Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

I've read alot of positive feedback regarding the quality of Aeroworks planes. It appears that their reputation is that their planes are kind of of heavy but built well. Is anyone having any quality issues with their construction?

iflircaircraft

I have their Egde 540 60-90. I wouldn't hesitate to get another.


Tom

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

That seems to be the typical response. I guess I got a Friday plane.

aussiesteve

The Aeroworks planes have a well deserved reputation as one of the best. I would certainly buy another of their airframes.

I have no doubt that with the numbers of products they have sold, there will be an extremely small percentage of people who have encountered a problem. (Show me a manufacturer / supplier who hasn't had a problem at some point and I will show you a manufacturer / supplier who has sold somewhere from zero to "very little"). It is how they handle the problem and whether they allow it to occur a second time that makes the difference.

Total Weight is only part of the equation for a good flying plane.

jknox

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

I guess the issues I'm having with this plane seem worse because a few months ago I put together a H9 Beast and it's quality was much better than the Aeroworks that I'm assembling now.

Several crushed and broken formers in the fuse with no signs of impact on the exterior,
An amazing lack of glue,
Purchased the CF landing gear and it's drilled wrong for the wheel pants, ( that was 69.00 )
Blind nuts with bent teeth,

Control surfaces hinged too tight. I'd be lucky to get half of the recommended throw on the elevator. They even put a page in the manual advising you to heat the hinges to loosen the glue and force the control surface to flex further and hold it until the glue cools. If they were as sparingly with the hinge glue as they were with the rest of the glue, the procedure to heat and flex sounds like a bad idea.

In regards to what they can do for me to correct it, its too late now. I'm 75% done with the assembly. I am finding these issues as I go. This is an overall lack of QC on someone's part. I asked them a question in their support forum 10 days ago and never got an answer, and that was me trying to spend more with them!

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

Here it is on the stand, not completed.

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

But, I'll work out the issues and maybe it will fly great. I was just expecting better quality, especially with a $700.00 plane. I guess the Hangar 9 Beast spoiled me.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

I have the Edge 540 46/61 size and it is very light. The construction is all CNC laser cut and perfect. The only thing about the Aeroworks kit that is cheap is the covering material. It is low temp and comes with plenty of wrinkles for you to iron out. Thats typical of ARFs. But Aeroworks covering shrinks so much that it often distorts the symmetry of the color scheme and in some places the contrasting colors do not overlap enough. Just a little too much heat and wood can easily be exposed. In some places the seams are located over open bays. Too much heat and you have a hole in your airplane !! Not good. Having said that, once taught the covering seems to stay fairly taught, even through the changing seasons. Since my experience is with the cheapest airplane that they make and since I am comparing that product to other airplanes available in the $189 range, I must say that the Aeroworks product is a great value. I am not familiar with their higher end models and how they compare in thier price range.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

It is all relative as far as quality. You pay a bit more for an AW, however they are reasonably good quality. In some cases better in some cases not so much so. I have seen issues with Hangar 9, Great Planes, and AW just to name a few. A good example might be comparing the GP Rev 70 the AW Extra 260 or Edge as far as build quality. You will pay around 50-75 more for the AW so you would expect quality to be a notch above. I compared a 260 AW build to the GP Rev 70 that I have and for the 75 dollar difference in the price the GP Revolver 70 won out. I paid 204 for my Rev 70 and the AW cost around 274. The AW did not have 70-75 dollars more value. That might not be the case for everyone but for the models I own it was. If i had to pay the same for both planes the AW might edge the GP out because of a few additional niceties like owners manual and pull-pull rudder system.

If you are having a lot of problems give AW a call and see what happens. I have heard they are really good supporting their airplanes.

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

That's right, I forgot about that, you have to print the manual yourself if you want a printed copy. They pitch that like its a plus but I'm sure it's cheaper to send it on disk than it is on paper.


If I had caught some of these issues sooner maybe I would give them a chance to correct them. It's really not worth stripping it down and boxing it up to return it.

But it is enough to make me think twice about buying another one of their planes.

Tailspin

What is the difference between the AW "quick build" line of ARF's and other ARF's ? Is there less assembly involved?

