I guess it sucks for people who buy a combo kit, have a bad day at the field, need a new set of landing gear and end up paying $400 more than they did the first time out. Sounds like a screw job to me.

Now I know machining things can be pricey, I do a lot of lathe work in my own garage and know the time it takes to get the program right, but when its right it doesn't change. Your overhead costs after that are raw materials, tooling bits and overhead to pay some shlub to push "GO" on the machine. Prices for Aluminum are quite reasonable right now especially where I buy it from and I am not even a wholesale purchaser!!! When you are dealing in the quantities that Skymaster does it brings the prices wayyyyyy down!

If I paid that much for gear I would expect it to work flawlessly every time. I have a set of custom gear that cost more than that and rest assured if they don't work on a regular basis the manufacturer will hear about it.

Just seems a little outta whack to me, but hey, its just me.

nope, not just you....

Can someone quote me on a 1/8th F-16 Dutch demo Version, kit only, nothing installed, and a set of air cylinders for the doors?

PM me quote please.

I'd like a quote on a White only with Viperjet 2M airframe as well. I've asked 3 different places, and they all say "they are not sold in that configuration".

I THINK THAT [SKYMASTER PRICING] WAS GREAT BEFORE THEY TEAM UP WITH bvm!  chazz

Yes, obviously the reason Skymaster eliminated most of their dealers and created sales regions was to enable them to control prices better and eliminate competition among dealers.

True...kind of like if you determined the price of a car based on replacement parts at the dealer, a Ford Escape would sell for $150,000.

Still, $350 for one of these Skymaster cockpits is a rip-off, period, much less $600+!! Flimsy, brittle plastic that cracks if you touch it. And the paint job is amateurish. I understand the goal of getting the buyer to buy one with the initial kit, but accidents happen (I'll spare myself the embarassing details here) and replacement parts need to be ordered. Getting bent over for $395, $695, whatever, is just plain wrong. I lucked out and Jeff at RCI worked with me. That will not be forgotten, and I will not hesitate to do business with him again.

Anyone?

The internet makes price shopping on anything very easy.


Have the discipline to hold off till you get the price you want.

Don't be the "one born every minute".

Steve

I agree that $350 plus is a ripoff but, I wonder what the actual price would be if you contacted Skymaster directly (as opposed to a dealer) for replacement. I had to replace the under belly tank on my 1/5.5 Skymaster Hawk when I knocked the gear off on a hard landing, list price is $60, Skymaster sold me the replacement at $20.

I broke the canopy on the same bird when it got bumped in transport. $4.50 for the replacement (this is a huge canopy) and nominal shipping charge from China. In contrast, I botched the install of the canopy on my 1/5 CARF Hawk. Replacement canopy was $49.95 plus $30 bucks to ship! It's a hair bigger than the skymaster one.

Another thought; if we weren't insistent on buying through a dealer network here in North America, we could all be paying a lot less (by eliminating the dealer margin). What does the dealer do besides take your money and forward it to China? They don't hold inventory so, the product gets dropshipped directly to you from China. And for all that effort he puts X amount of $ in his pocket. I'd rather buy direct and keep the $ in my pocket.



Mike

Are you serious? I can tell you what I do here in Australia but the list would be too long.

Full support from start to finish for all my customers. My prices match the factory so if customers want to buy direct then they need to speak to the factory when they have issues. I'm sure most of the North American dealers would be the same.

Normally, a manufacturer of goods sells to his 'official' distributors at a discount so the distributor can sell at a price comparable to 'factory' prices. The manufacturer makes & sells only to distributors who, for their money, liase between the customer & manufacturer for orders & problems, hold some spare parts & stock. If you have problems you ring the guy across town & he takes care of it. That's the western way of supplying goods.

If the manufacturers want to sell factory direct at prices less than their distributors that's their business but who would want to be a distributor? This seems to be a problem with Chinese business ethics. Add to that it seems that everyone can be a dealer if they want to be so you end up with lots of dealers selling the same product lines.

A friend with a hobby shop supposedly had an 'exclusive' dealership on a popular line of electric models & accessories, did the right thing advertising, carying spare parts etc, but then found his competitor across town also distributing for the same manufacturer. When he asked the manufacturer about the 'exclusive' distributorship he was told 'Yes, you are excrusive for Riverpool'.

