[Derrick]

Has anyone on the board ever used Bob Banka's service and bought plans, or scale documentation from him?

I was at my club's flying field today and one of our club members had ordered a drawing from Bob for $30cdn. He received it and is thoroughly disappointed in what he received. His drawing is on an 11x14 piece of paper and I would consider it generous to say it is nothing more than a study drawing he should have paid no more than $5 for.

Better yet, he has even found better drawings free on the net with more details than what he received from Bob Banka's service. Bob's drawing doesn't even have dimensions!

Is expecting too much or is he right in being a little peeved?

[Terry Gauvin]

Derrick, I believe it depends greatly on the subject at hand. I have received some very nice drawings from Bob Banka and, on at least 1 occasion, stuff that was wastebasket material.

[Guest]

First of all when using any source for scale documentation price of the package is not as important as the quality and the information being right and usable at the same time. That being said you must be very careful to fully understand the codes for the type of information and quality. I always spend the money and call him direct to discuss what I am interested in. Of course I have the part numbers at hand so he and I can be sure we are talking the same stuff. I have ordered pictures, 3 views and have never been disapointed as I called before I ordered. Extensive home work is the only way. Remember 3 views can vary widely depending on who has drawn them. Even factory 3 views do not always reflect the plane you are modeling. I first decide on a plane then narrow it down to a specific by aircraft number then look for the best 3 views I can find. I have ordered from 2 or 3 sources to get the closest and even then the pictures of the real subject take presidence. For instance the Aeronca factory 3 view shows a very small radius where the leading edge of the rudder fin meets the fusalage. The pictures of the aircraft I wished to model had a large dorsel fin common to the later production and those that would use floats. No 3 views of this were available so I circle the discrepency on the 3 view with red grease pencil and make note to refer to the actual picture.

Dennis

[scaleguy]

Has your clubmate contacted Bob about this?

I didn't know Bob had drawings that were that expensive but I would have assumed that they would be better then just a general view. What was the aircraft? Could be perhaps it is a very rare a/c that there is nothing on.

I too contact Bob when I want to order something. I was at Toledo one year and was going to buy photos of the De Haviland DHC-5 Buffallo from him. When i asked to see the pictures he did have them there but what I was actually looking at was the DHC-4 Caribou not the Buffalo. I told him about the discrepency and he just shrugged and aked if i wanted to buy them or not?

Except for that one instance he has always come through.

[nony]

Only once. Of the two dozen photos I received, two at best were even in focus enough to use..the remainder were garbage. For $30 US, I expected a lot better!

[Nuker]

He was looking at an IS-4 which is a late 1930's Russian biplane with a retractable lower wing (yup it retracts in flight). Our friend specified in an e-mail he wanted to make a 1/4 scale replica and asked if Bob had appropriate scale documentation. He then confirmed with Bob via e-mail what he was looking for and was told to mail the cheque and he would ship what was needed. What he got was 2 general high level views of what the plane would look like (with a closeup drawing with no markings on the retract mechanism) with a one sentence description of color and no size markings. The other view had Russian comments but very few. Both these views were photocopied and reduced on a 11x14 paper.

As Derrick pointed out, there is better and more detailed documentation available for free on the web. Our buddy expected more to work with which is why he ordered what he thought was scale documentation. I guess Jim 'scaleguy' would be more knowledgeable as to what to expect when ordering scale stuff . He wasn't concerned about the money as much as getting the info. He will be contacting Bob but not sure what can be done.

Please keep in mind the $30 includes a $5 handling charge and a $5 shipping charge. This still made it a $20 photocopy.

I guess it's kind of a buyer beware although reading these comments, sounds like this situation has been seen before; albeit not every instance.

Bob

[Derrick]

Originally Posted by scaleguy

Has your clubmate contacted Bob about this?

He said he will call Bob Banka when he gets time. I hope he does, otherwise his complaints would be in vain.....

I know from what I seen of his "drawing" I wouldn't be too impressed with Bob Banka's service....

[KevinPerry]

I to have had bad luck with Bob Banka I bought a photo pack and pics of the plane where very disapointing .No two pics where taken in the same light and where not much good for anything .

[Carl Layden]

I used Bob Banka for both drawings and photo pack for the Cap-10b.

The photo pack was excellent the three view was good. I have better 3 views now that I got from the Mudry website. It was about 5-6 years ago when I bought the package, at the time there was very little info on the net so Bob Banka was one of very few sources at the time.

[JimMcIntyre]

I've dealt with Bob several times with good results. All times were at Toledo and I got to review the material before buying...