ARFs at Brodak

[Matthew Brown]

Just curious why ARFs at Brodak say out of stock but then below that it says they are in stock but you have to call to order them. Just curious as to why they do this.

Thanks, Matt

[peabody]

Has to do with color choices and electric or IC, I believe....they want confirmation
Have fun!

[Matthew Brown]

Has to do with color choices and electric or IC, I believe....they want confirmation
Have fun!

Sounds reasonable. Except when I ordered an SV-11 E yesterday, I forgot to mention and they didn’t ask what color I wanted. I remembered 5 minutes later and called back with my red color selection.

Matt

[Fredvon4]

Matt...I have come to the conclusion, from reading that John's Brodak operation is very short staffed to keep costs down and in each area....fuel tank construction, kit assy, packaging, some many various in house parts creation....there is just not enough people to follow a web page catalog with constantly change status of availability....

Many many of our suppliers simply can not afford the great effort and low return of keeping a web catalog up to date on a daily basis....not enough volume

Thankfully they do accept phone calls to see exactly what is currently in stock and I personally am ever mind full of this ----so I desperately try to keep my call to be precise...on topic..and get off as fast as possible so other customers can get through....Brodak, Smith Cartier, Dixon, Eric Rule, Walt U, Lee machine....all of them

They are a valuable resource...I try very hard to help stay in business

Meg-lo Giant Horizon is defunct ...in Ch 11 and if they fail  it is not good for the hobby.... no matter how you feel about their past business practices of killing brick n mortar or certain brands

I am mind full as the very few sources age...we will loose more and more sources ----and fewer and few sources means less competition and raising costs for all of us consumers.....

Personal deal for me....but several times I got a Brodak/Sig/RSM/ substandard part.... usually no big deal... consensus was call Brodak/Sig/RSM and get it fixed.... NOT wanting that company to eat something inconsequential TO ME...I opted to live with it and cobble a solution myself of my one hand stash

I guess in my mind the absolute profit margin for a Brodak ME 109 is so small that having them send me a replacement Fuselage for the broken one I got in the kit...
Time on phone, Time to pull part, wrap and ship, eating postage... in my mind meant that they lost money on that one kit sale

So I did NOT demand a new part...I want John and company to be profitable and succeed...I did send a e-mail to the Kit pack lady...described the part and why I know it got damaged and suggest packaging method that will prevent this in the future....nice note back

[Dan McEntee]

Meg-lo Giant Horizon is defunct ...in Ch 11 and if they fail  it is not good for the hobby.... no matter how you feel about their past business practices of killing brick n mortar or certain brands

   Hi Fred;
 
  Just a note to mention that it is Hobbico that is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and not Horizon.

 Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Fredvon4]

Yep I always seem to mix the two... old guy brain Phart

Thanks Dan

[Dennis Adamisin]

Just curious why ARFs at Brodak say out of stock but then below that it says they are in stock but you have to call to order them. Just curious as to why they do this.

Thanks, Matt

Also has a lot to do with shipping costs.  They cannot work in a automatic calculator that works for both domestic and international shipping and also takes into account any other items the customer is asking for.  International shipping, in particular, has gotten crazy.

Their solution is to direct folks to call it in.  On the web site all the ARF's/ARC's automatically show up as "out of stock" but have the note to call it in and they can do it all manually.

[FLOYD CARTER]

Judging by the money spent on advertisement, looks like the large Chinese supplier HK will be the last one standing.

[Fredvon4]

Just to note... most of the Brodak Out of stock ARC/ARF KIT items that are NOT really out of stock usually have a SIDE NOTE to call for pricing, shipping,  and currently available colors

I called last year on the P-40 looking for a specific color....she quickly referred me to Randy Smith who had one as all they had were the other color combo

[Steve Helmick]

Shocked to find out there are "other" color schemes for the P-40 ARF...I've seen probably close to a dozen, and they were all that disgusting baby chit tan camo. At least, they were that color until the covering fell off, sometimes in flight.  Steve

[Matthew Brown]

Speaking of covering, what is the SV-11 covered in? I’m assuming China-kote.

Matt

[Fredvon4]

I desired the Grey vs the Olive drab

Mine actually has pretty good covering (for an ARF) but I do take the time to tighten and seal all the FUBARS that are common to most ARFs

BUT I hear you some are really terrible and it is quite discouraging to see great sheets of covering leave in flight....no matter how hard your flying friends laugh

[Dennis Moritz]

Call Brodak if in doubt about something. They sell kit and ARF parts, if you need it. Folks are always helpful. Amazing control line business. Possibly largest manufacturer of control line stuff ever.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mark Mc]

As they are busy, and don't need people calling with idle questions, does anyone here know if they sell the ARC P-40 wing by itself and if so, about how much does one costs?
Mark

[Dennis Moritz]

As they are busy, and don't need people calling with idle questions, does anyone here know if they sell the ARC P-40 wing by itself and if so, about how much does one costs?
Mark

Call them. Brodak sells ARF and ARC parts. That's what I was told when asking about kit parts I needed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kevin Muckleroy]

As they are busy, and don't need people calling with idle questions, does anyone here know if they sell the ARC P-40 wing by itself and if so, about how much does one costs?
Mark

I had called on piecing out a Strega fuselage after destroying my ARC converting to electric. By the time it added up a few dollars more I just bought the whole kit.