peice of junk!
 

well, I am in the process ofgetting my trainera retrofit. (new engine) Well, WhileIwas getting the airframe ready for thebigger engine i decided to look through the airframe and give it a general inspection. (I have to reinforce the verticle and horizontal stabs anyway) as it turns out, it needed the inspection... It was about to fall apart! (i guess that is what happens when you buy a plane from the local club's "fly it till it drops" guy...) any way once I get it all taken apart I will post pics of my findings...

RE: peice of junk!
 

Well what are you exspecting from a trainer? Thats what there made for. A trainer airplane does more than just train to fly, a good one will train you to learn how to rebuild, so think of that peice of junk as a teacher.

RE: peice of junk!
 

I was told early on in my RC experience.
"All planes start as a box of sticks. Some end up as such once again. Its just if you want to rebuild them that matters." :)
If a trainer is still in one piece before it handed over, you are fortunate. Think of all the really hard landings it likely made while the previous owner was learning. That and maybe a roll on the landing due to a tip touch or two.
Ah.... those were the days.

I was also told thee are two times you WILL crash. When you are learning, and after you have learned and get a little confidence.

May you have the confidence to rebuild and fly a thing of beauty; knowing it can withstand anything you give it. [8D]

RE: peice of junk!
 

Trainers can get that way over time. A little CA and Epoxy and you can have a workhorse.

Just wait until you have been in the hobby a while and buy an new ARF one day and open the box and it is a piece of junk from the factory and you are lucky if the dealer will even acknowledge it much less do anything about it! Now that will get under your skin. You just hang your head in shame, figure out the best path of whether to fix the thing and invest way more than it is worth or see if anyone wants it while you take a loss on what you paid for it. This will teach you some lessons about saving money. Don't ask me how I know [X(]

RE: peice of junk!
 

Amen to that !! My trainer looked like it was sponsered by Crayola Crayons it had so many colors !!! You're right, Scott42 about teaching you to rebuild. I taught myself how to fly & that taught me how to build. SOO many crashes !!!!

RE: peice of junk!
 

I have one I call my Arbor Day plane, Plant it once a year:eek:

RE: peice of junk!
 

Now, that right there, that's funny, I don't care who ya are!

:)

RE: peice of junk!
 

Hasty field repairs from prior crashes can cause this. I make it a personal rule to never make anything but the most trivial repair at the field because there's often hidden damage lurking behind plastic coverings you may only find with a detailed examination at home where the pressures to fly again right away don't exist.

I frequently find hidden damage on planes I'm rebuilding for other people when the covering is peeled off.

RE: peice of junk!
 

I have a nitroplanes mirage 2000 which didnt come with enough glue to finish the thing... I had to use gorrila glue! so I take it out to field and the nose falls off! really annoying...

RE: peice of junk!
 

By the way... This trainerwas still flyable, but it was on life upport if you know what I mean- the engine leaked half of of the fuel, it deadsticks when inverted,(with a clunk tank) the balsa wood was brown instead of tan in some places, and with broken or missing or loose parts,  allong with iffy repairs. This airframe would not hold up with a k&b 61 in it. (the plane is a 40 size big stick)

RE: peice of junk!
 

Even a fresh/new .40 size stick may not hold up with a .61 in it unless some structural mods are made. It will be needing many ounces of lead in the tail to balance and if its of the hollowed out lite-ply fuselage types, all that lead in the tail will be taking its toll on the structure pretty quick. The stick has a natural weak point just in front of the stab where the fuse is at its smallest cross section

RE: peice of junk!
 

I got a chuckle at the nose falling off, but I know it was not funny...sometimes ya gotta laugh at these things because they are so ridiculous. I think some of the models don't have hardly any glue at all. I have seen a few el-cheapos that only the covering was holding the thing together!

It is a shame when you buy a new ARF and you have to glue it together to fly it! Doesn't make any sense in my book. I guess I am just too old fashioned and believe that a new plane should be properly glued and don't even get me going on the crappy hardware they ship with these things! [X(]

RE: peice of junk!
 

Emphasis added. You should have inserted the words "cheap, known poor quality" between "new" and "ARF". If you're going to depend on someone else to build the plane, you should do a little research before buying it. The are many ARF companies out there with consistently very high quality offerings that also stand behind their products.

It almost always comes back to "You get what you pay for."

