Mars Industries
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 25. 08. 2024
- Acquiring and building the first 1:18 Scale Airwolf Helicopter model with the alleged skills of a potato. đ„
Excellent video I referenced demonstrating finishing of 3D printed projects including resin coating:
âą Making The Wolverine C...
Latest Update from Kickstarter below, apparently MARS has has declared Micheal Scott style bankruptcyâŠ
âMars Industries is insolvent as of today and is closing its doors forever.
For my part in failure, I am deeply regretful and apologize to everyone involved.
Iâm closing it all down and will not answer nor respond to anything related to Airwolf any longer.
Comment how you will, blast my inbox, throw me to the wolves on every social media platformâŠ. Itâs already ALL long been done before and I care not.
Iâve sacrificed my family, health and sanity over this project and Iâm done.
Thank you and best wishes to all. Iâm sorry. â
Iâm not sure running around the office shouting âbankruptcyâ is actually how it works, but it does seem like a fitting end to this fiasco âŠ
You did an excellent job finishing this model especially considering what you started with! I'm coming here following the recent RetroBlasting video. I must say that I'm disappointed with the way that he treated you following the livestream! You'll be happy to know that your not the only one who has been blocked from commenting. My criticism of his handling of this situation was also removed from his comment section lol. I suspect he is the kind of person who is never wrong and never apologizes. Best wishes!
Thanks! I appreciate the positive feedback. I had no issue with Retroblasting until he decided to curse me out on Twitter for making a joke. I even softballed their shady behavior in my videoâŠIâm a grown man and donât have time for the silly drama from a someone who dresses like he should be sweeping up at the Jungle Cruise ride. đ€Ł
Man that fang looks amazing
I saw the real Airwolf Helicopter at an Air Show in Point Mugu back in 84 or 85. I wish I still had the pictures. But one thing all of us were amazed is the color. We all thought it would be black and white. But in reality it was a very dark green color with white on the bottom. It was fun to see it fly for real and see how slow in reality the maneuvers really were. There is a CZcams video that called Airwolf Tribute. It shows some pictures of it parked with people around and I am pretty sure that was taken at the same time I saw it.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
I stumbled across videos of this and it has been entertaining. Good video and I think you did a fantastic job with what you were provided. My condolences with dealing with such a difficult Kickstart project.
Thanks! Itâs certainly been an interesting experience.
It does seem that you can âmake a silk purse from a sows earâ đ. I think youâve done a great job.
Thanks! Iâm happy with the result, all things considered.
I came across this video by some youtube majic. However as a modeller I think I would have just scratch built it or call upon friends that are wizzards at 3D design. People remember bad customer service. All the best for your hobby.
What a shame tried to blame the customer for their poor job
Conrad will never take responsibility for anything - he's a perpetual victim, as you probably saw on the Retroblasting video. There's a reason he blocks almost all of his social media feeds from additional comments.
Nice to see youâve built Matthewâs (Picklehaubeâs) Hind-D kit :)
@@NWarty Itâs a fantastic kit!
Credit to you for stopping the charge back , it shows integrity, something most people lack nowadays.
Thanks, as a veteran and father I try to conduct myself with integrity. Itâs difficult when you are cheated and slandered but I believe the events that have transpired show the true character or lack thereof of the parties involved. In the end we thatâs all we have leftâŠ
Some of us cancelled our orders and he blocked us when we asked about refunds. Mars also keeps changing the story on the kits shipping. He claimed in one video or communication that a bunch of them shipped, but I havenât seen any proof of that so far. In fact, the shipping schedule on his own FB site seems to be in jeopardy again. Like Iâve said in other posts, I donât think he originally intended to scam anyone. I do think he is incompetent, dishonest, and completely and totally in over his head. @Y.T. Was slandered on the Retroblasting video and to my knowledge, RB never asked him for details after that live Q&A.
