Just an old trick
05-16-2015, 05:54 PM
#1
Just an old trick
This is an ARF I'm BUILDING.
Don't kick me off the building site but it's also an ARF for sale, in my area it should go fast. The plane really needed a lot of repairs due to crappy building in China and something H-9 just passed off as shipping damage. I had to remove the top over the fuel tank area anyway, you know, just to add a bit of love so the fire wall doesn't fall out. Another little problem I knew about this plane. I decided on a hatch replacement and added something I did in my old fun fly days. Just a window in the hatch so you could see how much fuel you have left after a flight. I had these in all my fun fly planes because I usually only filled up once during the event. I make the window from plastic from a CD box and frame it in. The ARF guys should love it, something they have never seen before.
Don't kick me off the building site but it's also an ARF for sale, in my area it should go fast. The plane really needed a lot of repairs due to crappy building in China and something H-9 just passed off as shipping damage. I had to remove the top over the fuel tank area anyway, you know, just to add a bit of love so the fire wall doesn't fall out. Another little problem I knew about this plane. I decided on a hatch replacement and added something I did in my old fun fly days. Just a window in the hatch so you could see how much fuel you have left after a flight. I had these in all my fun fly planes because I usually only filled up once during the event. I make the window from plastic from a CD box and frame it in. The ARF guys should love it, something they have never seen before.
05-17-2015, 08:58 AM
#7
My Feedback: (1)
I do sometimes make a window "to see the battery level" ! Mount a Volt Watch inside the cabin area on an outside wall facing outward, cut a small rectangular window so just the LEDs will show and cover the area with a small piece of clear Monokote. Bingo, a "battery level" window. If the model has fax cabin windows (like a trainer type) I mount it in a window area to help hide it from the look of the rest of the model, yet it can easily be read. I am a big believer in Volt Watches and I try to mount one in every plane.
05-17-2015, 09:51 AM
#8
Years ago I used a volt watch and used the LEDs inside the dash as gauge lights just for grins. I still have a couple of the Volt Watch but almost never use them. I tend to forget about them but I use a meter before each flight. Back in my fun fly days I just installed the volt watch inside the canopy of my Up-Roars, with the tinted canopy it gave them an
added bit of cool.I gave it some thought on this latest Roar but didn't bother. I also didn't bother with the windowed hatch. When I competed knowing the fuel level was a good thing, now days if I run out of fuel in a flight it doesn't mater to me.
05-17-2015, 01:52 PM
#10
ARF build quality comment reminds me of the time WN asked Trent, "why does the non covered one cost as much as the one that is covered?" Trent replied, "They have to use glue on the un-covered one!"
Last edited by wnewbury; 05-17-2015 at 07:48 PM.
05-17-2015, 02:52 PM
#12
Too funny but sad that it's true, notice that ARC is pretty much gone these days. I have seen several guys with profiles do a slow fly by to check fuel but even with the tank out in the open completely it could take me several passes to see the fuel sloshing in the tank, I would never see it through a small window.
This is one of the original H-9 Ultra Stick 60 size and it's sad to see the lack of quality control. I have mentioned the things I found in other posts so won't bother here. Let us just say Horizon should hang there heads in shame allowing such total crap to be sold to the American Public.
The plane has a big following though, when all the repairs are done it's a fine flying machine. This one was NIB and I have done all the repairs and setting it up now.
This is one of the original H-9 Ultra Stick 60 size and it's sad to see the lack of quality control. I have mentioned the things I found in other posts so won't bother here. Let us just say Horizon should hang there heads in shame allowing such total crap to be sold to the American Public.
The plane has a big following though, when all the repairs are done it's a fine flying machine. This one was NIB and I have done all the repairs and setting it up now.
05-18-2015, 07:03 AM
#13
As my ARF's get older and the covering starts to fade or peel, I am gradually stripping the original covering, re-gluing all the accessible joints, fuel proofing the interior forward fuselage with thinned epoxy, and brushing Balsarite to the external surfaces before re-covering. It gives the plane a new life.
G.B. I would consider buying that plane from you if I were closer....
G.B. I would consider buying that plane from you if I were closer....
05-18-2015, 09:13 AM
#14
Well Husk, at one point there were a lot of people buying ARFs that were no longer kitted and removing the covering, doing all the needed repairs, {gluing and epoxy} then recovering the ARF to there own taste. The ARC was the answer for this but didn't catch on for some reason? There was no price savings between the two and the joke about having to use glue has a lot of truth in it so maybe it is the reason?
We don't see a lot of the smaller ARFs getting the strip, repair and recover treatment now days. The air frames only last a season or so. I see it getting done to quite a few of the bigger ARFs though. We have a lot of the 35% and 40% ARFs at my field and getting the treatment. They come out very well too.
If you were closer I would let you suggest any changes or mods you would want in this ARF too, now is the time to do it before I button it up. I'm assembling it the way I would do it if I was going to keep it except for the servo selection. If it doesn't sell then I will install some better servos but that's about all.
I admit it is one of the better flying planes that H-9 put out and looks good too. They just had a construction problem with them and didn't take care of it during the run. They knew about it though and replaced the wings with just a phone call, no questions asked.
We don't see a lot of the smaller ARFs getting the strip, repair and recover treatment now days. The air frames only last a season or so. I see it getting done to quite a few of the bigger ARFs though. We have a lot of the 35% and 40% ARFs at my field and getting the treatment. They come out very well too.
If you were closer I would let you suggest any changes or mods you would want in this ARF too, now is the time to do it before I button it up. I'm assembling it the way I would do it if I was going to keep it except for the servo selection. If it doesn't sell then I will install some better servos but that's about all.
I admit it is one of the better flying planes that H-9 put out and looks good too. They just had a construction problem with them and didn't take care of it during the run. They knew about it though and replaced the wings with just a phone call, no questions asked.
