Guillows/Comet Brand?

[rayd]

A) I'm confused about something...this likely came up before, but "Search" not working for me, though it could be me. Nevertheless,..did/does Guillows own the Comet name or acquire it, or have any of its inventory from awhile back?

and .....

B) If so, might Guillows have some Comet parts available? Sometimes, I'll buy an "all parts present" kit from eBay, and find die cut sheet/s missing (got stuck often)..a hassle to return. I wind up scratch building missing parts as best as possible using "stuff" in box as templates. Am ready to throw in the towel on auction goods because of missing parts.

Thanks Ray

PS Oh, any parts maybe for discontinued Guillows items?

[rayd]

Ok David.....thanks

Ray

[Bill Gaylord]

A) I'm confused about something...this likely came up before, but "Search" not working for me, though it could be me. Nevertheless,..did/does Guillows own the Comet name or acquire it, or have any of its inventory from awhile back?

and .....

B) If so, might Guillows have some Comet parts available? Sometimes, I'll buy an "all parts present" kit from eBay, and find die cut sheet/s missing (got stuck often)..a hassle to return. I wind up scratch building missing parts as best as possible using "stuff" in box as templates. Am ready to throw in the towel on auction goods because of missing parts.

Thanks Ray

PS Oh, any parts maybe for discontinued Guillows items?

That's why the Ebay sellers who don't want to show a photo of ALL the part sheets, can keep their kits. Forget about getting lucky and buying the "bargains" that claim to be complete, without photos. They know that they will get more money if they post a photo showing all the part sheets, so there's no excuse for it. The arrogant sellers will tell you their ratings exempt them from taking photos, but that's nonsense also. With a decent photo, anyone who builds these kits can readily determine if the parts sheet count is complete, simply by checking for the fuse keels, fuse formers, airfoil formers, and tail parts.

As for finding parts sheets, there are several Ebay vendors who sell printwood sheets for old Comet, Guillows, and Sterling kits. They aren't exactly a bargain however, if you're looking for individual parts.

[Wildpig]

The arrogant sellers will tell you their ratings exempt them from taking photos, but that's nonsense also.

Wow! That is arrogant. The attitudes of some people, amazing.

A) I'm confused about something...this likely came up before, but "Search" not working for me, though it could be me. Nevertheless,..did/does Guillows own the Comet name or acquire it, or have any of its inventory from awhile back?

B) If so, might Guillows have some Comet parts available? Sometimes, I'll buy an "all parts present" kit from eBay, and find die cut sheet/s missing (got stuck often)..a hassle to return. I wind up scratch building missing parts as best as possible using "stuff" in box as templates. Am ready to throw in the towel on auction goods because of missing parts.

A) Yes, Guillow acquired the entire Comet line, sometime around 1994 or mid, 1990's. The amount of actual parts and kits in that inventory they acquired, I have no idea.
B) What plans Guillow has for the Comet line, who knows? The Guillow (4000 series) Flyboy, CloudBuster, Cadet, and Goldwing are originally Comet designs. As you know, Comet plans do not have templates for the formers and ribs. I think this goes against the grain (pun, ha-ha) of Guillow, since all their plans have templates (another plus for Guillow). So marketing those old kits entails a redraw of the plans....not cheap. I volunteer to update the plans for a minimal fee.
You can get parts templates online, for free. I've done it in the past. Don't remember the source.
I'll see if it's in my bookmarks.

[Bill Gaylord]

The arrogant sellers will tell you their ratings exempt them from taking photos, but that's nonsense also.

Wow! That is arrogant. The attitudes of some people, amazing.

It is arrogant. Go look at their ratings like I did. They may appear to be good, but the few bad ratings are from incomplete kits. I would have to imagine that those were their sales where they didn't show complete pictures. I would also have to imagine that those are the incomplete kits that people like the thread starter here received, as they would not have bought them if they could have reviewed the kit contents in a photo. I call it arrogant to imply that you can slip a few bad kits in there, as 99% of your kits are complete. Somebody still gets burned. It's reminds me of people trying to sell kits as vintage for top dollar when they are not. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2608

[Steve Blanchard]

Hey Bill,

I think you misread the post. I think he was agreeing with you. I could be wrong. But reread it from a different angle. Read it like "WOW. That is arrogant."

