Chinese made RC supplies- Price Hikes on the way?!?!

Face it, we're reliant on China.

As anybody who's been into the RC Hobby for least the past decade or two knows, we're in the golden years of the hobby when it comes to price and quality.   We're getting some unbelievable quality products at insane prices.  It doesn't matter if you buy it directly from China on websites like Banggood or if you go through your local hobby store a lot of what is being offered is being manufactured in China.  True there are other Asian countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea as well as perhaps a bit from Japan.  But the one that stands out the most is China.  A lot of the world's newest manufacturing equipment for everything from RC parts, electronics, and even the clamshell packaging it comes in is manufactured in China. We've come to depend on China.

Simple law of supply and demand

The new manufacturing equipment is capable of turning out merchandise so efficiently, at low costs and beyond acceptable quality that the law of supply and demand kicks in.   There is far more supply than demand. If a small 9g metal gear servo costs $15 each you'll most likely buy a set for your next plane build.   If it's $150 each you'll most likely find a new hobby.  But when they are under $3 each you'll likely stock up in case you want to build a new plane sometime later this year.   It's because of this ability to supply far more than there is demand that the prices have stayed very low.

The two vendors I've been watching the most is Banggood and HobbyKing.   What I've noticed was that the lowest prices I've seen were around the holiday season.   In places like Australia it may be summertime, but for a good portion of the world people aren't out flying as bitter cold winters keep people indoors.

 When it comes to these seasonal lower prices I believe that a few factors are at work.  Retailers stock up on inventory for the holiday season, but realize that by mid-November that if Americans haven't ordered they most likely won't get the shipments before Christmas.  I also believe retailers like Banggood may slash prices because of low seasonal demand, and the need to reduce inventory before the end of the year.



A case in point, the C1 Chaser is a very nice plane. Around the holiday it was selling for under $40 including shipping, now in the summertime, the price has gone up to over $60 including shipping here in the United States. That's a 50% price increase!

Another example, HobbyKing's Teksumo.

This plane has traditionally been in the high 30's and low 40s.  It's now $50  sold and shipped in the United States. During the last holiday season, it was listed in the low 30s and was closed out in the old Orange color at $28.

The price has been in the $50 range for the majority of the year which means one of two things.  First, people are paying that price.  Or second, they have a fairly good inventory building up and will cut prices after summer and especially toward the end of the year.


The increasing prices may be a sign of an improving world economy and an increase in demand for RC products.  The US dollar to Chinese yuan has been changing.  The yuan has been gaining in value which means that it takes more US Dollars to buy the same Chinese made product as it did just a little while ago. 

As consumers, you're frustrated with the higher prices. But the retailer may not be keeping more money on there end either.   The differences are quite literally lost in financial transactions of changing dollars to yuan.

I don't believe China has a supply issue with many aspects of our hobby.    Most of the products made in China such as brushless motors and servos are to the point where they are commodities.   I've seen them sell out from time to time only to be restocked again within a week or two. If the world demand for 9g metal gear servos doubled overnight I have no doubt that China could figure out how to meet the demand. There are many factories in China all hungry for orders. EPP/EPO foam planes may be a different story because they are CNC machine cut.  These are usually made in batches and I've seen where a sale item puts the major online retailers out of stock for weeks if not longer as more production is scheduled.   I have noticed a definite price creep in EPP and EPO foam planes since the start of the year.  The good news is that our hobby is growing worldwide. The bad news is that increased demand is hitting us in the pocketbook.

The possibility of a US/China trade war.

China and the United States are the top two world economies.  China has more citizens than the United States but sells far more than it buys from the United States.  This is a huge issue for the current US administration.  They started to focus on Solar Panels made in China, and Chinese steel sold in the United States to put additional tariffs on.  China said they would retaliate by doing the same on US products.   Also at issue as well are violations by Chinese companies of international patents and allegations of currency manipulation.   Ultimately, what this all means is anything from a war of words that ends with a new trade deal in a few weeks between the US and China all the way to starting a worldwide recession.   Anything is possible, nothing can be accurately predicted.

Are prices about to skyrocket?

Are the prices of RC products going to skyrocket if you're an American?  Doubtful.  But the combination of a strengthening yuan combined with potential new tariffs along with higher demand for everything RC could spell out higher prices for RC products in the next couple of months. 