@@bradlanghorst6269No, Retroblasting has never contacted me. In fact they set my comments to auto delete, while denying that fact. I have no idea what the deal is with Retroblasting or what their motivations are and quite frankly, I donât care. Speaking in terms of integrity, at this point , I would put them on par with Mars industriesâŠ
@@y.t.928 I messaged Retroblasting a few weeks ago when Mars blocked me for inquiring about my refund. I never heard a response - not that I really expected one, but I wanted them to know the kind of company Mars is. I know many others cancelled orders and have not received refunds either. My credit card company told me that due to the time involved, they can't automatically force Mars to give me a refund but their dispute letter made it clear he refused. I'd say he lied to me, but I think when he saw the word "refund" he probably didn't even bother to read what the bank said and blocked me. It's interesting that I haven't heard of anyone receiving the kit and I haven't seen any other videos other than yours and Kessel Run's videos. So at least thus far, it appears like Mars hasn't delivered yet again.
I had been ripped off on two Kickstarters prior to seeing Airwolf and I had some serious inner dilemmas trying to convince myself not to pull the trigger. I am so glad I listened to my little voice because I think this would have done me in for good in promoting or purchasing anything fan-made. I've watched these videos of how poorly this is constructed and admit that only a serious model builder could take the extra time to salvage this mess.
You're better off looking for a Airwolf RC helicopter fibreglass fuselage, the fit and finish is usually far better.
Mate, you have way more tolerance than I do. That is simply the worse example of a kit I've ever seen. The quality of 3d printing & resin casting is shocking. I've built many resin models and know the issues but that model kit is a joke. Mars should be ashamed. New & improved kits, man it's not going to take much to improve on that pile of hot garbage.
Well done in your persistence & you definitely did as good a job as you could given the shambolic shamefully bad kit you started with. đ
Thanks!
Customer service is terrible and several of us have not received refunds on cancelled orders. He tries to blame the banks - yeah, right. No one should buy anything from this âcompany.â Anyone who blocks people trying to get their money back from a cancelled order isnât someone Iâd do business with. The owner loves blaming everyone else and plays the victim role, but his own horrific decisions led him down this path.
Seeing that public comment is a prime example of why they shouldn't get any more business. They could have gained goodwill if they accepted valid criticism instead of blaming everyone else.
Mars industries has certainly made some interesting decisions with his customer service and public relations. Itâs why I try to avoid much speculation and just let the facts speak for themselves.
@@y.t.928 Definitely.
Retroblasting sees any comment that does not 100% agree with him as a personal attack and will block you instantly.
I had no idea what Retroblasting was all about but Iâm starting to see why people are critical of them.
I sent RB a message yesterday about Mars. I told them I didn't expect them to do anything and I seriously doubted they even cared, but offered to provide a ton of documentation about my interactions with Mars. I know @Y.T. (the author of this video) has too.
Michael is straight up a man child
He's a an asshole because he get's free stuff from Mars Industries.
How did I not know you had a CZcams channel, my
man?!?!?!
Doesnât amount to much lol
Love that F.A.N.G.!
Thanks, itâs a beautiful kit!
@@y.t.928 I wish Hasbro would start making vehicles for the line, but not make them outrageously priced.
You did awesome work considering all the difficulties. I hope Mars industries makes it right and sends you an improved product. However your current model looks awesome! Iâm glad I didnât order that one though. Iâll just be happy with my Eagle Hawk and Dragon Hawk helicopters.
Thank you!
Youâre welcome
As someone that does 3D printing what they sent you there is garbage. Especially the smaller parts that are printed in FDM those definitely should have been done in resin. Also the leaking resin is from the design of the model and whatever program they used like in areas like the bulkhead structures or walls they should have been designed solid but they probably designed them hollow. When it prints the bulkhead gets sealed up with resin inside of it being trapped and not being able to get cured which will eventually cause the model to split open over time.
Do you think by draining it and cleaning it out with alcohol I will be able to avoid it splitting open?
@@y.t.928 The only way to make sure is to just drill holes all over the place on the model and see if resin leaks out of it and then you would have to submerge it in the tub of alcohol to let it just rinse out then try to cure it with some type of UV light and then plug the holes up.