[Bill Gaylord]

Hey Bill,

I think you misread the post. I think he was agreeing with you. I could be wrong. But reread it from a different angle. Read it like "WOW. That is arrogant."

Maybe so, but it looks like he's joking about it as if saying "Wow, that's so terrible", as in "get over it".

[Steve Blanchard]

Maybe you should ask him instead calling him out. I don't think I've ever seen him act like that before. Again I could be wrong. I do believe most fights on the forums begin with a simple misunderstanding and then it just escalates. So I will leave it to Wildpig from here. Just thought I'd try a little water for the fire before we all got burned.

[Wildpig]

Bill,
Whoa! Hold on there. I was agreeing with you. Just like Steve B. pointed out. For an Ebay seller to claim exemption from good business practices and not wanting to properly represent his product because he/she has a high feedback rating is what I would call arrogant, too. For a seller to think he is above proper representation of a product is also insulting to other conscientious sellers, particularly sellers with even more stellar ratings.

Please understand, I do not intend to bash, insult, demean or otherwise make personal remarks about anyone on this forum.

Yes, I will from time to time state an opinion about persons or human behavior in a generic form. My intent on this forum is to be helpful.

I do apologize, Bill, for any misunderstanding. I think if I had removed "but that's nonsense also" from the quote, then the meaning would be more clear.

[rayd]

If I feel I come here to ask something or make a comment that's not inappropriate and sense adolescent friction/bickering, there's no point coming here. I asked a couple questions because I purchased a Guillows discontinued item and later a Comet version from an auction site. The first one had infestion,forget details,the second, missing parts.

I thank those who responded kindly. I can get ample friction domestically...I come to places like this to maybe relax and perhaps rekindle/update a decades old hobby, which might interest neighborhood kids who walk around eyes glued to their "smartphones" as they cross the street with a semi blowing its air horn. They could use attention & craftsman talents.

I now feel no interest visiting here or posting. Yes, swan song..who cares. In couple years I've been here, I've noticed much nasty bickering over nonsense. This group should use teamwork, to help, inform in a hobby which may be gone when we are. But who am I to lecture you. In view of this, I respectfully request of the moderator to remove my name from this forum.

Thanks for the memories. This will probably create more bickering. Go ahead...make my day.

[Steve Blanchard]

Well David, I never expected that from you but if ever there was someone who deserved it you picked the right guy. I second that notion. Marc g you have been the absolute worst participant on this forum. From the moment you joined you tried your hardest to get to this point. Congratulations you have achieved your goal. Now just go. You sir are the one who should be ashamed. You are the most ignorant person I have ever come across on any forum and I have been on many for quite a while. I'm sure you are sitting there thinking up some witty response (or should I say witty to your simple mind) to my response. Please do. It would just keep perpetuating what you need. You are cruel nasty bully who probably was pounded on a s a child so now in the age of faceless confrontation you have finally been given the balls to do something about it. This makes you a bigger coward than those who abused you when you were a kid. Shame on you. You're a fool.

[David Lewis]

My guess is Guillow's felt there was little to lose by tying up Comet's intellectual property and brand equity at pennies on the dollar. Existing inventory of Comet parts (if any) -- much less newly manufactured replacements -- would be of small value compared to organizing, storing, tracking, cataloging, inventorying and accounting.

The demand for discontinued kit parts is miniscule and doesn't come from Guillow's core market (low skill casual modellers). The high skill hard core perfectionist fanatics (you and I) are a tiny segment and, if we don't make it ourselves, are already served by boutique operators making custom items by hand in their garage.

[Phugoid]

A lot of the old comet kits plans are freely available on line, I suppose that Guillows bought them out just to kill the competition rather than for the products.

I think Penn valley hobbies in the states do a fair few comet repro kits.

Andrew

Oh and Marc, I add to Dave's sentiment....jog on mate, there's a good boy.

[David Lewis]

Comet was put up for sale because it wasn't profitable. I think Guillow's purchase was more to prevent someone coming after them if they decided to re-issue Comet kits than to lock out competition.

[Phugoid]

Businesses sometimes come up for sale for other reasons than lack of profitability. Perhaps the owner had simply had enough and wanted out, it happens. Very few businesses end through lack of profitability, cash flow is the killer.

In any case that's exactly what I meant...... "Ie we have it, no one else has", it's a good way to strengthen your position.

Andrew