ORIGINAL: Hooked-On-RC
ORIGINAL: jeff1127
The manufacturer has updated the website and now offers a lighter built version using balsa.
I think they are trying everything they can to please even those who bought the earlier versions.
JMHO
Well if I read correctly in that other forum, a fellow ordered a kit (thinking it would be the balsa kit because that was all that was mentioned on the website) and when he recieved the kit, it turned out to be all plywood with no rhyme or reason behind it. he then proceeded to build it and it came out over 2 pounds heavier than stated on the website...gee I wonder why, plywood perhaps. The manufacturuer told him nothing to that effect according to the forum....so even though they offer a balsa kit now, I am still leary about persuing it!
I thought long and hard about the Mosquitobiteplanes Tri-Pacer when it first came out, even got a shipping quote from Ken Charron (owner). Back then, the kit was all balsa, at a good scale size, and with good scale fidelity (except for that gawdawful color scheme they chose for the prototype). But when the build thread got started here in RCU, and I got a look at the way it went together, I slowly changed my mind. I didn't like the extensive use of sheet balsa everywhere, and the tablock (i.e., lincoln logs) assembly method. I wanted an open framework, with truss construction and sheet only where needed; not just for a lighter weight model, but for the overall appeal of open frame construction-- so much more like the full-scale, and more like a "real" model airplane. Personal taste thing, I guess.
So, when I heard it had gone to an all-ply airplane-- hoo-boy!! Talk about trying to fly a footlocker with wings! Sort of a deal-killer, know what I mean?
I trust Top Flite would do it right, and go with a more conventional construction method. (C'mONNN Top Flite!)