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Century Heli
03-13-2007, 08:07 PM
Dear valued helicopter pilots,

In the past year, Century Helicopter Products has been facing difficulties in production as well as legal matters, effecting the availability of kits and replacement parts for many of our high end product line. The lower priced end which would be the culmination of the Hummingbird line, Swifts, and Hawks along with Scale mechanics and fuselages have been available and we've met most of the demand. In regards to the Scale helicopters, we are currently in talks with Bell Textron and this has moved into the courtroom. We are not anticipating this battle to end very soon but at this moment, there is an injunction on the sales of anything that is Bell related. This has put our Bell 222, Jet Ranger, and Long Ranger fuselages on hold indefinitely until the legal matters are finalized. Aside from the Scale fuselages we have been extremely busy working on bringing our factory up to speed and become 100% operational. You may ask why we had to build a new manufacturing facility? In order for us to offer you guys a high quality product at an affordable price, stay competitive and keep up with demand, we were forced to expand. We at Century Helicopter Products did not anticipate the kind of effect on product availability and customer loyalty with the shutdown of it's previous facility. This resulted in kits and parts being out of stock but still trickling in as our previous manufacturing facility was not 100% operational. Due to these issues and the long delays and hurdles we had to go through to open up our new facility, we believe it has tainted our reputation as a manufacturer that cannot keep parts and kits in stock. The whole intent of opening a new improved and much larger manufacturing facility was to counter this yet it added fuel to the fire. We're truly sorry if this has caused any delays in your projects or kept you from enjoying this wonderful hobby. After all the wait and anticipation, we are proud to announce that the light at the end of the tunnel is very near. With the Predator line of helicopters, we have changed quite a bit of the tooling for the plastic parts and improved some of the aluminum and steel items. This thought process trickles down throughout the entire Century product lineup. What this means for you as the customer are more robust machines, better fitting parts, and innovative engineering. Within the next 10 days, we anticipate all the replacement parts to be in stock for the Predator line. The Predator line which includes the new Predator Freestyle SE, Predator MAX 90, and Predator Gasser, and Predator Condor Gasser is expected to ship within the next few days. With this timeline, we are expecting the Predator shipment to be in our distribution warehouse in 40 days due to the shipment traveling by surface from overseas. It's been a long road and we would like to thank those who had the patience to hang in there with us.

Sincerely,
Team Century

DebianDog
03-14-2007, 08:04 AM
Awesome. Perhaps I will reconsider selling all mine now. :wink:

Motions
03-14-2007, 08:18 AM
It's always extremely nice to hear a manufacturer set the record clear on issues they might be having. The rumor mill gets everything twisted around.

I hope things get running smooth in the new facility and you get back in stride. Century has been a cornerstone in the RC market.

Finless
03-14-2007, 05:40 PM
Thank you for the news Century.... I look forward to the future of your products!

Bob

AV8TOR
03-14-2007, 07:09 PM
we are proud to announce that the light at the end of the tunnel is very near.

I like the sound of that! Thanks for the update.

miami6
03-14-2007, 08:21 PM
great ill start the clock

Pinecone
03-15-2007, 03:42 AM
How about some special deals to help bring people back?

johnnychimpo
04-23-2007, 10:37 PM
I know you said high end line but what about the 3D pro parts. Its almost impossible to find a new spindle shaft for them now with out buying a whole new kit. Please make those parts too!!! Dont forget about the micro heli's!! :arggg: :arggg:

AV8TOR
04-24-2007, 07:36 AM
Century how is the Tail Pitch Slider coming for the Swift?

aramsdell
04-24-2007, 08:54 PM
Add me in with Av8tor. Tail pitch slider is a tough fit to get right. Mine currently has a washer between the ball link balls and the blade grips. Shouldn't need it but...

aramsdell
04-24-2007, 08:58 PM
Dear Century..... When are the Swift Head buttons and metal bell mixers to arrive? Please .. Is there a different Shaft for the Tail rotor when using the Metal tailbox? The shaft is too short in the bearing on the side opposite the blades(ie left side brg). The shaft only goes about 1/2 way into the bearing.

Venzent
04-25-2007, 05:11 AM
we are proud to announce that the light at the end of the tunnel is very near.
Watch out, these means there is a train coming :lol:
Sorry, couldn't resist it .... :wink: