Ok, after much bashing that I've read, some education needs to take place here. I'm not any expert on this, but I will try to use what I can to hopefully help you. Any tips are welcome.

First of all, The Flatouts are NOT the average foamie. They are well built and are superior in most ways. I have built two of them and learned a lot about them. If you are the average ARF builder and don't want to take your time, the flatouts aren't for you. You can mess one up easily and the time it takes to fix it wouldn't be worth it for you. If you want one that will probably be more complicated, I would suggest getting one of the easier ones first.(like the Edge or Turmoil) I built a Turmoil and used a lot of that knowledge in building my RCU.




Now, to the troublesome areas:



(1)The hinges.

What I did here was used CA in the 3 holes farthest away from the clip side and pushed them into the surface that far. I then got the tube and aligned them all before pushing them all in at the same time. I got it completely lined up and then used accelerator on both sides. This only caused a little CA on the edges to harden and I pulled the tube back out. I then arranged the rings and glued on the outside of the rings then hit it with accelerator. After that, I was able to snap the carbon tube on carefully. I haven't had one clip break by doing that as the clips are all aligned.



(2) Ill fitting parts.

Easy fix here. Just prep the gluing surfaces before gluing. (I generally scrape with a knife.)



(3) A tip for success

When building a plane like the RCU, I glue the vertical fuses before the horizontal. However, when I built my Turmoil, I did the top fuse then the sides before the bottom to keep the wing in line.(I used a little builders square for all this.)


I hope this save at least one plane. If anyone else has suggestions or questions, please post them. I'll be posting more as I have time.


50%

I built my FO in just a day. they are real easy for a first flat foam. you should read the instructions about 25 times before you build them and test fit all the parts b4 putting any glue anywhere. also, putting wax paper on your work table will keep your parts easy to remove from the table. just gently run a razor blade under it and it pops off. and my main tip is NEVER USE CA TO GLUE IN THE MOTOR MOUNT, especially the firewall ones. Epoxy will work for the whole plane very well. It will make it flexible in a crash and won't crack the foam when it flexes.

Here's a tip for success:

Don't waste your money on one!

Take that 50 bucks and buy a bundle of fanfold or depron, some carbon and glue. Then download some free plans from here or rcg and spend a couple hours building a plane that flys better, is lighter, and takes a couple of bumps ad bruises wthout shattering into a million pieces.

I learned my lesson(the hard way)[:@]

The reason I posted this thread is because of people like you. You like to bash this great product for no reason other than you hate it. They are worth it. They just aren't designed the way you would like. There is NOTHING wrong with them. If you hate it so much, just go spend that $50 on some foam and carbon. My RCU Flatout was only $40 and came with excellent hardware, a motor mount, a ton of carbon, and painted foam. It flys very well and I will probably have an RCU Flatout in my hanger for a while. I also do build planes like you suggest, but that doesn't matter. This thread is for helping keep people from making the same mistakes that I(and others) made.

50%

[edit]

bah... not worth the time

[/edit]

Sorry to butt in on the Flatout love-fest...

[:-]

TO funny guys!

I have built 5 of them, mostly for other people. I'll admit the first one was a real pain due to the funky instruction manual. But once you get through the first one they are very easy to build. Best advice (already mentioned) read the instructions time and time again and pre fit all the parts. (for the first one anyway)

Out of the 5 I built only one hinge broke during the build. IMO the best one of the bunch is the Reflections. I'm am currently flying one, it now has 68 flights on it. The flight times per flight are 15 to 20 minutes. Well over 100 landings too. I'd also say that it is the STRONGEST plane I've ever flown/crashed. I can't count the times it has smacked the deck while messing around close to the ground The 3D abilities of the Reflections is awesome!
One thing about it though, you have to know how to fly the rudder with this plane. It doesn't like to fly on one stick [:@]

I have found a few weak points of the plane as the flight times have increased. I'll post up MY mods of the plane with the next one I build.

Most of the mods are for stengthening for low flying 3D crashes. The one paticular mod is for stengthening the fuse for doing tight full throttle loops, the nose likes to tear off from the wings.

^^^ im with him.. i have 3 FO's nice build,flies good.. i also use FFF... and there are alot of companies out there that make better....<hides from the flame that is about to come my way>[X(]

There are plenty of GOOD/BETTER kits out there.

I believe it's all in what you are getting out of them/it. Honestly I myself ONLY preferre the Reflections Flatout out of all of them. For single wing planes, I fly other foamies.

As far as what I am getting from the Reflections, I can build it complete ready to fly in a day and a half. The plane almost pops together with minimal effort what so ever. If it does total out in a crash I can replace it for $40.00 and again, it can be RTF in a day! I can practice low 3D manuevers with no fear of breaking it if it smacksinto the ground (which I do/did ALOT of) the carbon rods in the leading and trailing edge of the wings literally allow it spring up from a side crash. For the most part the foam will bend/kink with the bending of the rods. If a Rimfire motor is used it can swing a good sized prop for 22 minute flights on a TP 1320 pack.

And most of all I just love the way it flies. It does some of the best 3D flying I've been able to do yet. It flies so slow and stable in a harier and still retains an awesome FAST aileron roll rate.

OH, I recommend wacking the landing gear off too [&:]

On my RCU, I've been hesitant to do this as my aileron servo would be in the grass and could possibly break the connections down there. Is this a similar setup on the Reflection? How does it hold up to hard flying?


Thanks,
50%

Yea I know what you mean, this is what I did to mine. I made some triangular fillets to go around the servo arm and cover the push rod itself. I then covered them in some ABS plastic. It is working GREAT!

I was considering building the next one with the servo on the top, but since then I started doing some inverted landings (now that the plane is showing signs of wear)

Gees, 3rd post on this... If you look close at the photo above you will see the packing tape I put on the bottom of the wing as well. That too is working out great!