I guess I can't say I've had a "bad" ARF so far...

I've assembled and flown The World Models Super Frontier Senior, Super Sports 40, and two of their Cub 48s. They all look great, fly very well and have proven to be very durable and enjoyable airplanes. The only complaint I had is with some of the hardware.

I've assembled and flown a Kyosho P-51D and I love it. It went together well and flies and looks great! Unfortunately, it has shelf paper covering despite the fact that Tower Hobbies advertised it as having "real iron-on covering." I just finished assembling Kyosho's discontinued Sensation 1400 pattern ARF. The covering job on this airplane is unbelievable! The trim work has slanted checkerboard sections with multi-colored squares, all bordered with chrome stripes which are sealed down with CA or something. I would not do the covering trim work on this airplane for the price of the whole ARF! It looks to be well-made and I hope it flies as well as their Mustang.

I'm currently working on a Great Planes 1/4-scale Giles 202. This one is going together OK so far, although I've read a lot of horror stories about the durability and quality of the completed model. Time will tell.

In the shop I have an unassembled Hobbico .60-size Extra 300 AWARF. (All Wood Almost Ready to Fly) It would appear to be the lowest quality of the ARFs I've had so far. Just doing the plastic work and painting on the cowl, wheel pants and wing cover will probably take me as long as it would to assemble an entire World Models or Kyosho ARF that come with nicely painted fiberglass cowls.

From my experience so far, I wouldn't hesitate to buy any World Models or Kyosho ARF.

Good flying,
Bob Scott