Hobby Lobby, I'm missing something....

[Turbojoe]

I just went searching for Telemaster info. The Telemaster kit has been a Hobby Lobby icon since the 1970's. Google shows nothing for them now. Is there yet another new name for the company? Hobby Lobby as a crafts store is a freaking joke and I refuse to spend a dime there.

Joe

 

[Turbojoe]

I haven't looked at my Telemaster 40 build in years. I just dug her out. I was pleasantly surprised to find the wing is fully built with ailerons and flaps and has servos mounted and is 100% ready for covering The fuse looks ready for covering as well. I found the fully built tail feathers and they appear to be ready for covering as well. This is a very big bird and I'll need to order a bunch of covering for her. For some stupid reason I have many rolls of Moneykote but Moneykote is total crap and I won't waste my time with it. I can't get my favorite SolarFlim anymore so I will likely order and use Ultracote instead.

Joe

 

[Born2bwire]

The guy doing the Telemaster kits folded the company this past winter, around November I think. He's moved to being a balsa distributor.

Edit: It was Hobby Express that was recently putting out the kits. Now the guy changed it over to Boss Balsa but as far as I could tell, he isn't doing the kits anymore.

 

[Turbojoe]

And yet another one bites the dust! Hobby Lobby or whatever they were calling themselves was charging WAY too much for a Telemaster kit and I'm not surprised they didn't survive with prices like that.

It looks like they are now gone forever.

Joe

 

[Joker 53150]

I won't be surprised if they come back in one form or another. If I remember correctly, the company that was selling the kits claimed they were being sued because the website wasn't ADA compliant, or some crap like that. Rather than fight it they pulled the site down. This may be completely wrong, or partially correct.

It's such a great design my guess is somebody will either pick up the license to kit them, or you could download the plans from Outerzone and scratch build one.

 

[Turbojoe]

I don't even remember the name of the original German designer of the Telemaster. The info is out there but I'm far to lazy to track it down. The plans for many sizes of the Telemaster are now public domain and are available on various sites. The Telemaster kits Hobby Lobby/Hobby Express/ et al were selling lately were so far overpriced I'm not surprised to see they failed. Greed got the better of them and and they got what they deserved.

I bought my Telemaster 40 kit many, many, many years ago and I'd swear I only paid $63.95 for it. A minuscule fraction of what Hobby Lobby et al wanted at the end for a kit. I'll shed no tears for them and their never ending greed.

Joe

 

[Joker 53150]

There is a new Telemaster 40 listed on RC groups for $115 plus $25 shipping. The ad was put up in late January and isn't marked as sold (yet?).

 

[Born2bwire]

I won't be surprised if they come back in one form or another. If I remember correctly, the company that was selling the kits claimed they were being sued because the website wasn't ADA compliant, or some crap like that. Rather than fight it they pulled the site down. This may be completely wrong, or partially correct.

It's such a great design my guess is somebody will either pick up the license to kit them, or you could download the plans from Outerzone and scratch build one.

That's the story the maker gave, but I get the feeling it was just the impetus to switch to a different business. I was really interested in picking one up and watched the site for a while. They only really sold the Telemaster kits and when this thing came along, they pretty quickly closed up shop and started with this balsa distribution. If they can roll it up and start over like that, then yeah, I don't see much barrier in getting the kits going again.

 

[Turbojoe]

There is a new Telemaster 40 listed on RC groups for $115 plus $25 shipping. The ad was put up in late January and isn't marked as sold (yet?).

$115.00 is probably acceptable at today's prices for a "complete" kit IF it's still a "complete" kit. $25.00 for shipping is unacceptable unless they're on the other side of the continent from me. The plane is basically a stick build. Just download and print out the free plans. Spend $50.00 at most for balsa and just cut and build yourself. Last price I saw for a Telemaster 40 KIT on the "Hobby Lobby/Hobby Express" site was $249.00!! Are they freaking kidding?

Joe