Walter Umland Kits

[Alex Givan]

  I understand that Walter Umland did or may still make kits of some hard to find models or ones that were never kitted but were offered in plan form only. I was interested in the El Diablo and told he was the man to get in contact with. What's the straight scoop about the El Diablo, if I want one do I have to get plans and scratch build, or were kits made that are just hard to find?

[Dalton Hammett]

***********************************************************
  Hi Alex

      When Walter makes kits they are excellent.   When he  decides to kit a plane he advertises his plans and takes names then produces what he needs,  thats why the kits are VERY hard to find.  He did kit that one but I haven't seen one listed for sale.  The plans are pretty available from several sources.  I believe right now he is working on a couple of Jack Sheeks designs.


Dalton H.

[Larry Fulwider]

  I understand that Walter Umland did or may still make kits of some hard to find models or ones that were never kitted but were offered in plan form only.  . . .

Right! Think of Walter's kits the same way as you would "limited edition" art prints. He normally makes a specific number in one production run, end of story. I don't know that Walter has ever made a second run of a popular kit, anyone know?
     I've always been curious if he sells many "leftovers", like El Diablo rib sets, or some such. Seems like I saw an ad for some leftover parts from something in the classifieds here or SSW at one time. If you decide to check out his general policy on those things, let us know what you find out.

Personally, every time I see an El Diablo I wonder if the designer wasn't a bit of a devil himself, designing a plane that is darned near impossible to build without a warp somewhere! It has more places for warps than most planes have places.

Off topic, I did bring the Linder chocolate chip cookies to the field Tuesday, but it was too windy to eat them -- guess that is why nobody was there.

Larry Fulwider

[Clayton Berry]

Too windy to eat cookies?  I'm impressed.  Glad I wasn't there.  Better I should be down the road a bit, eating pecans and winning a hand of canasta.  Never too windy for that. 

[john e. holliday]

Best bet is contact Walter his self.  DOC Holliday