Posts: 594
Joined: 12/2/2001 From: Whitehall,
NY, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by John B The DB music wire bends pretty easy out of the box, so after you get it set just right reharden it and save yourself a lot of grief. And the wheel wells........cant explain . you'll see, the balsa is the best way to go, the styrofoam was impossible for me to manage. John. [/QUOTE]
Thanks for the tips, John. There is nothing more frustrating than soft gear wire! I'll have to research the hardening process... it sounds like a great idea. I have some soft gear wire on a couple of The World Models ARFs that could really use some stiffening up.
As for the wheel wells, I'm glad you tipped me off. It would SEEM that the styrofoam cup method would be the easiest way to go. I noticed that in the instruction manual, the builder used thin balsa. Hmmm. Must be a reason for that.....
I just rolled out the plans and inventoried the parts. Maybe I'll get started this week.
Posts: 152
Joined: 1/4/2002 From: Cedarville,
CA, USA Status: offline
Royal 1/2 A Corsair for the lack of instructions and a Sterling 1/2A Corsair for the die cutting and poor fitting of parts. I never finished either one....
Posts: 129
Joined: 1/17/2002 From: Shakopee, MN, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by phillybaby Royal not doing too well on this post hey [/QUOTE]
As far as ease of building, no. Most people's complaint about Royal, or Marutaka, kits is the amount of shaping and sanding needed. But, if you have a decent amount of building experience and aren't in a hurry to finish, you can make a really nice plane from them. Maybe we've all gotten spoiled by the new kits. I know I have The really cool thing about these kits is the spun aluminum cowl on all their round engine birds. You'd have a hard time breaking THAT on a rough landing.
Posts: 6138
Joined: 12/19/2001 From: CamborneCornwall, UNITED KINGDOM Status: offline
the wings on my zero where pretty easy, but that fuz has been a damn nightmare, i dont see me ever making it round, not without being way to thin and weak, if the structure underneath was stronger i might have tried again but used sheets, lots of sanding yes lol but i can see it being very nice if you really spent ages working on it
Posts: 2863
Joined: 12/13/2001 From: Litchfield Park,
AZ, USA Status: offline
I framed up a Circus Circus Reed Falcon biplane once that was a real piece of work. The wings did not have jig tabs nor was there any mention of any type of jigging structure to build the symmetrical wing straight. Nice looking bird all done though. Regards, Chad.
Posts: 695
Joined: 1/5/2002 From: Green Bay,
WI, USA Status: offline
OK.... this is going to sound funny but all of the ARF's I have assembled have been worse that ANY kit I have done. Trying to make something fit the way I think it should after it's already built is much worse that just building it the way I want.
Posts: 80
Joined: 6/9/2002 From: Wenatchee,
WA, USA Status: offline
Give me that royal kit anydayThat bark in a box stagger wing I built was a joy.....Well not exactly a true statement, but .Try a geebee model y from IKON ........you won't have any hair left!!!! And I don't! YEA! Stopped working on the GeeBee yesterday, they never are complete!But it's complete enough for me! It may never fly......... 39 oz wing loading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scary! Glad it's done .A building experience I donot want to repeat.
< Message edited by Riley -- Aug 18 2003 11:46PM >
Lot of work to this kit and lots of carving to do, and one letter size sheet of typed instructions is all you get. Mines almost finished and makes into a beautiful bird. Too bad all manufacturers can't meet the quality of wood in these kits.
Posts: 322
Joined: 1/26/2002 From: Baghdad, USA Status: offline
TF FW-190D9
Starts out OK with some effort, then you find the tail is not going to be straight on the fuse, so you build up one side and sand the other to straighten it. The section in front of the vertical stab should have been blocks instead of planking. Poor plastic parts, bad LG design (not at all scale). Put it on the shelf 3/4 built and get pissed everytime I realize how much time I wasted
Sterling Stearman - not half as bad, but I've built 3 of them.
Posts: 19989
Joined: 4/22/2002 From: Willmar,
MN, USA Status: offline
Another Royal kit! Mine was a Cessna Skymaster, which I converted to it's military counterpart, the O2. I bought this kit in the early '90's but I think it was kitted in the 60's! When I opened the box, there was the distinct smell of antique wood! The wood was so old and dried out, that when I went to install the wing joiner (you know, that piece of plywood that's supposed to keep the wings from folding up?) it snapped in 3 pieces! I wound up replacing about half of the wood in the kit. And this kit was ALL wood. No plastic or metal ANYWHERE, Cowl, struts fairings... ALL WOOD! it took me 2 yrs to build, I even added landing and strobe lights. And to make matters worse, the picture was taken on it's first day at the field. 5 minutes after the picture, the plane was demolished by a bad battery pack. And due to the fragile condition that the wood was in, it absolutely SPLINTERED!!! I keep this pic on my refrigerator as a little memorial to my biggest headache.
Posts: 6138
Joined: 12/19/2001 From: CamborneCornwall, UNITED KINGDOM Status: offline
i still think someone should be making that kit as a twin speed 400 kit or ARTF. always liked those O2's. maybe its my own twisted mind, but yours looks a bit fat, yes its scale, but looks wrong to me, same as the F4U, looks amazing from some angles, but boy is it short dumpy thing side on.
_____________________________
My half dead website www.philsrcworld.fsnet.co.uk new site coming soon. Redruth & District model flying club www.rcflye
Posts: 2078
Joined: 4/5/2002 From: Claremont,
ON, CANADA Status: offline
SIG Skybolt.
I've had three of these (bought one, 'finished' one and built one). The plastic turtledeck sucks, otherwise, a typical SIG kit... glue this piece of wood to this other piece and sand, now glue some more wood on and sand to shape some more... next? More wood and sanding.... you get the drift.
The worst part was lining up the cabanes and getting that little pin that holds the top wing on. I made the suggested modification to make for 'easier' removal.... wished I hadn't. It was easier to remove but, much harder to install. I finally sold all three, they all had the same problem. Nasty cabanes kept wanting to pull out of the fuselage!
If they didn't fly so d*mn well, I wouldn't have bought the other two....
Worst instructions? My VK Triplane. Two sheets of legal size paper typed on both sides. Includes everything, even parts list, flying instructions and a cute little caricature of 'the Baron'. Can you say condensed? Luckily the plans are superb.
Posts: 970
Joined: 3/9/2002 From: Rantoul,
IL, USA Status: offline
I built a 80" Aerodynamics Raven several years back and let me tell you, why even buy a kit. The fuse was stick built, problem was the sticks provided did not match the instructions manual which did not match the plans. It was basicly a scratch built plane. It turned out rather well but a little on the heavy side with a final weight of around 15 lbs with a Brison 2.4. This plane was built for and flown by Mike Hurley.
Printable Version
All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Kit Building >> Re: the mechanisms go in very easily 
Re: the mechanisms go in very easily - 
The really cool thing about these kits is the spun aluminum cowl on all their round engine birds. You'd have a hard time breaking THAT on a rough landing. 
What Was The Most Difficult Kit ? - 
YEA! Stopped working on the GeeBee yesterday, they never are complete!But it's complete enough for me! It may never fly......... 39 oz wing loading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scary! Glad it's done .A building experience I donot want to repeat.
