Dave,

Talk about praying on the addictions of a few. I have to admit I got a chuckle out of this one. How right you are. I just love the hobby which is my only justification.

You know, a good friend of mine, who taught me how to fly, has about the same years of experience as you. Interesting that you commented about ARF's as you did. He likewise has said, " I couldn't build an airplane form a kit as good looking or as well as many of the quality ARF's that are on the market today". I have to admit that I have never built an airplane from plans or from a kit. I have read many of the threads on the subject and truly appreciate your comments and concerns. It's not that I don't want to build, but rather at this time in my life I simply don't have the time to build. If it were not for Arf's I most likely wouldn't be in the hobby. As a result of ARF assembly and the experience gained from poor construction, I have learned how to do my own repairs and how to do modifications to assemble for strength. One thing is certain, I usually throw away the stock hardware and use better quality products. I sure wish the manufactures would listen to this one. Put more into the Arf kits and charge a reasonable price for better quality. I believe people will purchase on the reputation gained from a quality product.

You mentioned concern about what lies beneath the nice covering. With all the ARF's I have assembled I have learned that it's necessary to look for the weak areas and then reinforce. I have lost two airplanes due to poor construction and one due to my own stupidity. I also lost one due to a cracked ceramic filter in a new Rx. Hard to say if it happened after the crash, or from a hard landing. Will never know for sure. Regardless, I have learned to check for weak areas, and to have electronics tested. Even then there are no guarantees. RCU has proven to be a great resource in getting gobs of information about ARF assembly. You certainly get all kinds of opinions. Some good and some not so good. Through it all the good stuffs filters through and becomes valuable in the assembly process. Take for example pinning and fiberglassing of the firewall in the Pitts. I learned about this on RCU and did so with my first and second Pitts project. Below is a picture of how well the firewall held together after a severe crash on Pitts-1. After all that I had read about firewalls coming lose, look at how well my firewall held. In fact, it held so well the engine took the brunt of the crash. So, maybe I reinforced it too well. Go figure. At least vibration from a gas engine didn't make it come lose.

Good luck with your Pitts project. Let me know if I can help in any way. My thread on Pitts-II is

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/G%25...1265113/tm.htm

Take a look and let me know what you think. I have listed the specific details for this project including pictures.