RC Giants
John A. de Vries, 4610 Moffat Ln., Colorado Springs CO 80915
It's been sticking in my craw for a long time, but the cost of building and flying Giant Scale radio control (RC) airplanes has gone well beyond what could be considered reasonable!
If the trend continues, RC Giants will be limited to lottery winners, the heirs of people who helped Bill Gates establish Microsoft®, and members of the medical profession.
The prices of everything connected to the hobby have escalated to the point where the cheapest model you can put in the air costs a minimum of $1,000—and that's for a simple Giant trainer.
Part of my problem may be rooted in the fact that I can remember the days of the Great Depression. Megow and Comet kits cost five or 10 cents, and a tube of Ambroid glue was a dime.
Later, an Ohlsson .23 could be purchased for $16.50 hard-earned pence and the Free Flight kit to go with it was less than five bucks—and that included a machine-made propeller (you had to carve your own before then).
The first RC engine I purchased (a K&B .45) was a staggering $27.50, but it was worth it because it was equipped with a throttle. Pricewise, things have gone out of sight since then.
I can appreciate the effects of inflation, taxes, import duties, and labor costs on the prices of model airplane bits and pieces, but charging almost $30 for a rubber-powered kit that used to sell for a dollar is hard to take.
The laser-cutting machine that separates all those teeny pieces costs $20K, but how many kits does it take to amortize the cost of the machinery?
Let's compare some items with the gas burners in our big models.
- Sears and other hardware stores have gas-powered chain saws for less than a hundred simoleons. The same numbers apply to other gas-powered devices, such as lawn trimmers and leaf blowers.
- A visit to your local hobby shop will startle you. Essentially the same gas engines (without all the lawn-trimmer parts) will gouge you for $250 or more—that's two-and-a-half times the price for an engine that has been converted to drive a model's propeller.
- The engine was produced in great numbers on an assembly line, but modifying it slightly for models more than doubled its price!
Let's compare engine prices with another item that an RC modeler usually acquires: the finer 35mm single-lens-reflex camera. You can acquire a Canon, Minolta, or Olympus camera, complete with lens, for the same price as a two-cubic-inch gas burner.
For the added price of another servo or two, you can buy a top-of-the-line 35mm camera, such as the fabulous Nikon. You can get a new Leica—the ultimate camera—for the same price as a nine-cylinder model engine.
You can't tell me that a model engine is more complex and costly than a good 35mm camera—or costs as much to produce—but the costs of the average, nonexotic model engines are right up there with the better cameras.
Radio controls were reasonable for a while. RC sets started out very expensive when proportional control was new. However, prices fell throughout the years.
RC Giants
Why do five-, six-, or eight-channel radios still come with only four servos? Why are the servos the old 48-ounce-inch torque size?
Why are Giant Scale servos $100 each? Particularly when good "name" servos of the standard size are $40? I know you can order radios with a different array of servos from “the usual,” but they're going to cost you!
It seems as though price is no object with Giant Scale kits; Mustang kits are $2.5K and AT-6 kits are $3.4K. For that kind of dough you could buy a 1:1-scale Mustang, complete with a real Packard-Merlin 12-cylinder engine, war surplus in 1946.
Fiberglass fuselages, cowls, nacelles, and preshaped wings will save you a bunch of construction time, but at what cost? And a set of retracts is up there with the expensive imported cameras.
A pair of Giant Scale wheels costs as much as a tire for my car! A scale cockpit kit costs three times what I paid for one of Hal deBolt’s RC kits. A scale four-blade propeller (for static judging only) is priced the same as a standard servo!
Probably the only area where the numbers are still reasonable (but are edging upward) is Giant Scale drawings. Scratchbuilders can expect to spend $30–$60 for a set of full-size construction plans.
Those numbers are only roughly two times what it costs to print the plans at a commercial printing shop, and the designer deserves a bit of profit from the hours he spends on research and for the backbreaking time sweating over a broad drafting table or CAD (computer-aided drafting)-equipped computer.
I ran a tally of the time I spent designing a Giant Scale version of Art Chester’s Jeep, which was published in one of the model magazines. I was startled to learn that I made 50 cents an hour for having all that fun!
This discussion is based on relative values. They don't mean a thing if you’re independently wealthy, because you can afford to pay the staggering costs of RC Giant Scale.
However, if you’re like the rest of us, investing $300 in a kit, $400 for a radio, $400 for an engine, and $300 for a set of retracts will put your Giant Scale P-47 Thunderbolt in the air.
Of course, that is if you pay the price for glue, paint, covering materials, hardware, hinge sets, and flight-support equipment (field box and glow-plug driver—if your engine needs one), and a car or truck big enough to carry everything to the flying field.
- If you purchase a state-of-the-art field box, complete with model holders, it will take the better part of $100. That's without the battery-control panel (to drive your fuel pump, starter, and driver); to get a decent panel costs another $30–$40.
- The advent of epoxies and cyanoacrylate glues (CYA’s) has driven the cost of modeling even closer to the stratosphere. The new glues are stronger and “set” faster, but five bucks for an ounce of stickum is unreasonable.
- If you’re addicted to the iron-on coverings, their recent price increases will wilt your socks.
- And don’t forget the paint—particularly if you prefer spray cans of it. Coloring a Giant Scale model can cost $40 or more. That’s probably why many builders invest in Krylon®, Rust-Oleum®, or even automotive paints. They are much cheaper, and they cover the model as well as any pigments.
- The price of “smaller” propellers is $10–$12, and you almost have to take out a loan if your model requires an 18- to 22-incher. A dozen propellers cost as much as a cord of firewood for the fireplace in the family manse.
Then there are the Almost Ready to Flys (ARFs) in Giant Scale sizes. They're a bit more reasonably priced than one might expect. The latest issue of High Flight (the International Miniature Aircraft Association’s [IMAA’s] quarterly publication) spends most of its editorial space rating them.
ARFs are a great idea for those of us who don’t have the time, space, or skill to do the basic construction. Much luck if you opt for the ARF route; it's going to take much more of your time to get one in flying condition than you expect.
Unfortunately, I can remember when you could purchase a kit of Cleveland’s 82-inch Stinson taper-wing for less than $10.
One Last Plug: Gas Engines, Giant Planes
Gas Engines, Giant Planes was written by Don and Judy Apostolico (who run Don’s Hobby Shop in Salina KS), and it’s an excellent book. It answers most of the questions the neophyte model-builder would have about “going Giant.”
The book is published by Gemstone Publications, 1819 S. Broadway, Salina KS 67401; Tel.: (800) 972-6273. Go to www.donshobbyshop.com for more information.
Model Aviation has selected a super RCer to write the “RC Giants” column from now on; new friend Sal Cavagnaro is an AMA associate vice president for District II, and he is an active Giant flier.
Sal knows all the great East Coast designers and builders, such as the Zirolis, so his columns should be filled with good stuff.
I wish Sal all the luck in the world, and I trust that you all will support him with many great photographs of your RC Giant Scale models.
It’s been fun! MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
