What has happened with European distribution?

IanSR

Active member
Hey Flite Test

Your stuff is no longer available in Europe, Graupner (sorry for butchering the spelling) don't want to answer emails as to when stuff is going to be restocked, and there is no stock of the foamboard anywhere. All the normal stockists are out of stock and those that are happy to answer emails having nothing nice to say about the aforementioned distributor.

Please, what is going on? I want to build some stuff but the foamboard here is so heavy, are we going to go back into the dark ages of 2017 when rocking horse poop was easier to buy than your stuff, or are you going to sort out your Euro distribution?
 
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Corbarrad

Active member
Sadly Flite Test staff do not frequent the forums a lot.
Mentioning @fliteadmin in a thread might get their attention (which is why I just did that...) but I wouldn't count on it.
I still have enough foam at home for the time being, but I'd sure like to know as well.
Maybe a shoutout on facebook or youtube would help, I don!t have a FB account though.

My hope is that they'll continue distribution once that "maker foam" they keep teasing in the videos is out.
There are a few alternatives available on the european market but they don't quite match up.
 

Tonero311

Well-known member
I hope they do. I'll be after another 50 box of foamboard in the spring. Hoping this new monster foamboard is going to find it's way to UK shores as well.
 

stereodreieck86

Active member
Guys, I can give you the answer Graupner gave me (from a guy called Bastel Wastel) :
Flitetest could not deliver Foam because they needed it for FliteFest! But now the ship is basically on its way to Europe.
He didn't mention what kind of foam is on his way to europe and when exactly we gonna FTFoam in Germany again.
 

IanSR

Active member
Guys, I can give you the answer Graupner gave me (from a guy called Bastel Wastel) :
Flitetest could not deliver Foam because they needed it for FliteFest! But now the ship is basically on its way to Europe.
He didn't mention what kind of foam is on his way to europe and when exactly we gonna FTFoam in Germany again.

Thanks, that's more than what I got told.
 

skymaster

Elite member
why don't you guys get in contact with the company in your country and ask them to make some to the same specifications and show them how many people are after it and that they could make some profits show them what we do with their product .
 

stereodreieck86

Active member
why don't you guys get in contact with the company in your country and ask them to make some to the same specifications and show them how many people are after it and that they could make some profits show them what we do with their product .
Thats exactly what we do in germany right now.
 

Corbarrad

Active member
why don't you guys get in contact with the company in your country and ask them to make some to the same specifications and show them how many people are after it and that they could make some profits show them what we do with their product .
Well, we could do that but europe is metric, so they would probably not only have to change the formula but also change the tooling to produce the exact measurements of Flite Test foam and I assume that is going to be rather expensive. Even our standard foam is more expensive per unit and by area than even the imported FT foam is.

We already have a european distributor of the "genuine" stuff but it seems they haven't had any shipments come in lately. I assume contacting them is what @stereodreieck86 was talking about.

@stereodreieck86: If you were talking about getting foam made locally, can you give any more info?
 

FDS

Elite member
I already contacted Adams, they will sell us a TRUCK LOAD, their minimum order, but we would have to arrange shipment to the EU as they don’t sell outside the USA.
 

stereodreieck86

Active member
Well, we could do that but europe is metric, so they would probably not only have to change the formula but also change the tooling to produce the exact measurements of Flite Test foam and I assume that is going to be rather expensive. Even our standard foam is more expensive per unit and by area than even the imported FT foam is.

We already have a european distributor of the "genuine" stuff but it seems they haven't had any shipments come in lately. I assume contacting them is what @stereodreieck86 was talking about.

@stereodreieck86: If you were talking about getting foam made locally, can you give any more info?

Check out this thread in the german fpv-treff, the material we were talking about is more like depron.
https://www.fpv-treff.de/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7452&p=147785#p147785
 

IanSR

Active member
Yeah the size isn't the problem, it's the weight of it that is what makes FT foamboard unique. I have a friend in Florida who tried to send me some of the dollar tree stuff but it was so expensive we gave up on the idea. If I get desperate I may try some EPP, but I'd rather have some of the FT stuff.
 

SebastianG

New member
Hey Folks,
I was looking for information regaring FT dirstribution in Europe and so I followed up on a comment by ShadyB on another Treath

My understanding is that a container of FT stuff including maker foam is on its way to UK & I’m sure Europe also now or next week, I’m sure Grupner has supported the flite test logistics team to get a delivery done. It was discussed in Josh live build the other night. Where it’s being delivered to for distribution I can’t say. Missed that part

I went allong with the Live Stream of the EZ Glider Build of April 12th till about 1:00:30 to degest the decisive 45 seconds:

I believe Josh refers to www.lindinger.at and checking in with their online store my confidence improved by finding a good selection of FT products including more recent designs as well as maker foam. According to Lindinger web page "[...] you can find a large choice of Flite Test assemblies and accessoires with Modellbau Lindinger" and availability is shown to start from end of May 2020.

So the bottom line: I can see light at the end of a fairly long tunnel and look foward to restock my build supplies. I hope this raises your hope too.
 

leaded50

Legendary member
In Josh first videobuild in the corona crises, he answers about the FT foamboard. Which company who gonna be a further European distrubitor (not Graupner) and that a container full was "on the way".
 

Bifi.baarlo

Well-known member
Found some great quality depron for a good price here: https://www.rcwebshop.eu/parts/depron
I cover it on one side with thin adhesive film, it is a little lighter than the flite test foamboard and a great alternative.
just finished the simple stick of this depron.
 

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