RE: peice of junk!
 

I agree with you - good emphasis. There are very good ARFs out there as I have bought some really high quality ARFs and they were well built requiring very little work.

There are a slight few cases where "cheap, known poor quality" may not have been known on the front side. That is another story altogether that could be an entire different thread. That very thing recently happened to me even after much research on the product. If I had of known before I opened the box, I would not have made the purchase.

RE: peice of junk!
 

After a *** moment I had a chuckle to... And the jokes on nitroplanes, cause guess who's not buying from them again!

RE: peice of junk!
 

Since this is kind of turning into an ARF quality discussion... What company provided good experiences? ...bad? ...customer service? etc.

For myself:
Global - good in general. The bad pieces were replaced.
World Models - I've only done one, a P-39, and it was well made.
Hanger 9 - No complaints at all.
Thunder Tiger - one really good and one really bad. The bad one's wing ribs were constructed of a lightweight brittle material resembling balsa that pulverized themselves during shipment. The wing looked good on delivery but flexed and rattled as I picked it up out of the box. Good customer service though - new wing in a week and I flew that thing for 6 years.

RE: peice of junk!
 

Hangar 9 3.1M Sukhoi. Absolutely perfect fit and finish that would rival the work of the best builders. 260 flights (IMAC) and not even so much as a wrinkle.

RE: peice of junk!
 

Complain, Complain, Complain. I hear it and read about it all the time that this plane or that plane, or this mafuctuer or that one is no good, we're talking ARF'S of course, but you still go out and buy them. Most of the complainers couldn't build one if their life depended on it. For example "The front end fell off after I glued it. Not that he used the wrong glue. I never hear a complaint from guys and gals who build their own. Yea, some of them say the kit qulity is lacking but the plane is complete and SAFE which I can't say about a lot of the ARFS out there. So continue to by then, continue to complain and don't forget to make a list of what "YOU" consider the best ones...

Tired of complainers,[:@][:@][:@]

Rick

RE: peice of junk!
 

I have a number of planes but will just mention a few as to relevance here.

Great Planes - Revolver 59 and 70 - both well built. Some light re-enforcement depending on flying style. Good manuals. For the price the 70 was built as well as a high-end plane. The only issue I had was a slight mis-alignment of stab hinges - I got mine for 204.00 from Tower. Will buy from again.

Hangar 9 - Pulse 40 and Twist 40 - Cannot state much on these. Good manuals. The Pulse built a little weak, but after 400 flights I will hold the comment. The Twist due to design needs some strenthening and some of the hardware was crap. Would buy from again.

Sig Mfg - 300XS 40cc - Good manual - well built -did some mods because desired to do them. Would buy from again.

AW Extra 260 60-90 - reasonably well built, a little thin behind cockpit to tail area - not sure it was worth the extra price over the Rev 70 though. Extra nice manual. Depends on the price compared to others vendors.

Extreme Flight 50cc Extra 300 - very well built and braced in areas that is needed. Nice airframe. Good manual. Would buy from again.

Precision Hobby Products - 26cc Edge 540T - blow out sale - a disaster. Manual a joke - not even for the correct model. One of the shoddiest builds I have seen. Mis-advertised and makes some of the CMP planes look like champs! Box states QB (quick build) - no way. Hardware a total joke (missing hardware and not one thing fit anything), hinges horrendous (removed them with a small pair of plyers!), mis-aligned holes, crooked drilled holes, landing gear are some sort of fiber material, wing tube not aluminum but some sort of thin alloy metal, etc. Looked like something you would give a 100 bucks at a yard sale. I could go on and on. I will state that after sending pics to PHP they said a few of these got out this way and they would take the wings back if I paid freight both ways. It was not worth it to me at all. Extremely doubtful I would buy from again unless I am able to inspect the plane before purchase and it met certain requirements for the price I pay. I would just buy a crashed plane and fix it.

Also several home builds - heavy and tough as nails! If I can think of some more that I have I will post as this will be helpful to others.

RE: peice of junk!
 

ARFs are for small electrics or planes costing a thousand or more where the manuf can't afford to take shortcuts.
Can't say how many times people come to the field with the lates 200 arf and landing gear fall off or break on landing, A slight mishap and the plane is done for the day, etc. of course these are all electrics.

To me actual building, not assembling is like sailing.. its the journey.. not the destination.