Hmm. I was actually thinking that Denmark is on the ball. The proliferation of those 40% and up ARFs with 100cc engines cranking out ten or more horsepower readily available to anyone with a cedit card is a truly unnerving reality these days. Add to that the current trend to fly very close in to the flightline/spectator area and hover, etc. and it's a wonder the AMA is still able to provide insurance.

Anyway, this is a timely thread since one, I just dug out an old Lanier Stinger kit last week that was half built with the intention of finishing it, and two, I just finished stripping the Monokote off of a Goldberg Tiger 2 kit I built about ten years ago that I plan to recover with Worldtex (I'm no longer a fan of plastic film).

I now remember why the Stinger was only half finished. The laser cutting and wood parts fit was very nice and went together well. However, all that ridiculous plastic is another story. So I sort of redesigned the top half of the plane by building it out of balsa. I'm not sure why I bought the kit in the first place, but foam and vacuform are not my idea of fun modeling. It's like they designed the kit part way with nice wood and laser cutting and then just decided to quit and simply throw in a bunch of plastic to finish it off. I won't buy another Lanier, but not because of the quality, because I don't enjoy those particular building methods. Fair enough.

Now, the Goldberg kit pre-dates the Lanier acquisition. In the process of removing the film and sanding the structure I can see that the model was maybe under designed. Goldberg clearly cut corners to keep the price down (or their profits up, which is completely unrelated to price, btw). The balsa density is inconsistent and in many cases the wrong grain is used for certain parts. The wing has shear webbing, but the pieces only cover about 3/4 of each wing bay and do not extend to each rib. I figure they saved maybe less than a foot of material/25 cents with that decision. The LE sheeting is very thin on the wing. I can punch through it by breathing on it. The tail is much too flimsy in my opinion and the wood is either too soft or too dense. The only part of the plane that I would call high quality is the liteply fuse. It builds into a very straight and study structure that is remarkably light.

So, the Stinger went back in its box until one day when I'm really bored. The Tiger I decided to work on and get ready for covering. I sheeted the built-up tail surfaces with 1/16. They are still very light but are now far more rigid and will look a lot better when covered. Since I'm putting in a 4-stroke this time the extra weight will cancel out anyway. There wasn't much I could do to the wing other than go over any weak glue joints and handle it very carefully. It won't survive a deadstick in a cornfield, though.

On the other hand, I love Goldberg's plans. They are well drawn and provide a lot of info. If I build another Tiger I will use the plans and not buy another kit.

For what it's worth, I just finished scratchbuilding a Goldberg Senior Falcon from plans and I felt that every aspect of that design was well engineered. Of course, it is a forty year old design and I selected all my own balsa, both of which make a big difference.

All of the planes I have lined up to build are no longer available as kits - only in plan form - so unless someone gives me one of the new "Lanberg" kits I guess I'll never know how they build.