Thereâs nothing wrong with printing hollow parts, especially if theyâre larger. That isnât the issue here. What is the issue is that he did not use drain holes and clean/cure the inside of the hollow parts. Thatâs basic and he missed that. Most slicers such as Chitubox allow you to hollow models and put the drain holes in.
Iâm no expert but it seems like some areas had drain holes and some did not. What holes there were, clogged so they did not function. Everyone makes mistakes, owning them is what you can control.
You really polished a turd for them didnt you lmfao. id rather have to build pre 90s revell kits for the rest of my life than do just 1 of them then anything i want after.
It seems to me that the bigger pieces should have been made on the filament printer since they have to be puttied, sanded and primed anyway and it would make for a more sturdy model/toy, and then the small detail parts should have been made on the resin printer. Mars Industry did it all backwards and that's the biggest reason I think this kit ended up being such a hot mess.
Certainly there were a lot of issues with these kits, apparently the maker was aware of this and sent them anyway. Hopefully they will make a better product going forward and make it right for everyone who was an unwitting guinea pigâŠ
The fact that they not only designed parts that trapped copious amounts of uncured resin, but didn't bother to alcohol wash or UV cure any of the resin-printed parts before shipping them really shows that MI has no idea what they're doing.
@@thomasguycott And then blamed customers trying to fix the deficiencies⊠I just donât get it.
First time viewer here. Great job for what you had to work with. Be sure to copyright the photos so they can't use them in their future promotions. Yours look 1000 times better.
Thanks and thanks for the tip! I donât know as I would put anything past Mars at this pointâŠ
I bought the pre-built kit...đ oh boy
I hope it turns out good for you!
Good luck, and I hope you don't need any of Mars' "customer service."
you can buy fibreglass Airwolf Fuselage for RC helicopters for about the same money.
and if you have a 3D printer, you can get free 3d Models which are more accurate and more detailed.
If you haven't received your kit or have not been refunded for your cancelled order, please contact the Florida Attorney General. I have contacted them and the more reports they receive, the more likely they investigate.
Another update from Mars Industries which contradicts his other updates. I canât tell you how shocked I am. :)
I canât see his âupdatesâ he blocked meâŠ
@@y.t.928 Summary: He's talking about all the issues with the kit, how he is "fixing them," and how he has been "addressing" the issues since the "prototype kits" were shipped. That seems to contradict his own stated shipping schedule and comments about "pleased customers" - sounds like they aren't so pleased if he is still having these rookie issues 2 years after the KS.
@@y.t.928 By the way, he admitted he has now "fixed resin pockets." So in other words, he lied on the Retroblasting video when he said they were fixed. Someone posted them in the HIsstank thread.
Don't apologize for the length of the vid or your photography skills. Nothing to be ashamed of. I'd never heard of this kit or MARS industries. Hmmmm... may have to look into them.
I strongly advise that you avoid Mars like the plague. He agreed to cancel orders for many people and refunds have never posted. When you follow up, he gets mad, is extremely rude, and blocks you. The video also shows his exceptionally poor judgment as well. He has lied repeatedly as well - including about this particular kit.
Honestly I doubt that they will send replacement kits out to people because all have been seeing is complaints of people with this company not returning their emails or not receiving their kits and then after seeing your video with the defects in the leaking resin. But I got to hand it to you You put in a little work and it turned out to be a nice looking model after you finished with it.
Thanks, hopefully they will do the right thing.
@@y.t.928 I just watched his video of the prototype model and it looks like that model was printed in FDM Because it looks more polished and the parts line up better from what you and that guy from Kessel Run got.
I'd encourage folks to file complaints with the Florida Attorney General and Florida BBB.
