2CARTEAM

Dale

When will the bodies be available for the general public to try. Thank you for your continuing contribution to our sport.

daleepp

2CARTEAM: They started shipping ditributor orders on Feb 18th. It now a matter of the pipeline being filled. In this economy the distributors tend to be very conservative and "under-order" which usually leaves someone somewhere a bit frustrated. I wish there was a better way. They can also be ordered directly from the Protoform web site - but shipping cost is added.
http://racepf.com/

Thanks for asking - Dale - Protoform

J-MAN

iTrader: (1)

Just ordered some from great planes.. should be soon!

DS Motorsport

iTrader: (2)

The thing which is frustrating is the way Protoform ships their orders to the distributers. Because of the way the bodies are shipped, already packed in bags and labeled, the shipping costs are insane and distributers simply can't afford ordering large amounts of bodyshells. Because of the high shipping costs Protoform bodies cost more and they are less interesting to sell as a shop. Personally I rather sell someone a Blitz shell then a Protoform shell.

So basically all of the issues with availability are created by Protoform themselves. It's a shame you guys are too stubborn to change this because you guys have great products.

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

Wow, glad I'm not one of your customers. I'd rather pay a bit more for a quality product that I want than have someone try to ram a cheaper but inferior product down my throat. Fortunately at least here in the US, PF bodies are usually cheaper as well.

I have never had any problems getting PF bodies from my usual suppliers such as Ashford, Amain and the local hobby shops. I also appreciate the added features such as good packaging (they don't come scratched or smashed), stiffeners, bolts, good looking stickers, etc. Most importantly, they perform. I believe every body in the A at the winternats was a PF except for a few that are DIRECT BACK POURED CLONES of a PF body.

I can see how shipping could be an issue for non US shops but now you know how we feel about paying double for your European or Asian bodies. The last non-PF 1/8th body I ran was a Zytec that cost more than TWICE what I pay for PF and it didn't even come in a bag, much less any extras.

30Tooth

iTrader: (1)

First I've always raced 1/10th,but I like the mindset 1/8 has,pure performance.Want realism?There's plenty of it in 1/5th gas and mini-z.Want realistic 1/8th bodies like in the 80's and 90's?Well,very sad news the 80's aren't coming back
Nice work Mr. Dale.

DS Motorsport

iTrader: (2)

First of all, don't twist my words.
I'm not ramming a single product through anyone's throat.
Anyone who knows me trusts me on giving accurate and objective advice on whatever product I offer.

Second, I don't think you can call a Blitz body an inferior product. The Lexan they use is softer, but also less brittle. It takes longer before it starts to crack.

Third, even in the US Blitz bodies are cheaper compared to Protoform bodies.

The whole point I was trying to make is that Protoform can sell A LOT more bodies in Europe when they decide to change their shipping method, but I guess you kind of missed that point.

I agree Protoform bodies are always great quality and the most important part almost every body they release performs.

Arahawak

iTrader: (32)

Just curious, if the bodies are shipped not packed and labelled, will it be cheaper? Because I understand most shippers go by weight and some by size of carton regardless of weight.

Just trying to understand how shipping works, no flaming intended.

stefan

Come on Sean, you know better than that.

Morganti won the Winternats with a Blitz body, Wischnewski got second in sedan with a blitz body as well.

And why would you say that they are DIRECT BACK POURED CLONES?

Imho, it's rather the other way around.

Morganti ran the Blitz R18 in late summer/fall 2011 and won races with it, long before Protoform released their R18. Put those two bodies next to each other and tell me who copied whom?

Same thing goes for the Blitz R18V2 and the PFL128. Blitz was first by far and the bodies look VERY similar.

You shold not always sucumb to that reflex you all have been implanted: It's all your fault because we are American.

Last years distribution of the PFR18 was simply a disaster for any hobby shop owner.

This body was nowhere available outside the US but it was all blamed on the damn foreign importers.

So, they all messed up? I don't think so.

I defense of PF I have to say that I usually get my PF bodies stacked with the bags seperately, so I guess the do send them unpacked and maybe DS's importer bags them.

Btw, Sean, you REALLY should dive that Blitz ARX a try

stefan

In airfreight shipping the use "volume weight", which is claculated using the wieght and the volume of a package.

Arahawak

iTrader: (32)

Which in this case... I think not a big difference right? Weight will be the same packed or not packed.. Provided there is huge cost difference in volume which then makes sense for it to be unpacked.

stefan

Yeah, it makes a huge difference in airfreight and you can get MANY more of the bodies into the same volume when you stack them without the bags.

When I ship larger quantities I actually ship the stacked as well and put the bags in seperately.

asw7576

out of topic :

Last year I bring home 20 protoform bodies : 9 P-909, 3 PRF-18, 8 SRS-N ....... hahaha, some useful souveniers from USA for my 1/8 RC friends back home.

Protoform bodies are the best.

( I dont mind using Blitz bodies too )

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

You're right, it was a Blitz. I thought it was something else. I wasn't referring to the Blitz in my "back-poured" comment. There was another there that quite a few people were running that can stack right on top of a PFR18.

M7H

They could add some screws/nuts for the stiffeners, because you have 6 stiffeners, but only screws/nuts to mount 4 of them...
I second that.
I've seen that to.