I just purchased one in late November 2005 at eBay Auction offered by "New York Grace Inc's eBay Store" / "Excel Hobby" - imported Chinese 4 meter (157") ARF Semi Scale Discus . . . The over all quality is acceptable and actually exceeded my expectations; the fiberglass fuselage is very good; the wings are true and strong. The overall quality is better than my expectations as I was a bit skeptical when I bid on it because several in our group here over the past several seasons have received some real Junk ARF's mfg in China of several similar ARF's from other sources. This plane is from the same product line offered through a dealer in the UK
http://rchobby.co.uk/discus_4_0m.html . . . The plane has no Flaps, but the Air Brakes are 17mm high x 440mm long; they work OK, but are not perfectly smooth working so I will use the same JR Premium Digital Coreless Hi Torque Digital Mini DS3421's with 65 oz/in torque on them that I am also using for Ailerons, Rudd & Elevator.
OVERALL for the money, it most certainly has overall good worth and value (at least in my opinion and for my intended purpose).
MY major irritation, was that NO Assembly Drawings/Instructions arrived with the plane, nor any drawings showing the CG position, trimming information, or anything! I emailed them at once, and PROMTLY received a reply with a .pdf file attached that is adequite for any soaring enthusiast with at least intermediate experience with building and flying sailplanes; but, then 4 meter class sailplanes arn't really a beginners project anyway!
I am setting-up mine to be my first large Aerotow trainer and will "BELLY MOUNT" the Tow Release using the "neat" hi-quality Tow Release mechanism offered by "Z Mark Enterprise"
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze2qbfc/ .
One could cut Flaps into the wing should you want to go to all that much trouble if you must have camber and reflex trimming; with the huge spoilers, however, Flaps arn't really a necessity for landings.
Wishing you all "GOOD LIFT" all-the-way-through-the "BANK!"
- John Bittle AMA 26317 "Minnesota RC Soaring Society"
[email protected]