ssc falcon

Lee Liddle · Post by **Lee Liddle** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:39 am

Thanks for the info JJ. The original idea was to let George do an exact copy of the Open B Falcon in late 2004. My compensation was to be able to buy planes, for my personal use, from George at cost.

Due to material cost and availability (blue foam) and shipping costs (6ft wing) he and his builders in Eastern Europe made lots of changes to my original design. The planes flew well, but were EXTREAMLY weak. I flew one in SSC and it lasted 1/2 of a heat.

I spoke with George about the problems, but I guess he already had ordered quite a few and they were selling, so he wasn`t intrested in correcting the problems.

When people e-mailed me with questions about his product, I explained to them that the product didn`t have my approval in its current form, and referred them to George.

The end result was that the Falcon got the reputation for being a weak plane, and who knows what people thought of me. I`ve always regretted that venture, but what can you do?

The Falcon SSC kits that I have sold and the Cobra SSC kits that Roy Appleton sold were all exact duplicates of what I was flying when the kits were first produced and were good kits.
However, as design weaknesses were found, like the original nose block design, I continued to develop the design and my future kits incorporated those changes. As far as I know, all of the kits that Roy sold were of the original type, and did not include design improvements.

I`ve decided not do do more kits at this time. That may change in the future. I do plan to do a simple thread to help people duplicate the design if they`d like.

I do also sell a few cores now and then when I am contacted, but it`s no business, just an effort to help guys who want to try a Falcon.

I hope that clears up some of the confusion, Happy flying.

Lee

Donduck73 · Post by **Donduck73** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:12 am

Lee, I think it is a great design and thank you for your help when I got mine from you last year. Since then I have made a few of my own. They are more durable than most people think. I know I have hit our trees many times with very little damage. Most of the damage I have now deals with the motor mounts. But I now get the material from Walmart and make them for less than 25 cents each.

Lee Liddle · Post by **Lee Liddle** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:34 pm

Thanks Don, that`s the way that I always did it when I sold kits. If someone bought a kit or two, I let them know that I had no problems with them making more for personal use. I preferred that they not make kits or parts for others. That way I could sell a few more kits and feel like I had personal contact with Falcon builders if they needed tech support.

It did bother me when I would get an e-mail from someone that I`d never heard of asking for help building/trimming Falcon "kits" that I never sold. Money wasn`t the issue, it was just the principle. I guess it still irks me. That`s why I asked Mike where he got his Falcon "kits". It turns out they were GC clone ARFs.

Lee Liddle · Post by **Lee Liddle** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:35 pm

BTW, I`ve heard that George still has several boxes of Falcon and Avenger ARFs that he wants to unload cheap, but remember, they are one hit wonders.

mark s · Post by **mark s** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:43 pm

I will say, that Cobra that I purchased from Roy was the early design. I cannot speak for the changes that were made to Cobra/Falcon. There's no doubt they are great flying planes.

Roid

Post by **Quickdraw** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:08 pm

At first I did not remember who I bought my kits from (2006)- I remembered the beard, pony-tail and the awesome pilot. My memory has been restored and Lee sold me the kits. I'd like to personnelly thank the innovators like Lee, AJ and Dr. Evil for their efforts in R&D of great flying combat planes. I've tried a few of my own LAR's and they just do not perform like the Falcon's, Avengers and Chokers.