Steve

Zippi

My Feedback: (10)

If memory serves me correct AW was one of the first if not the first to come out with their planes with the control surfaces pre-hinged, blind nuts installed for the cowl, and pre-drilled holes for the control horns. That is becoming a standard now so the QB really means nothing anymore. Just a selling point. Other planes are now coming with the fuel tank plumbed and installed, pull-pull system already installed, etc so now AW is lagging behind.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

I found the shipping to be a big issue due to the cost. I recently purchased a "good deal" or "blowout sale" plane from someone in the US on the west coast. Talk about disapointed even for a blowout sale! The hinges were so bad that I honestly wondered if the plane would fly, not too mention many other issues. None of the hardware would even work. No bolts fit anything and appeared as if they were not even made for this ARF at all. There were no bolts/screws for the horns. The screws included did not fit anything on the plane.

Screw holes were drilled at such angles they had to be re-drilled larger and bushing used or use larger bolts. Hinges were drilled at angles and bound up. Some hinges had two holes drilled and they did not even cover the hole they did not use! It had a pull-pull cable but no hardware to set it up. The axles would not go through the wheels, so there was no way to put a wheel collar on them to secure them. The vendor said all the planes had aluminum wing tubes, but this one had some alloy junk and you could bend it without hardly trying. There were no landing gear bolts, no wing bolts, etc.

I kept thinking to myself, I better remove the hinges instead of chancing hinge tape. Wow...good thing I did. I started removing them and I could take a small pair of plyers and pulled all of the hinges out of both sets of ailerons! All but one had little to no glue on them and fell right out. The only decent thing on the entire plane was the covering job. Other than the covering the workmanship was horrendous! Outside of shipping damage this plane should have been sent back to the manufacturer, or thrown in the trash, and someone else BESIDES THE BUYER eat it. The consumer all too often winds up taking the hit on this junk. If it would have been advertised for what it was and I bought it then that would be my problem.

After I sent pictures the dealer he finally agreed to send wings if I would package and send the wings out so he could re-hinge and put them in another unit. I appreciated the offer and certainly understood, but the problem I ran into was packaging and shipping cost. So I bit-the-bullet on this one and won't buy from the supplier again nor advise any of my fellow pilots to buy from the supplier. Can you imagine how much money will be lost because of the shoddy workmanship of this single sale on one airplane? Once I get done, I will have almost the cost of a decent airframe like AW, Goldwing, Pilot, Great Planes, etc.

Just to mention, I have had some slight issues with the major vendors, but nothing that comes close to this. A decent plane like I purchased will go for around 300-450. I did get this one for 200. If I would have seen this plane at a swap meet, I would have paid 125-150 tops! Will I have 300 or more in it? Yes, absolutely! And some things you cannot change on a junky plane. I know a lot of folks will say, "We told you so" however this is from a reputable dealer and not CMP, Nitroplanes, or Hobbyjunk sites and the dealer on this particular plane raves of the quality on their web site! I suppose that even disapoints more.

At any rate, hopefully you wont' get another plane in that condition from AW. They are a good outfit. I have a friend that has about 5 or more AW planes and all have been quite good. Keep us updated on the results.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

That is a very good point. It was Aeroworks that raised the bar so high for everyone else. They might appear as the norm now or even lagging, but to me, they are the gold standard for having the vision to raise the bar in the first place. I admire them for their innovation and customer support. It really launched them up to the top shelf of model airplane companies and that doesn't happen very often.

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

In all fairness, I did get free shipping on this.

captinjohn

I know of one person who bought a large Aeroworks airplane and the wing tube would not fit into wing. Th inside dia of the tube in wing had to be drum sanded a little at a time...then the joiner would go in place. Not to fun at all. The fit should have been checked before it was shipped out. Capt,n

frank99

My Feedback: (29)

not one or company is perfect , but cd no paper manuel , cowl was crushed ply ring but they wanted me to pay to ship it back to aw, rep said aw used to make buyer pay both ways !, wood is a work of art to be fair rep helped me with shiping , plane carbon cub blue and white 40 % i think looks like a 80 % BIG , pay as you go to finish , futaba sbus servos 150 $ each ouch, no wheels in kit, going with da-120,lions battery, stickers extra, wing bags, panel, switches, 8 ch sbus reciver, carbon prop,bankruped, but i have the best looking plane in the nation for sure pic to come thanks frank

