Hi Lifer
I just stumbled over this thread while browsing the Forum. I have this plane since early summer and can say, that I am highly satisfied with it. While there are cheaper ARFs out there, the quality of the plane rather better than what whats usually available as an ARF. So it is for sure worth the Money.
I found a few matters of course. They choose a rather soft balsa for the planking of the wings and the stringers of the fuse, there is a certain mismatch of the colors between the covering and the painted fiber parts. But this is only visible under artificial light, and gets practically invisible under the sun. The only real gripe I had was the tailwheel. It is of the cheap "bent wire" type and just not up to the task. I replaced it with an aftermarket part after the second flight.
Highlights of the plane are the very well made fiber parts including the wheel Pants. Those are very well made and will hold up for quite a while.
The plane is a very tame Flyer, with no real vices. The wing Profile is rather thick and gives the plane very good slow flying characteristis which make landings easy. Altough they make dead stick landings also a bit challenging....just dont ask me how I know that...
But I can tell at least that I know know that the plane and the landing gear can bear also some abuse.
The plane also isnt the fastest one because of the Profile, this doesnt seemingly Change much even with stronger engines. Looks like the airframe/wingprofile are the limiting factor here.
I have installed a Kolm EZ50 four stroke with a 22x10 Menz. This engine made the plane rather nose heavy even while I had to cut back the Motor dome almost by 2 inches to install the engine. In the end I had to add over 5 ounces of lead in the tail to Balance the plane. In ended up with a flying weight of (wet) of 20 1/2 Pounds.
The Kolm 50 moves the plane quiet nicely at more than scale Speed. A lighter two stroke up to 60 CC would give it more vertical power, but I think the speed increse would be marginal.
I hope this gives you an idea about the plane.
Regards
Robin