Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
| TSK is out of business, but not because the design(s) weren't any good. In fact, they were some of the best machines ever marketed. The fit and quality of the parts simply had to be seen to be believed.
They are gone mainly because the heir apparent CEO, the nephew of the owner, bled the company dry through embezzlement. The company never was very large, and had a small but dedicated following of customers around the world.
TSK machines never caught on in the US, due entirely to the single-handed efforts of one individual. This person was not the sole importer, but that was a widely-believed fallacy, and his name became associated with TSK in the US. Given his reputation, that was enough to kill the line right there.
Toward the end, an effort was made to turn things around. Ron Lund began carrying TSK stuff, and with his good name behind the line, the situation might have improved with enough time. But not long after Ron got involved, the embezzlement was discovered and the firm was in deep financial trouble. The old man came back to the helm to try to save things, and was managing to keep the firm afloat; then apparently said to hell with it and put the company up for sale. There were no takers, so TSK just quietly went away.
Too bad, really. The MyStar line of helicopters were a very good deal; a top-quality (providing you had a GENUINE TSK kit, as opposed to one that had 50% or more "cloned" parts) machine that was not overly expensive and flew as well as you could ask for.
There is a guy making some parts ("HeliTech", I think, is the name of his company), and his avowed goal is to produce entire machines eventually. I hear his prices are high, but can't tell you anything about the quality, etc. There are some folks keeping up with this who do know.
I think you would be making a double mistake here; in the first place, buying a used machine sight unseen, and secondly, one that is out of print and has questionable parts support.
On the Hirobo questions, perhaps some of the many reps on this board can answer those.
Steve |
