sigrun

You should be overjoyed with the Laser Al. I have both an operational Phoenix Comet (1998 - I don't break stuff often) and a Phoenix Laser (2004). The Sea Bee is very much an updated Comet. But the Laser, whilst the same style of model, is different. It's actually a Great Planes Venus clone, but even lighter. The good news is it's inarguably better all round than the Comet.

The Laser is laser cut, constructed of balsa held together with CA and covered in Profilm (Oracover). It comes with a usable hardware pack, quality decals, a painted fibreglass cowl and aluminium centre mounted undercarriage.

The Comet is knife cut, constructed of hot-glued cottonwood and covered in printed contact. The supplied hardware pack of the era was throw-away, the cowl was unpainted wafer thin plastic (I reinforced mine internally with lightweight glass and epoxy prior to painting), and its heavy narrow track wing mounted undercarriage is heavy and as you know, squirrely in ground handling. There is no comparison in build quality between the two.

With my Comet, the swept wings came misaligned with the fuselage ex-factory. Disappointingly, every one the of the half dozen I inspected in an attempt to exchange after purchase was the same, so it was most apparently a jig problem with that particular production batch at least. I elected just to manually fix the problem at the time, something which was a PITA and should have been unnecessary. But that's how it was with ARFs under $400- back then.

The Comet is just over ½lb heavier with a higher wing loading exacerbated by a thinner wing section. Not helping are those narrow tapered tips which have a tendency to warp up or down one way of the other causing wash out/in so that it's impossible to trim logitudinal axis stability neutral through all phases of flight without a knife. It is a hoot to fly, but flies, and lands, like a dart.

With the recommended capacity engine aboard, manoeuvres need to be kept large and you've really got to watch the RPM and 'g' throughout with the Comet. The Laser OTOH has a thicker section, is light as well and naturally straight through the laser cutting. The tips are blunter and the arm is shorter. The servo control arm setup is also much more direct. (effectively > applied torquie & increased responsiveness). The Laser is designed and intended to fly slower than the Comet, but will sustain 'g' and vertical much better with the rated .46 aboard performing manoeuvres and the pattern much better. It is still quickish, just more of an arrow in flight than a dart. It is also .52 fours stroke friendly whereas IMHO the Comet isn't. I have a Thunder Tiger .46 in mine and it is an absolute delight to fly with all the power really required.

Here's a pic of my Comet in the hanger undergoing minor repair after a ground looping incident.