cotman

My Feedback: (10)

Well... I've learned my lesson. I'll never never never ever buy a China built plane again. What a piece of crap. Built with such cheap wood. I bought a ARF Stik 60 from one of these companies. It looked good at first glance. The first time I flow it, both wings tour off in flight. Came down like a bullet. After getting it home I was examining it and found that the dihedral brace was only 1/8" cheap plywood..... it tour right in half under the stress. It looked like the rest of the plane was put together with hot glue and crappy wood. What a mess. Pieced all the broken parts where they belonged and cut new ones and epoxy the plane back together. Like the old saying goes.... you get what you pay for.

aussiesteve

I hear you on that one (& I live there at the moment)
It is very difficult to bring stuff into or out of China so they make do with what they can use.

There are a couple of good manufacturers here but they don't compete on the Mass market (T-Zone models is one - they make 4 or 5 of each of their balsa planes per month but their major market seems to be foamies. CMPro seem to be generally Ok but you do need to visit the structural areas such as undercarriage blocks and wing mounts when building.

Which stick model was it?

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

It's always a good idea to fiberglass the center seam of a wing to
give it the strength to hold up in flight. In some cases, as you found
out...just glueing the wing together is not going to be strong enough.

I had a wing fold up on me once....it only happened once.

FBD.

cotman

My Feedback: (10)

It was a model called the Ultra Easy Stik-60. Seller was ciciflyer. Bought it on E-Bay

Cyberfyn

I know what you are saying, some of the crap on ebay is just that. I bought a RTF mini helicopter a year back that just wouldn't fly but you can't tar all the far eastern planes with the same brush. I have several ARTF models of various designs and manufacturers. From lightweight indoor to 90 inch gas aerobats. Most of them were maunfactured in China or Malaysia etc. All are of excellent construction and finish, indeed much better than my own home made projects. In future I'd stick to the named brands if I were you like Graupner, Kyosho, SiG Etc.

Ian F.

tripp3d

I have a Chinese built Kmp 30% Edge and it not only flies great but has survived some hard landings as well. Whatever you buy you should go over the joints with CA AND epoxy before flying. Last week I dumb thumbed the controls while doing some tumbling manuevers too low and didn't even see the plane land(crash). I was astonished to find the only damage was the rudder had come unhinged but was undamaged (possibly the cause of crash) and the canopy was ripped off cause she landed upside down. The 24x10 wood prop was busted and some cracked 3/16 balsa but thats all. I know this is the exception to the rule but just shows how solid this one is built. She's now sitting in my dining room repaired and ready to go(crash) again...

support our troops and happy flying

Dr1Driver

IMO: I have and will NEVER buy or fly an ARF for the reasons mentioned.

The kits from the "Pacific Ring" are being assembled by people with dubious plane-building skills. They simply do not understand planes and the stresses encountered during flight. Heck, even some of the people HERE don't seem to understand them!

Since the plane is already covered, it's impossible to determine the quality of the wood, the glue joints, or the structural design/integrity.

If I have to "go over the joints with CA..." before I even begin assembly (You don't BUILD an ARF, you ASSEMBLE it.), then I would rather start with a kit or a set of plans.

Dr.1

driedjello

Hangar 9 P40. Hot glue everwhere. Firewall seperated clean on 12th flight in the air with a well balanced (and underpowered OS.91) engine and prop. I enjoy this arf but only after reinforcing a ton of things. Sadly the weight added would put this overweight to a kit plane.

BobFE

After reading this I'm glad I've never bought an ARF, I've crunched my LT-40 many times, and once broke the firewall loose. No problem, just glued or patched, or did a little of both and I'm back in the air.

I crashed my GP Piper Cub a few weeks ago with extensive damage to the nose area. It's going to require a lot of re-work, and replacement of the firewall and fuselage frames, but no big deal. I still have the plans, and I've already been there before when I built it.

