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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
WOWOK...
So this is what happens to my site when
I don't show up for awhile. Pictures all over the place, on top of blog posts and a whole variety of horrible stuff.
I
will now monitor this a bit better than I have been.
You either do this stuff or you don't. And when you don't, things
go wacko.
I will enter more tomorrow and talk about a hobby that has caught my eye- Tether cars.
I can afford
the little tiny guys right now but they just ooze coolness.
I'll try to put up a picture tonight. If it's a wash, I'll
have to call register.com and see what they did to my site.
So here goes with a picture or two.
Jeff
Monday, April 5, 2010
My dad and pukeAs you may have already seen in the museum page, I recently added a green pitts-like
Cox model airplane.
My dad was the only person to fly my original airplane back around 1970 or so. He was the only guy
I knew who had any skills in control line flying. He spent much of his paper route money as a kid, buying and building kits
that were much bigger that this little Pitts-like model.
We were in Glendale California, at my step mothers parents house
when he worked up the steady gut to fly this thing.
It was quite possibly the nastiest trick Cox ever played on a flyer.
I thought my dad was going to puke or at least fall over and die when it finally landed.
I took some cool shots of the
green airplane with some light coming through the wing. It was one of those things I noticed waaaaay back then as it screamed
in that tiny little circle. It was just so pretty to see the sun cut through the plastic in those wings. I don't believe
my dad had the chance to notice this charming detail.
Though I suppose everything in the museum has a price I would consider,
these two air planes are among the very few I would be most heart broken to see go.
But hey... For a million bucks, I
could get over it.
New kit coming out next month!
jeff
2:15 pm edt
Monday, March 1, 2010
museumOk...
Go check out the museum page. Some way groovy new stuff to drool
over.
Enough said.
1:36 pm est
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Living LifeA whole month later and where has all the time gone?
I work for a major ski resort as a real day job and think airplanes all day.
One very cool discovery is a DVD
called ONE-SIX RIGHT.
It is the single coolest movie I have ever seen on "why pilots become pilots."
It is based on the history of Van Nuys Airport in Southern California and is just bursting with production quality. The footage
is something you have to see to believe, the music will bring a tear to anyone who has flown and maybe just got away from
it. All you have to do is have a love of anything that flies and this film will grab your guts.
It takes the time to
talk to people around us who might not understand our need to fly or build stuff that flies. It may have even helped
my wife understand the man she married, a little better.
Just buy it. Period.
Go to amazon.com. They have
a bunch listed and it won't break the bank.
Also check out the museum. I have a couple new pics for you to look
at.
One of the coolest things that has happened to me in awhile was a call I made to the San Diego air and space
museum.
Years ago I met my boyhood hero, Scott Crossfield. He called me from the Test Pilots Symposium in Los Angeles
to say he would spare me a few minutes if I could get there in a hurry.
Two hours later we were talking anything and
everything airplane. It was like a dream, only better.
Before the end of our visit, he signed one of our early (and now
available as the Stacy-K glider) kits.
I built it and made a stand for it. I then offered it to that museum to display
with Scotts' old X-15 rocket plane space suit. And that is where my little glider has lived since 1990 or so. It is still
there.
So, Between this movie and seeing my name next to Scott Crossfield and another famous aviator
(look
just above the model glider and zoom in. If you have a pulse, you will recognize the name).
I am a very lucky man.
I have a wife who loves me, kids who are doing well and a job. I also get to play with model airplanes and will soon fly again,
if I have anything to say about it.
I have the greatest mom in the world and thank my dad for that first flying lesson.
Life is just fine.
Keep flying and feel free to call me or e-mail if you please.
Gotta' split for now.
Jeff
11:07 pm est
Friday, January 22, 2010
The old daysHello All-
Good to be back in the blog world.
Sorry to those of you
looking for absoltely anything new here.Growing this business is tougher than I thought it would be, to say the least.
Back in the old days, it was a matter of using my lunch hour to cold call hobby shops from a pay phone.
Then
we stumbled onto museum gift shops and business took-off.
So I just thought that a web-site would be the modern
answer to all those cold calls. Wrong...
The internet actually threw a wrench or two into the old-school way of thinking
and doing business.
Now I have started calling museums again. There is still something to be said for hearing a
voice at the other end.
As you might think, budgets are tighter than they have ever been and a quick "yes"
to my sales pitch is a thing of the past for now.
I am looking for ways to better price the kits so they can actually
help with the customer's recovery.
So expect to see a drop in price within a week or so (yes hold-out on buying
or e-mail me and ask for a better price. Call me for better service at (970)379-9414. If you leave a message, I will call
you back in short order.
Immediate post-Christmas business has been slow slow slow, but we are still alive, and
have kits in stock.
More later.
Jeff
12:55 pm est
Monday, December 14, 2009
Web Page Changes Hey everyone Josh here again,
You may have noticed a change in the web page format, but rest assured all the links lead to the
same locations, the page just had a little update from its previous look. The links are still fully functioning and the pages
still load as they should. Unfortunately there may be some rearrangement from page to page but nothing that will impair you
from browsing or purchasing. Also in the future I'll post ahead of time before I make any changes so it's not such a surprise.
