Tag: shipping

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Operating as Normal

Wind Catcher RC operating as normal.

Starting tonight at midnight, our governor of Michigan issued a stay at home order. Luckily, I run Wind Catcher RC out of our house and work shop behind the house.
 
Last week in anticipation of something like this happening, I picked up another large order of EPP foam from my supplier. I have #1.3 in white and black, #1.9 in white and black, and #2.8 in black (experimental right now). In the next week or two I will process the foam and have more sheets available in the foam section of Wind Catcher RC (click here).
 
If you would like custom thickness sheets of EPP, please let me know so I can cut it for you.
 
We are expecting our latest shipment of Carbon Fiber to be here soon. When the CF arrives, I will update the quantities in the carbon fiber section (click here).

Shipping

UPS stated on their website today that they will continue to pick up and deliver. Here is their statement: “UPS operations are considered to be critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security and will continue to pickup and deliver, even in restricted areas.”
 
As of the moment I wrote this, USPS did not have any notice about service disruptions in Michigan. Please see USPS for up to date information about deliveries in your area.

Still Concerned?

Before the pandemic, I worked out of my house and workshop staying at home 95% of the time. My exposure to the public has always been limited, so for me, this is business as usual at home. If you are concerned about the transmission of COVID-19 when receiving things being shipped to you, please see the CDC’s recommendations. You can also research how long the virus stays alive on surfaces.
 
Shipping your items out might be delayed by a few days due to unforeseen circumstances here at our house, workshop, and in Michigan. I will do my best to get orders out as soon as possible.
 
Stay safe, wash your hands, stay hygienic, and we’ll all get through this eventually.
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Carbon Fiber, UPS, and Spec Wing kits

Carbon Fiber

Some carbon fiber strips and rods were added to the website today (LINK HERE).  We have limited sizes, however we plan to expand as we find out what is most widely used.  We can offer a bulk discount on orders over 100.  Please contact us if you need more carbon fiber or sizes that we don’t have listed on the website.  I have access to quite a few different sizes, but with limited funds from starting up my own business, I can not carry everything in stock.  I can beat most retail prices. Currently the best way to contact us is through our Facebook page. We hope to add a form to the website eventually. You can find our Facebook page HERE.

UPS

We are still working with UPS about our rates. We resolved one issue today which helped reduce the shipping charges our customers see. An issue still exists between what our customers are being charged and what we actually pay when we ship directly from the UPS page. Our UPS representative is currently working on this. We hope to have this resolved soon. We will refund any difference between what our customers pay and what we pay to UPS.

Spec Wing

The Spec Wing kits are getting closer to completion. Bob and Donny over at Thrust FPV did some crash testing and found the wing held up very well. We are still working out the details for the motor mount and winglets. Once this part of our R&D is finished, we’ll have the kit up for sale. I know this is taking longer than expected, however we want to sell the best product we can possibly make.  We are almost there!

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Update shipping EPP foam, Spec Wing , and Citabria

UPDATE

I’ve been quite busy over the last month.  Thank you to everyone for your great support and words of encouragement.  My friends and family are wonderful to help me get through the first stages of starting up a new business selling EPP foam.  Special thank you to my wife for understanding and allowing me to store all our EPP foam in the…. dining room and spare room.  🙂  She is wonderful!  We are hoping in a few more years to build a new house on our 10 acre field we bought outside of town.  This will provide a better space for the foam business and a nice field for testing.

SHIPPING EPP sheets

I know one of the biggest difficulties for my customers is the cost of shipping for the EPP foam.  This is out of my control.  I wish I could provide a less expensive option.  I’m open to suggestions.  I looked into Greyhound, however I read a lot of really bad experiences.  If a customer really wanted me to use them, I would, however I am putting a huge disclaimer that I am not responsible for any damage or loss due to Greyhound’s terrible customer service and practices.

Another option I have is to cut the EPP foam 36×24 sheets down further to fit in a smaller box.

Do you have any other shipping suggestions?

SPEC WING

The first EPP Spec Wing prototype flew at the ReadyMadeRC FPVfest a few weeks ago.  I heard from my test pilots Donny and Bob at ThrustFPV that the wing did well overall on building experience and flying, except that the EPP foam live hinge was not strong enough to pull out of the turns.  I have balsa trailing edges on order and in transit for testing on prototype #2.  If this works out, then I hope to have the kits available soon.

A huge thank you to Donny and Bob for testing this out for me and giving me great feed back.  I hope to provide the best possible build and flying experience.

CITABRIA

The EPP foam Citabria flew again after an improved firewall was installed.  I learned how to better use my light duty mill on my CNC to accurately cut light plywood.  Using this technique I was able to accurately cut a new firewall that also better tied into the front of the fuselage.

On the initial launch I was dealing with some tail heavy issues, however after adjusting the battery I was able to get a lot of great data from the flight.  I flew it in about 15-20mph winds and it surprisingly did okay consider the EPP wing is a huge barn door and the entire plane is light.  It really likes to float in the air at lower speeds.

I am working out the details of prototype #2 along with building techniques that should speed up the build process for the end user.  I would like the entire plane to go together, if using a hot glue gun, in less than an hour.   The electronics would then need to be installed followed by optional paint/film covering.