Hey Lito, glad to see your keeping busy with the "honey do" lists........gas turbines, man, a couple of months ago, we were making airfoils like crazy up here, anyhow, drop me line and check out ge, one of the best veteran friendly companies I have ever worked for......

It's all good Jerry, I've got a job and my family is OK, things are very tight financially, when something goes wrong we are falling in a little deeper in the hole. So I'm doing my best to work extra jobs on the side to help stabalize that...

Compared to many others out there,,, I'm not going to complain, I just don;t have a quick and easy fix just like all of us in this mess.... Frustrating as hell!!!! But I'm employed, my kids have food and clothing, and we have a roof over our heads. That's what counts to me....

Now only if I can win that darn lottery, I just keep forgetting to buy the tickets as I don;t ever carry cash on me anymore... loll :cool:

Now what the heck is Robin doing about that site of his? Starting to look pretty gloomy if you ask me....

I'm with your Rob. Like I told my wife, simple living is what we do. Ever noticed how your expenses double up exponentially after a pay raise? I noticed that as I was going up through the ranks. I'm glad I quit drinking and smoking like I used to or else I would have never saved the money I could have wasted on booze and smokes.

I'm content as to how everything is going. We're all together, no more deployments and the time I get to spend with my kids can't be matched by any amount of money or material things.

We''l, let me get back to cooking some sinigang, pansit and lumpia for dinner. I have some old friends coming over tonight :).

Are you Filipino?

Yup, 100% born and raised in the Philippines. I joined the Navy in 1991 after graduating from college. Too bad my kids can't even speak the language. However, we go visit every year so they know their roots :party::whistle:.

Whereabouts in Houston are you? My younger brother is an engineer at Johnson Space Center and we're able to stop by and visit him last October when we drove from San Diego to Jacksonville, Florida.

I am half Filipino. My mom is from Manila, and my wife's father is from Mindanao. We are on the north end ( The Woodlands) about an hour north of the space center. All you need for that meal is some chicken adobo. :lol:
Mike.

Hey Mike, my wife cooked some chicken adobo too. I didn't know until she started serving the dishes :). WE were just in Mindanao (General Santos City) last September for a three week vacation. it was fun especially eating lechon. Do you speak Tagalog?

No unfortunately both my wife and I are like your kids. We both grew up in families where only one parent spoke Tagalog so we both did not learn. My uncle did teach me some of the bad words:whistle: My Father-in-law is going back to Mindanao next week. My wife and I want to bring our kids to the Philippines when they are a little older so they can remember it (two boys 1 year old and 4 years old ).

Same here.
 

Hey guys. My wife is fillopino as well and can not speak one word of tagalog. She was born and raised in San Frnacisco. We both cook filopino dishes though and it is always a great meal. My wife traveled to the PI once when she was in her teenage years. When the locals found out that she could not speak the local language they told her to go home, because she was not really filopino. She never went back. Never been there myself.

Looks like maybe we have seen the end of the UE forum. Its been nearly a month already and Robin is no longer responding to email traffic of any kind now. I am checking the site less & less as time passes. What a shame. If anyone else notices any movement on UE please stop in here and let us know. Life goes on.

Does anyone know if the online store is still running? Has anyone bought anything from UE in the last few weeks?

Yes
 

YES I actually have an order on its way here now from the UE store. His lag time may be a bit longer these days, but he told me that he was still shipping store items out as usual. I placed a $200 order wondering the same thing, and it did take more than a week for him to get around to packing it up and shipping it out, but it did get shipped. I would just place the order and give it a week or two. If you see no action in the tracking section, then shoot him an email to request status. Sometimes it takes a little nudge for him to get moving on orders, but they are still going out. Good luck.

UPDATE 07/jAN/2012.
 

Here is the latest update straight from the horses mouth 07/Jan/2012. I sent Robin an email asking if there was anything at all that we could do to help him get things back up and running again on the forum. Here is the response that I received this morning.

There’s nothing u can do. Machine has a problem, I don’t know how to fix it and the person who does is dealing with his dad’s stroke right now.

Sorry, but I don’t feel right about pushing him right now.

Regards,

Robin

What we have to assume from this response is that the forum is no longer an important entity to his buisness, and keeping it up is not a top priority on his list of things to do. His server must be failing and he is trying to get it fixed using friendship and not cash to get it repaired. With little to no sales driving his business anymore, and given the fact that he just closed up his shop and moved everything to a new location I doubt that he is operating the machine shop at all now. So his income level is pretty much zero except for the occasional UE store sale as he depletes his inventory. Unless he is sitting on a new found oil well or a pot of gold at his new location one would have to assume that the future for UE is fading fast. Its sad, but one would have to believe that we are seeing the end of UE as we know it. am glad that I have managed to aquire what I have up to now, and will try to purchase items from what he has left sitting on the shelves before the store disapears all together.

Very sad indeed. However, pretty much everyone is here now so it's okay to me. The BST gets the most traffic and without that, RCmonster, RCtech or Ebay are the only way to deal with parts.

Hmmm, makes me want to sell all my UE stuff since I don't drive them anymore anyway. I'm busy rebuilding all my Lego stuff that's been sitting in 4-5 rubbermaid tubs. Just got done rebuilding my Star Wars Starship destroyer.

George, do you have a pair of ultra light diff cases? if so would you want to sell them?

No extra cases Mike. They're all mounted on the trucks. I have to dig in into my parts bin one of these days.

Thanks for checking George. I just had to check. I am putting together another Emaxx and I have the one set that is on the truck, but I'm looking for a back up set. Thanks again.
Mike.

