Originally Posted by KMatch

Perhaps focusing more on marketing these and similar and less on foam throw-away planes for newbies? I'm well aware you fish where the money is, but to shift more focus on these just might make the foam fliers aware of something to look forward to.

Agreed. It is something that we are actively looking at doing more of. However. From what I hear, previous attempts show that it has not resulted in the sales bumps we were hoping for?
When I go to events I see a bunch of balsa guys who will have a foam model or two as an alternative. Not so much when it comes to those who are into foam having a balsa plane.
The logic would be to produce small balsa planes, but the pricing of those does not appeal to a price driven market, which is what we are dealing with today.
I have had more than one vendor tell me they would rather produce a medium size 10-20cc balsa ARF, than a small 10glo/ 480 size balsa plane, and they price accordingly. Which I totally get! I would hate to have to mass produce some of the small. fiddly scale balsa aircraft.

Regards Ali

Ali, I applaud you and the HH management team for continuing to support the giant scale gas market and hope that we can look forward to more airplanes. The Tiger looks like a nice airplane and a good choice for the many modelers with smaller gas engines looking for a home.

Originally Posted by Ali Machinchy

Agreed. It is something that we are actively looking at doing more of. However. From what I hear, previous attempts show that it has not resulted in the sales bumps we were hoping for?
When I go to events I see a bunch of balsa guys who will have a foam model or two as an alternative. Not so much when it comes to those who are into foam having a balsa plane.
The logic would be to produce small balsa planes, but the pricing of those does not appeal to a price driven market, which is what we are dealing with today.
I have had more than one vendor tell me they would rather produce a medium size 10-20cc balsa ARF, than a small 10glo/ 480 size balsa plane, and they price accordingly. Which I totally get! I would hate to have to mass produce some of the small. fiddly scale balsa aircraft.

Regards Ali

Ali,
truly thank you for trying and trying to keep the hobby alive... i now work with two former Horizon developers and just hearing the horror stories gives me more respect for you and what you are doing. i know there are complaints here and there but the truth is you are doing amazing in an every shrinking market...
-Matt

I think part of the answer in keeping these classics alive is what has been done with this "Tiger".
Offering the larger 30cc version with the flaps option is a great touch.
The newest tech. in flight stabilizing is something I would have added as well. It's another feature you can either use or turn it off. Retracts (optional) would also be Kool on this plane.

Originally Posted by Flybye Steve

I think part of the answer in keeping these classics alive is what has been done with this "Tiger".
Offering the larger 30cc version with the flaps option is a great touch.
The newest tech. in flight stabilizing is something I would have added as well. It's another feature you can either use or turn it off. Retracts (optional) would also be Kool on this plane.

I would love to have had retracts, but looking at the original design brief that would not have been possible.

Regards Ali

Originally Posted by Carruthers43

Ali,
truly thank you for trying and trying to keep the hobby alive... i now work with two former Horizon developers and just hearing the horror stories gives me more respect for you and what you are doing. i know there are complaints here and there but the truth is you are doing amazing in an every shrinking market...
-Matt

I would not say its a "Horror" story situation. Just a balance to keep things profitable and moving forward. The sad situation with Hobbico is a great example of how things can work out for the worst. Realistically. Who saw that coming three or four years ago!! Not this guy...
The main issue today ( In my opinion ) is that the marketplace has changed so much. Just going back 6 years and looking at the sales numbers. Even a "flop" of a project 6-10 years ago sold numbers that we would kill for in today's market. This makes producing any balsa ARF today a much more risky process.
We are a small team here at HH that focus on the balsa ARF's. The good news is. We are all super passionate ( Maybe too much at times ) about keeping this segment going and growing. Thanks to the support of a loyal customer base, the lights stay on and the project list is still busy for the future!

Regards Ali

Nice plane mine was delivered last Friday looking forward to the build and flying this model !

Cant wait to see it in shops in europe...

Gerald

Looking forward to put her on floats.

Ali,
Float Hardware: when will this part be available: HAN237013?
It’s listed in the manual, but not on the website.

Originally Posted by FedexTim

Nice plane mine was delivered last Friday looking forward to the build and flying this model !

If it's a Great Planes design I'll bet it's going to be tail heavy. At 5k ft ASL I'd want at least a 50 on it. Are there servo cut-outs in the tail? How close are the servos to the control surfaces? Would you please post some more detailed pictures?

Need float set for it

Originally Posted by FedexTim

Nice plane mine was delivered last Friday looking forward to the build and flying this model !

Could you get me width of cowl? Thinking big glow twin (Saito 182 / OS 160) would be nice in this ?

I started building one for a friend today. The pushrods for the ailerons and flap are not sized properly and neither the clevis or 4 40 bolt will thread on. I had some Dubro 4 40s that I used instead. The longer rods were fine. Fit and finish is very good. I’ll measure width when I get a chance but I will warn you that it’s thin.

This is an old school design....even as an ARF. good news is that all hinges are glued. bad news is that you need to solder one end of the pushrods, and mounting the control arms is a bit tedious, but easier than the ones that come with the Ultra Stik.

cowl width is 149mm. good luck! initial choice for my buddy was a dle 30 but the fear is that the side exhaust will interfere with the cowl. so he ordered a 35RA. the firewall has horizontal and vertical lines. i'll make a tempplate up and also use a spinner to reference alignment. spinner width is 3".

below are the mounting dimensions for the 35RA. Note that at 40 mm from center on the right you are near the edge of the firewall, so be careful with engine selection. also note that the mounting holes are narrower up top (35mm from center) and 40mm from center on the bottom.

read that it may need 3/4 lb up front to balance. ug. i'm hoping ali will chime in and that's ultra conservative.

I was afraid of what you are running into. I was considering one of these as a temporary home for my VVRC 40 classic. I don't like to use long pushrods and clevis. I would want to mount the rudder and elevator servos to the tail and move the wing servos closer to the ailerons. Based on my experience with a GP Giant Stik it took a DA50 to get proper balance without adding extra weight in the nose. And, at 5K ft ASL the Stik was a dog with 30cc. I'm guessing the Tiger is built similar to the Stik?

i can't see any reason to shorten the distance to the aileron servo. I have the h9 X Cub which uses the same linkage set up for the elevators and the rudder. it works fine. this is not a 3D ship - it's a big cruiser. I don't see any issue with the long pushrods. it's a big airplane and you would probably be pushing it at your altitude.

It's very similar to the Stik. One significant difference is the use of robart type hinges on the Tiger, and all hinges are pre glued. it's also quite a bit roomier on the inside and obviously a cowl to mount. this one will have spektrum 6150s all around with a PS 12310T receiver and an Tech Aero IBEC, 9 ch with flaps, same as Stik.

I was around when the original CGM Tiger was out and it was a great airplane. I wish this one had tricycle gear and the wing mounted struts but oh well.