I hate to say it, but the pile of plastic isnt the plane's fault. My first plane was that same Cox P40. I ended up destroying it on the second flight but that would be my fault as the rookie pilot. It didnt come apart in mid air, it came apart in mid earth due my increasingly violent oscillations.
I have had two Zagi 400X planes and a Trick RC Razor and they all flew fine. I only replaced the first one because I dont care what a plane is made of, they can only take so many violent meetings with trees, earth, yer flying buddy, my truck, you name it.
I have had quite a few ARF's and the only bad one was a Global P47. It was one of their early designs and their product line has improved dramaticly since.
For the record, I have built many kits also and have quite an inventory waiting to be built. The worst flying plane I ever had was a CL kit I built (forget which) and it was all due to my lack of building skills. The very next CL kit I built was a Baby Ringmaster and that sucker handled like a dream.
ORIGINAL: combatpigg
HI FORESTROKE! So far my ARF experiences have ALL been sub-standard. It goes way back to Christmas morning in 1964 when I saw a COX P40 under the XMAS tree. That plane was my WHOLE XMAS , and it was a pile of broken plastic , at the hands of my father who was a P47 pilot in WWII. The next ARF indulgence was a LANIER Q500 PREDATOR. The wing had about 10 degrees of positive, and the over laps in the covering were all arranged to face INTO THE WIND! The firewall ripped loose in the middle of a heat that I stood to win, another sub-standard P.O.S. Now I have been duped by the ZAGI COMPANY. As far as I'm concerned, the most gratifying events in my modeling career have been with either scratch built, or well engineered kits ,like what MORRIS HOBBIES has to offer.