New MAAM On-Line Store

[rambow 0]

I am pleased to announce the opening of the new MAAM Store. http://www.maam.org/php/xcart/As MAAM's webmaster, I have been working hard on it for some weeks now and we will be expanding it even further in the months ahead, adding a lot more new merchandise. The MAAM-SIM products have their new home here, of course, and you can find a lot of great aviation merchandise,including some R4D and Briefing Time items. You can join the Museum, buy a ride on the SNJ or Stearman, donate to the P-61 Restoration,and for the first time, order World War II Weekend Tickets on-line.Speaking of which, if you intend to join us this June 1-3 for the 17th Annual WWII Weekend, I recommend you order tickets now and beat the 2007 price increase. They make great Christmas presents, too.One of the lines we will be expanding will be P-61 Black Widow merchandise. We already have a nice variety of P-61 goods, but our intention is to become "Black Widow HQ" to help bring attention to the restoration project.I would like to ask a favor of our loyal customers. MAAM already thinks flight-sim and flight-simmers are one of the best things that ever happened to the museum. But I would be very grateful if you guys would pop in to the new store and drop in a $5 donation (or more) for the P-61 fund as a way of initiating it. While you are there, have a look around and you might just find something else you want. We have tried to price items very competitively, and of course, unlike "normal" historic aviation merchandise outlets, as a non-profit organization, all the profits go to restore the MAAM aircraft.Please report any glitches or errors you run across to me at webmaster@maam.org. BTW, this is the first public announcement of the new store. Now don't you feel honored? ;-)Thanks from everybody at MAAM.Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

[rambow 0]

Thanks, Alastair. You're a prince. :-) Any others? Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

[alastairmonk 0]

Hi Bill,Donation made, along with an enquiry as to the Store shipping costs. Best wishes for the Museum !Alastair

[rambow 0]

That enquiry will go to Brenda, but I can tell you the easiest way to find out is put in an order and you can see the shipping calculation before you have to pay and can bail out if it's too steep for you. A customer must register before it can figure the shipping, but you already are. Domestic shipments go USPS Priority Mail and overseas shipments go Global Priority. Rates are currently $6 and $15 per pound, respectively. However, MAAM-SIM products remain flat rate, since we have advertised that so widely. The single CD is $4.95 worldwide, with deals for two and three-disc sets.I spent a whole day at MAAM weighing all the merchandise, so there aren't any WAGs involved. :-) All the shipping weights used for the calculation are listed in the details of every item.Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

[alastairmonk 0]

Hi Bill,Thanks for that. I was just a little surprised that the postage was a standard $15 per $9 item, compared to the more usual non-linear postage costs elsewhere, but if this does reflect your costs then so be it !In fact, weirdly enough, it is still cheaper to import it from MAAM than purchase from a UK online retailer ! Alastair

[rambow 0]

Hi Alastair,Well, it's not, unless it's a one pound item. ;-) It's not related to the cost of the item at all, which is what a lot of stores do because it's easier to program, even though it is an items weight and size that determine actual shipping costs.But I'm going to begin refining the shipping zones today to more closely reflect the actual costs overseas so you guys in the U.K. aren't paying what someone in Moscow or Tokyo, for instance, will pay. I'll get back to you.Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

[alastairmonk 0]

Thanks Bill, I'll hold off on the order for a few days !Alastair

[Guest kennethg]

Actually, my experience out here in California is it's common to see things shipped from the UK get here faster than items shipped from within the States. Don't know exactly why, but I've seen that several times.Great store, I see several Xmas gifts for my friends.

[rambow 0]

Well, after three days of hair-pulling work, I have finally come to some sort of terms with the arcane shipping system of this store software. You will now have, depending on the weight of the total purchase and your location, several choices of USPS shipping options. There are over one hundred different shipping rules, each with its own destination zone, service, and rate. They do reflect actual shipping costs, taken directly from the PO rates with about 50 cents added to cover shipping materials.Alastair, you will now find you can buy four of those aircaft manuals, for instance, and by choosing the Global Priority Mail flat-rate envelope, get them across the pond for just $10. The flat-rate has a four pound limit and that's exactly four manuals.BTW, everyone but Alastair, there is NO shipping charge to make a P-61 Donation. 145 views of this thread and only one donation is a bit underwhelming, I must say! Please remember we are a non-profit organization and we all work for nothing, so I don't feel at all bad pan-handling here for a few dollars from our loyal customers. MAAM is in the midst of a P-61 Donation Drive among it's members right now, incidentally.What's in it for you as a flight-simmer? Well, how about a MAAM-SIM P-61B Black Widow? As soon as we get this big, incredibly rare beast in the air we can do the same with a sim version. It is feasible that this could even be before FSXI is launched in two short years - if we can raise the money.We are making great progress on the restoration every day. Take a look at the pictures I shot last week and added to the Widow's Web: http://www.maam.org/p61/p61_rest.htmThen, please go here and give - just a little? http://www.maam.org/php/xcart/catalog/P-61...-p-1-c-271.htmlIf you do, someday you will be able to point to that black beauty flying at an airshow and tell your friends that you were on the team that got her in the air. How sweet will that be?Again, thanks to Alastair, and I will continue to thank all those who help. Come on, keep me busy here! :-)Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

[Guest jaapverduijn]

