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Author Topic:   Concord Aerospace spacecraft window series
Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 51411
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-26-2022 05:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Concord Aerospace has introduced its new, limited edition spacecraft window series with a replica of the Apollo command module hatch window.

Manufactured with the same methods and materials as the original units, the Apollo Command module hatch window is guaranteed to be a centerpiece for any room or office.
  • 100% accurate to the original unit.
  • Real stainless steel hardware (close to 100 screws, bolts, mounting hardware)
  • No 3D printed parts.
  • Double-pane polycarbonate window layers with custom injected silicone seal (similar process to the original windows).
  • Multiple mounting options. Setup for a horizontal and vertical alignment as well as a mount for the off-axis mount option with a 4.5-degree angle like in the actual spacecraft.
  • Custom UV printed roll indicators and guides on the frame.
  • Window shade (coming soon) mounts and leather grip.
  • Earth Rise photo comes standard with the unit and the picture/scene can be changed easily.
  • Weight: 8.4 lbs.
  • Dimensions: 16" x 16" outer frame (40 cm x 40 cm)
The replica comes in three versions:
    Machined Aluminum Version: $390

  • Ultimate realism
  • Machined and sandblasted metal components
  • Color-matched powder coating application for the ultimate finish and durability.

    Precision Laser Cut Cast Acrylic Version: $290

  • Highest quality cast acrylic core
  • Visually identical to the aluminum version
  • Industrial aerospace 3-coat paint application + satin clearcoat finish

    50% Scale Version: $180

  • Highest quality cast acrylic core
  • 50% size
  • Industrial aerospace 3-coat paint application + satin clearcoat finish
  • Real scaled screws and hardware

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 08-25-2022 09:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Has anyone actually gotten one of these?

I ordered 7 weeks ago and still haven't got it. After repeated unanswered emails, they finally sent me a message telling me there were production delays, but the timeline they gave in that message has come and gone with no window. And now I can't get ahold of anyone.

David Carey
Member

Posts: 1008
From:
Registered: Mar 2009

posted 08-25-2022 10:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for David Carey   Click Here to Email David Carey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sounds frustrating.

For what it's worth, If you Google the business, a phone number and Orlando, FL address are available. Maybe a call would help if you haven't already.

You can actually see the Concord suite in a business park on StreetView so it seems like a legitimate enterprise.

I'm curious to hear how you fare - I like these products in the abstract and was mulling a purchase or two.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 51411
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-25-2022 10:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
While I haven't seen any reports of people receiving the window replica, there are recent posts on Facebook (as late as yesterday) of people receiving other Concord Aerospace products.

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 08-25-2022 10:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks everyone; I'll try giving them a call. Robert, yes, I actually have gotten a switch panel from them, so my inclination is to believe them, that they are experiencing some production delays. But the lack of communication or updates has me worried. I'll update this thread with anything new.

David, yes, they seem to make some cool items. The switch panel I got is nice and the window would be a great accent item on my 'space wall'. I hope it comes! If it does, I'll let you all know how it looks in person.

David C
Member

Posts: 1418
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012

posted 08-25-2022 02:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for David C     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think they’re snowed under with work at the moment. I know they’ve stopped doing custom jobs. Delays are the order of the day.

mode1charlie
Member

Posts: 1434
From: Honolulu, HI
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 08-25-2022 03:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mode1charlie   Click Here to Email mode1charlie     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm also mulling over buying one of these windows, but I've already ordered and received a couple of their switch sets, so I can confirm that they're a legitimate business that does deliver products, and they are of very good quality.

I like my switch sets. The structure is resin, not metal (and as they indicate on the product page), but the switches themselves are actual switches. For the hatches, I assume they will come as described.

If there's a delay I think it's probably because they're a small operation and are just struggling to keep up.

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 08-26-2022 04:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The phone number I found was not in service, and it took some pestering over Facebook, but I got a response from the owner. They are indeed experiencing production delays and, as of right now, a shortage of raw materials for the aluminum version of the CM window (which is what I ordered).

I'm told they expect to get the materials in next week, and hope to have it finished and shipped the following week (apparently all other components are done and ready for assembly). If anyone is contemplating the acrylic version, apparently that one is less impacted by the shortages and is currently shipping.

Hopefully I'll get the frame in a few weeks and I'll report back on here re: quality. Thanks for the input everyone.

MartinAir
Member

Posts: 330
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 08-26-2022 08:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The prices have increased as well — $590 for the aluminium and $340 for the acrylic version.

Jeff
Member

Posts: 602
From: Fayetteville, NC. USA
Registered: May 2009

posted 08-28-2022 07:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jeff   Click Here to Email Jeff     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I emailed them on Thursday August 25th and received the below response yesterday from an individual identifying themselves as the founder of Concord Aerospace. It explains the reason for the delay as well as the above mentioned price increase.
My name is Mert Balta, the founder of Concord Aerospace. I am contacting all our customers who purchased our latest Apollo CM Window hatch directly to give a detailed update on the unexpected production delay.

