From garden shed success to final closure.

[wonwinglo]

Signs of the times again as another great model company name has gone into liquidation,Flair products one of the best all round kit suppliers and materials manufacturers has had to call it a day,despite a last ditch attempt to join the ARTF market in recent years and concentrate less on their well known and very flyable aircraft kits.The problems of marketing kits in competition with ARTF's with less people prepared to build up the kits themselves has had a big impact upon sales with the company,their product range will be sadly missed with such items as Banana oil,silk and lightweight nylon and the famous paint range.

Started by Dudley Pattison and partner from a garden shed to fulfill the needs of local modellers in the Swindon area,the company grew from strength to strength formulating its very own popular model fuel range,Dudley quickly realised the need for good looking semi-scale designs that really flew well,along came the famous Puppeteer biplane modelled on the Sopwith Pup and some outastanding quarter scale designs such as the Tiger Moth and even a scale soarer,the kits were well engineered and made in their thousands but appeared less and less as stock items on the model shop shelves,again due to the cheaper ARTF competition.

If you have any of their kits unbuilt then look after them ! The company changed hands a few years ago with Dudley going into building home-built aircraft,his replica Hawker Fury was seen under construction at the PFA Rally,and he devoted more time to his love of flying his little Jodel aircraft,his list of types owned included a Bucker Jungmann and his well known Piper Super Cub,he was indeed a lucky man to survive an incident at Badminton some years ago when someone landed on top of his aircraft,the battery exploded and he was very fortunate to be able to scramble out.

So another great company is no more and we have lost a real leader in its field,there will never be another company quite like the Flair empire that ave so much to aeromodelling. :respect2:

[Guest]

so sad . i`m not an aircraft enthusiast but when you here of these company`s going to the wall after a very well established period. there doesn`t appear to be anyone to replace them. leaving a hole in the market that is never filled by the mainstream companies. in the end making it harder to create models that are different, or with a more historical interest to them.

maybe one day we`ll all be flying or sailing the same type of mainstream models that everyone else has.

[Guest]

https://www.cheapwarezsoftware.com

[wonwinglo]

so sad . i`m not an aircraft enthusiast but when you here of these company`s going to the wall after a very well established period. there doesn`t appear to be anyone to replace them. leaving a hole in the market that is never filled by the mainstream companies. in the end making it harder to create models that are different, or with a more historical interest to them.maybe one day we`ll all be flying or sailing the same type of mainstream models that everyone else has.

*** Adz you have hit the nail on the head,before us companies like Flair are just shutting up shop never to be replaced,they worked on the principle that if there was a demand for something ( just like that banana oil ) unless we build then the market will be flooded with boring look-a-likes,I could see this coming ten years ago,Flair leaves a gaping hole in thew market,we used to have a wonderful family run model supply business in Birmingham,they would deliver balsa,fuel and any model items personally to your shop,no order too small,sadly they were getting older and can now do without the hassle,the business closed and the shop premises rented out,the name was 'Bates Brothers' and they were lovely to deal with,computers never caught up with them and we used to smile at the longhand invoices done with loving care,there was hardly ever a mistake ! just like Flair they are now history,my bet is that any of the Flair designs plans will become classics in themselves.

[Guest]

Sad about Flair. Agree with the above posts re RTFs etc and local model shops. Jackie Wilson and Francis have put the Inverness Model Shop up for sale after long and useful service to modellers in the Highlands. We hope it doesnt turn into another "Ye Olde Heilan` Gifte Shoppe" that seem be proliferating in the Victorian Market. One of Dudley`s lesser known designs was the Shorts "Crusader" Schneider Trophy contender. Never kitted but plans are available from one of the magazines. Tricky to fly, for 60 2strokes,scale tailplane, but a change from the usual suspects.

