Getting the parts

Getting the raptor

In the Netherlands it was not possible to get a raptor kit in 2000. Only the ARTF can be bought here. So I ordered a 49 ball bearing raptor at a german shop. The kit arrived about a week after I paid the thing.

The 29 ball bearing kit

The packs (except canopy stuff and main frame)

However, they sent the 29 ballbearing kit, and furthermore a staple had been slammed through one of the ball bearings.

The stapled tail rotor bearing

In the mean time the shop had changed the information on their website: the kit I had ordered now had only 29 ball bearings instead of the 49 at the time I ordered it. Fortunately they admitted that they had changed that it in that period, and promised to send me the additional bearings and a replacement for the stapled bearing.
However, after a few weeks nothing had arrived, and requests per email about the progress were not answered. I phoned them, and they told me that Robbe had not yet delivered the bearings. But they would be delivered next week. After 2 weeks the bearings still had not been delivered, and I phoned again. They had still not received them. Now I asked whether they had spare bearings and could pick the required bearings from their spare parts collection. This was possible, and they would sent them immediately.
After a week I still had not received them. The shop owner thought that they might have been delayed slightly , and told me to phone back tuedsay after the weekend. That tuesday the bearings still had not arrived. The shop owner was on holiday now, and the person replacing him could not reach the owner to check my story. Next day I phoned him again, and now I was told that the bearings had been sent previous thursday (and apparently not 2 weeks ago as I was told earlier). I began to disbelieve they ever had send the bearings, but surprisingly there arrived 20 bearings next day.

Finally, after 6 weeks waiting, I received 20 bearings

The replacement for the stapled tail rotor bearing was missing. I phoned again, the owner was still on holiday. But the person replacing him had the bearing in stock and would send it the next day. Indeed, after a few days the last bearing arrived. In total it took more than 6 weeks to get the Raptor kit...

Getting the engine

Getting the engine gave even larger problems. I ordered a Webra .35H engine and a Hatori 333 pipe. I informed them that I wanted to have the engine within about a month, maybe 5 weeks, but if it would take longer I would cancel the order.

The Webra I ordered

The Hatori pipe arrived in 2 weeks, so that seemed promising. But after a month the Webra had still not arrived. The shop owner phoned the importer, and was told that the Webra had been ordered only a week ago! He would discuss the issue offline with the importer, and after a day I was phoned back. The engine would arrive within a week. I agreed to wait for that.
After a week the engine was still not there. I phoned again. The shop owner would check it out, and I was called back. He told me that the "importer had become very angry on the Webra manufacturer that they had again not send it.". But now they would immediately send it, and within a week it would be there. Again, I agreed on waiting.
After a week, of course nothing, and I called again. The shop owner was a week on holiday but his father, replacing him, would check it out. He found out that nothing had arrived yet at the importer. I told him that this was not conform the things I was told before, and he was going to check out further. I phoned again the next day, and now I was told that the engine was going to arrive the next day. But the next day they were still not there.
He was sure that the engine would now arrive within a week, as the importer had told him he could count on that. However, I did not believe this anymore. I agreed to wait another week again, but that if the engine would not have arrived by then I wanted an OS32 ringed engine with a big price reduction. They agreed on that. They had that engine in stock and would keep it separate for me.
Again a week later, the engine had still not arrived, and that same day, nearly 2 months after I ordered the Webra, I got an OS32 for a price very close to that of the Webra.

The OS.32H I finally got