RE: New 81" P-47 ARF coming from Hangar 9
I am concerned by the retract rails shown in the manual. They look to be two layers of Lt ply, While it will handle most of our landings it will never stand the test of time. I have a Magnum 41 (now know as the USA 2.5) that would fly it nicely. But I have decided that I must be more diceplined in my ARF buying. I'm Tired of spending 20-30hr putting the thing togeather, then spending another 10-20hr retightening covering and fixing things that don't work as intended/expected. After the second year It usually needs to be recovered to the tune of another 10-20hr.
Compaired to a model I build intending to use as a fun scale/practice model meaning plastic covering and CRS struts takes from 40-80hr (flop tite small to flop tite big model). By the time I buy the retracts (I want), wheels (I want), fuel tank and covering the cost is about the same. Added bonuses are that I can build all the lanning gear covers and hatches out of fiberglass, the landing gear front rail will be made of maple and be glued to ply doublers.
I'm sorry I had to do this to keep from pulling my visa card out of my wallet.
Joe