Duayne P

My Feedback: (15)

Thanks Annmarie. I looked at mine and the holes on the leading edge mount wear drilled to far forward, But the wood was not split. I reinforced it anyway. GP has come a long way to pleasing their customers and living on Guam being so far from the state make it hard to deal with Manufacturers. But GP has my trust now. Keep up the great work.
Duayne Peters
President, Guam Aeromdelers
AMA CH 1414

KCCraig

My Feedback: (1)

Ann Marie
Haveing researched the GP Pitts extensively here on RCUniverse,
I was very impressed with your response to the concerns of modelers.
As a result I ordered my Pitts. Even with the wing seperation concerns. I am happy to do the checks/reinforcement required to insure a strong reliable airplane. Thanks again for your support to the modeling community

Craig

flynm

My Feedback: (24)

I'm looking to ordering the plane, you and GP have earned my business in the past, but I'll definitely cont to support the company.

Dan

CrashMeister

My Feedback: (4)

I also had to open the wings where the interplane struts bolt on. Both sides had split spars and required reinforcing. So did both the front and rear spars at the cabanes.

Mine now weighs 16lbs 12 oz and is starting to look really heavy. I doubt it will fly all that well at that weight.

Craig.

fgpierce

My Feedback: (2)

AMCROSS

Im sorry to disagree but you DO use hot glues! I have your spacewalker and the landing gear main left blocks pulled out because of poor adhesion, not enough and what was there wasnt touching much wood!

Yes I totaly agree in the idea of what the birds would cost if "professionaly" built, and I agree we get alot for our dollars. Still. If they fall apart without much effort what good are they? Especialy for hard won hobby dollars! The arfs that are offered are HARD to resist and "stuff" happens but you as the importer or seller must stand behind your product! After all you do make a profit, however large or small. but to us the consumer its needless or unwarrented loss plain and simple.
The coverings on these birds are simply beautiful and better than I may be capible of but in the case of your STUKA it wrinkels so bad and its all seperate pieces so ironing it back down over several weekends of flying does bring some challanges to say the least!
I know its hard to please John Q Public, I work as a estimator myself, and know all the pitfalls. We still need to rely on products made on SOME level that key areas are properly bonded! I imagine that CYA isnt used for maybe cost, safety to young workers,Potlife in warm humid areas and so on. Hot glue is fast and if done properly strong! the problem is that its not applied properly and the loss falls on us when you or other distributors wont make good. I'm not saying you personaly have never replaced something but I'm sure there have been cases that have gone unresolved. I know because SIG has done it to me and I just repaired the spacewalker Hanger9 wont replace the wing of my PT-19 because the gear exploded from the wing on a SOFT off field landing. I'm afraid to fly my new SIG Sukhoi because the wing is known to fail without much effort because the Trailing spar is way to weak!

ThaFlyer

My Feedback: (16)

So what kind of glue is it?

amcross

My Feedback: (2)

FP,
Respectfully, you are mistaken.
<<Im sorry to disagree but you DO use hot glues! >>

We most definitely, undoubtedly, do NOT use "hot glues". The materials used to assemble ARFs, because of the assembly-line style of construction, are not the same CAs we are used to using to build a model one-by-one by hand; however, they certainly are not "hot glue" either. The materials used are a combination of epoxies, slow set glues, and adhesives which setup only in certain conditions.

dljolly

By golly, an airworthiness directive straight from the manufacturer! Now there's something you don't see very often.

I don't own any GP planes yet, but this whole episode certainly raises my confidence in AM and her company.

Nice to see,

Dave

Crashem

Just one Question

Where the people whose planes where destroyed because of this defect given replacments????

amcross

My Feedback: (2)

Crashem,
ALL defects are handled under the manufacturer's warranty. If we were sent the remains of an upper wing showing this defect and meeting the other warranty requirements, yes, absolutely they were replaced.

Crashem

If I understand you correctly. You are saying that planes destroyed because of this defect were replaced. Then I have to say that Great planes goes to the head of my list when buying my next airplane....

That is what a call backing your customer.

amcross

My Feedback: (2)

Yes, sure am, AS LONG AS the customer didn't void the warranty.

CrashMeister

My Feedback: (4)

If I may add a note of caution, vioding the warranty includes using ANY engine that exceeds the manufacturers recommendation. Mmmmm, about 75% of all planes sold ?

Craig.

