Do I really want a Ranger 1600? As I was looking into reviews it sold out, first in the United States, then in Hong Kong. This was within 10 minutes! It was like nothing I've ever seen before. The plane was in my cart, and then it was "sold out." It's a well-respected plane, but not the plane of the year. There are a lot of mid-fuselage pusher planes on the market, such as the line of Bixlers and Sky Surfers. So, why suddenly was this the hot ticket? I believe it was meant to be the kit, and not the PNF version for the price listed. Perhaps this was the deal of the season. And there were deals, some better than others.
The hierarchy of the RC plane hobby.
To some, gas and balsa are the only real planes. What can I say? Some of these planes are worth more than my car! Large gas planes are still around, and still in demand. But, not as strong as it used to be. The hobby has shifted to smaller, lighter foam planes that are battery powered. The problem is that for many years foam planes were about as wonky as its name implies.
At the flying field, you just don't show up and start flying your large gas plane. There's work to be done. There is prep work for a gas plane, fueling it, making last minute adjustments and firing up the engine. You get one of your buddies at the park to hold the plane down as you fire it up. The guy says "She's running a bit rich today, Dave." And, that's part of the enjoyment Guys socialize through their planes. They like going to the flight line, setting up their plane taking it up for a flight, and BSing with the other guys as they clean it and put it away. If you're into large scale planes, to this day, they are wood. The smaller ones in size ranges between one and two meters used to be exclusively wood as well. But now foam is creeping in. Imagine, showing up to a club field with a foam plane? Unheard of years ago.
Foam evolution
The evolution of foam has been mind-boggling. The first generation of foam planes was derived from packaging materials. Interestingly enough, it was the folks at the glider slopes who first embraced the foam planes. The DIY nature of the first foam planes are being revisited in Dollar Tree Foam Board planes like those found at Flite Test.
Foam planes are now beautifully made, nothing like the first gen foam planes. The EPO and EPP offerings are good and getting better all the time. Different grades of foam make for planes that are firm, rigid, and a lot more repairable than wood.
Foam is now creeping into the wood plane market, and the ramifications can be felt across the industry.
Horizon Hobby
As for Horizon Hobby, if you can find your way to a hobby store that sells RC planes in the States these seem to be what's on the shelves. Horizon Hobby tends to be run the full spectrum of planes. They offer the cheap foam planes all the way up to the very best large scale wood planes on the market. Thus, any hobby store that sells Horizon Hobby can sell you anything from a Micro Radian for $80 to a multi-thousand dollar large scale plane. Somehow, Horizon Hobby has figured out how to make this all work, so they have my admiration. They seem to fetch premium prices for most of their offerings. Thus, any sale is a welcome thing if you're into their planes.
Horizon Hobby did have quite a few planes on sale over the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday week. The one plane that I was interested in for a short time was the Timber. It's a 1.5 meter bush plane. One option is to get it as a Bind N Fly with the proprietary Spektrum receiver and built-in flight stabilization. And yet I got the similar plane on sale at Hobby King for $100 less. No receiver and no flight stabilization. But, for $100 that can buy another plane!
Hobby King
Hobby King had one of the more interesting set of sales going on this season. They had some remarkable flash sales that made me look up their offerings and debate if I should buy certain planes that weren't even on the radar. All I can say is that I've been to their website more in one week than I've gone the rest of the year. During this week I understood what Hobby King is trying to do a bit more.
The one thing I've really figured out about Hobby King is that they've perfected the foam plane to the extent that they can make just about any plane out of EPO foam and make it look lovely. Some of them are so good that they are very difficult to figure out if they are made of foam or wood just by first glance Instead of fighting in the swamp with Banggood for every last kit sale they seem to be looking at Horizon Hobby's market. What I am seeing more and more of is compelling $200-$500 planes made of foam offered by Hobby King.
What I am expecting from Hobby King is lots and lots of scale replica planes. I'm sure you'll see a "Spirit of St. Louis" plane and EDF versions of the G5. Some people get off on this, I kinda like planes that fly well with as little hassle as possible. So, for the most part these planes aren't on my radar, with the exception of the Tundra.