Suggestions

We're in peak season for demand.  Even the sales prices aren't all that special. The US midterm elections are in November and a heated trade war with China wouldn't play out well on election day.   My feeling is that unless you can find a sweet deal on a Chinese made plane this may not be the time to buy.   Perhaps it's time to check out reviews and consider what models you would like to add to your collection toward the end of the years.  I believe that RC planes are price sensitive and the higher prices on our end will be met with less orders. 

You may live in a country where the value of your currency is gaining over the yuan.  In that case things may look wondeful for you for the rest of the year.  Still, I expect that the best deals will be during the holiday season.

This is a good time to check your supply of consumables such as props, speed controllers, receivers, batteries. and servos.  You may want to keep enough on hand to keep you going for the next six months.  The prices on these things don't seem to have fluctuate as much as they have on foam planes.   Just keep a healthy inventory should supply issues arise.

There are other countries than China

Things like motors, props and batteries come out of China.  But, there are foam planes that come from all over the world.  Hacker makes planes in Czech Republic (I love their products!). I've seen planes made in Malaysia and Vietnam.  There are also regional plane makers. In the United States there are custom planes by Sweep Wings, Crash Test Hobbies and one of my favorites, Flying Foam.  There are also DIY plane instructions for planes made out of Dollar Tree Foam.  And let's not forget 3D printed planes. This may be a good time to find alternates for just the foam of the plane as the other components of the plane seem to be readily available from China at prices in-line with what they normally are.
I have also noticed that companies like Horizon Hobbies have put certain models on sale.  You can always check around for a good deal. 


If you're so inclined there are many balsa wood kits (and pre-made planes) sitting on shelves gathering dust that can be purchased fairly inexpensively by private parties looking to clean out a garage. 

One other thing.

Don't be surprised if the yuan takes a sudden nosedive.  Let's just say that China knows how to keep the value of its currency low.   But I would expect this to be more reactionary the preemptive. 

There are way too many moving pieces. I don't expect that a trade war would go on for a long period of time, but it could be something in the news for the rest of the year. Just get ready to ride this one out.  This may be a good time to get around to building those kits sitting around in your garage or selling off the ones you don't want.   This is perhaps a better time to fix or update planes that need attention.

Just keep a few props from each size you frequently fly and on hand and a spare battery in your favorite size on hand.   You never know if a labor strike or issues in transportation could conflate the already sensitive forces in play.  This is not a time to hoard Chinese merchandise but it is time to keep enough supplies around ( a six month supply) in case the supply chain gets interrupted. 

Sweepwings Juggernaut Build Videos

Going off script

The following is information about a series of videos I have recently posted on Youtube.  This covers the Sweepwings Juggernaut but it is applicable to other wings.  There are foam kits from companies like Flyingfoam.com that come as foam cores and it's up to you to make them into a plane you desire.  The key to success is making sure that the plane balances on the CG.  If you start throwing heavy motors in the back you'll need to put disproportionally more weight on the nose.  So, it's best to start with the lightest motor that can offer the grams of thrust the plane needs. This is the route I went with the Juggernaut.  I went for a very light and floaty build with a large propeller.


At a recent visit to a world-class hobby store, I became fascinated with a blunt nose plane.  The guy who built it said that he couldn't get it to fly.  He put 2  6S batteries up front and still couldn't get the CG right.  The plane was old inventory and they cut me a deal to pick up a model that they felt was missing parts. It was the same kit as the plane hanging, and it was up to me to make it fly.

What I didn't know at the time was that I actually got my hands on a great plane that is very much sought after.  It was the Sweepwings Juggernaut.  The problem with that plane is that at face value I have no interest in it  It's too heavy and too loud for the way I like to fly.  But, the one thing I believe in is that when you buy  a plane it's yours to build off script.  There in the hobby store I started to figure out how I would build this plane to suit the way I like to fly. I like slow flights that catch thermals.

This is hopefully an interesting series of videos.  I wasn't certain by the time I was done how it would fly or if I was wasting my time and money.   I did state up front what I planned to use it for, which was a video platform.  On the maiden flight I had taped on elevons and a 3oz fishing weight tied onto the nose. Okay, so it wasn't exactly top shelf, but boy did it ever fly nicely!

