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I suppose the major problem (aside from questionable parts, etc) is that in some factory processes, especially in less developed places, the documentation only

I suppose the major problem (aside from questionable parts, etc) is that in some factory processes, especially in less developed places, the documentation only captures so much of what has to be done to make something work right. It usually turns out there's some knowledge during assembly that is preserved by someone or something that's not in the documentation, that is insidiously hidden until you find out later it's gone wrong. And when someone tries to copy the process off of the pure documentation (or worse, just reverse engineering the thing with no documentation), that unwritten process is lost. And then, you're going to get someone down the line who wonders, "what's this unnecessary part for?" and removes it or ignores when it's missing, and suddenly your rotors start flying apart after 100 hours or something. At least when the knockoff Hasselblad (Kiev) cameras failed, it just led to a stuck film crank that could be reset, or when a Lada broke down it could be pushed. With a helicopter, not so forgiving...

quallzone 6y ago
More info on Kiev: The old Salyut-C and Kiev-88 medium format camera system was not created or sold as a knockoff or "replica" of the Hasselblad system. The body is admittedly a Soviet-era clone of the original Hasselblad 1000F, but with its own interchangeable body parts and lenses. Also, the lenses were primarily made in a former Zeiss factory in Jena, DDR (East Germany). Some "CZJ" (Carl Zeiss Jena) have decent optical quality, while others are not. An old Shutterbug article jokingly stated that the amount of lens dust and quality control was dependent on the Vodka content of the workers that day. Over the years, I owned 1 Salyut-C and a couple of Kiev-88 bodies and lenses, and I can confirm that build quality was variable in my experience. Some US-based camera shops had a side business performing Kiev-88 CLA (cleaning, lubrication & adjustment). This was for an Officially produced product with relatively few moving parts. So I cannot imagine the build quality for these counterfeit helicopters!

quallzone 6y ago

More info on Kiev: The old Salyut-C and Kiev-88 medium format camera system was not created or sold as a knockoff or "replica" of the Hasselblad system. The body is admittedly a Soviet-era clone of the original Hasselblad 1000F, but with its own interchangeable body parts and lenses. Also, the lenses were primarily made in a former Zeiss factory in Jena, DDR (East Germany). Some "CZJ" (Carl Zeiss Jena) have decent optical quality, while others are not. An old Shutterbug article jokingly stated that the amount of lens dust and quality control was dependent on the Vodka content of the workers that day. Over the years, I owned 1 Salyut-C and a couple of Kiev-88 bodies and lenses, and I can confirm that build quality was variable in my experience. Some US-based camera shops had a side business performing Kiev-88 CLA (cleaning, lubrication & adjustment). This was for an Officially produced product with relatively few moving parts. So I cannot imagine the build quality for these counterfeit helicopters!