Hope you all like the new look and if anyone notices any problems let me know so I can fix them as
quickly as possible.
Contact me at jman_37@hotmail.com if you notice problems or have questions about the site.
7:18 pm est
Saturday, November 21, 2009
UruguayFor all of you interested n those tiny rubber powered airplanes
we get from Al Arbe, more are on the way. Still in limited quantity, but on their way. Actually, Al has shipped them
already, so look for them on ebay or e-mail me directly if you have an interest in getting ahold of one of these gems.
Due to the limited quantity we can acquire at a time, I am not listing them as a generally available item on our site.
I will however continue to give progress reports and write about them. I still think this is one of the coolest
kits I have ever seen or built.
The next report on these models will be a pictorial of the build of this
kit. Good photos and it's very own page. In fact, I will be dedicating an entire section to Al's kits and models.
So
keep an eye out for some of this new stuff!!!
Jeff
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Teething painsIt would appear I put an incomplete part in one of the Old Timer
Kits. A couple of the propeller assemblies seem to be lacking the little balsa stand-off that spaces the prop from the fuselage.
No biggie really, but if your kit has this issue, let us know.
I will be ordering more of these kits tomorrow. We are
currently sold out for about a month or so.
There will be a new glider coming from Uruguay as well. I believe
it is mostly foam and am told it flies very nicely.
So keep an eye open and I will list a few on ebay as soon as
they arrive.
I am also working on a new original Teaford Aerospace Company kit. It's gonna' take a sec to perfect.
This is a kit I offered several years back, called the ABREEZ.
I was such a great flyer and worth bringing back. I just
need to get better heat to my garage/work shop. Packaging will of course be another deal, but similar to the stuff I currently
produce.
I will be testing a flying wing model this week called the Stealth. It will probably be the most affordable
kit we will have, as well as being simple to produce. A 12 inch wing span is the arrangement, with a couple tip stabilizers
and reflex tabs of heavy paper. Cool stuff!
I have really been wanting to get this particular kit in the air for some
time now, so we'll see (You didn't give up onme Jason- Did you?). It has very few parts and is a trip to fly. It will make
you understand why flying wings are so hard to spot.
I used to throw them into a loop and turn to look back to see where
they went. About one second later I would be greeted with a thunk in the head by the airplane. I never saw it coming. But
when in the air, they are a thing of super-simple beauty.
I'll keep you posted on these airplanes.
At this point,
I will only be offering Al Arbes' stuff on ebay due to his limited ability to produce at this time. As he becomes able
to semi-mass produce, I will put his airplanes in my catalog on the site.
We are starting to get this stuff hammered
out and I'm sure a press release in a couple magazines will be a gigantic help toward getting the word out that we exist.
This will be good for business and help us get things really nailed down in the production and delivery department.
Thank you for sticking with us during our first year or so. We will always do whatever it takes to provide a premium product
at a reasonable price.
Teaford Aerospace Company is in this for the long-haul.
More soon, but I gotta' some
art work to do.
Jeff
10:42 pm est
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The World The Way It Really IsAs usual, I was cruising ebay. Mostly seeing what
the other guys are offering, but occasionally just looking at what's available.
So I run across this listing for a very
cool rc kit which was priced at two or three dollar over what the company who produces the kit was asking.
So I e-mail
the guy on ebay to school him on this issue.
Keep in mind the company is the place where I have always gone for my balsa
until recently. They just never seem to have what I need anymore.
So the ebay seller responds that the manufacturer is
not doing so hot and may or may not actually have that kit in stock.
So I now had to admit he was right and the
couple bucks difference in price was fair enough to assure getting this kit.
He schooled me.
So right about
the time you think you have all the answers, be prepared for the person who really has the answers, to respond. I thank this
seller for being plain old gracious in his reply to me.
And while I'm thinking about it, take a look at the
rubber powered kit from Alfredo Arbe. I have a very limited amount of these kits at this time, but will be getting more as
soon as I can resolve some packaging issues. The things are soooo tiny, the plans weigh more than the airplane!
These
are currently available only on ebay, but I can syupply you with a kit if you e-mail me. They are 15 dollars and shipping
is free (within the USA) for the time being. I will let you know if any are in-stock before I accept any money, so check
with me.
On ebay, type in MICRO OLD TIMER and you should see it.
I need to get back to packaging research
for now, so let me know what your thoughts are. You should now be able to respond and contribute directly to this blog. Give
it a try.
Jeff
9:49 pm est
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Josh. The new Teaford PlayerAs you can see, Josh wants to be a lawyer. The tone of that
intro is VERY professional.
He didn't even need to say it, but you just sense it.
In all actuality, Josh is a light-hearted kid. Quick with a smile and always a goofy
comment.
He is my youngest son and seems to be the one most interested in this business.
Josh was three years
old when his mom and I split. I always just figured he would be the least interested of any of my four kids, in what the old
man was all about. Boy was I wrong!
The kid has been a non-stop interested person regarding his old dad. It's a
real honor to have anyone that interested.
The Mini Old Timers will be available real soon. The pictures I have
are not quite what I had hoped they would be, so give me a couple more days.
Later until next time. And take the time
to e-mail Josh. The kid is A-O.K.
Jeff
10:20 pm edt
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