One other benefit of building your own is you can come up with your own unique color scheme. The wing I'm showing is for the 4*60 I'm building right now, can't buy one like that...........

Marcio Senger

NICE scheme bob! I love transparent kote!

Márcio

pilot727

There is no doubt that a kit is the very best if your a builder, me like many i can do a little building but i pay to have mine built, a close friend always gives me the very best advise on what to by, i just bought a cap 232 24% sport and a giles 202 ul 29%, yes i paid good money but i also have the best of quality, they are making some great arfs out there but one must either read and keep up on them or know someone whom knows what he is talking about and trust me my good friend is not only a mastr builder and a great pilot he to has had to reinforce some things, but mostly with an arf there is some work to it, the more you know the better plane you get, you cannot go wrong with giles or many other nice planes out there, i would build my own but i am badly disabled and flying is about one of the things i can do and i live to fly , my finest airplane is a twinstar a cheap plane but very well made and it flies like a dream w/ two os-25fx for engines, i was going to buy a plane and spend 100 less, my friend told me that would be just what i was getting a 100 dollars less of an airplane, so i spent the extra money and the reviews are great, if i cannot afford what i want i wait until i can, i surely am not rich, because of my injury and also because of doctors not wanting to get involved fighting the company so i lost out, flying puts a smile on my face, rollie

Dai Phan

My Feedback: (2)

Hi there,

Please do not CLOSE your mind because you had a bad experience. It even happens if you are a seasoned builder as your kit built may suffer the same fate. Try some more reputable ARF companies like Hanger 9, Great Planes, Kyosho, Top Flite, 3 Sea Bees, Green R/C, Pacific Aero Models, CMP Pro to name a few. Beware of Sea Gull and V mar. DP

pilot727

Hello
I have many planes, all nice, the one i crashed came from yellow aircraft and the only reason it crashed was i had a regular servo in it instead of a mg servo, trust me i bought a seagull and gave it away and v-mar is another plane that i would never buy but some people love to buy cheap planes and think there getting a great deal, i just bought a giles 202 29%, also i ordered a cap 232 24% sport and what a nice plane i got it from great planes but i have to say that i was unhappy with the way they packed it, rollie

WALKERS210-RCU

My Feedback: (36)

One advantage to the ARF's with the HOTGLUE, when they hit the ground most of the joints just pop loose and a little work can have it back together. Even what I thought was a very well built ARF, Aerotech 50cc Yak 54. Engine quit and even though I had control of plane it pancaked in high weeds, mostly cosmetic damage and my pride. I too bought a plane off EBay several years back, after messing with the thing for a few days I gave it away.

pilot727

Hey Walker
My good friend bought a yak from great planes, he has built thousands of planes and he really is so smart and does alot of reading also about the reviews of new airplanes, he went to the field, a tar runway and within 500 feet it blew apart from flutter, it cost him 50 dollars to send it back to them to show them, i do not think they went good for the plane, i have read some where about flutter with them, i wanted to buy one they are very beautiful but i have also read of others having flutter with them as well, i have a ys-160, i gave two 120 os-w/pump and two os-91-w/pump and three 30-os all four strokes and most of them were either a year old and two were very new, i had an os-90 fs on my midget mustang and around corners it lost so much speed i gave them all away and bought all new ys engines and les then half throatle with my ys-110 on the same mustang went fast on a corner then the os went on the straight, i was an os man and they are a great engine and they run great and they also warentee there work very well as so does ys, i never have to wait more then a week or two at the very most, i got alot of use out of them and the friends i gave them to have learned so much about flying with them as they are such a good engine, most were new at flying, i gave one friend a big stick with the os-120 w/pump which i was told not to buy it with the pump well i had no problems and the guy i gave the big stick to is flying the heck out of it and a big stick is a great plane to learn from and he is doing so well and is so happy, good flying walker and it is so nice to meet good people specially in this hobby there are only a few jerks, i guess that most fields have at least one haha