Ralpher

My Feedback: (58)

I too commend Great Planes for their efforts on ensuring the customer is 100% satisfied. They are top-notch company to deal with, and AnnMarie is a class act whom my dealings with have been professional and first class. I buy a significant portion of my RC hobby items from Tower Hobbies / Great Planes. However, I might suggest that before a product such as the 1/3 scale Pitts gets into the field, a bit more effort to ensure it will not fall apart be expended in the prototype stage. In the case of my Pitts, I had to essentially rebuild the top wing connection area (used full-length spruce vs. the small stub spars), along with additional reinforcements in the firewall area, due to the firewall coming apart. With a Fuji 50, my airplane was overpowered considering the factory guidelines, but a 46.5 cc engine, vs. the recommended 41-cc gas engine is not anywhere near what most folks typically install vs. factory recommendations. When I first suffered the wing troubles, I should of boxed it up and returned both the engine and the airframe to Tower for a refund. I have flown the full scale Pitts, and really wanted the Great Planes version. Unfortunately after the firewall rebuild I had lost confidence in the model. I flew it a few times afterwards, but never enjoyed it. I had the Model Graphics Charlie Hilliard package, a detailed cockpit and 30% scale pilot. The gent who purchased it got a great airplane at a great price, and I suffered about a $250 total loss. Perhaps I was a bit premature in my sale of the airplane, as most things need to have the “bugs” worked out a bit. But most of the “bugs” should be out before it gets into the field. Most of the airplanes in my RC hanger have flown right off the board, with little to no “debugging” in the field.

amcross

My Feedback: (2)

Ralph,
Please believe me we undestand and appreciate your comments and the situation 110%. Unfortunately, despite EXTREME efforts on our part, problems do sometimes happen. We are often chastised for models not shipping on their initial planned shipment date. 99.9% of the time that is due to our extensive testing efforts finding running changes that need to be made, or better ways of doing things, etc....

CrashMeister

My Feedback: (4)

I too think that AnnMarie does a wonderful job. Above and beyond the call in fact.

I too am having a love/hate relationship with my Pitts. I fixed the wing before flying and I also had to upgrade the interplane strut mounts (they were split as well). After six flights the metal bracket that holds the wing to the cabane broke. Again I was fortunate that I saw the damage before the next flight. GP sent me some new brackets after a simple email explaining what had happened.

The love part of the equation, is that I now have the landings figured out, I loved the inverted flat spins I did on flight #6 and I am getting a feel for the plane. I really hope it holds together from now on so I can continue to enjoy it.

Craig.

AnnMarie: So I trashed my warranty, but the BME 50 ROCKS !

pittsman

My Feedback: (2)

hey crash,

my thoughts exaxtly, the _ _ _ _ with the warranty, if you like the
BME 50 on your pitts, try it with a BOLLY 22x10!!!!!!!!!!!
i have the same engine/plane combo. IT IS TIME TO
SEE WHAT THIS PLANE CAN AND WILL HANDLE. this past weekend i put the plane in a 1/4 throttle blender and it held up, not once , but i did it a second time and was happy its together.
maybe the next couple of flights will see 1/2 to 3/4 throttle blenders.

PITTSMAN

amcross

My Feedback: (2)

Crash,
If you choose to void the warranty during assembly, that is a decision you must live with, regardless of the defect which results in a failure. That's the simple truth of this, and any, warranty. If you choose to over power it, or clip the wings, or or or or ... then you are on your own regardless of what may occur.

The cabane mounting issue is being resolved to everyone's satisfaction, and has earned exceptional positive feedback because we've been proactive and helpful as much as is at all possible In your case, you send us your center section we send you a new, repaired one, no charge if you don't feel you can do the repair.

But not if you've chosen to void your warranty.

Regarding the glue, I won't dignify your comment with a response. Obviously if the conditions were heat, it would be a, um, "Hot glue". There are various different glue types used in assembling our ARFs, none of which have anything to do with heat activation as in using a hot glue gun to assemble or sticking in an oven to activate or whatever. That is as much information as I can provide, and if that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, I'm sorry. But that is the information I have available to supply.

AJF--2

My Feedback: (119)

Are we talking about the same cabane issue? There is the one with the spar being reinforced--GP has done a great job addressing this. However: Has anything been done about the regularity of the metal L- brackets breaking at the bend? I still hear of a few of these. Has there been any information from GP on this?

amcross

My Feedback: (2)

AJF, please clarify waht you're asking about specifically.