Balsa Kit Manufacturers

jaredstrees

Well-known member
Whew! Great to hear it did arrive after all. Very curious what combination of kit cutting delays, lost orders, shipping delays, etc. might be behind this. The Stick 600 kit I ordered last month arrived in less than a week.
My mini stick came quickly, so I'm still 50/50 on the customer service from these guys. If it builds as well as the mini and flies well, it'll be worth the wait.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
Fingers are crossed that Mountain Models still fulfills orders (eventually). Besides big planes I also like FAST planes, so I ordered the short-kit for the Slipso so I won't have to (eventually) cut it all from scratch. It's a club/pylon racer design that is fairly straight forward to build, but takes effort to build it strong enough to handle 100+ MPH speeds. It just looks like a fun project for the eventual day I need to take a break from big birds again. :)

slipso-480.jpg
 

OliverW

Legendary member
Hit builders block on my stearman and needed something that would build fast. Got this much progress in like half an hour. StevensAero LiddleRod
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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
There's a new kit manufacturer taking orders! :D:D

Willy Nillies is cutting kits of some classic designs https://willynillies.com/shop?olsPage=t/laser-cut-balsa-aircraft-kits

I saw them posting on facebook a month or two back, but they didn't have a website and only sold via Facebook PM at the time. Now they've got a webstore open, and the guys over on the RC Roundtable podcast were saying some positive things about them too.

They just have four kit options right now, an ACE GLH & Simple 250, and a Barnstormer & Littlest Stick, all sized for a Cox Peewee .020 or brushless 1806 motor. Prices are very reasonable too.

I just ordered one of the Barnstormers and plan to do it as a shoulder wing with the 29" span option - should be a quick little build and I've got the electronics already in the drawer.
 
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Turbojoe

Elite member
Thanks for the post! Always good to see more new kitters. At only $35.00 I'm thinking about one of the Barnstormer kits. Shipping is the deciding point though. I'll e-mail them asking for a quote.

Joe
 

Turbojoe

Elite member
I already got a response from them! $8.20 Priority shipping to Arizona. I haven't checked but I'm confident that's a normal price so I'll be ordering the Barnstormer from them. Maybe I can use that spare UMX Pitts electronics package that I have.....

Joe
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I already got a response from them! $8.20 Priority shipping to Arizona. I haven't checked but I'm confident that's a normal price so I'll be ordering the Barnstormer from them. Maybe I can use that spare UMX Pitts electronics package that I have.....

Joe

That's great shipping price! I paid a slight bit more on my order, but I'm not fussing about it. It's a long box :D

If that's a 2s UMX Pitts it will probably work - if it's one of those 1 cell setups, I have a bunch of Steven's kits that would work nicely with.... :unsure:
 

Turbojoe

Elite member
I've sold a few things on eBay lately and the shipping cost too/from the eastern USA is absolutely obscene! I truly didn't expect most of my heavier items to sell because of the shipping cost but somehow they did. Took quite a while though....

I'm ready to pull the trigger on the Barnstormer order but hopefully I found something they didn't mean to be seen yet. Waiting to hear back from them before ordering as there may be two kits ordered if it's what I'm hoping for.

Yes, my spare UMX package is 2S. My 2S Pitts S1 is my favorite UMX plane so I grabbed the package on eBay a year or so ago with plans to use it in a balsa build.

On a side note: While I haven't flown it in many years I've have the Ace Simple 400 for no less than 10 years and it's a blast to fly. In the smaller 250 size that WillyNillies kits it should be even more fun. If I didn't already have the 400 version I'd be ordering the smaller one too. Who knows, I may get it later if I have some more eBay sales to pay for it.

Joe
 

Turbojoe

Elite member
Just got another reply. Yep, there's another kit going to be listed later today. Rocky, you may have seen it at Flite Fest if you were there. Waiting to hear if I can order that instead of the Barnstormer for now.

Joe
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Just got another reply. Yep, there's another kit going to be listed later today. Rocky, you may have seen it at Flite Fest if you were there. Waiting to hear if I can order that instead of the Barnstormer for now.

Joe

Another kit listed today!?! Now I need to send him an email and see if it's something I need to add to my order! :D
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
Speaking of kit manufacturers, I need to mention my recent history with Mountain Models since I've recommended their kits so many times in the past. As many of you probably know, the owner of Mountain Models has been trying to sell his company. He's got other work, health issues, etc., but the website is still up and he's still taking orders. About 4 months ago I ordered one of his kits, which shows online as in-stock. My past experience with MM is that stuff doesn't ship quickly and sometimes an email is required to get action. No big deal, I didn't NEED the kit, so I waited. About a month later I emailed and asked for an update, but got no response. Another month goes by, another email is sent, again with no response. Then another email is sent, this time I said to either ship the kit or refund my money. After months of waiting (reasonably patiently) I got PayPal involved and filed a claim for non-delivery. My hope was that with the threat of losing the order he'd finally just send the kit. Nope, but I got my money back thanks to PayPal.

I wish Flite Test or a similar company would buy MM's designs and start producing them... :(