[:'(] As Ole Bob used to sing... the times.. they are a changing...
According to Teh "Evil Empire" which absorbed (i think) Gooldberg enterprises.. which absorbed Clancy aviation.... the Lazy Bee kit has gone the way of the DODO.. no more lazy bee kits (and just whe I decided to build one up..[&o]
Now we are stuck with really "lazy" bees in ARF form
What a shame.....

Does anybody has planes for this plane (with ailerons?)

Whoa, what a bummer!!!! Now I know I will template all the parts to my Stagger Bee when I have the spare time!!!

There are several things I don't like about ARFs, and one is the sameness (if there is such a word!) "No more Lazy Bee kits?" Don't bother me too much as I have talked myself out of getting one about ten times now. Then when the ARF version came out I almost decided to get one, but when I remembered it would be the same yellow and red I backed out.

Sure building a kit takes a bit of time, but I like being the one who decides on the basic color of the covering and when that is finished I get to pick out and add my own "decorations!" We had about 4 LT-40 ARFs in our club so when I finished "assembling" mine I made some minor changes in the supplied decorations just to make mine different from the other three.

First time all 4 were at the field no one noticed the difference right off. But later one guy got to comparing it to the rest, and when he called attention to it the result was that mine got all the attention. It was different, and that's part of the fun of this hobby. ARFs have all but taken that part away, but not in my hangar!

I just ordered one two weeks ago and got it a few days later. It looks like a challenging kit to build (lots of lamination) but that's half the fun for me. If you really want one I know that www.greathobbies.com in Canada has them in stock.

I must admit, however, that I was less impressed with what was in the kit for the $$ (about $110 Cdn). It would not be difficult to scratch build if you have the plans. If the plans will still be for sale, you can build it with about $20 of wood IMO. Still a really neat plane though. And the Trexlar wheels just set it off beautifully.


btw Art, is your stagger bee the one with the upper wing as an aileron? I'd be curious how it flies.

Bob

I don't get how some companies, who are pumpin our ARFs, can't be bothered to put out a kit for teh rest of us. It seems that when a plane is turned from a kit to an ARF, the kit is no longer avaliable.

Why can't they keep the kit, AND start the same plane in an ARF?

From this forum, and a few others, it is obvious that there are a lot of kit builders who would like to see kits stick around!

one reason, cost.
Weston UK Cougar Magnum and Hype ARTF's and all the Ripmax ones are cheaper in ARTF form than kit. The little chinese kids build them for nothing, i'd love to see a bare Cougar ,or kit, but alas no more.
However, as long as there are Old Lazy Bee kits about there will always be plans you can borrow.

we've got a company comming to our club because we're the only one left that still builds a certian old kit from plans thats comming back.

We had forums about the ecomonics of ARFs, KITS, and ARC before. We now live in the Henry Ford Walmart era, where you can have it as long as it can be made in mass quantities, cheap, and has to be identical. I had to recover every one of my ARFs because of the quality, but, thats the price for convenience. The "Clancy" guy that I fly with says his ARF built and flies is like someone tied a 20 lb dumbbell to it. He hates it and was quite sad that the Clancy line was sold off.

That is a bummer.

Time to put mine in a glass case for safekeeping...


(yes I know I need to recover the rudder!)

Arggg......1 left at LHS.
Better go pick that up quick!!
I bet it'll be there as it has sat there for months....as most kits do.
Darn, I wish I was born earlier. I don't mind ARFs....but not having kits is a MASSIVE bummer.
[]
Brian

Hobby People took over distribution for Clancey. They show it on their web site as back ordered, not as discontinued. No Guarantee, but, normally, the site is right.

Hey guys relax.......Clancy is just re-tooling some of their kits. Instead of the die cut versions...they will be lazer cut soon. So don't go postal yet. I actually bought a couple of the ARF Lazy Bees. The wings are VERY weak! But after stripping the coating off and add more spars.....it is fine.

On Ebay, a guy sell Lazy Bee plans. I bought one and I hope to scratch build one this winter and dump the ARF version.

Also....the Speedy Bee has been temporarally put on hold because the are retooling that kit also and going with the lazer cut version.

Be patient guys......sometimes change is good!!!!!!!


Dave


[link=http://home.att.net/~imsofaman/dave_surace_rc_homepage.htm]Dave Surace RC Homepage[/link]

The kits that are out there are getting better. Laser cutting from cad plans is a huge improvement. I wish House of Balsa would follow suit.

To add to what's been said:

Clancy kits, plans, etc, etc are still available from Hobby People:
http://www.hobbypeople.net/ . I've not ordered anythin yet, but theire website shows that the Clancy line is still alive and well.

--Bill

It's good that Clancy is retooling, and its kits etc are (or will be) but according to Tower (of course they ar enot the manufacturer) the lazy bee kits are discontinued. I hope it's briefly

No "evil empire" absorbed Goldberg. Goldberg was purchased by Lanier, an independent model manufacturer. Lanier and Goldberg are being distributed exclusively by Great Planes, but they are not a part of the "evil empire." Great Planes buys stuff from Lanier/Goldberg; they don't OWN Lanier/Goldberg.

GLOBAL, not Goldberg, became the exclusive distributor for Clancy not too long ago. Global Hobby Distributors is a completely different distributor, not at all related to Great Planes. The closest they come to a relationship is that Tower Hobbies sells some Global products (e.g. Clancy kits/ARFs, Magnum engines, Wattage products). Tower buys their stuff from Global like any other hobby shop, and Tower is under the same corporate umbrella as Great Planes (i.e. Hobbico).

I have yet to build one, but have thought abut it many times. I saw one a guy blew up and had like a 12 to 14 foot wing on it. That would be really cool!

If you go to [link=http://www.hobbypeople.net/mfr/CLANCY01.asp]Hobby People-Clancy Aviation[/link], look at the bottom of the page for the lazer cut all four versions in one kit. This is what the re-tooling is all about. This will be an awesome kit and I will have to get one!!!!!! They had told me this summer that the Speedy Bee will be in two forms....an ARF and a lazer kit version. Looking forward to seeing how that will pan out.

I think the next kit for will be the Stagger Bee. That looks to be a lot of fun. Any of you guys have a Stagger Bee or have you seen one fly? I have heard that it flies very well.


[link=http://home.att.net/~imsofaman/dave_surace_rc_homepage.htm]Dave Surace RC Homepage[/link]

How can a Lazy Bee kit be crap???
It's nothing but 1/8" sticks!!! There are so few die cut parts that its only a few minutes to cutout new ones if need be. Built mine from a very old kit and it was fine. A lot of work they are but thats sticks and lamination.

Oliy in Germantown
Francis

I have the Stagger Bee but it's still in the box and to be truthful I have never seen one built but here their a ball to fly. A OS .25 FP will be on mine, should really scoot!!!!![>:]

[&o]After reading the posts on this thread, I did not see where anyone had called the Lazy Bee kit "crap". We have all built Clancy kits that have been die cut and they are awesome. You have to understand that in a manufacturing environment, a die cut kit tooling needs maintenance. Down time for tooling repair means money lost, which in turn reflects in higher costs to the consumer. There are imperfections with die cut kits. Not to say that all Clancy kits have problems. I have a newer Speedy Bee kit that the ribs were not cut all the way thru. you know as well as I do that the plywood pcs. are not cut well. Even though balsa is light and soft...it will still wear out tool steel in time. A laser cut kit is very precise. In the beginning a company will pay some big dollars for the laser cutting machine, but the savings in tooling over time will pay for that machine very quickly. Hopefully we will benefit with a superior kit at a lower price.