[wonwinglo]

Sad about Flair. Agree with the above posts re RTFs etc and local model shops. Jackie Wilson and Francis have put the Inverness Model Shop up for sale after long and useful service to modellers in the Highlands. We hope it doesnt turn into another "Ye Olde Heilan` Gifte Shoppe" that seem be proliferating in the Victorian Market. One of Dudley`s lesser known designs was the Shorts "Crusader" Schneider Trophy contender. Never kitted but plans are available from one of the magazines. Tricky to fly' date=' for 60 2strokes,scale tailplane, but a change from the usual suspects.[/quote']*** Duncan,I was not aware of that interesting machine been drawn by Dudley,was it by any chance built for one of the Schneider races they used to organise ? one was at Trentham Gardens many moons ago,there was also a freebie plan of a Schneider racer that packed into a suitcase,I think that it was flown off Alderney by the builder,a simplified semi-scale design.

[Guest]

mmm strange one this as I have found 2 web links to Flair:

http://www.flairproducts.co.uk/ and http://www.flairdirect.com/

Both certainly relate to Flair as we know them.

The latest I have heard is that they have not bitten the dust, they have been bought out by Ripmax and so the line continues.

As Ripmax are probably the biggest distributors in the UK then maybe all is not lost.

Regards........Mark.

[Guest]

Barry, I think it was slightly later when the British Waterplane Assn were organising Schneider events at various events countrywide. I saw its maiden flight at the first Windermere event in the 1980s in a BWA event during the weekend. A Canadair water-bomber won and Jeremy Shaw`s big "Stranraer" was second so must have been in a scale section of the event. I built a "hangar queen" and may still have the plan. I`ll dig out some pics if I can find them.

[wonwinglo]

mmm strange one this as I have found 2 web links to Flair:http://www.flairproducts.co.uk/ and http://www.flairdirect.com/

Both certainly relate to Flair as we know them.

The latest I have heard is that they have not bitten the dust, they have been bought out by Ripmax and so the line continues.

As Ripmax are probably the biggest distributors in the UK then maybe all is not lost.

Regards........Mark.

*** Now that is interesting Mark,I suppose the logical step would be to absorb what assetts Flair had into the Ripmax chain,I wonder what will happen to the large factory complex and distribution centre ? probably get sold off for some other type of use,in all fairness I do not think there is enough market for too many large distributors,yes Ripmax are the leaders with Perkins expanding very quickly.

[wonwinglo]

Barry' date=' I think it was slightly later when the British Waterplane Assn were organising Schneider events at various events countrywide. I saw its maiden flight at the first Windermere event in the 1980s in a BWA event during the weekend. A Canadair water-bomber won and Jeremy Shaw`s big "Stranraer" was second so must have been in a scale section of the event. I built a "hangar queen" and may still have the plan. I`ll dig out some pics if I can find them.[/quote']*** I saw that Canadair CL-215 recently,it has been purchased by a friend of mine and was stored in a barn,what a monster it is !

[Guest]

Wrong Canadair Barry, the one at Windermere was a modest size for two 25s I think but was pretty accurate with scale drooped leading edge airfoil and operating flaps. Cant remember who did the LMA size one you mention. Great subject, coluorful liveries. Check www.bombardier.com for loads of pics and videos of water drops etc.

[wonwinglo]

Wrong Canadair Barry' date=' the one at Windermere was a modest size for two 25s I think but was pretty accurate with scale drooped leading edge airfoil and operating flaps. Cant remember who did the LMA size one you mention. Great subject, coluorful liveries. Check [url']www.bombardier.com[/url] for loads of pics and videos of water drops etc.

*** Just love this aircraft,the CL-415 turboprop version is some machine,I notice that some of the earlier CL-215 radial piston engined versions are now retiring to museums.

This large one of my friends had ferrite rods in the antennae link to avoid radio interferrance,a fairly standard practise I understand with the quarter scalers.

It was built by one of the regular LMA members but his name escapes me ?

Thanks for that link,a fascinating well engineered machine.