What do you guys think of the Laser lizard's quality?

any comments?

let me know,

Phil

I've gotten three sets of wood from Laser Lizard.

Ziroli Stuka
Ziroli SBD
Ziroli Zero


The kit cut for the Stuka wasn't all that good. Several parts (that were supposed to be laser cut) were missing, some were the wrong size and some just didn't match the plans at all.

The SBD kit is excellent. I have NOTHING bad to say about it. The wood is cut but not burned, the parts all match the plans perfectly and everything is there except for the strip and sheet stock.

The Zero kit is a mixed bag, for the most part the laser cutting is very well done, but some it was burned, causing the ply to bubble sap at the cuts. All the pieces however were there and did line up with the plans. I would have just called Laser Lizard to get the ply parts re-cut, but I got this kit second part.


On a scale of 1-10, I would rate Laser Lizard a high 7. I've seen better, but I've also seen a LOT worse.

Phil, being from Canada, you may check with Trillium Balsa. I have a couple of excelletn laser kits from them. not sure what brands or one-offs they do, but it is good.
I cannot expound on LL

http://www.trilliumbalsa.com/

Jeff

My experience with a Ziroli Stuka echos the above. I wound up chunking most of it and cutting my own. Some of the stuff was burned at the wrong scale apparently and didn't match the plans. Some pieces cut off the end of the wood. A large number of pieces specifically called out on the plans as aircraft plywood were instead cut out of lite ply. Two sheets the laser apparently started a fire and about 1/3 of those 2 sheets were burned to a crisp making those pieces unusable.

I've heard both good and bad. I guess you take your chances.

Phil,

I'm building a Stuka now from the Laser Lizard short kit and I like it a lot. First off, I've found a surprising number of errors on the plans and my first reaction was to assume that the parts were cut incorrectly. However, each time I placed the offending part over the template the match was 100% spot on the money and the fault was in the plans in either the side or top views.

As for the lite ply used in place of aircraft ply, yes, I can see where that could be a problem. Me? I'm partial to lite ply, though, and I merely laminated some 1/16" aircraft ply to the side of the lite ply piece rather than chuck out a perfectly good part. But that's just me. I also bought a Ziroli Hellcat short kit from him that I sold before building and it looked very nice indeed. My experience has been that considering what you get for the money, I think Jesse does a terrific job. But that doesn't mean I'm totally thrilled with doing business with him.

Jesse can be a bit hard to get a hold of at times. I had him make up a short kit for a Dave Platt Bf 109 a couple of years back and the workmanship was excellent. At the time, he said that he could generate the same kit in 1/4 scale with little effort. After about a year after getting the 1/5th scale short kit, I tried to reach him regarding making a 1/4 scale 109 from the Platt design. Email after email and nothing. Not a single reply. That wasn't a good thing and I haven't purchased anything from him since as customer service is very important to me.

Jesse has short kits available on eBay from time to time under "Ziroli" and they are priced much lower than what he posts on his website. Not too long ago you could get the Ziroli Stuka for under $90 and the SBD and Hellcat for about $155 each. That's a deal! Just remember, along with the quality comes lite ply and the possibility of no communication. It's your call whether or not that's important to you.

Al

I am looking seriously at the Staggerwing short kit on Ebay...incredible price considering the work to cut it all.

JEff

I've purchase from Jessie as well.

Had a few conversations on the phone with him.

Just a super guy, very co-operative.

The job he cut for me was excellent. No heavy burns, no sapping.

I've seen Nick flying the Staggerwing a couple of times at Rheinbeck Aerodrome, it was painted in mid war Navy colors and it was fantastic looking and flying. Damn the retacts are expensive though.

I hear ya Bill....been on eo f the reasons I have not really pursued. I can't bring my self to pay that much for gear....rock and a hard spot!

Jeff

Jeff, it seems thats the same boat I am in for almost all my planes. I find myself doing more and more WW1 stuff now because the gear for my bigger planes is just getting too damn expensive. Mind you both Sierra and Shindin do incredible work, its just too darn expensive to drop nearly what I paid for the full wood kit and all the accessories on a set of retracts.

I have a line of stuff to get built and keep putting the really good stuff on hold due to gear.

I gotta get a sponsor!

Man, I ditto what you said Evil. It's getting so the gear costs as much as the engine which used to be the only financial hurdle in a new project. I have a Vailley Hurricane that's been put off time and time again due to the fact that I need both the gear and an engine. And I'm my own worst enemy. If I'm going to do something, it has to be done right which, to me, means Sierra retracts and it's kinda hard to justify all that jack in these economic times. In lieu of starting in on the aforementioned Hurricane, I've begun work on a Ziroli Stuka. It was the fixed gear design that made the decision an easy one as to which plane to build next.

Al

Al,

Yep, got one of those sitting and waiting for me too. Trying to decide if I'm going to build the Stuka or the Sopwith Pup after I finish the Fokker!

I got a Vailly Hurricane short kit from Jesse at Lazer Lizard, and he was very easy to work with and his work looks great. I bought the short kit after I had a bunch of misaligned slots on some formers that were part of a kit from PCK. After contacting PCK, they re-cut the formers in question (now laser cut too). I have not built the kit yet, but the quality looks good, and I really appreciate all of the building information etched onto the peices!
Sam

They probably hired Jesse to do the job

Use Pat that owns Laser Cut USA. He cut my Don Smith 1/4 scale Corsair and it is beautiful. He cuts all of Dino's Meister Scale Warbirds also. Him and Dino are tight. Here is his number 772-528-4727 in Florida. He answers his own phone and is a one man show with the latest in laser equipment and software. His lead time is about a month. He will do short kits or the whole kit. If anything is missing he will send it right to you. Plus I made mistakes and had to get new ribs and other parts and he didn't even charge me. He believes customer satisfation is number one and backs that up. Heres my Corsair about half way finished and a couple frame work pictures so you can see his parts. Also remember the kit cutter is only as good as the plans. You can see the quality of his kits.

Gibbs