The “NEW” MoBest kit by Brodak.

[Tim Redelman]

Check out the New “MoBest” from Brodak! I’ve been looking for one of these now I’ll have Two! Dennis Adamisin shared this with me today and it’s listed as “in Stock,”

Thanks Dennis and BRODAK!

Tim

https://brodak.com/mo-best-kit-coming-soon.html

[Perry Rose]

The price is less than I expected for a plane of this size. I built one from Mike Griffin/RSM several years ago.

[Dave Rigotti]

Nice looking stunter!

Check out the New “MoBest” from Brodak! I’ve been looking for one of these now I’ll have Two! Dennis Adamisin shared this with me today and it’s listed as “in Stock,”

Thanks Dennis and BRODAK!

Tim

https://brodak.com/mo-best-kit-coming-soon.html

[Perry Rose]

I ordered a kit yesterday. I'm curious to compare it to Mike Griffin's kit. I think I know what the scoop is. I couldn't resist the price and with the money I saved by repairing my fence myself, why not?

[Matt Colan]

I just finished putting together one of Mike Griffin’s kits of the Mo Best for somebody. It’s a very nice kit! It went together easily

[Mike Griffin]

Thank you for the kind words about my kit.  I released it in 2015.  It was a coordinated effort among people in 3 different countries in order to get that kit produced.  Since mine is no longer available, I am glad Brodak came back out with it.  Eric Rule cut the kits for me and I remember him telling me that there was more balsa in that kit than there was in the Thundergazer. 

Funny thing is that after I completed the test build, I gave it away to someone and never did get to fly it. 

Mike

[Mike Griffin]

Here is copy of the post I made in 2015 announcing the pricing and giving credit to those who helped make the kit possible:

"Eric Rule just called to let me know he had the prototype of the MoBest laser cut and ready to ship to me.  He also gave me the cost of production and you might be interested to know that it cost more in laser cutting time and materials to produce this kit than it does to produce the Thundergazer and the the Thungazer sells for $224.95.  There is $25.00 worth of plywood alone in the MoBest kit and most of that is the 1/64th Ply that goes into the fuselage. 

NOW, BEFORE ANY0NE HAS A STROKE, the MoBest kit will not sell for that amount because I have to keep this kit affordable to everyone so they do not have to rob a bank to buy one.

What I did decide to do was eliminate the sticks and sheeting from the kit to keep the cost down and most of you have that in your shop anyway.  Same with the hardware and control system.  You will need to furnish your own.

What the kit includes is all  of the laser cut parts you need to build the kit and believe me there is a lot of them in the kit, the pre bent wing mounted landing gear and landing gear blocks, the complete plan to build the kit from and as a  bonus, a CD which contains a building guide written and illustrated by Larry Cunningham before he passed away.  This manual is a work of art and my thanks to Geoff Goodworth, Robert Compton, Mike Nelson and Bill Jacklin for all the hard work they put in to make that manual and this kit a reality.

The cost of the kit is $164.95 plus shipping and this is operating with razor thin margins.

If you have already sent me your $50.00 deposit, I will be contacting you soon about the balance.

If you have not ordered a kit yet and would like too, just let me know and I will get your name on the intital cut production list.

Thank you all very much for your patience and business.

Mike
« Last Edit: April 11, 2015, 08:45:42 AM by Mike Griffin »

[Bill Jacklin]

Noting the 54" span and the .40-.51 engine spec, I would say that the Brodak version is a smaller version of Larry's original.  Mike's version was the original size.
BTW: Thank you, Mike, for recognizing the folks who knew Larry personally and worked to bring this bird to the rest of the stunt community!

[Brent Williams]

Noting the 54" span and the .40-.51 engine spec, I would say that the Brodak version is a smaller version of Larry's original.  Mike's version was the original size.
BTW: Thank you, Mike, for recognizing the folks who knew Larry personally and worked to bring this bird to the rest of the stunt community!

I bet that is just a typo. 
On the Brodak plans for the Mo'Best that have been circling around since 2013, the inboard (27.5") and outboard (26.5") panels, minus the wingtips equal 54". 
The wingtips are 2" per side, so 58". 

[Perry Rose]

I'll let you know for sure in a few days.

[Dennis Adamisin]

As I understand it, Larry Cunningham & John Brodak started working on kitting the Mo'Best something like 16 years ago  As I understand it Larry was "tweaking" some design elements to make it easier to laser cut.  I built the prototype kit & wrote the assembly manual, so that was my contribution to getting it over the finish line.  I got some help from Robert Compton (mentioned in Larry C's Stunt News article) and am grateful for his help.  Biggest differences for the Larry C/John Brodak kit version versus the published plan that I can see was the landing gear was lengthened to accommodate larger props now popular on the LA46, and the kit's fuselage is planked in 1/64" ply instead of 3/32" balsa shown on the published plan.


I've never seen Mike G's Mo'Best kit, but I have one of his "Playmate" kits - suffice to say Mike's kits are REALLY good. If you have one, stop looking at it and BUILD IT!

[Geoff Goodworth]

Here is the story.

Larry was meticulous in the way he worked. Just one example of this is the way he calculated out the sections for the built-up sheet wing tips that were automatically hollowed out during laser cutting. That leaves the builder to round off the outside of the tips and leave the inside hollow if weight was not an issue. I would clean out and smooth the inside of the inboard tip and leave the outboard as cut.

There are, to the best of my knowledge, only two plans on issue at present — the PAMPA plan and the plan that was used by Mike Griffin and Brodaks.