Its pretty sad to hear such news.Makes me rethink it i actually want to run my JT Hybred after i get it completed.I too was trying to keep an eye out for some ultra light cases myself.Now with that kinda news prices are really going to go thru the roof.
By the way any word on Kenny(dapparothead)?

Wanted to post some pics of my predator truck that I'm turning into a running truck. Got some goodies in the other day. I just need another servo and some small misc things and everything else I have and I'll be good to go for break in!

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...f/IMG_1871.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...f/IMG_1873.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...f/IMG_1875.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...f/IMG_1878.jpg

Looks good Chris!!!

Pretty sweet looking,i sure miss mine more and more seeing yours.I had a mono-block on mine with an OS.21tm with Buku exhaust man that thing haul some ARSE!!!

They are still for sale in the ue store. Not alone, only with gears. $260 for 6 spiders and $300 for 8 spiders.

I recommend the FLM bulkhead/differential combo:yes:

I was looking to go the ultra-lights with the hyper 8's in them.some where i read how someone used this combo together.I have HR bulks if i remember correctly that i'm going to use on my JT chassis.

Another update
 

I dropped another note to Robin hoping to hear some good news, and also to let him know that some of us would not mind helping him out if he needs it. Below is my note to him and his response, which I just received.


I hear you. Looking for someone who can do Linux/vBulletin/osCommerce



Robin I know you have always had trust issues with a lot of the forum members for one reason or another, but there are quite a few of us who want to see things get back to normal if this is at all possible. A fair number of us have collected over on the RCM forum (including Kenny, Joe, Mike, Chris, and even some of the old members who have been inactive for some time now) so we can keep in touch and also keep up on the latest news regarding your forum and the store. People have been posting on there asking if the UE store is still filling orders, because they want to make purchases. We have assured them that you are, but that there have been some business setbacks slowing things down somewhat.



A few of your members who are also IT geeks have also posted that if you require some IT assistance that they would be happy to help if you let them. We would even be willing to take up a collection to help with repair costs or replacement of equipment if that is all that is needed. The UE forum has been a staple in our R/C lives for quit a few of us, and not having it has not been easy. Being involved with building UE SuperMaxx trucks has alway been somewhat of an addiction, and communicating on the UE forum is a big part of that. Please know that if there is anythng at all that your forum members can do to help that we are not only able, but willing to lend a hand. Please know that we are only trying to help and not get into your business Sir.



Very Respectfully, Jerry Hill US Navy(retired), US Embassy, Prague Czech Republic, Europe.

i didnt see the response?

How long normally should it take to get an item from them if say i was to order tomorrow. A week or 2 or are we like a month or so out for leadtime on orders normally? I am one of the customers who wants to purchase items form the store but have hesitated because it seemed as though it was about to go down.

Normal
 

From all indications the UE store is still operating normally. Meaning that if you place an order he is taking about a week or so to deal with packaging, and then shipping things out. I would give him two weeks to get an order out, and then figure 1-2 weeks for delivery services, so yes I would say a month from the time you place an order until it arrives at your door-step.

OsCommerce and Vbulletin..... Hummm....

DO you know how many times I've offered my help..... *sigh*

Anyone touching that box is going to have to put some time in due to the intergration of 2 SQL based programs running on the same domain.

It's not uncommon, but usually there was some customization needed to be done to get them working right and that's probably the hitch.

PM me Jerry, I'll give you my private email addy. I have no real experience with Vbulletin but I do have OScommerce experience and Unix of coarse.... I also have a trusted cohort I've worked with for many years that helps fill in the blanks...

I'll offer again, but he's got to let me have the admin rights on his system in order for me to even try and look at it.... It's a huge trust issue as he's going to need to give me the key that unlocks the entire enchilada. Something I know Robin is not very comfy with.... :cool:

OK, I've sent Robin an email, if he wants my help it's up to him. ;)

It's not the first time I've offered.... By far....

Thanks
 

Thanks alot Rob. Time will tell.

Maybe this time will be diffrent.It seems like to me if you've had forum members hear this long makes since that you could trust them.

Hi Guys

I am parting out my truck and have a set of UE extended arms with knuckles, pillowballs and turnbuckles.

PM if interested.

http://www.rcgalleri.dk/uploads_alb_...m/274616_l.jpg

Above shown arms are now sold.

The UE shop has been down since yesterday. Sure hope it comes back online again. I need to get some parts before they close.

How did you get to order since you are from Europe. Robin doesnt allow orders from outside US right?

He sure doesn't and I don't understand why. I'm hoping to get some help from "someone"... ;)

you're right... sadly :cry::cry:

Sucks
 

Well now that sucks. I have orders to place and money to spend. So I sure hope that this is not the end of UE. I have to admit that things are not looking good at all. From everything that I have been able to gather his server equipment took a crap, and with little to no sales in quite a while there has not been enough money moving through UE to pay for repairs or upgrades to the server system. He may just say the hell with it and pack it in. It has been nice to see a lot of the guys from UE over here on RCM.

Surely that can't (hopefully) be the case. I have money to spend too. How to order now when I can't find the parts?

I've been speaking w/Robin on and off via email. Seems there were a couple of issues and they had to take the store down as well.

From my last email My usual support person had a family emergency, but he is back and working on it now, shouldn't be too long before everything is back up...

Hopefully we shall see results soon. Thought I'd pass on the news.

That's good news. Sure hope the shop will be back soon. Thanks for the update.

Thanks
 

Thanks for sharing Rob that is good to hear. Hopefully its no too serious that it would take more time & money than he expects to fix it. I do wish to place a couple of orders while I have the cash to do so.