Sig in some way. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tower Hobbies has carried Sig for decades and respects Sig's products greatly. During this recent economic slowdown, Sig's ability to fill its customers’ orders has not lived up to expectations. As a result, Tower Hobbies was forced to make the very tough decision to stop advertising the line. The Sig product line has long been a favorite of modelers and Tower Hobbies strives to carry products that modelers want to buy. Once conditions change, and we all hope they do, Tower Hobbies will reconsider its decision.

Nergall

Thanks for posting that here.

I have had great experiences with both companies, and I have ordered my SIG kits from Tower so far.

Just understand that you will lose some customers over this. I don't want to pick sides, but practically speaking I can order most everything Tower carries elsewhere. I can only get SIG kits (directly or indirectly) from SIG. I use many Hobbico products and appreciate their value, but I don't want to order from a retailer that only carries Hobbico.