pilot727

Walker
I forgot to tell you that the cap 232 27% i just ordered i got yesterday, also i ordered a extra 300 160 from tower hobbies and it was late at night and i changed my mind and there is no place to cancel your order so i called the minute they opened and the planes was still there but they still sent it out they would not cancel it and told me to just send it back so i refused it, i no not why they had to still send it and if they are going to charge me anything for refusing it but i ordered the giles 202 UL 29% instead and my good friend gave me his os-160fx after one flight he crashed the plane not bad he is 76 years old and he gave the engine to me so it is going onto the giles and my ys-160 is going onto the cap, i just cannot wait to fly these planes, one will be a month as the builder is really busy the other will be done sooner but it isnt like i have no other planes to fly i enjoy a different plane every day but when you have the power of a ys-160 it is so hard to put it back and to take another out to fly again, rollie

WALKERS210-RCU

My Feedback: (36)

I had almost forgot about a GP Giles 202 I had. Received it around Dec of last year as a gift, Jan I had four flights on it. On approach to land, it was a little fast so I throttled up and started going around for another setup on approach. At about 20 ft about treeline and at 1/3 throttle the right wing sheared off, not at the joint but about 4 inch from the fuse. Wing half went back and took out elevator, plane went into a roll and into the trees. On exam there was no sign of impact, just main spar failed, Sent Email to Tower/GP about the plane, their responce was, SORRY we have had no other complaint of this. Just goes to show that no matter who produces the product, things can happen.

pilot727

Walker
I always take a strip of fiberglass and run it down the center of my wing for extra support but yours broke off around the mid part of the wing from the end of the wing half way to the fus. I think my giles 202 UL 29% came today and i was not here, this is a new plane i believe, i have to go and pick it up now around three at the post office, i will let you know , thanks one can learn so much just by talking to other people, later rollie

Nathan9492

ouchies

Zmike

Hey Flyboy Dave, When you fiberglass the center of the wing is that just auto fiberglass and do you do this before you cover the wing.
I had a wing fold back last weekend doing a high speed dive and when I pulled out it folded. wish I would have thought about the firberglass before. Thanks Mike

pilot727

I done it again, this time my extra 300S with a 140 ys the only thing it did not hurt was the engine, guess some one is looking out for me huh, i been flying the heck out of my twinstar w/ 2 OS-25fx at least 30 flights with it today such a nice flying plane, next time the c-160 transall w/ 2 OS 32sx it too also flies so nice, the only thing i have to show for my crashes is more closet room for my two knew planes the giles 202 and the cap 232 to take the place of the giles G-300 and the extra 300S rollie The kitchen is getting warm but not yet to hot to get out haha

skiman762

Fiberglass might help some but the main spar has the load to carry if it's not up to the job then we see what can happen.
These are just my opinions and as the worlds foremost expert on my own opinion here goes
lets face it wood any species isn't the strongest material for a high performance airplane given the weight limits of model aviation
We push our planes to the limits and sometimes they fail to keep up
I am planning to fly with G meter soon and record some of the stresses on the airframe
I can only guess the g's from pulling out of a high speed dive
other factors to concider a hard landing might appear to have caused no damage but may have cracked a spar or other area not noticable
then it progresses till it fails and you have a powered lawn dart
If you are a gimbal bender and are looking for a plane to match your flying style I think you have no choice but to build your own from kit and work the area prone to failure
also lot's of us overpower so if you running a plane rated for a 100 with a 120 or larger this adds to the stress factor on the airframe
well that's all folks
Happy Flying

airbatic

Oh you naughty modeller cotman you. I hope you learned your lesson young man.

BUILD IT YOURSELF...KITS!

Just a suggestion.

Kraus

cotman

My Feedback: (10)

Thats exactly what I'm doing now...Kit building

straitnate14

My Feedback: (2)

i love arfs...