ARUP

I have it thru the grapevine this company has fired their last employee, Tues! Anyone that owns their products... then good luck getting them repaired. Spare parts prices may skyrocket or plummet depending on market conditions. I'm posting this as a favor to a friend who doesn't want to get involved. I don't know much about it all myself. Carlos, at RTI, can perform repairs for he was contacted by them. If RCU deems this post inappropriate then RCU can shut it down. 'I just want to let folks know' is what my buddy says.

Dieselman1220

My Feedback: (25)

Sucks to hear, good thing the engines are so over built they hardly ever need service.

bonehead2434

My Feedback: (179)

Stevie wonder could see this comming around !

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

yup, just like maytag washing machines....

jetster81

A real shame to see another one going but spares and motors can still be had from Bennie at AMT Netherlands (the original company) Phone 0031 40 7873130 Email: [email protected] Address: AMT Netherlands, Spaarpot 34, 5667 KX Geldrop, The Nertherlands.

Dr Honda

My Feedback: (4)

I was always wondering about this. I know I've emailed questions a few times... and it's been Hit-or-Miss on responses.

But as above... can still get parts from AMT.

HORNET FLYER

My Feedback: (6)

Just sold my last merc but still have a peggy and oly, guess from now on they have to go across the pond

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

For servicing RTI still works on AMT turbines as well. Not sure if he has parts outside of bearings, but Carlos is great.
http://www.rtiturbines.com/

bonehead2434

My Feedback: (179)

general tool is selling parts to carlos ,,was told this from russ ,,dont know what that consist of ,,they were low on parts also

kevinthoele

My Feedback: (1)

Carlos told me he does not do the bearings as the optical sensor is hard to deal with versas the magnetic version. Maybe he has changed his mind as I will need bearings on my Oly soon. Can anyone advise on the bearing change with Carlos on Oly

lov2flyrc

My Feedback: (24)

Shame.... But if you had any dealings with them (since the buyout) it comes as no surprise.....[]

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

Hmmm I hope Carlos will work on them, a north American service center would sure be nice.

Rockettman2296

Can we still get ECU's for the AMT's?

wojtek

My Feedback: (73)

unfortunately that only goes for the older style models remember the AT400 ?? those would not go past 2 - 3 runs before catastrophically seizing up , total junk. the later 280- and 450 models were also know to fail badly seizing up. this is why they failed as a company :\ I'm actually surprised it took as long as it did for them to completely lock up shop.

My last engine i had from them i ended up having traded out by them for an older model at450 that i knew would be reliable. I did not want to touch any of the newer stuff. It was also at the time disappointing to see so many of their reps turn their backs on many owners they themselves pushed the product on and then pretend nothing was wrong .. but I guess that's how this hobby goes anyway ! lol

If AMT(USA) had not failed as badly as they did, I don think some of the big players in the turbine market would be where they are right now either. Many made business opportunity around the space left behind by AMT ... and RAM before them.. There was not as much selection back then as there is now. So all in all, i think we are all way better off with the way the turbine market is these days than it was back then


Also, what i think really needs to be stressed highly for some of the newer ones to the hobby or those that do not know, AMT-USA (us microjet) was a completely different company from AMT-Neatherlands! The European engines are as good as a turbine jet engine can come! ... they are on the expensive side, but then again, if you want the best ... you know how that goes.

Voy

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

I shipped my Olympus off to AMT Netherlands for a total upgrade and service. Bennie was easy to deal with and my engine was back to me in a reasonable amount of time.
I admit I was concerned sending such an expensive small box all the way there but FedEx was great too.

All good as far as Im concerned!

AMTdude

I was not fired - I was laid off for a 'lack of work' .

The people in control of the company made poor decisions. Those that had worked there should not be condemned for doing the best they can with what was provided.

The AT 400 was an ill-conceived hack job conceived by a temporary employee - NOT Han Jenniskins. It was never designed to go full throttle for multiple minutes on a kingcat.