He told me he was blocking me after I sent him 3 emails (plus replies) and 2 form submissions between 3/27 and 4/10 asking about a refund. I did so because he wouldn't respond! When he finally bothered responding, he said "it's out of my hands, call your bank." I explained to him that I DID contact my bank, they said it was out of the time period where they could enforce a chargeback, and that HE refused the refund. I told him if he isn't going to refund me, send me what I paid for. He actually had the nerve to say I was "stealing time from paying customers." Conrad, I AM a paying customer until you refund me. In truth, *YOU* are stealing *MY* time by not responding to my emails and requiring me to follow up multiple times. My advice is: steer clear of this product and this company. I have all the documentation to prove everything I've said.
WOW, firstly well done on completing this model, always loved Airwolf.
Secondly, how can any company big or small blame customers for resin leaking from sealed parts.
Thirdly, Mars industries hasnât produced/ provided the item you ordered, I doubt youâll get another replacement model.
To be honest I think Mars has taken on more than they could possibly hope to deliver. Customer satisfaction is paramount in building a great customer database and reputation. Mars industries should offer a full refund, but if that was to happen theyâd play the bankrupt card. But at least they couldnât continue making horrible resins bleeding models. Thank you for sharing and Iâm sorry youâve had to endure so a terrible experience, considering this is a hobby and hobbyâs are supposed to bring joy.
Thanks and unfortunately you are correct. I donât see a positive outcome at this point. I am hoping to be proven wrong but all signs point to no.
Mars agreed to cancel orders but no refunds ever posted. They blame the banks, but the banks said he refused the refund. When you explain this to him, he gets mad and blocks you. How's that for customer service? I wouldn't give Mars Industries and this idiot a penny.
Had exact same experience
Did you actually receive one? If so, please share the details - when you got it, etc.
Sometimes you just take the loss and move on as your mental heath is not worth it. Thank you for the warning.
Definitely stay away from Mars Industries.
i am so glad i never bought one
What yoy ended up with is a true bueuty,..what a lovely profiled lady she was
That Russian Hind....wow!!
Thanks!
â@@y.t.928 Where did you acquire it at?
@@MCDJACDC Small Scale Military HQ board. User Pickelhaube did a run a few years ago. I donât think he has plans to make more.
@@y.t.928 that stinks, sure do want 1
How can you go about ordering one, when their not taking anymore orders
Send me your money and I will provide the same product MARS doesâŠlol
Has anyone received their models? According to the shipping schedule he posted after this video went live pre-order kits were supposed to be shipping in April and Kickstarter kits shipping in May, it is now June? Seems odd I haven't seen anything...
Hey, YT. Iâm a Kickstarter backer. Still no kit and no word from Mars. :(
@@whoopdiddydo Thatâs a bummer! Fingers crossed for you.
Thereâs a thread which was started tonight on one of the GI Joe groups on FB. People are on to this clown and thatâs a good thing to see. A little good customer service couldâve prevented this but as the old saying goes: play stupid games, win stupid prizes,
@@bradlanghorst6269 Interesting, what group? Iâm not on FB but maybe my son can look it up. Any new information being discussed? Seems like he continues not to deliverâŠ
@@y.t.928 GI Joe ARAH Vintage Toy Line 1982 to 1994 is the name of the group. Someone also posted in the AIRWOLF. The real fans group and I told him and others to steer clear.
What was your technique to clear up the windows?
Dip them 25 times in Future floor polish.
@@y.t.928 thank you. So dip, dry and repeat (x25) ?
@@nyfunny07 Yessir. Dip and just let it air dry (under cover, to avoid dust) and keep repeating until you are happy with the result. Future may yellow over time but I donât know another solution.
They rushed this from day one, and were not properly prepared for any of this.
What they should have done was like Valaverse with their toy line: source and invest in a company to produce the toy from cast parts.
Valaverse started out as a kickstarter as well
Thatâs the only thing Mars shares with Valaverse. Having been involved with both projects, itâs a night and day difference. Great differential case study for business school of how to do things the wrong way and right wayâŠâââ
Hey, yt. I saw you posted on hiss forum asking if anyone had gotten an Airwolf kit. I donât have an acct there, but wanted to let you know that the answer is NOPE.