Banggood
What started out as a retail portal in China for the rest of the world is evolving. Every day they have many planes on sale. Some are perpetual sales which means they really aren't on sale. The Black Friday /Cyber Monday sales were ho-hum this year. Most of the sale items were listed weeks earlier. Banggood had a generous 20% off sale. And yet, 20% off was after other sale prices. For example, the ZOHD Dart was 70% off before the 20% off. The one place that had the best deals this season was definitely Banggood. Which is fine because the prices over the busy flying months seem to be high and the sales weren't that good. It's a good time to stock up on sale items. It's also a good time to stock up if you're like me and believe that Banggood will eventually have to start making a profit on selling planes.
Banggood has a good selection of planes from low end to the medium range of the market And quietly they are filling the over $300 range of the market with FMS planes and other offerings. What I am not seeing is a rush of scale planes. They seem to be the ideal choice for guys like me who like to build planes that fly well, if they are pretty it's an afterthought. Most important, the prices are as low as you'll find them. Though some planes are Chinese knock-offs of established planes, Banggood has a nice offering of planes from Volantex, Sonicmodels and ZOHD. These three manufactures had their planes on sale over the month of November.
Example sale items
Horizon Hobby
This was an online only cyber week sale. For under $200 including tax they can have a very good trainer that has everything from the radio to the battery and charger. The good news about this plane is that parts are readily available. Downsides, well there are a few. The battery is a "Star Connector" which to me looks like a Deans connector. The first thing you may want to do for someone who buys this plane is put on XT60 connectors on the plane and battery charger. Then they can load up on those $11 3S 2200mAh batteries from Hobby King. The Tactic receiver only works on one plane. Chances are if someone is hooked on this plane you can start talking to them about better gear for their next plane.
But, what's not to like about this plane? It has everything you need to fly. Most importantly it has a built-in flight stabilizer. With this plane you'll need a large, empty park to teach someone to fly. The receiver has a buddy cord port if you also have a Tactic transmitter. Best of all, all the parts are readily available. This is an attractive price for this kit and if it was up to me this should be the price it stays at. It would help more people get into the hobby.
Hobby King
Hobby King had some remarkable planes for sale. This was the one plane that got a lot of people measuring space in their garage or closets. The Avios Grand Tundra. The plane was on sale for around a week at $250. Not a cheap plane by any stretch of the imagination. It is a HUGE plane and though it is a STOL plane (short take-off and landings) it's a bit too large to fly at your local park. And yet, it will take off and land just fine at your local park. It comes equipped with many lights so twilight flights are something in your realm with this plane. It's a Bush plane which means that it can land on a variety of surfaces such as grass or some dirt paths. This is the direction I am seeing Hobby King going. Scale planes that are well done sold pre-assembled. The one thing they thankfully haven't done (yet?) is come up with their own proprietary battery connector.
I toyed with buying this plane for a few days (it was on sale for well over a week). It was way too large for my needs, I didn't have the batteries it required and I felt the flight times were a bit short. I opted for its little sister when she came up on sale.
Banggood
Sonicmodels AR- (Banggood) In many flying circles, the AR seems to be the plane of the year. It's what a lot of people have been looking for, a rugged EPP foam plane that is blunt nose which means it can take a 2200mAh 3S battery and your FPV gear. It flies great and many people have raved about this plane. It's a great plane if you're coming to wings from quads. it's fairly easy to fly. 900-1000mm seems to be the sweet spot for my taste in planes. You can throw it in the car, take it to the park and enjoy a relaxing flight. Or you can watch the hair on your arms go up as you take this plane through various stunts that it can easily handle. Thanks to it's smooth EPP foam, it can handle just about any speed you throw at it.
Normally a plane like this doesn't go on sale, why should it? It seems to be a plane that is always in demand. And yet it went on sale in two different ways. First, it was $5 off its normal price. I know, yes a whole $5! So, it was $65 on sale. But then Banggood had yet another sale on top of that, a 20% off promotion which dropped the price to $52. This sale price lasted less than a day, however. That's over a 25% discount on a plane that they didn't need to discount. The 20% off promotion was also on the ZOHD products which included the Dart (standard not XL) the mini Talen, and the Orbit.
There's always the end of the year.
The RC planes fall into the "toy" category for many retailers. In a perfect world, Christmas would be a week after New Years. This would end the previous year with a good financial push for most retailers and then also start the year with a good financial push. The left-over toy inventory could be marked down gradually. As it stands right now, retailers have one week to move the excess toy inventory off their books before year-end. So, what you can often expect to see is heavy discounts starting around the week before Christmas and continuing into New Years. Thus, more bargains are out there, waiting to be had.
Things to keep an eye on in the new year.