Something you have to remember is that when these engines were designed the planes could not absorb full power, meaning...plane construction improved while the engines remained mostly the same. 15 second bursts of full power is all they should be doing for a longer life span....if you need more blow you need a bigger engine.

Many customers had flawless usage while operating 400's, however, more often, these were SCALE flyers... not 'turn and burners'.

The issues with other engines had been isolated and limited to a couple bad runs of tunnels which misaligned the two bearings.

Bottom line...without the support of the flyers, then losing the drone contract as Greece's economy went belly-up, there was no chance of getting the higher-ups to invest anymore in the company.

When I left in March, there was one complete 450es left on the shelf. I do not know if it still there.

wojtek

My Feedback: (73)

load of bull crap ... the 400s were dying on many people, if not most. Pretty much most i knew of who had them. I don't think anyone could manage keeping a king cat together with a 400 on full blast for "several minutes" there were admitted issues with parts tolerances. Because of the manufacturing issues AMT USA had some of the newer 450s also were suffering failures .. As an example, on of Jack Holand's original Jacknifes went in because of a brand new fried at450 at FL jets years ago.

ans if an engine cant take more than a few second burst of full thrust, then don't market it that way anyway. Seems all the other engines/manufacturers had no widespread issues with their engines running to spec, and if they did, they were honest.

here is my old King Cat running on the at400 .. fist two flights ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Qb7y3WiZ4[/youtube]

a few more flights like this ( no continuous WOT here) and the engine fried ... back from repair, fried again ... it was a great disappointment at the time, especially having gone with the AMT based on the reputation it had back then for being a failproof tank of rc jet turbines.



The attitude displayed here shows that maybe the employes were partially to blame for the AMT's demise as well ... :\ I don't see AMT NL, or any other company saying their engines failed because a customer used to per advertised specs nothing personal, just bad experiences personally ...


Voy

Pegasus

Hey AMTDUDE!
"The AT 400 was an ill-conceived hack job conceived by a temporary employee - NOT Han Jenniskins."

Might I be the one your referring too?
You best be careful what your saying on here!
You didn't seem to mention that I told the owner that this engine needed to go into an f-18 so that hundreds of gallons of fuel will be run through it first, then I recommend that the first ten of these engines need to be flow first before I would call these ready for the market. Do you remember how many were flown first? That's right, not one, not even the proto type was flown.

"It was never designed to go full throttle for multiple minutes on a kingcat."

Where on earth did you get this info from? What engine can't go full throttle for multiple minutes?

If this "ill-conceived hack job" had gone through the rest of the testing as per my recommendation it would have been as good a motor as the rest or even better.

Pegasus

If memory serves me correct, I believe the prototype was flown by one of the AMT sponsored members, I did not fly one, nor do I know of any of the production engines being test flown like I wanted. Just because one of these works fine it does not mean they all will, and testing a bunch of them is when you find what an engine design is like.

AndyAndrews

+1

AndyAndrews

+1, It is a LOAD OF CRAP. That comment shows a real lack of understanding of the hobby in general and how turbines are supposed to work. AMT Netherlands would have never made such a silly comment.

Pegasus

One more thing
"The issues with other engines had been isolated and limited to a couple bad runs of tunnels which misaligned the two bearings."

If there was an issue with a "couple of bad runs" of bearing tunnels, why try to put the blame one some one else then say its the tunnels? Its either one or the other
Bad tunnels as you call them, seems to take the blame for my "ill-conceived hack job" and these were made well after I left

And how did you end up with a couple of bad runs, do you not catch the problem on the first run then correct the problem? Quality control needs to be done on every part for this stuff so it should have been caught after the first part let alone 2 runs of them. It sure looks like you are trying to find a scape goat here.
Weather these or any other engines are in turn and burners or gliders makes no difference what so ever, they need to take all that can conceivably can be thrown at them.

Justflying1

Bennie at AMT Netherlands is great to deal with. Responds to E mails, very helpfull and a package from Netherlands arrives to Australia 2 weeks after I make an order.

Thank you Bennie.