Balsa and RSM

[ericrule]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM RSM DISTRIBUTION

We have spoken to our main balsa supplier regarding the shrinkage of the balsa supply. There is less and less contast grade (4 to 6 lb) balsa available and it is very difficult to obtain any 4" wide balsa sheets. Our supplier tells us that this problem is going to continue for a fairly long time. Our supplier is attempting to obtain product from every distributor they can find regardless of the cost.  Due to the balsa shortage issue RSM kit turn around time has slowed since we will not reduce the quality of our kits by using non contest wood.
On a happier note we have been able to secure a load of 4" wide contest grade balsa. We expect to have this new supply delivered by mid May. That is the good news. The bad news is that the price of this order will be more expensive. At the present time this order will cost RSM Distribution 20% more than we have been paying previously. Our supplier has advised us that we can expect it to be a lot more for contast grade balsa in the future.
We ran into a similar situation in 2010. At that time the cost of balsa increased by 40% and we were forced to raise the prices of our kits.  It is unfortunate that we will have to do this again (we simply can not sell kits for less than they cost us to manufacture). Due to this pending price increase we are making our customers a significant offer;
ANY KIT ORDERED BY A CUSTOMER BEFORE MAY 31ST WILL BE SOLD AT THE CURRENT PRICE. IN SPITE OF OUR INCREASED COSTS FOR MATERIAL WE WILL HONOR OUR CURRENT ON LINE CATALOG PRICE FOR KITS ORDERED UNTIL MONTH'S END. EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2019 THE INCREASED KIT PRICING WILL APPLY.
IF YOU HAVE BEEN CONTEMPLATING THE PURCHASE OF A NEW KIT DO NOT PUT THE DECISION OFF. PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW BEFORE THE PRICE INCREASE!!!

[Clint Ormosen]

Eric, I tried to order a Ringmaster off your website last week and it said none were available. Are your kits made to order these days?

[FLOYD CARTER]

All of the RSM kits I have built came out surprisingly under-weight.  That is due to the contest balsa in those kits.  I would rather pay a bit more to get RSM contest balsa than build a model with heavy wood that didn't fly well.

[ericrule]

Clint:

Due to the limited supply of contest balsa we are no longer cutting a lot of kits ahead of customer orders. The very last thing we want to do is to run out of a thickness of contest balsa when a customer orders a kit. As a result of this (WE HOPE) temporary balsa supply situation we are experiencing a small delay in shipping out kits as often what is ordered is simply not on the shelf so we have to laser cut it. That may cause a delay of 2-3 days before we can ship the kit out.

The web site may say something is out of stock when it is actually sitting on the shelf. Sometimes we simply do not have sufficient time to update the site an a daily basis.  Since we do not charge the customer's credit card at the time of order (we wait until the item is shipped before we charge the card) you do not have to worry that you will be tying up a lot of money waiting for your order. Just go ahead and place the order on the site. If there is going to be a delay in filling the order we will let you know and you can decide if you wish to wait for your order or cancel it.

[ericrule]

Thank you Floyd for your very kind comment. We take pride in trying to produce the best kit possible.

[Clint Ormosen]

Thanks Eric, I went ahead and put in the order.

[Mike Griffin]

I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 different kits that I have produced over the years with Eric and RSM.  Eric cuts all my kits for me from his stock and in the 18 years he has been doing this for me, I can count on one hand the number of complaints I have received and they were corrected immediately.

This problem with the contest balsa is very real because I buy from some of the same suppliers Eric does.  We are also exploring some alternative materials and building procedures.

Mike

[Lyle Spiegel]

http://www.balsawoodinc.com/?fbclid=IwAR3e8n1-3-dwVZI88lpupD_HmLN7LZZeHcOt1afjJuAt_URAsjdGrY7dukw

has anyone sourced wood from this vendor or compared prices vs SIG, National Balsa, other?

[Mike Griffin]

Lyle,

You cannot specify contest grade balsa from these folks unless you laser cut.  I guess that is why they do not show contest grade on their web page.  Just out of curiosity, I dropped them and e mail and this is what they told me in their reply. 

Mike