We most definitely appreciate your patience over the past few weeks. As you can imagine releasing a product is never without its hitches; however, this particular item caused us a little more problems than we did not initially intend.

One of the primary components of this product was contracted out to a local shop in Orlando. We hoped to keep the production close to our main office while supporting another small business. Unfortunately, the supplier was not only late in delivery, but the parts they produced were sub-par and different than what they manufactured for our pre-production versions. After a few weeks of back and forth, I have decided to pull the plug on this external source, and we decided to build all of the components of these windows in-house to ensure the highest product quality. Unfortunately, this abrupt change which required an internal manufacturing setup caused the initial delay.

In addition, an unexpected Covid outbreak within our facility three weeks ago complicated the issue even more, with most of our team not being able to work on site.

Overall, I did not want these first runs of our windows to leave our facility in sub-par condition, and this decision created quite a bit of friction even within our management team. However, I believe it is the right thing to do.

Over the past two weeks, we have prepared our facility to handle the production and re-start the faulty units from scratch, and we will be starting to ship them hopefully toward the end of this upcoming week.

Product quality and customer service have been the two main pillars of our company, and I would regret to send out products that I knew had issues in them, no matter how good they looked. We initially expected the problem to be resolved sooner, and I apologize for the lack of clarity in the delivery time and communication.

We are now reset, and I am reaching out to our valuable customers who have stuck with us with this update to let them know that we are full-speed ahead with the production internally. We will do everything humanly possible to fulfill these orders immediately. That is our main priority for the upcoming weeks, and we have stopped taking new orders until all of our initial units are safely delivered.

Along with your order, you will also receive a specialized discount inside your shipment box, and I hope we can make up some of this delay for you as a thank you for your patience.

I hope that the decision I made that caused this delay will not reflect poorly on the rest of our team, who work tireless hours to create the products and services we provide.

We appreciate your patience and patronage as we strive for quality and memorable products.

RocketmanRob
Member

Posts: 294
From: New York City USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 10-04-2022 09:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for RocketmanRob   Click Here to Email RocketmanRob     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Has anyone received their replica window yet?

I received a similar message as was previously posted and then followed up again with them about three weeks ago. At that time they communicated it was shipping that week and I would receive tracking information later in the week. The tracker never came and I followed up again with no response. I'm starting to wonder if this is never going to show up.

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 10-09-2022 07:36 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Rob, I still have not gotten mine yet. I got another long form email response with a slew of excuses three weeks ago with a promise that they would be caught up in three weeks. Still haven’t gotten anything.

When I emailed for an update I got a form response saying they lost power during the hurricane and would be up to date on all orders by October 15. I asked for clarification if that applied to the CM windows and heard nothing. I’m rapidly losing faith…

rdm65
New Member

Posts: 3
From: Lincolnton, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2014

posted 10-24-2022 11:37 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for rdm65   Click Here to Email rdm65     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I ordered one of the acrylic windows on Sept 19 — the company sent an order confirmation but no shipping info. No further update from them since. I'm reaching out today. I thought I had read somewhere the acrylic versions were in-stock.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 51411
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-24-2022 12:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Per a post on Facebook today (Oct. 24), at least one of the windows has arrived as ordered. It is unclear from the post what version of the window was received (acrylic or aluminum).

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 10-24-2022 02:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks Robert; that's good to hear. Per my last email from Concord, they are still struggling with the aluminum framed units, so my guess is its acrylic. Any chance you can post some photos? I'd like to see how they look in non-product shots.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 51411
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-24-2022 02:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I don't have photos (I didn't order one).

(On edit: I deleted a broken link to Facebook after the cited post was removed from the social media site.)

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 10-25-2022 10:56 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm very concerned that Concord seems to have an item which they cannot manufacture and fulfill, yet continues to market and sell them on their website.

RocketmanRob
Member

Posts: 294
From: New York City USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 10-27-2022 08:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for RocketmanRob   Click Here to Email RocketmanRob     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm happy to say that my replica window (acrylic version) arrived safely today and I am really pleased with it. Looks fantastic and it's solidly built. Weighs a significant amount. Will post pictures shortly.

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 11-09-2022 01:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm happy to hear Rob received his. It seems as though the aluminum versions are still not available, despite Concord continuing to sell them. My order for the aluminum window I ordered four months was just unilaterally cancelled and refunded, without request, after I sent another email asking for an update.

Apparently they are still behind on delivering these, but if they cannot fulfill orders on the aluminum unit from back in July then, in my opinion, they shouldn't continue to sell them.

Guy DuMont
Member

Posts: 305
From: Aurora IL USA
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 11-09-2022 05:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Guy DuMont   Click Here to Email Guy DuMont     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Received my replica aluminum hatch window last week, I waited a few months for it, I did contact Concord, and always received a timely reply.

