towerhobbies/horizon
06-17-2019, 01:17 PM
#26
Maybe, but it has been stated in many places that HH does not own Top Flite or Great Planes. They are supposedly trying to get the contracts and production back but is evidently not easy. No one seems to be able to answer why HH would not want to sell something people want to buy. If they were able to get a production run of say 1000 Top Flite Corsairs, how long would they take to sell? If 10 years or another long period, it would not make financial sense
I am down sizing and have two half built planes for nitro or gas. No one in this area even wants them for free as the builders are gone. I stocked up on some kits over the last few years so will have planes to build in the future once I move
Regards
I am down sizing and have two half built planes for nitro or gas. No one in this area even wants them for free as the builders are gone. I stocked up on some kits over the last few years so will have planes to build in the future once I move
Regards
06-17-2019, 06:23 PM
#27
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: BlenheimMarlborough, NEW ZEALAND
Posts: 310
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yeah....I don't have the time, skills or room to build from plans. That's why I like ARF's although I would like to have a go off plans some day if my circumstances change. I like the 60 size warbirds because they fit into my vehicle and I like flying them on 4-stroke 95v O.S glow engines. I liked Greatplanes and Topflite because they seemed to be of better quality than some others. I have a Blackhorse Storch running a 4-stroke O.S 40cc gas engine, I like it, but it is a bit big for my transportation and storage, and the quality isn't as good as the Greatplanes/Topflite models I've owned..
Shame they are not supported or producing anymore.
Shame they are not supported or producing anymore.
06-18-2019, 05:35 AM
#28
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: watervliet, MI
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
BelAirBob has made some good points, but it has always been a huge risk for hobby retailers from day one. Nowadays there reluctant to hit the Buy It Now button because there's at lot of money at stake. That's why the preorder button came into play. I'm sorry guys, but I'm afraid that's just the way its going to be. I'm thinking more and more about going back to building.
06-18-2019, 08:01 AM
#29
Scratch building may be the way to go. It gives you a lot of liberties. Build it larger or smaller than designed. I like upright engines, no spinner only prop nuts, tail dragger and, so far, I’ve used no enlarged plans. I just draw the lines I need for the build. I got back into RC 2014. I could not find locally available kits. So it was scratch build for me. I’ve built 7 airplanes, plus some needed accessory gear. I do have 2 kits stored. Not sure when the kits will be built.
Pictured is a plane I built from pictures and a small picture of the plans. Cowl is removable. I guess this is My Way. It is not as hard as it looks. Building is a dying pastime. Kit builders are rare. Scratch builder are hard to find. I only know one other builder.
06-20-2019, 08:14 AM
#31
Nope, and because of this, I am looking into a hobby laser for myself. I have a stack of plans to build from, and laser cutters are getting cheap, I call them Chasers since they are chinese lasers. Figuring out the software is the biggest hurdle, but found some decent ones to work with.
06-20-2019, 12:30 PM
#33
Hobbico owned Tower and went bankrupt. Hobbico supposedly did not own Top Flite or Great Planes or if they did, was not part of the deal. People at Horizon and othe people in industry say they are trying to get the rights back. Some things are back such as Escapade. The reality is that the market is in ARF’s, not kits. I like many others hope that we at least see some of the popular kits someday. But before Horizon or anyone invests a bunch of money, they have to believe there is a market large enough.
Someone knows where these kits were made, minimum numbers for production etc. But no one seems to be talking with any authority
There are plenty of unbuilt kits out there. The trick is finding them at a reasonable cost. The days of endless kit selection is gone.
bob
Someone knows where these kits were made, minimum numbers for production etc. But no one seems to be talking with any authority
There are plenty of unbuilt kits out there. The trick is finding them at a reasonable cost. The days of endless kit selection is gone.
bob
06-20-2019, 04:53 PM
#34
The buyout of assets was by choice. HH bought what they know they can sell, and left the rest behind. TF and GP may still be held in the courts, don't know, only the lawyers do. With companies like Hobbico that has branches that go bankrupt, the assets can be broken up and sold to other companies instead of an all in one deal. Some companies just by the rights to the brand, and not the inventory. When the company bought Montgomery Wards, they didn't buy the IP addresses. Big mistake, they are worth millions. a full class B of real internet address space was ignored, and today each class C is worth at least $20,000 on the open market. With 250 class C blocks, that is 5 million dollars that were ignored.