In the first video I go over the idea of the plane and discuss how I plan to cut the foam.  I show the markups.  You can tell the hesitation in my voice, I didn't know if this was too much.  At first I planned to cut 2" of foam off the back, I ended up cutting off 2.5 inches.   There is a battery bay that sits towards the front of the plane. To use it you would need to cut out a good portion of the foam from that part of the plane, leaving a huge hole.  I figured that I would rather have less foam in the back, and get the motor closer to the CG mark.  I am not a fan of cutting foam for battery bays.



In the second video  I do the cuts and go over spar placement. I used a Dremel Tool with router attachment (it wasn't shown in the video).  There were only a couple of minor nicks but the spars were covered by duct tape along the leading edge.

Since I didn't cover this in the video I will here.  I used duct tape all along the edges.  I used no strapping tape, nor did I use paint.  When I watched the build video on the Sweepwings website they painted their wing.  It looks lovely.  I used to spray paint EPP foam planes.  Now I avoid it because the foam collects pools of paint in the valleys of the foam.   You often need multiple coats to make it look even and what you end up with is something heavier than you may have imagined. So, that was a no go.  Also the fiberglass spars are a no-go.  I am sure they are fine but I have a lifetime supply of carbon fiber rods so I used those instead.   Aside from the duct tape on the edges I used no strapping tape.

The kit came with 5 mil lamination.  I have a good supply of this as well, but I used what the kit came with.  Some people don't care for lamination.  I can't live without it. It reinforces your plane and cuts down on drag. I also used a little bit of black Ekonokote to make a simple black and white plane.

In the third video I go over the parts of the plane.  The plane came with a nice 2" elevon, but I went with a three inch one I found at the hobby store.  It makes the plane appear larger in the sky, and perhaps helps give it smoother turns.



Here's a list of the parts I used.

Motor:  BR2212 1400KV ( I keep calling it 1450kv in the videos, sorry).  So, right off the bat you're probably wondering  why I am putting on a $5 motor onto this plane?   The motor runs 2-4S and has more than 900g of thrust.  To get to the next level of performance I would need to move into a D3536 1250KV.   That would allow for another 200 or more grams of weight in the nose.  This may be a possibility in the future for aerial photography. The problem with adding weight is that the dynamics of the plane changes considerably.  It will need more airspeed to not stall. Realistically, I would move to a 3 bladed propeller before changing out motors.
For a cheap motor I have never burned out.  They are actually rugged and well made. There is the DYS version of it for a few dollars more.  That with a 40A ESC and a 9070 propeller would probably give around 1100 grams of thrust for a short period of time.  The DYS offers thicker wires and probably can withstand a bit more abuse.

EMAX ES08MA II 12g Mini Metal Gear Analog Servo- A plane this size is better off with metal gear servos. The one thing I will say about these servos was that one control arm didn't fit on the servo, and it really had me worried for a while.  The other two did work fine.   These servos may get replaced before the motor does  Since this is a plane for video I will put on a gyro/stablizer on this plane.  I plan to use a good one.  They tend to work fairly fast and digital servos would most likely help to keep the plane floating smoother.  The digital servos are around 20% faster. I don't know how much of a difference it would make. So, that's wait and see.

30A ESC- I used the Skywalker 30A ESC.  I seem to have good luck with them

On this plane I am using a Hitec Optic 6 FM transmitter with dual conversion receiver.  This is old technology.  But, let me tell you, it received the signal without dropping once from half a mile away.  So, yes, it's good.




The final video was the maiden flight. I was flying close to the ground for a few minutes trying to get the video while flying the plane.  Then I shot it up and found a thermal.  This was a somewhat weak thermal, it did have lift though not as good as what I see in the summertime.  Regardless I think it got to around 700-800 feet for a short time. Usually, at these altitudes, a plane gets bounced around quite a bit. The Juggernaut held together nicely offering a smooth flight in usually harsh conditions.

Blunt nose wings are all the rage these days with a lot of emphases on them for FPV flying.  The one thing I have noticed is that it seems to offer a smoother, more stable flight than a standard Delta Wing of the same size.   If you're a fan of the Reptile S800 and the Sonicmodels AR blunt nose planes and wanted to venture into a four foot plane, this is an excellent choice.  Yes, they are fairly expensive but each wing is cut by hand.  This is something you'll probably have for years and the extra money is well spent.