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

Frank you make another good point, they send 1 decal with the plane. They want 80.00 for a full decal set.

flytreetimes

Ihave the Aeroworks 50cc 300 extra. My first impressions where it to be a fabulous airplane. Everything fit perfect, covering was amazing. I converted mine to electric, 12S, Suppo 7035-9 (190kv), 110HV CC, 23/10 Zoar. Outstanding performer, even out climbing two 50cc DA's both on cannisters.
On my 6th flight, I screwed up big time, put it in the ground. Tore out landing gear, cracked the cowl up some, crushed onese fuse side for about a foot. It spring the entire frame apart right back to the rear canopy. Thats when I found out the entire fuselage is assembled using wheat acts and appears to be hot melt glue or some form of it. Reassembling required I scrape 100% of this stuff off, otherwise nothing would stick.
I certinlydon't blame Aeroworks for the damage, that was my fault, but the glue (whatever it is) certainly leaves something to be desired.
It all fixed and now stronger than original and flies as good as ever.
The only true ***** I have is the aluminum landing gear, its bends even with good landings, almost every time. Quite soft, not up to par with the rest of the plane. My buddy's identical plane on gas suffered the same issues, he replaced it with the CF unit, no trouble since. FWIWflytreetimes

aussiesteve

I have a question for those posting about aeroworks airframes (The good and the bad).

Did you obtain the airframes from Aeroworks or one of the official dealers?

The reason I am asking is that I have received a lot of e-mails in the past few months from various Chinese ARF sellers offering "Aeroworks" airframes. Some of those have come form ARF "Factories", others from resellers.

I have been around the Chinese sellers long enough to know that 90% of what 99% of them say are simple lies to try to make a sale so I ignore such claims from them. There are many however that believe whatever the nice person tells them and fall for it often (It is what their economy is based on).

I have also noticed a lot of ARFs recently with the "hot glue" as that technique seems to be creeping back into favor again (Many brands - including some of the more popular ones). I sure hope Aeroworks supplier isn't getting away with it as their main selling point has always been good quality and good flying.

captinjohn

Thats when I found out the entire fuselage is assembled using wheat acts and appears to be hot melt glue or some form of it. Reassembling required I scrape 100% of this stuff off, otherwise nothing would stick. a cut and paste!

Does anyone know what kind of glue this is being used? I have seen it too! Is it used because it makes for quick assembly or because its cheap? Or both. Tnanks, Capt,n

aussiesteve

It is in fact a hot melt glue. and it is used because of exactly the reason you state - quick and cheap.

But worse - it is sold (in their language) as a form of Epoxy (It is all to do with the translation - long story).

There are in fact some hot melt glues that are suitable for our purposes (and in some cases better than CA) but I would be pretty sure the ones being seen are not one of them.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

They are the leaders in quality ARF airframes. You pay for what you get and this applies so well with their product line.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

After having 2 Aw ARF's I have decided not to ever purchase another. The last one was a 42% Extra 260 that the wings kept coming apart. I had performed the AW fix per Mark Dennis to them before I flew the airplane and they still failed. After a week of phone calls I was told I was on my own because I was not the original owner. It took a week to get that answer from Rocco. I had to open the wings for the second time, glue in a second row of shear webbing between the spar and leading edge. After that no issues. In my case what was happening is that the ribs were splitting and allowing the sheeting forward of the spar to seperate.

As to the weight of AW airplanes, the few times I had one in the shop it would give off a very pleasant wood smell. I'm assuming that was because the wood was still drying out. May also explain the poor glue joints. I would think it difficult to glue wet wood.


After some thought I did decide to come back and add that in the past I have owned an AW 36% Kit Edge with the flat tail . It was offered as an ARC. It is one of my all time favorites. I also have built 2 of their 37% Extra 300L kits that was a colabiration with AW and QQ. Great builds and high quality materials. To date these were the best airplanes I have flown , hands down. So we know Rocco and company have the knowledge to produce great airplanes. I just feel the manufacturer overseas and support is what is lacking