Somewhere the rights for TF and GP are sitting in a folder somewhere. All it takes is an interested party to want them and negotiate a price to buy them.
Somewhere the rights for TF and GP are sitting in a folder somewhere. All it takes is an interested party to want them and negotiate a price to buy them.
07-24-2019, 03:46 PM
#35
STILL waiting on Top Flight Giant Scale P51 (one of best selling of all time) ---- so sad 
Bought a Phoenix 60cc P51 - good plane, flies nice, lands easy but heavier and slower than the Top Flight
Bought a Phoenix 60cc P51 - good plane, flies nice, lands easy but heavier and slower than the Top Flight
07-26-2019, 11:30 AM
#38
My Feedback: (2)
Hey acdii, How is the lazer working out for you? My friend has a small one that he bought off Ebay. It is something that I will probally need in the future as I want to build some no longer produced kits and the lazer seems to be the answer for me!
Thank You
Michael Johnston
Thank You
Michael Johnston
07-26-2019, 11:43 AM
#39
The laser is great, its making the designs in the computer that is a pain. I am almost done with the Liberty Sport ribs. I have about 20 hours design work into them, have 3 left to complete before I can burn them. I got ahead of myself and did 4 sheets of 1.8th" Balsa for ribs W6 and W13, and discovered that they don't quite line up, and making the rest match the profile would not have worked, so went back and redid them all to they match the plans 100% instead of 95%. They should also be 3/32" balsa since the trailing edge is already notched for them. I should have the last three done tonight and be ready to cut the actual parts out tomorrow, but I think I need to get some 3/32" stock first.
07-27-2019, 05:18 PM
#40
I sent a strongly worded e-mail to Tower. Basically I told them that if they cannot get Top Flight models (P51, P47 Razorback) just tell us that rather than saying 'on order', 'late September then early November', or
' temporarily unavailable'.
My e-mail should resolve the problem.
Anyway, hoping Top Flight is not DONE but it does not look good to me. The longer this goes on the worse it gets for Top Flight/Tower/Horizon.
' temporarily unavailable'.
My e-mail should resolve the problem.
Anyway, hoping Top Flight is not DONE but it does not look good to me. The longer this goes on the worse it gets for Top Flight/Tower/Horizon.
07-28-2019, 12:52 PM
#43
Agree ACDII. Anyway, we can handle the truth - if they cannot get the kits/arfs JUST TELL US us rather than putting us off month after month. I would buy two of them today but I don't want to backorder something that may (or may not) be here is 6 or 8 months. I am pretty sure they will respond to my e-mail in 'LATE AUGUST' (HAHAHA).
07-31-2019, 05:01 AM
#45
Those are SIG kits. You wont find any other make unless it has ARF in it. They do have the TF P-47 Arf in stock though. Oh they also have the GP/CG Ultimate Bipe ARF in stock. That one should sell quickly.
07-31-2019, 10:38 AM
#46
My Feedback: (2)
I just found the last tower talk i received last fall and I am wondering did they stop publishing it? It is a shame but if all they have is ARFs I not going to be a customer. I have a Tower Kaos 40 and GP easy sport the landing gear on the sport or crap and I had to replace the nose gear and I am thinking about replacing the main gear too. I cant build the airplane for the cost they sell it for.
08-10-2019, 08:19 AM
#47
My Feedback: (21)
I have a friend who used to work for Hobbico (Tower parent company) He says that when the company was sold one of the assets that no one bought was Great Plane Mfg which made all of the kits for Tower (including Top Flite) . So all of the airplane kits went south with Great Planes. TF arfs were made by a different company so that is why they still exist.
Larry
Larry
08-10-2019, 07:17 PM
#49
My Feedback: (2)
But then the person who buys the right has to pay off the debt that it had before it tanked! I was never a fan of Hobbico or gp they had their heads screwed on backwords when it came to the RC world they just bought all these great companies and mind some of them where hurting before and now look at whats left almost nothing! It so sad to see the state of this hobby is now most hobby shops can't compete with the internet.
08-11-2019, 05:05 AM
#50
Many of us would love it if someone could get the rights to GP kits. But unless one can find someone loaded with money who is willing to lose money, it probably is not going to happen. Many of us trying to downsize can’t even give our old planes away. The hobby has changed unfortunately. I was flying my GP Extra 300S yesterday with an OS .91. I fly it carefully as when it is gone it is gone