What's best, direct from factory at lower price with no support or pay extra through the distributor & get support for your product?
Have we been ripped off for ages by the middlemen or are the middlemen providing a service at a fair price?

I guess it comes down to how much support your dealer provides when you have problems. EVERY dealer is co operative when you are buying, a lot of them are much less interested when you have a problem. [&o]

What I do know is that one Oz distributor spends a lot of his time at jet meets helping others with his products instead of flying himself, earning his money offering support, you know already who that is. - John.

Mike,
I ordered a SM F-86 through Dan at details4scale.
SM is ready to paint it then contacts Dan to see if I have some markings for it.
Instead of telling me to find the markings, Dan did an internet search, found some 1/48th scale decals, bought them, had it shipped to him overnight, did a high res scan, cleaned up some of the lettering, then e-mailed it to SM so they could finish painting the F-86.
Pretty outstanding! Dan went way above and beyond what I had a right to expect to help get the F-86 completed.
BRG,
Jon

Hi Guys;

I have to get in on this topic if you don’t mind.
I myself fly SM and my thought on the over pricing is '' Yes, the prices are getting out of hand ''
but I do think that if a customer orders a kit from a vendor and his first kit is the
combo deluxe, the price of all his parts needed there after for the same plane should remain low.
Having replacement part with skyrocket pricing is tough to keep your plane in the air when things go wrong.
I think SM should keep track of buyers or at least ask for proof of purchase in order for buyers to get discount
replacement parts. By doing this they will lead the other companies in sales, (just a thought).
I hope Skymaster reads this and give an input.

Thank you

Hi Guys;

I have to get in on this topic if you don’t mind.
I myself fly SM and my thought on the over pricing is '' Yes, the prices are getting out of hand ''
but I do think that if a customer orders a kit from a vendor and his first kit is the
combo deluxe, the price of all his parts needed there after for the same plane should remain low.
Having replacement part with skyrocket pricing is tough to keep your plane in the air when things go wrong.
I think SM should keep track of buyers or at least ask for proof of purchase in order for buyers to get discount
replacement parts. By doing this they will lead the other companies in sales, (just a thought).
I hope Skymaster reads this and give an input.

yes, I am serious, I can only speak for myself but, I have bought 4 jet kits and 3 turbines in the last 3 years and never once have I needed any kind of "service" from the dealer. One kit was received with a damaged hatch, I contacted the manufacturer myself and received a replacement. So for me , the dealer holds little value, I would rather save $1000 bucks or whatever his margin is on the jet. If you are a fellow who likes to call the dealer for advice on every step of the build then be aware of the cost for doing so. I get my advice on RCU

Mike

You have a very good dealer Jon.

Mike

Other than providing a more readily available product (local vs import) and spare parts support, our hobby has little need for dealers. If the dealer does neither or is not supported by the mfg so he can, we receive no benefit from a dealer.

The best and virtually only true dealer type relationship I have seen (in the US) for airframe only kits is Boomerang USA. With only a few exceptions, I've always been able to get kit parts easily and quickly. Being able to rely on other mfgs and distribution for components (ldg gear) makes Boomerang's sales and support much easier.

George

I guess no-one is interested in making a sell to us..

Apparently its better if you go direct for your price my friend....

I've even asked Skymaster direct, and the answer i got from them was that they didn't want to sell it that way.

So Skymaster doesnt sell ARF kits anymore?

Actually, after looking back,
they said they preferred Not to sell non-painted airframes only. guess i'll just have to pay the extra $$$ for a tomahawk viper-jet.
either way, its very frustrating.

It's probably worth the extra $$$, at least you won't have to deal with the frustration of parts that don't fit or are missing altogether. After the last couple Skymaster kits I've seen, I wouldn't buy one unless they were willing to sell them as "kits" where I have control over the majority of the construction. They don't want to sell you a non painted airframe likely because unless it's painted, they can't cover up the problem's that were there when it came out of the mold. I have definitely learned that the cheaper airplanes out there for the most part are not the best value. There will always be some exceptions, but for the most part, the old adage that "only the rich can afford to buy cheap" holds true.