Thanks for the update. I canât say Iâm surprised. From the last updates I saw from Mars, he should be several waves into shipping at this pointâŠI hope everyone gets something or their money back but itâs looking worse and worse to that end.
@@y.t.928 My order was cancelled (Mars and I both agrees to cancel it) and a refund never posted. He blocked me for following up and claimed it was âup to my bankâ and he wa blocking me for âtaking time from paying customers.â I am a paying customer until Iâm refunded. Heâs a coward, a liar, and clearly in over his head. Interestin that he has allegedly shipped all these kits and yet, I havenât seen single person say they received one and no new reviews on CZcams.
Do you have a link to the HISS thread?
@ Y T. Hey, when I get my kit, how much will you charge me to do the assembly??
Sorry I donât take commissions and even if I did, there is no amount of money to get me to build another unless it has serious improvements lol. I believe the standard going rate for a build like this would be 2 times the cost of the kit.
That doesn't look resin printed. That looks very much like Filament printing. Which is cheap and dirty. Real resin printing shows almost no layer lines at all.
The kits he initially shipped were a mix of filament and resin prints. It really didnât make sense which parts were printed in which material either. Some high detail, required high durability parts were filament and others that would haven been fine in filament were not. During the Retroblasting stream he admitted to intentionally sending out defective kits and then belittled and demeaned paying customers trying to build these hodge podge kits. I didnât go into detail in the video but at some point, he changed the name of the kit to prototype. I believe this was to justify the fact he was sending defective products out to unwitting customers. The fuselage of the helicopter was indeed resin printed and had very prominent printing lines somehow.
Sorry you had to go through such a ordeal
Thanks, itâs certainly been interesting. The things we do for âfunâ. đ€Ł
Yes Alexa, Amazon online splashed an issue message
Everyone, if you haven't received the product or if you have not received a refund for a cancelled order, please contact the Florida Attorney General. I'm in contact with them now and the more complaints they receive, the more likely an investigation happens.
Has anyone received their models? According to the shipping schedule he posted after this video went live pre-order kits were supposed to be shipping in April and Kickstarter kits shipping in May, it is now June? Seems odd I haven't seen anything...
@@y.t.928 Mars kept changing their story on how many had shipped and we all know about the shifting ship dates. In that long rant, he claimed to have already shipped a decently large percentage but I don't buy it. It's odd that I haven't seen a single person post about receiving it other than you and Kessel Run. In fact, everyone I've talked to so far has not received their product and are angry. One guy threatened him with legal action over his cancelled order and Mars agreed to "uncancel" it. Which is also what I asked - if you're not going to refund my money, uncancel the order and I'll take the kit and the idiot blocked me. Keep in mind I defended him for a long time so it was mystifying to say the least. His repeated claims of "I can't help you, your bank has to" is BS and I know it, he knows it, and everyone knows it. Mars Industries is a joke and until I get my refund, I will make sure I expose this company for what it is - an incompetent farce.
has anyone gotten theirs?
Not that I have seen. He has claimed several times to be shipping them even as recently as Christmas but Iâve never seen any evidence of that. He deleted his Twitter account, so who knows.
@@y.t.928 Neither of the two early backers I speak with have received anything. We all know Conrad is lying, just like he lied when he said he has "lots of happy customers who are too afraid to post reviews." He very obviously read my comment asking where the reviews were and thinks people are dumb enough to buy his story.
No beginning to think this was a scam I paid for the already assembled one I have tried to contact him he will not respond to me anymore he has deleted all his social media and it's just on Kickstarter now and he will not respond. So it looks like I'm out the 483.63 I paid through ebay supposedly he recently had Covid so yeah just a little upset right now.
I received mine in February, Complete disaster, broken pieces missing pieces cheap and easily breakable on feb26 I was told i would receive my replacement parts đ its 4/10 still no parts
@@michaelhernandez3853 Typical CONrad. You made him mad and he is a vindictive little man.
