Well, it came today in a HUGE box that was about 5' long, 2' wide, and 1' deep. Enormous. My initial impressions were good, since I saw the wings and tail feathers first. However, when I got to the fuselage, I was not quite so happy. This plastic fuse thing they have going on isn't all that. Sure, it's probably strong enough and cheap as hell to make, and lets them add all these nifty details like faint panel lines and rivets, and some nice fillets between the aero surfaces and the main fuselage... BUT... (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) the overall quality isn't really there. Since there's so many little things that I like and dislike, I'll just make lists.
Likes:
Sleek design, very svelte. It looks much better in person; pictures don't do the design justice.
LOW weight... around 5 lbs or so for the bare airframe minus main gear and wheels.
Good fiberglass parts (engine pods).
Consistant thickness of fuselage plastic.
Carbon elevator pushrod.
Stout, laser cut wood where it's used with tight glue joints that use epoxy instead of hot glue.
Room for 15" props if one were able to stuff suitable engines for such a prop in the cowls.
Clear canopy and nose bubble lexan.
Will go like hell with a pair of .70 four strokes (they will fit).
Dislikes:
Painted parts look like they were Kryloned outside- fish eyes, dirt, thin spots, ect.
No primer used during the painting process.
Laughable hardware. Comparing this hardware to DuBro is like comparing Harbor Freight to Snap-On. That's all I'll say.
The rudder and elevator wires have control horns "welded" on. I use that term very loosely, as welding typically means bonding two pieces of metal with a filler and enough heat to achieve penetration, fusing the two pieces of metal as one. The "welds" look like a dang trained monkey did them with a propane torch and some .030 flux core wire. No penetration anywhere, splatter, one little tack on one side, not even all the way around on one side, and the tab that they pass off as the control horn on the elevator snapped off with about 2 lbs. of force. Oh, and the tab/ control horn? Picture the same monkey with some sheet metal, a pair of shears and a hand drill. Yup.
Landing gear. The tail gear has about a 3" unsupported run between the elevator (which they only supply two hinges for) and has a nice coil in it for shock absorbsion. How nice. Too bad they didn't do the main gear like that. Instead they enlisted the same shop that builds wrought iron gates to do their main gear. There is NO flex anywhere in the gear, and I doubt there would be even if you landed the full size DH-88 on these things. At least they give you a 4" wheel for some tire flex to absorb hard landings, right? Wrong. The tire is rock hard. Well, OK, maybe not rock hard... more like solid rubber tricycle tire hard. Oh, and I hope they stuffed a coupon for a free alignment at Midas somewhere in the box, because tracking straight will only happen when you load this thing in the back of your truck and drive to and from the field.
"Painted" canopy frame is really tape. Yes, tape.
Generously, they pre- slotted the control surfaces. Ungenerously, they used a butter knife to do this. The slots will need to be hogged out and filled with some 1/16" stock and re slotted.
The aero surfaces are completely sheeted, and while they're straight and light, you can see the seams between the sheeting.
Paint does not match the covering or supplied red spinners.
My biggest gripe:
Finish of the non- wood parts. The fiberglass engine nacelles show weave on the outside, and the seam where the halfs were joined is fairly prominent. The plastic fuselage, while I like the idea, needs to be polished a bit. The joining seams are more visible than the simulated panel lines and rivets. However, everything is straight.
Final thoughts:
It's a nice kit, overall and has some gorgeous lines. But is it a $350 kit? I'm not sure. Comparing it to a 96" Kangke Monocoupe that has a build up fuselage for about the same price, I'd say not. I've only the GP 182 ARF to compare it to, and that thing is light years beyond this Comet. I wanted a fast twin that looked good on the ground and in the air. This will fit the bill. However, they label it as a semi- scale kit, and while that's all well and good, it seems like they should concentrate on a better fuselage and coloring instead of putting "final touch" scale rivets and panel seams on something that's not meant to be truely scale. IE- it won't ever win a competition, so why bother with minute details when the basic concept needs refining? It will fly, and I suspect it will fly nicely, but it's the little things that bug me. I wish I could perform the improvements on it, submit my expenses, and be reimbursed, since I, as a consumer, am beta testing this thing for them. My main gripes are cosmetic; the structure is solid, which is what really matters.
My plans:
When I come back from the desert, I'd like to strip it and paint/ cover it black and metallic platinum with some metallic gold trim. Engines will be FS-70s, and retracts will be Robart 510s with Robostruts. With a pump, that's cheaper than just their retracts that they sell. I may add smoke because I think it'd look pretty nice to have two trails twisting around themselves across the sky.
Disclaimer:
I normally build kits. My current living arrangements prohibit me from doing so, and after a ten year break from the hobby and seeing how far ARFs have come, I decided to give them a shot. I don't expect to shake the box and have an airplane fall out, ready for fuel, but I do expect the parts supplied to work. For all I care, they could have supplied hardware and landing gear made out of the same plastic as the fuselage; it'd be about as useful, and when you're dealing with an ALMOST ready to fly plane and have to replace half the kit, it's like buying a full build kit and having to replace half the wood. Why bother? And yeah, I know the old timers used to replace half the wood of the die- crushed Guillows kits (I've built my share, don't worry...), but this is 2006, not 1956. If GP and Kangke can do it, why can't Global/ ASM?
If anyone wants pictures of specific parts/ areas of this plane, feel free, and I'll post them up for ya.
