Black Friday Balsa Kit Sales

[Joker 53150]

I just saw Mountain Models has many of their kits on sale thru Saturday. Kits are still available while they're trying to sell the company, so this would be a good opportunity for anybody on the fence about getting one of their kits.

Anybody find any other good kits on sale?

 

[jsknockoff]

I just got on here to post the same question! Been hunting all morning, Tower has some decent sales but almost all of their kits are sold out.

 

[rockyboy]

Thanks for the tip! I just picked up 3 more Mountain Models kits to add to the closet :applause:

https://www.stevensaero.com/ isn't running a specific Black Friday sale, but he does have several good looking kits on sale at the moment including a great sale on this little tri-plane https://www.stevensaero.com/StevensAero-Ricci-Tri-Plane.html

 

[Joker 53150]

Nice, which kits did you get?

Balsa USA has a sale thru the end of the year (?) - 10% off on kits and possibly accessories by using the promo code "HOLIDAY". I'm hoping to take advantage of that for some needed supplies.

 

[rockyboy]

This order was an Art Chester's Jeep, Lucky ACE, and the Droplet.

Added to the existing Mountain Models kit pile of an EVA Bipe, Dandy Sport, Firestorm, and the Round2it.

Gotta stock up on MM!

 

[Joker 53150]

Nice horde! You'll love the Lucky ACE and how easily it builds. Mine has 139 flights on it, which is about 18-1/2 hours of flight time. I'd do a few things differently on it if I were to build it again, but overall it's a great design. Here is mine prior to it's first flight:




And this is after what I thought was it's last flight. It went straight down over out of sight and I expected to see a pile of sticks, only to find it barely missed a small retention pond I wasn't aware of. After cleaning out the mud and drying it out the only damage was a broken prop! Even the covering survived intact.

 

[rockyboy]

Whew! Lucky save!!

Any tips on the build?

 

[Joker 53150]

I went with the tail-dragger setup, and made the mistake of putting the servos in the tail. It flies great, but with a 1300mAh 3 cell it requires about an ounce of nose-weight. I should have put the servos in the wing-saddle area instead. Also, the instructions are a tiny bit confusing around the battery hatch, but this was my first real balsa build, so that may have just been my inexperience. Otherwise, it's super easy and I wouldn't change a thing about the design.

 

[rockyboy]

Sounds like a simple adjustment - Thanks!

 

[N4RF]

I went with the tail-dragger setup, and made the mistake of putting the servos in the tail. It flies great, but with a 1300mAh 3 cell it requires about an ounce of nose-weight. I should have put the servos in the wing-saddle area instead. Also, the instructions are a tiny bit confusing around the battery hatch, but this was my first real balsa build, so that may have just been my inexperience. Otherwise, it's super easy and I wouldn't change a thing about the design.

Hey joker, I was going to pick my ACE back up and noticed that you mentioned putting the servos in the bay versus the tail like they suggest with the tail dragger. Wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something as I move along.

 

[Joker 53150]

The design of the ACE allows you to put the rudder & elevator servos at the tail or under the wing. You can also build it as a tail dragger or with tricycle gear. I went with tail dragger and servos in the tail, but find I'm slightly tail-heavy without about 1/2 ounce of lead in the nose. Moving those servos forward would solve the problem for me. Just something to look at before finalizing your servo placement.

 

[nhk750]

I bit the bullet yesterday and purchased a Sig "Alien" Super Dragon 60. It was 15% off, plus free shipping, plus some free CA and debonder. It will be my first all laser cut kit and its actually designed for electric so I don't have to re-engineer the kit this time. I am looking forward to an all laser cut kit and this should be a fun plane to fly off the water next summer.