I am extremely happy with the hatch window.

hbw60
Member

Posts: 320
From:
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 03-06-2023 01:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for hbw60   Click Here to Email hbw60     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Has anyone else received a hatch window? I ordered mine back in July. It's been nine months with no updates. And they won't respond to my emails. I'm long past the deadline for a credit card dispute, so I worry I've just been robbed of several hundred dollars.

mf451
Member

Posts: 85
From: NY, NY
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 03-06-2023 05:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mf451   Click Here to Email mf451     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I ordered an aluminum unit in July and only got mine in December/January. A few key take always: the first one they sent me had terrible orange peel and a number of paint defects. They did replace it free of charge, and quickly.

But the bigger takeaway was that, I didn’t get much progress until I started posting on all of their social media accounts complaining about lack of responses, misrepresentations, and blown deadlines. If you still haven’t gotten yours from July, you should certainly consider the same. Like I said, mine was ordered same time frame and ultimately arrived around the New Year.

It’s really disappointing that they still haven’t made good. The owner repeatedly assured me they were hiring more staff to address the problems and that everything was behind them. If they are still ignoring paying customers from more than 6 months ago, that’s shameful. You should post on their Facebook posts…

hbw60
Member

Posts: 320
From:
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 06-21-2023 11:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for hbw60   Click Here to Email hbw60     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Has anyone else received their hatch window yet? It's now been an entire year since I ordered mine. And nothing has changed since the last time I've posted. They've still provided no updates, nor have they responded to emails.

Jeff
Member

Posts: 602
From: Fayetteville, NC. USA
Registered: May 2009

posted 06-22-2023 06:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jeff   Click Here to Email Jeff     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm also still waiting, and like you my order was placed over a year ago. Communication ended for me when I stopped asking for updates and started asking for a refund.

I've sent four or five emails over the past two months asking repeatedly for a refund to which I received one computer generated reply saying someone would be with me shortly. I also tried calling their phone number listed online but found it to be disconnected and no longer in service.

I see that they still have them listed on eBay at the present time and can’t imagine a person waiting a year for delivery. Honestly, I’m not sure what options are left at this point.

Liembo
Member

Posts: 849
From: Bothell, WA
Registered: Jan 2013

posted 06-22-2023 01:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Liembo   Click Here to Email Liembo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sounds like a time to take it up with your credit card company and have the payment refunded.

Kevmac
Member

Posts: 312
From: College Station, TX
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 06-23-2023 11:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kevmac   Click Here to Email Kevmac     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Very nice products. Love the coasters. But it seems strange that they're still pitching the Hatch Windows and have many verified buyers with very recent glowing reviews when we have members who haven't heard anything in many months and can't get them delivered.

hbw60
Member

Posts: 320
From:
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 06-24-2023 02:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hbw60   Click Here to Email hbw60     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Liembo:
Sounds like a time to take it up with your credit card company and have the payment refunded.
Unfortunately, most credit card companies only accept chargeback requests for 120 days. We're long past that now.

They also seem to be posting fake reviews. One way I've been watching for updates is by checking the reviews for the item on the page. So far, the only confirmed shipment was to Guy, as he mentioned above. He received his item almost seven months ago. And for the last seven months, his review has been the only one.

But now, they've switched the date of Guy's review from November 2022 to late May 2023. And suddenly, several more reviews have appeared. So they've altered the dates to remove the yearlong gap with no shipments, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of the new reviews are fakes that they've added themselves.

Maybe they really are starting to ship these out. But until someone here confirms that they received a shipment, I'm going to assume it's a lie. If they really have been shipping hatches all month, it seems unlikely that none of those buyers are members here. And this is a company that will not respond to emails asking for an update. If they really were starting to ship these, I imagine they'd be more amenable to our questions.

As a test, I added a one-star review to the page. I noticed that it didn't give me a "Verified Buyer" icon. However, this site doesn't allow you to have an account - so how were the others verified? My guess is that any 5-star reviews are marked verified, and any 1-star reviews are not. I won't be surprised if they just delete the review.

UPDATE: As expected, my negative review was deleted less than an hour after I added it.

hbw60
Member

Posts: 320
From:
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 11-23-2023 02:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hbw60   Click Here to Email hbw60     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
After adding several negative posts to this thread over the past year, I wanted to update it to mention that I received my aluminum hatch window today. It's been 17 months since I made the order; but it's here, and I am very happy with it. It's so beautiful, and so heavy. Concord really created something special here.

And honestly, I don't even mind the wait. I sometimes collect Lord of the Rings statues and replica Star Wars helmets, and it's very common to see that the estimated shipment date is 18-24 months in the future. So if Concord updated their website to be more open about the wait time, I'd consider this an absolutely perfect purchase.

If you've been considering buying one, I highly recommend it, as long as you understand that it may take some time.

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