Hi Bill!Yep, sure, fine... that's all extremely nice, but... does the R4D by now have its engines replaced? Finally? You know, the two big fan-like things on the wings, that quite a lot of years ago we all banded together to help supply?Please point out to me if I am wrong, but I don't think this primary goal has been reached yet. Shouldn't mister Strine c.s. take care of that little issue first? After all, it WAS the main inducement for many "MAAM old-timers" like myself to support MAAM (and enjoy ourselves flying the sim - grin)!If the R4D is already proudly flying again I'll be quite happy to eat my own words (bit of salt added might make this palatable), but if not... please remind mr. Strine of how it all began, and the reason we all started contributing. Right now, frankly, I feel that I've been "had": money is going into each and every part of Strine's museum, except... into the two Pratt 'n Whitneys for the R4D!Yes, I already brought this issue up a couple of years ago. I'm not entirely happy that I neeed to do it again.Be well!Jaap Verduijn.

[Guest jaapverduijn]

Well well... still seems to be very difficult to answer. How about inviting (in polite but yet convincing words) museum director Strine to give full information about the state of affairs?I'll repeat the original question: does the R4D finally have it's engines? If not, what happened to the joyful promises, made years ago and then over and over again, that money brought in by FS purchases and donations would serve to make the R4D fly again? How much money (the sum total at this very moment) did we as FS donors and purchasers put into the coffers of the Mid Atlantic Air Museum - a not-for-profit organization?MAAM's persisting reluctance to voluntarily open up about this state of affairs (of course MAAM, as a non-profit organization, if necessary can be FORCED to publicly account for its spendings), has been sort of a "wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more" joke among the more cynically (realistically?) minded among their benefactors - including myself.Again: has the R4D already got its engines? Or even ONE? Or, maybe, a couple of cylinders for such an engine? Crankshaft, maybe? The odd valve, by any chance?Am I far off by saying: none of the above? Be, of course, well!Jaap Verduijn.

[rambow 0]

Hello Jaap,The only reluctance in answering this question, which I have answered before, emanates from your accusatory tone and my great reluctance to bring acrimony to this otherwise friendly forum. Russ Strine does not monitor this forum, so the implication that he is hiding from your questions is ridiculous! I would certainly not bother him with this stuff on the hectic eve of WW2WE, nor need I, since I am fully aware of the facts. The facts are these: The profits from MAAM-SIM products have indeed paid for both engines for the R4D. There is a very good and compelling reason why they have not been installed. As visitors to MAAM well know, our hangar room is limited, so that all of our large aircraft, except the B-25 and the P-61, live outdoors on the ramp. The years of harsh weather have taken their toll on the R4D, sadly.So Russ Strine took the decision that it would be the best course of action to perform a complete refurbishment of the plane, capping that off with the installation of the new engines. We would then have MAAM's beloved inaugural aircraft back in its award-winning condition, not just a tatty-looking, but smooth-running Gooney Bird. But because of the aforementioned dearth of hangar space, carrying out this restoration would require that we chuck all of the pristine, fully restored aircraft out of the hangar to make room for the Dak. This makes no sense. So it was decided to wait for the expansion of hangar space that was in the works. The original plan was to acquire and restore the huge, derelict WW2 hangar on the other side of the field to relocate the entire museum and put the whole collection under roof. The restoration facility would have remained in the current facility on the north side of the field. There were a lot of bureaucratic hoops to jump through, but in the end, the age and condition of the building had the final say. A survey of the roof alone brought an estimate of a quarter of a million dollars to repair, and the rest of the mammoth structure proved to be in equally poor condition. The planned move had to be given up.In the meantime, by building the outdoor pavilion that houses our VIP meal operation during WWII Weekend, and other functions throughout the rest of our season, the museum's volunteers demonstrated they have the skills necessary to carry out a different hangar plan. Over the next couple of years they will construct a number of "pioneer" hangars, patterned after the hangars of aviation's early years. These will house all the smaller aircraft and some of the medium sized ones, freeing the main hangar for the R4D and it's larger consorts. When this construction is complete, the full restoration to flight status of # 50819 will take place. Russ Strine and the rest of the MAAM organization are very grateful to the flightsim community for the contributions they have made to the museum's operations. We MAAM-SIM developers and our customers can take pride in the fact that they are responsible for the R4D's return to the air and the airshow circuit, when that day comes. There has never been a stated deadline for this.MAAM has never hidden any of this information, nor intentionally misled any donors about what we are doing. Situations change, as anyone in the aircraft restoration and museum business can attest. Remaining flexible in scheduling and carrying out our tasks, and prioritizing projects is what allows us to survive. You have no idea of the tremendous effort and personal stress this entails for our President and all of the staff and volunteer workers, and that is made crystal clear by your insinuations. You may have entirely missed the fact that for several years, we no longer state that the proceeds of our sales go to the R4D project. We consider that mission accomplished, even though we will have to wait for it's fruition. We now say that we support all of MAAM's aircraft restoration programs.Personally, I resent your implications, Jaap, not to mention your combative attitude. If you feel you have not received your money's worth out of MAAM-SIM products, I will write you a check or send you a PayPal payment out of my own packet for what you have spent. You, being an honorable man, will of course delete and never fly our planes again, I am sure.Now, go stir up muck somewhere else. This is a support forum for our customers, and a place of good will. Veiled threats and spurious allegations of wrong-doing have no place here.Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif