ozzie supercub

Just wondering if any Australian flyers have used any mail order companies to buy their planes from here in Australia and Overseas and if so did you have good experiences. I am wondering if it is worth ordering some stuff , probably from the US and if its worth the effort.
Cheers
Paul

Suncoaster

I have used RC Warehouse in Brisbane on a few occasions and been very happy with their service. I have also made several purchases from Hobbycity in Honk Kong, just be sure the items you want are shown as being in stock. I have also purchased a couple of GWS Warbirds from eFlyPower in Taiwan and have been satisfied with them also. I have not purchased a lot from the US because postage is very expensive even for small items.

My info for what it is worth.

Dave

FlyingMonkey

I will say that my dealings with HobbyCity have been quite positive as well.

Aussie E-Flite

Good morning Paul,

Hello from the very wet tropics of North Queensland.

I have obtained most of my hobby equipment from online stores both in Australia and overseas. My thoughts on some of them:-

AUSTRALIA:

Model Flight - always excellent service and communications, very easy online ordering system. Brian is a very helpful person in the warehouse.

ExtremeRC - again, excellent advice and service. This bloke knows his stuff when it comes to electric flight.

RC Headquarters - very good prices with a heap of kits in stock. Email ordering and quick delivery times.

Duanes Planes (ebay) - excellent online ordering through ebay. Good range of bits and pieces.

Watts Up RC - must be the best online store in the county when it comes to delivery. They will send you a photo of your items in the express post pack when they send it. I have ordered gear in the afternoon and recieved it the next day (Brisbane to Townsville).

NQ RC - smaller operator from Charters Towers (north QLD) and makes some very impressive electronic gear for electric flight.

OVERSEAS:

Hobby Lobby - forget them. Took almost 8 weeks to get one small parcel from the US to Australia.

United Hobbies - one of the best for value. Watch out for some dodgy items when ordering, but the motors (HXT, Tower Pro, Turnigy) are excellent value. Some retailers in Australia sell the motors from United at around 30-40% increase, so there is nothing wrong with the products. I have had 14 orders from them and all arrived within 5 to 7 days of payment. One order was placed on Sunday evening and arrived Thursday morning on my doorstep. Their ESCs (Turnigy) are among the best around and I have most of my aircraft set up with thier motors and ESC. If you are looking for 40 - 60 size aircraft set ups, they are the way to go. Not sure about their batteries, haven't tried them. Only order what is in stock - do not place backorders. Wait for it to come in stock.

TrueRC - again, one of the best for the bigger LiPo batteries. Great email service and delivery is usually within 5 days from the US. All my 5S and 6S packs are from TrueRC.

Nitro Hobbies US (ebay) - best place for Spektrum receivers and JR servos(around 50% to 60% saving on average when doing a few orders at once, including exchange and postage). Delivery is quick and multiple orders can be placed through ebay.

Whilst there is a lot rubbish on ebay, there are also plenty of bargains to found if you take the time to look and are patient. A note, use PayPal for all your online transactions. Quick and easy and offers some insurance for some items.

My thoughts from my experience. Hope this helps.

Keith

ozzie supercub

Thanks for the info.
I live in Adelaide so all my dealings so far have been with Model Flight. Only problem is that as a beginner I find they are just so busy in the store that they struggle to find time to chat with people like me who are very much still learning. Other than that it is amazing the amount of stuff they sell in there.
I will look into the other places you mentioned.
Thanks and Happy Flying
Paul

flymess

Does anyone know who supplies 2mm corflute (coroplast in the US) in Aust? I find 3mm stuff everywhere, election posters, bottl'o signs, real estate for sale signs etc but I think it might be a bit heavy. I'm currently into building Mugi Evos and the plans specify 2mm. If I do build with 3mm can someone advise what kind of upscaling I'll need to do. The sheets I've got are 89mmx59.5mm.

chribru

Bunnings so long as you want white otherwize try a sign writer
Regards
Windsock

chribru

Also 3mm is OK several Mugis in both sizes working fine made out of 3mm
Windsock

flymess

Thanks for that Windsock, I'll try Bunnings tomorrow tho' when I've looked around before I didn't notice any, I'll ask this time. Have you made a mugi with 3mm? If so what motor and power source works best? I don't want blistering speed nor spend too much. thanks

chribru

use a pizza cutter with a wheel to score the fold lines against a steel ruler
Regards
Windsock

chribru

You need a high KV 2300 plus (180-200watts) and a smallprop 7 x6 (so you can handlaunch without losing an arm) they can be prone to aileron flutter so you need strong pushrods and MG servos
The best glue for corflute is contact gel selleys etc you WILL need nose weight take real notice of CG point.

flymess

"they can be prone to aileron flutter so you need strong pushrods and MG servos"
sorry about my ignorance but what are "MG servos"?(it's OK I've worked it out) Also can you tell me the difference between AR6200 and AR6100 receivers, is it just the remote receiver on the AR6200

chribru

Try Wired RC in Brisbane for good prices, expert knowledge and very good service.

pattern14

Generally have not found Oz suppliers all that great, especially here in Tasmania. For kits, S and B warbirds, and Wowings win hands down, as well as Canterbury sailplanes in NZ. Extreme R/C is really good for all things EDF. On the down side I used to buy a lot from Wattsuprc, but so much of their stuff is out of stock lately, as is Euromodels. Nitro dude is the worst, and Model flight is over priced. Not much luck with r/c hobbies either. Trying to import stuff from the U.S has not been inspiring. I know it sounds negative, but this has been my experience. Himodels in China is light years ahead with price and quality, and I buy from them exclusively now. Still trying to figure out how it cost more from melbourne than China for post. I always try and buy locally if i can help it, but all my overheads puts this hobby way down the ladder, so I buy what I can afford. Still have the best time flying though, even if no one else around me me does it. R/C planes, especially EPP combat and warbird scratchbuilds are not big here, and the few and far between clubs are still primarily glo high wing stuff. .