There was one rib drawn incorrectly on the PAMPA plan so I corrected that and provided new drawing files to the PAMPA Plans master at the time.

The drawings that I provided to Mike Griffin and John Brodak both specified 1/64" ply fuselage sides but I delivered CAD files and PDFs so it's possible that somebody changed the side material.

There was discussion around one other cosmetic change — the landing gear.

Given the way Larry designed the spats and landing gear covers, I cannot see a way of guaranteeing that an ARC/ARF model could use those parts and produce a good looking result every time. Plus, if the landing gear were to be fully built by the ARC/ARF supplier, I imagined some difficulty ensuring that the assemblies arrived undamaged after travelling half way around the world.

Although I never discussed it with Larry, he must have been thinking along the same lines because in amongst all his drawings were P51-style gear covers for the landing gear legs. I recommended that John Brodak use those covers on the ARC/ARF model that was under consideration at the time. Nothing ever came of those discussions back c2015 because, as we know, John was dealing with a few distractions.

The work was all done after Larry died and in the first half of 2015 so I may be a little hazy on some of the detail and I relied on the recollections of Rob Compton, Mike Nelson and myself and our conversations with Larry.

[Robertc]

Larry passed away in August 2012.  It was his wish that "team" on several continents, finish getting the MoBest kit out. 
The wheel pants or the spats...Larry liked the wheel pants but realized that not everyone wanted to do so, so he left the option
up to the builder.  Larry was working on molding the wheel pants when he passed, but never had a finished wheel pant.  He was
experimenting trying to find the best release material, mold, and fiberglass thickness.  Larry stayed busy working on several things
that last summer including the MoBeast.(full fuse MoBest)  Most of that was just 3D modeling.
All of us involved in the MoBest kit are very pleased to see the kits out, first by Mike Griffin and now with Dennis Adamisin's help, the Brodak kit.
Looking forward to see pics of the kits built.

[Perry Rose]

Mike Griffin's kit was 1/64 ply sheeted on the fuselage. I borrowed that technique and used it on several of my designs.

[Mike Griffin]

It makes my heart glad to see the re-emergence of interest and the availability of this kit once again to the modeling community. 

Mike

[peabody]

Larry and I used to talk quite a bit.
He sent me several CD's, one of which was construction instructions and pics and the other a CAD file. My knowledge of CAD is zero. I got John interested in the project and they talked quite a bit. I sent the CD's to John, who, as I understood, couldn't open them.

Even though my digits don't work to build, I'm going to order one....

[Mike Griffin]

I just noticed that the price is now $250.00 for the kit.  I thought it was less than that when they first advertised it.

Mike

[Perry Rose]

I ordered one last Tuesday at $189.  No wonder it hasn't arrived. It was an introductory offer anyway. I'm planning on electric motor from Russel Honea.

[Perry Rose]

The kit finally arrived around noon today, 9/21/21 or first day of fall.  It took a week longer than usual as it sat in Baton Rouge waiting.
  I have two sets of plans from the Mike Griffin/RSM kit and they almost match. Two things stand out and I was looking for them. First the wing jig holes are the same size, for the Brodak jig rods. The RSM ribs had two different size jig holes. And the RSM plans didn't have a C/G location marked. The Brodak kit has it at 3.25" to 3.75" from the L.E.  I found the C/G/ range off Cunningham plans featured in a PAMPA article Cunningham wrote on the Mo Best design. That was 3.00 to 3.75 from the L.E.
 The Brodak plans say a wing span of 54 inches the Griffin/RSM plans have 58". Both sets of plans have the exact same rib spacing and wing tips.
Fuselage length is shorter on the Brodak plans by 1/8 inch. The RSM plans show a longer spinner than the Brodak plans.
 The balsa looks very good considering the availability. The usual Brodak hardware selection with hinges.
 I hope to start on it soon as the park is closed for storm cleanup and I've finished fixing my storm damaged picket fence.

[Perry Rose]

The Brodak kits wing span is 58 inches. The 54 inches doesn't take the wing tips into account.

[john e. holliday]

I know 4 inches is a lot, but I think the instruction books I've had on Brodak kits say plans may grow or shrink depending on the weather conditions.

[Perry Rose]

I'm slowly finishing the wing and I got the wing tips on and pretty much sanded to shape. I stood it on end and measured the span with a tape measure traceable to NIST and it's 58 inches. The leading edges and trailing edges have rib notches so it's got to come out right.

[David_Ruff]

That kit is now $338.00  Sheesh.

[Doug Moon]

WOW!

[Mike Griffin]

What David and Doug said. 

Mike

[George Grossardt]

 Prices of wood and kits, and the ability to get hardware are certainly an issue with this hobby. Any niche hobby or sport has this issue.

 I am also an avid cyclist - have you see the prices of a good road racing bike of full suspension mountain bike lately? They often cost more than a motorcycle!

 I think I am just going to build the kits I have and use up the wood I have and keep it fun. 

[Mike Griffin]

Prices of wood and kits, and the ability to get hardware are certainly an issue with this hobby. Any niche hobby or sport has this issue.

 I am also an avid cyclist - have you see the prices of a good road racing bike of full suspension mountain bike lately? They often cost more than a motorcycle!

 I think I am just going to build the kits I have and use up the wood I have and keep it fun.

George that is the best logic I have heard in a long time.  This is supposed to be fun, not a financial drain.

Mike

[David_Ruff]

Don't need no stinkin' quantum explanation of balsa economics.

[Marty Hammersmith]

Balsanomics?