Yea, Skymaster planes in Kit form at even lower prices would kill all competition. [sm=thumbup.gif]

Eric

I think offering your designs as kits would be an excellent idea. Personally, as I am self employed I have to count the number of hours extra it would take to build a kit as opposed to an ARF and for me it doesn't work, I could not justify the loss of income against the relatively small difference between a kit and an ARF price.

However, I am sure there are many flyers who would welcome the cost saving and also get the additional enjoyment from building the model themselves.

John

Both !

Are you suggesting that Skymaster STEAL Sparks' idea of selling these in kit form?

Only Curtis mind could work in such a warped way as this !! lol !

ET
I must agree with your Logic I hope they (Both) the suppliers really duke it out & start slashing prices , It would be a win win situation for us "Snuffies" that is until these guys realize that after a short time the vendor who supplies the product that complies with our wishes & needs will win .
Semper Fi

Heh! It's funny when you break things down and stop listening to propaganda, you start seeing that there is an immense grey area, and that nobody is perfectly clean. Exceptin' ME, of course! I am always very wary of people claiming some sort of moral high ground, very often, they have skeletons in their own closets.
Let's say Sparks DID just copy Skymaster. I don't know if that's the case. Then this would STILL be just another "I-went-to-mainland-china-to-get-thirty-cent-an-hour-labor-from-this-communist-dicatorship-so-I-could-sell-what-they-made-for-me-to-westerners-at-a-large-profit-full-well-knowing-that-they-always-clone-everything-and-now-I-am-pretending-that-I-am am-all-surprised-that-they-did-what-they-always-do-thread."

What will people say when they find out that parts for their popular "Western" turbines were actually made by Jetjoe?
Want to bet the PR machine spins differently?

At least for me it's both. Don't get me wrong I think you guy's stuff is high quality and a great value, I'm just limited on my budget and look for ways to cut cost without sacrificing quality. The difference in price between the kit and ARF version would cover the cost of some of the servos for the plane. Another nice thing about the kit would be being able to go with different color schemes.

It's kind of funny you should say that - I often wondered whether the people making the most noise about copy theft were just disgruntled SM customers whining because they used up all their allowance to but a model they could have bought much cheaper elsewhere.
But then again I could be wrong....you see how east it is to say that? (That's not directed at you EASYTIGER - you've been a relative beacon in the gloom! Well maybe one that's been beating the hornets' nest a little!)
Let's hope that those people who were quick to criticise Spark/JetLegend will be as quick to apologise when they've been vindicated. I know I will stand up and say 'I was wrong' publically, if they're not.
I hope all this settles out into a really good competition between these two companies - whichever side of the fence your on competition is good for the consumer.
Me? I have no moral high ground...I'm just going to put my custom where-ever I want to (as always).

Jeff,

I believe the people making the most noise to defend SM is because they received a good product along with great support and they don't want to see that go away. It takes money to run a company and keep it going. SM has done a lot for jet modelers over the past couple of years by filling a gap between higher priced BVM jets and other suppliers of cheaper modified/turbine converted ducted fan jets. And they accomplished this by producing ARF jets, wow!!!

If SM ends up releasing slightly cheaper "Kits" of their productline I believe that would place them in a position to make JetLegend not seem such a bargain. Right now people are just looking at the price difference between SM and JetLegend and sadly with most modelers price plays a big role in determining where to make a purchase. Trust me, I ran an online hobby shop - Houston Hobbies - for about 5 years and I saw that first hand.

my .02 cents,

JR Gautreaux

Hi Jetflyer,
I see your point but I believe that there is a fine line between a customer's loyalty and his/her wallet! SM went long way to fill the gap but there are still many people for whom the cost cannot be justified or don't want an ARF. JetLegend are filling that, potentially huge gap. I think that it is good that they had the foresight to do that, I also believe there will be a greater influx of enthusiasts entering jet flying as a result. I've been flying jets for many years and the single most thing I have heard so many times that dissuades people from flying jets is cost. JetLegend have given more people access to this aspect of the hobby with aggressive pricing which in turn will force SM's hand. The outcome, with any luck will be more people flying jets and two good companies turning out quality products at competitive prices.
This means choice for the consumer - as such I would not have chosen to buy an F18 from SM simply 'cos i couldn't afford it!

You know, my friend Jim Fox used to have a saying:
'If you want to end up with a million pounds (£) running a modelling business, you'd better start of with two million!"

Dosen't this kind of remind you in some ways of AMT Netherlands/AMT USA?

Would that be a Sparks' Hornet's Nest, a Skymaster Hornet's Nest, or a Tamjets/BVM SUPER Hornet's Nest? Or a Yellow Aircraft Single Hornet's Nest? A YA ARF Single Hornet's Nest? A YA TWIN Hornet's Nest? A YA Twin ARF Hornet's Nest? Maybe the old Spirit Jets' Hornets Nest. Or a Bob Parkinson one....


How quick will people be to apologize? Well...not quick at all. They won't! Not in a million years! If court papers came out saying that Skymaster was only a sales agent and didn't design a thing, there would STILL be a bunch of people shouting "Sparks copycat"! Till the day they die. That's how this works.

If Sparks was smart...and they are probably not...they would start giving huge discounts to prominent modellers to have them say nice things about their models. Work that PR machine. Give out T-shirts and hats and show up at rallies. But above all, give discounts or give models away so that the planes end up in the hands of people who will fly them and say nice things about them. Works for other people.

A huge part of the success of Skymaster here in America is they got good people to distribute them, people who knew at least a little about marketing, and people who speak English well. And people who did a GOOD job with support. That good reputation will only carry you so far, though.

In the end...90% of the customers will go with price. That's how it is. People TALK all the time about high-falootin' values, buy local, buy American, brand loyalty, yadda yadda yadda, but when push comes to shove, they end up at Walmart. 90% of the time. It's why Tower has 1000 or so employees and your local hobby store has one. Or none. It's just the way of the world. It's not going to change HERE for model airplanes, they are not that special.

The price differential should be a little bigger, though, Sparks should cut their prices.

Well said EASYTIGER...
Really couldn't have said it better myself.

Jeff