Hi Everyone,
I just inherited a number of rc planes from my uncle. I have never flown any, and frankly, can't add another hobby or I may end up single! I'm picking the planes up this weekend and would like to know how to go about finding information about them, as well as their value. They also come with a fair amount of equipment, controllers, a field tote/stand, and I don't know what else. I will assemble some photos of everything once I get them home and then post those. Perhaps some of you can help me with my investigation then. I'm obviously new to this forum but an active member on a number of woodworking forums and if this one is anything like those (and I'm sure it is) you will all be a great help! Thanks in advance!
Jerry

bring them all to my house and we will work something out. MUhahahahahaha

At the very top of this page you will find a tab labeled "buy and sell"...when placing your mouse over it a drop down menu will appear and you can click on the "RCU-Book Market Values" and if you can find out exactly what the name/mfg of the plane is...plug it in and you will get a listing of the prices that plane has sold for...

The first thing is to find out what you have, and posting good pictures around here will get you started the right direction..
The next thing is the condition of the stuff, and if it was built and finished average, above average,or poorly.



Your best bet is as large of an audience no matter what you have.

Jerry, this isn't gong to be what you want to hear, but it is the sad facts. First, planes will fetch more locally than on line. Engines and equipment will fetch more on line than locally.

A lot of the value depends on the age of the equipment and planes. Honestly, there is not much value in used planes and equipment. A couple times a year, our club gets a call from an ex member, or a relative thatwould like to sell our members their old planes, or in some cases donate them to the club so someone could use them. Our club will list the items for sale on our web site, but we have not had a good historyin moving the planes and equipment that way.

Condition is a major issue.I picked up a "donated to the club" at auction, Patty Wagstaff Extra with a O.S. Gemini 300FT engine and all electronics for $325. It would have cost at least a$1500 more tobuy it new, but I'm not sure I got such a good deal as the airframe needs major repairs, and the engine is in need ofwork also. Throw in some modifications tothe airframe by the previous owner, and well, it may have been a wash on value.

Not to try to discourage you, but this is a caseof"Seller be Ware" Do a lot of research on the equipment and planes you have. Be very criticalof condition. Realize that planes have a very limited value as 1. they are impossible to ship, and 2. it is very difficult to tell what is under the coveringin reference to structural condition. Your inheritance has some value. Don't give it away, but realize that you will not get more than 20% of replacement value from it at best, unless you are very lucky. or the stuff is very current items.

My suggestion is todetermine whatyou haveand the do somesell price comparisons on Ebay and here on RC universe. It may be in your interest tobreak down the planes to engine, electronics and airframe and sell them separately. The airframe may end up in the junk. Ihave a donated Royal Kit Cessna 182 that was builtseveral years back., but never flown. Age wasn't kind to it. Iremoved the radio equipment and engine from the plane. The Radioequipment was just sold to a collector for shipping cost anda couplebucks as it was on frequency's no longer legal in the US.. The engine and the plane willbe putup for sale at our fun fly and Swap meet next weekend.If we are lucky, we may get 5% of whatan unbuilt kitwould bring for what wehave.

Hobby items are of greatest value to the original owner, collector, and then to the rest of us in that order. Do a lot of researchon the items you have anddon't give them away, butalso don't expectvery much for them unless you wishto dismantle and sell by thepiece.

Good luck in yourproject.

Don

Thanks for the quick input everyone. I'm under no illusion that these are a treasure trove with great value, it's more a case of no room to store them so they need to be sold. I just don't have any benchmark from which to start at, thus I'm turning to those who have the knowledge. I appreciate the advice from everyone, and I'll post pic's on sunday or monday and then maybe you can help me identify the models and their equipment.
Jerry

depending on how old the engines are you may be able to compare prices on ebay, some are quite valuable some not so much,I would also recomend posting some pics the group here can ID just about anything that's ever been made, built, or crashed there might be some value, and some might need be chucked in the bin, after pulling off what is valuable.

you might be surprised how small you can pack the parts in a box when there not in a airplane, servos,engines etc...are pretty small who knows.

could also be a score, some airplanes can be worth thousands of dollars

Sounds like you need to quit one of your other hobbies

Your best bet may be to contact a local club and see if they have a flea market or auction coming up. That season may have just passed, but it's worth a shot.

Like others have said, we had a member pass away and his widow donated all of his planes to the club to auction off. I missed the meeting that night, but I heard that people were buying well built planes, with engines and radios, for like $20. Some of them were kids, and the older guys didn't want to bid against them, but it was still pretty sad.

Planes that are in nice shape can also be hung from the ceiling at your local hobby shop and sold on consignment (maybe, check with the owner). That may be a way to go as well.

Good luck

Jerry, you peeked my interest. I will be going to Washington state this June for a month to visit family. I may be interested in one or more of your items so I can have something to fly when I get there. If you are close to Sammamish, Wa we may be able to work something out. So, let's figure out what you have

definitely post pics of even any rough or broken planes..some of us like fixing that kind of thing, might not be worth much to sell..but it might get a bird back in the air that would have been trash canned. Some old kits are hard enough to find that people would pay shipping for a broken one...

As Tailskid suggested, if you plan on doing any selling here on RCU, it's best that you do so in the "Buy and Sell" area. There are step-by-step instructions in there to help you along with this.

CGr.

I would recommend doing a search with AMA for local clubs and checking to see if any have a swap meet or club auction scheduled. These kind of events can help you move the planes and other hard to ship items. The club may be willing to handle the process for a piece of the action. Sorry about your uncle.

In this part of the country most swap meets/auctions are from Jan-March then its out to fly,,mclina has a good idea...get the local hobby shop to hang them from the ceiling with nice low prices that way the flyers are seeing them, you dont have to store them, and you can drop by and see how they are moving....Rog

If you put your planes and equipment on consignment to a LHS, be sure to stop in weekly and see how they are doing. We have a brother/sister team in the area that has opened and closed six locations in the five years. My understanding is that they have been in this mode for a decade or two. Some of the local cities won't give them a license any longer.Just make sure your planes don't get caught up in a like environment. The laws don't seem to support you as an individual in the event the store goes bankrupt.

In the earlier days, this wasn't an issue, but today, it is.

Don

Thanks for all the advice everyone. As I suspected, members of these types of forums are a great group of people and a valuable asset. I'm leaving tomorrow to go help my Aunt get her place ready to sell (it's a horse ranch and she can't/doesn't want to keep it up) and I'll be bringing the planes back. I'll post the pictures as soon as I can so that you all can help me identify them and see what we've got. Thanks again for your help. Talk to you sunday or monday.
Jerry