Banggood/Gearbest- Aside from a looming trade war the thing I see happening is the strengthening world economy and increased demand for RC products. I think you will see less significant sales, especially around the summer months as the flying season is hot. Chinese New Year is on February 5, 2019 and will last around a month. Production will fall off and perhaps inventory that is out may not get restocked in the United States until the third week of March. Around this time you may start seeing new planes hitting the market as some plants take the downtime to retool. I think the demand is there so perhaps next year will offer some interesting new planes from these retailers.
Hobby King- This retailer worries me the most. They seem to be moving away from the hobbyist builder who likes to build their own planes and is moving toward the hobbyist who wants to buy a plane, throw in their own receiver and batteries and go flying.
When I did research into offerings of the Bush planes recently one plane that stuck out was the FMS Kingfisher. Its motor seemed out of line for the rest of the offerings It turns out that the same motor was used in a few FMS planes. I can see Hobby King doing the same thing, streamlining the motor and battery offerings to the point where the selection will be slashed. Hobby King will continue to make some of the best planes in the industry, and some duds. Though they sell the Wing Wing, and the Reptile S800 I doubt they perceive these planes as their future. What I can see is that every few months a new scale plane will come out with all the hoopla that surrounded the C-130 transport painted in the Blue Angels colors. I can see how Hobby King would like to be more like Horizon Hobby and less like Banggood.
Horizon Hobby- I just don't see Horizon Hobby discounting many planes in the summer months. So, the time to stock up like other retailers is in the winter. Of course, the million dollar question is what happens with brands like Great Planes which was squired during the Hobbico purchase. There are many Great Planes enthusiasts out there who have a lot of money tied up in these planes who want to know that they can still get parts and planes in the future. Tower Hobbies/OmniModels is going through a sort of restructuring. One brand that I liked that has gone away but seems to be coming back is Hacker. I am hoping for their triumphant return in 2019.
Fast Food Analogy
Why the sudden push of pre-built planes from Hobby King? I can explain it with food!
The one sure sign we're in a recession is the 99 cent hamburger advertised at the front of McDonald's or Burger King. Times are good now so you won't see those signs. But, when times get tough and they need traffic those signs go up. And yet, that 99 cent hamburger is perhaps costing them $1.40 to hand over. So, how does this work? Simple.
Hamburger: $1.40
Soda: $.30
Fries $.40
If you buy this for $3 they'll make a buck. But, at $5, they'll make $3. A burger, fries and a drink for $5 is easy to be found. And, that's the thing. People are fine with $5 because sit down meals are 2 to 3 times more expensive. But, when times get tough they don't eat out as often.
One other thing that was common a decade ago was to supersize the drink and fries for $1. The extra soda, larger packaging and extra fries were probably less than 40 cents. So, one more shot at extra value, and the customer felt that they were getting more value though the burger didn't get larger.
And there are always jerks like me. When I was a kid I would come in and order two burgers and that's it! They probably lost 80 cents to $1 each time I walked in for lunch. I'm surprised they didn't hand me $.50 and ask me to eat elsewhere.
So, comparing this to the hobby store. When you buy a kit plane because you have all the other parts at home, it's like just buying a burger. Maybe they make money, maybe they don't. But they are hoping you buy other things that are more profitable. An example? t the Hobby King Tundra.
Kit: 100
4 Servos 10
Motor 20
Prop 5
Speed Controller 15
I'm into this plane at $150 and I have to set it up myself. But, Hobbyking gets their parts for less With the Chinese labor they are paying to assemble it the plane is perhaps $160. It retails for $210, thus there is $50 profit for each sale, if not more. When I bought it on sale it was $165. Thus I doubt the true costs are higher than $165, and perhaps a bit more like $140 But, when you supersize it to the next size up, the Avios Grand Tundra, the build costs are probably not much more than $40 more though it sells for $350 ( $250 on sale). If the plane costs $200 to make, the profit is $150 at full price if not more.
You can see why Hobby King wants to sell kits at full retail prices, the margins are great! And pretty much, this is what you'll be seeing in the future. The only problem I see was that this racket was figured out by Tower Hobbies. You would think an online dynamo would never face hard times, and yet they did. Tower Hobbies was the it place to go, and then competition like Hobby King came along. Perhaps the profit dollars are lower for guys like me who live kit planes. But, we do show up and buy. Hopefully HobbyKing will round out this portion of their line with new offerings in 2019.
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