These parts look terrible! Those printing lines are in my opinion unforgivable.
It tells me they havenât finished their own airwolf and then molded it. OMG!!! Look at that encapsulated resin! Thatâs not UV resin this is sheer stupidity when it comes to printing and modeling!
This is the worst kit Iâve ever seen!
It is indeed a very bad kit, made worse by the fact that it was knowingly shipped like this.
@@y.t.928 yeah absolutely! Everyone makes mistakes and you were patient with them and they had more than enough time and opportunity to fix it. But despite all the hurdles and terrible quality the end result is nice.
@@CallousCoder If you didn't watch the Retroblasting Q&A with Mars, he (Conrad, owner of Mars) tried to blame YT and Kessel Run (the other guy with an Airwolf video) for their issues and for "pushing him" to ship their kits. He also agreed to cancel many orders and has never refunded many of us, going as far as to block us. I'm in contact with the Florida Attorney General about him and have asked others to file as well. He's had nearly 2 years to ship these orders and led everyone to believe that the orders would ship in mere months after the initial Kickstarter. The excuse we got was "we made a typo" but other ship dates were also missed. One guy claims the reason Mars is having so much trouble is that they did not design the model and don't know how to fix the issues; as proof, he pointed out that Mars had downloaded several Airwolf and aircraft parts/models from Cults3D, a popular 3D model site. I don't know if that's true or not, and frankly I don't care - Mars has already shown their true colors and has lied about so many other things that who knows what the truth is.
@@bradlanghorst6269 itâs a just terrible. I was stunned seeing those print lines and then that uncured resin, thatâs something that shouldnât happen.
@@CallousCoder The encapsulated resin is a total rookie mistake. I believe the original model he displayed was FDM printed and he switched to resin soon after. He clearly had no experience with resin printing. I run a business using 3d printers (including resin printers) and putting proper drain holes is one of the first things you learn. I used to feel a little sorry for the guy but seeing how he treated me and others, I have zero sympathy now. He brought all of this on himself.
I too stumble on this video, and think you did a great job with the hot mess you were provided, I think kickstart these days is more like craigslist, and a huge gamble that you will infact get what you paid for in the end. In my opinion, this "quality" of a model, should have never even been allowed to be on kickstart, but seeing as this is the case, hey, I have a few "prototype" models for sale if you're interested LOL. Final not considering how brittle a lot o the parts were tells me this guy has no clue what he is doing with a 3d printer.
Mars has also kept money which was due to clients after orders were cancelled and blocks you if you follow up. The owner of Mars has lied in videos, has no idea how to run a business, and is a rude jerk who perpetually plays the victim. Anyone spending money with him is a fool at this point. I hope for the sake of people who still have orders thst he delivers something decent but Iâm not holding my breath since he has basically stolen my money. My biggest regret was defending this guy. It doesnât matter - judging by his incompetence, he needs the money more than I do. But then again, I run a business with hundreds of 5 star reviews and and am not the butt of internet jokes like this clown,
LOOK I COULDN'T PUT MYSELF THU THIS BULSHIT!!.......
I'M SORRY YOU WENT
THOUGH THIS
NONSENSE........
THIS ONE REASON
I DON'T DEAL WITH
BUILDING MODELS
SINCE I WAS A KID...
I BUY MY STUFF
ALREADY DONE...
YOUR AIRWOLF LOOKS
GREAT!!!!!!!!!
THE BELLY OF IT IS NOT THE RIGHT COLOR....MORE GREY
ANYWAY, OTHERWISE
LIKE I SAID ........
GREAT!!!!!
Finish it bro ,show those shovel heads how to build a quality 1/18 airwolf bro ,yours is gona ve better than the crap ones they send out ,dont give up you can make it nice i think ,go for it bro
looks like buying a rod to beat yourself with !!!!you may as well build one out of putty >surface finish is disgusting considering the price >
What a đ© SHOW. EVERYONE got a đ© SHOW.