Large scale interest

William · 1 August 2005, 09:48 AM

Hello folks,
Slightly out of my territory here but had a brain-fart/hypo-manic idea over the weekend and am wondering how much interest there might be for it. We restore and recreate parts and aircraft and in the process most parts are modeled via CADCAM. As you can imagine there is not a huge market for full scale aircraft so we are always looking for ways to offset our costs. It is a fairly simple matter to change scale on parts. My question is this; how much interest would there be in serialized kits for exact scale 1:3, 1:4, 1:6 etc... ? Specifically laser cut bracketry, investment castings, CNC'd metal fittings, instruments, wheels etc... potentially engines as well. What would be of the most interest; rough parts or finished? Without wood or complete package? Any thoughts? I'm not hazarding a guess about expense yet but would be interested in a cost target that folks would realistically consider. Feel free to humiliate the idea in a constructive manner

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Regards,
William

StephenLawson · 1 August 2005, 06:36 PM

Greetings William; Welcome to the Aerodrome. There are aftermarket detail kits available for small scale kits. We call these photoetch. There are also poly resin conversion kits. The items you propose would certainly seem to be applicable to the large scale Proctor and other Radio or Control line type kits. Williams Bros did a long business of selling guns and a 80hp LeRhône. Not being deep into large scale myself (...except for the 1/16th Albatros I am still working on) I am only a small voice amidst the cannons on the subject...Our own Top Gun, John Reid jumps to mind. Super detail the big kits seems a grand scheme. This thread will probably get moved to the subtitle where it will get their scrutiny.

William · 1 August 2005, 07:11 PM

Hello Stephen,
Thank you for your reply. My original idea was to produce very accurate "kits" in large static scale of the aircraft that we are working on (Sopwith). Serialized to make them more affordable like the folks in the UK that make the large scale tanks. The idea of producing upgrades for cockpits and engines on exisiting R/C/ kits may be interesting. Never occured to me to actually fly one.
Regards,
William

Tmoth4 · 2 August 2005, 06:39 AM

I think there would be a market for dummy engines, guns, fittings, etc. in the 1/4 to 1/3 scale size. Williams Bros. was the main supplier for some of that stuff, as well as Proctor Enterprises. The Wms. Bros. stuff was nice but it was all made of styrene and not real durable. Dummy engines and guns of a heavier material would be nice (we usually need the weight up front anyway!) for the R/C models.

You might want to pose your query in the rcscalebuilder.com forum. That's where a lot of the more serious scale builders are these days.

Jim

JohnFitz · 2 August 2005, 08:46 AM

William, It would be great to see 1/4 and 1/3 scale full kits or cut parts of some of the aircraft that are less common. Of course you would offer guns, fittings, dummy engines, cowls etc. seperately or included in the price of a kit. One of my current project calls for two 1/4 scale Marlin guns which I will have to fabricate myself because nobody sells them.The price has to be right. Would you offer plans or a plan service for enlarging scale drawings? I agree with Jim that you should post this idea on the RCS site. Cheers!
JohnFitz

Lyle · 2 August 2005, 07:32 PM

A terrific idea! As JohnFitz said, this would be ideal for some of the more esoteric subjects we all love to build. For instance, a Parabellum gun kit in 1/4 or 1/3 scale could have brass sheet already cut with the fretting, and all that would be required was to bend it 'round a form to create the correct diameter, solder it and install it on the finished gun. Same goes for the Spandau gun.
Wheels can be a problem area, too. The scratchbuilders can usually fabricate their own wheels, but there are those of us who know more than the average sport flyer yet lack the skills to build something accurate to fit our models.
I believe that Arizona Model Aircrafters has been attempting to do this in recent years, but from what I've seen in their kits and the reports from modelers attempting to build their stuff, there is an awful lot of room for improvement.
Best of luck on this matter!

Lyle

TomVrille · 3 August 2005, 02:23 PM

Hi William -

Following up on Lyle's post, I agree that the folks at Arizona Model Aircrafters come closest to being competitors to your proposed enterprise. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you scan their website to obtain some insight into pricing, since their prices are (in my always questionable opinion) about all the market will support!

TV...

Breguet · 4 August 2005, 04:19 PM

I think it is a great idea. Go for it. It is always good to see more competition in the market place. I know there is a resurgence in large scale WW1 RC models here in Australia. Guns, wheels, cowls, dummy engines would all be particularly welcome.

I agree with Tmoth4 the guys at:

http://www.rcscalebuilder.com

are the way to go.

Brown Baron · 5 August 2005, 07:24 AM

Yasou William,
Grand idea. I've just this year returned to RC flying after nearly a decade away and I am amazed at what's available to modellers today. Some of it is easily affordable by the average modeller and some of it is not. There's GWS-type mass production and hence very low prices and then there's smaller productions like GTM (Glen Torrance Models) and much higher prices. GTM models are arguably the best of the bunch in most respects as regards quality and scale fidelity in the large flying model genre. It would certainly be to your advantage to do a comprehensive search of your competetion and see what they offer and at what cost.

I ususally scratch-build and not because I don't like kits but rather because I'm cheap. I can't see spending $200 or $300 or more on a model that can end up as matchsticks because of radio interference or someone unthinkingly turning on a transmitter on the same frequency or a mistake. That's just me. (Make any sense to anyone that I put a $1000 set of Michellins on the P-car?)

Try looking around on the www.rcgroups.com site as well. The gas and electric scale forums are good places to gather info and opinions. What exactly are you proposing to produce? Fittings or kits?

Good luck,

Mike

mgtaylor · 5 August 2005, 11:36 AM

William

Email me please? I would definiately purchase a quarter scale sopwith, Camel I assume? DO you have the CADCAM drawings for the engines ie. internal parts, carbs, mags, etc? Replica Engines has produced a working LeRhone only do my knowledge it has never beable to porduce enough power to get anything but an Eindecker kit off the ground in ground effect. FOr the price of the engine itself ie thousands I can't say there still not all sold thanks to the price. But hey a comparble sized model engine which is a real rotary would steal the market in my opinion. I have an Uncle who has a CinC machine and does machine work on the side. If I had the CAD CAMS of a blueprinted engine I would be in the business myself to produce a quarter scale working engine that will produce enough power to fly a quater scale plane. Mike email : mgtaylor20000@aol.com