My two cents,

There are a lot of good ARFs out there. In the last two
years I have built 14 of them from 5 manufacturers. Every
one has some shortcomings. None of the 6 VMARs were
perfect, but neither were any from the other companies.

Look at the pluses: VMAR have good looking designs others
don't offer. Canadian Chipmunk, Australian Pilatus PC-9, Texan II,
Harvard, Tucano, Mentor, DH Beaver in 3 sizes, and the new
Piper Tomahawk, and Van RV-4, plus the Mustang, and
Corsair. No other company matches such a complete line
of semi-scale planes. They also have a complete line of
trainers and sport designs.

Each model is more completely assembled than any other
ARF. The finishes have very detailed markings, The surfaces
are hinged and pinned, the push rods are installed, pilots are
supplied and installed, the canopies are installed, adjustable
servo trays that need no drilling are supplied.

The new ECS covering is gorgeous! I have the new Cessna 182
with the GMS 61 ringed engine. Where else can you get a combo
price as low as offered by Richmond RC? And It flies like a
dream. At first it was nose heavy, but I moved the batteries
back and now get the best aerobatics you can from a Cessna.

Every model I have seen, has a film that sags and wrinkles
from time to time. Usually it is prolonged exposure to hot
weather here in Florida. They all require a hot air gun to
tighten them up. Do not use an Iron, just a hot air gun and
don't get too close.

Now for the really good part. Every VMAR model I have
has flown extremely well. They fly straight and true, and
are very maneuverable.

I correct any warps, and make sure the tail surfaces are
glued on square and straight. A couple of times I had to
do some sanding and shimming. Two other famous brands
also have had bad stab openings cut. They also had to be
reworked to get the stabs level.

I am careful to get the engine mounted with the specified
thrust line, plus I add 2 degrees down thrust and 2 degrees
right thrust. Be careful here, and make the thrust line go
through the center of the cowl opening. Some of their thrust
line instructions are not correct. Also balance the model
carefully using their metric dimensions, as some of their
conversions to English are not accurate.

If you fly off of a paved runway, replace the wheels, as
the ones supplied are not round and do not roll smoothly.

My current favorite plane is the VMAR Texan II with the
GMS 120 ringed engine. It is a beautiful semi scale plane
with USAF colors that will perform as well as any aerobatic
model I have flown. It outperforms all of those ugly stick
types, and looks good at the same time.

I have both the new ECS Tomahawk, and Van RV-4
on order. They should be as beautiful as my Cessna,
and I know, because they are VMAR they will fly great.

To all those who have knocked VMAR, I recommend
you give them another look. Over the last 2 years every
new model has shown improvement and elimination
of earlier problems. The latest designs are unique plus
they look and fly great.

By George