Catalina

Have used omnimodels on ebay for multiplex planes with no hassels.

Buy the most of my gear for hobbyking. Just too cheap not too.

flymess

Postage pricing's got me bewildered too. $6.95 from China, $6.50 from Maitland which is only a few hundred Ks away from up here at Coffs Harbour way, but the price from Extreme Radio is scarey! By the way, I'm late on the scene but have enjoyed trying to build some SPAD planes but can't locate "yardsticks". Has anyone found a suitable substitute? Just buy the narrowest, longest piece of wood I can find at Bunnings perhaps?

flymess

Just tried t o contact XC-RC in Victoria as they looked to have some good bargains. Their E-mail page didn't have a verification No. to quote but when I tried to send, got a message stating I hadn't quoted the No. Tried a couple of times, same result, so I tried to phone the mobile No. on the home page but got a recorded message asking me to enter the number again which I did but got the same message. Sooo, I tried to google them and got a warning that the site was not reliable and I was advised by my security system to get out of there. So much for trying to tell them what a great on-line shop they had and asking for some details of postage for items I was willing to purchase. Just when you think you've found what you want!!!! Also find ModelFlight site most unhelpful and have told them so. It's quite annoying to locate an item that is advertised only to find that it is out of stock, or worse still, a discontinued line and not available. What's the point? Also get a banner on their site saying its an archived site "click here to go to current site" click and it sends you to the same site you are on. I'm building a black-banned list of shops I won't deal with in future and RC HQ is getting close to going on it with their curt replies to my enquiries. If you ask what makes one plane 2 1/2 x the price of another similar plane, you may be excused for expecting an explanation that says "this one comes with a Brushless motor" or "this one has aeralons", not "It's like cars, some are more expensive than others" Maybe they think I'm a pimply 12year old because they can be very condescending. Well, that's off my chest for now!

Catalina

By the way guys the NSW warehouse has just opened for hobbyking. Slightly cheaper pricing but we can save with the larger shipping weights. i.e put much more stuff in the one box.

flymess

This site only seems to have complete models. Try to look for other items and you get sent to the O/S site. Early days tho'. Do hope they can supply same items as main site at comparable prices.

flymess

Seeing this is an Ozzy thread would like to ask for some local opinions re. chargers. Is it best to spend big on a Hyperion AC/DC or are Swallows any good? Or should I go for a DC charger and a power source? What do you experienced people think? Any help is much appreciated.

pattern14

Hi Flymess; been using a Hyperion 606i for about 3 years now, and it is brilliant. They are a little expensive, but are better quality than anything else commercially available out there. Much better than the swallow advance in my opinion. They run off a 12 v auto battery, and are very light and compact. A really good budget priced charger is the Battman one, available through OKHobbies. Look them up if you get the chance; great website in general." Himodels" is my favourite on-line place to shop, check them out for chargers as well. Cheers

flymess

Update on RC shops- Ordered and paid for 3 "orange receivers" from HobbyKing in China on 22/9. They were not in stock, nevertheless they arrived on 12/10. Not too bad. At the same time I paid for a receiver that I ordered from Pete-N-planes here in Oz, I'm still waiting. I have E-mailed them 3 times asking where my order is. They replied once saying they will send it "if applicable" (WTF) They acknowledged that the payment had cleared on 22/9, by 30/9 they had not sent it. They didn't respond to my e-mail sent 8/10 nor the one sent 15/10. What do I do now? I will be notifying Paypal and also Dept of Fair Trading. Has anyone else had any experience with this mob? Are they crooks or what? And what can you do when you get ripped off?

chipper

I've use Tower Hobbies in the US. They are pretty good and have a fair range of stuff. They have Pay Pal as well and it roughly takes about 2 weeks for stuff to arrive. If you join their members club you can get some discounts on selected gear, they also send promo emails which you can use that may help save on freight costs. They use UPS which sends you a tracking code so that you can at least know were your stuff is. I've found that freight costs from the US can be a bit of killer, sometimes it cost a lot more the the gear your buying. A word of warning when buying electrical gear from the US, it comes with US plugs so you'll need to buy a transformer if you want to use it here in Oz. With the dollar so high it might be cheaper to buy from the US then here in OZ, but like all things, shop around for the best bargain.

flymess

I have just received my parcel of goodies from HiModel in China (thanks for the tip Pattern14). Put my order in on Thursday last. They responded straight away and within a couple of hours notified that it had been posted. Now at 1:00pm today (Monday) the courier pulls up with my gear. Now THAT is service! Everything I ordered is here, nicely packaged. I'll definitely be going back. Yahoo! (and they sell in USD so its pretty cheap right now).

pattern14

Good to see it worked out. They are head and shoulders over everyone else, and the USD exchange rate is only making it better. 99% of what I order comes from them