Originally posted by ilrcflyboy
My previous post was after building the "hot rod". Flying it was a different story. A club mate and I spent the afternoon replacing the undercarriage of the plane. The nose wheel wanted to bend in as the plane rolled down the runway. I lost count of the roll overs that occurred during this brief jaunt to the field. One of the mains toe out, causing the plane to track sporadically down the runway. There were a couple of times the plane did a massive YAW upon takeoff, causing some hair raising moments.
I guess I was luckier than most in that I didn't have to straighten any of the wood parts. The plane came in great shape. It flies well after quite a bit of tweaking. On my last landing of the day, the nose wheel sprung out of the top support and caused a pretty bad nose-over. Had to re-install the tail section which had broken away from the plane. That, definitely, is balsa.
My instructor and I reviewed the desk-jet printed flyer that accompanied the plane. After now believing that I was lucky to get the kit in the condition it was in, I may veer to another vendor for my next ARF. I know that being on the fence doesn't help much for a recommendation.
I learned a few similar lessons from my first Hotrod. I put these lessons learned to use on
www.rcairport.com you can see all the build tips I put in for this kit. The nose gear that comes with the kit is not long enough, it folded a few times on my first kit. On the second kit, I replaced it with a fults dual strut and it rocks.
The huge YAW you mentioned is a nasty habit of this aircraft when attempting to take off too slowly. I made the mistake of trying to take of too soon and was rewarded with a 180 degree turn just about a foot off the runway, with the prop hitting the ground and sending the engine flying. I've since learned to let the aircraft lift off pretty much on its on and I've never had a problem since. (Remember, with the symmetrical airfoil, this aircraft needs more airspeed over the wing!) That is why thie kit is called and advanced trainer, as noted on the box, for a semi-experienced flyer. (eg... second aircraft).
She flys well, but she's not forgiving like a flat-bottomed, high dihedral trainer.