To Thunder Tiger's credit, they readily acknowledge the problems with the original Rare Bear design, and they've worked to improve the ARF to the point where they have sent free upgraded kit parts to folks who have requested them from Ace Hobby here in North America:
http://www.acehobby.com/forum/forum_...sp?TID=92&PN=1
The September Fury and F-8F Bearcat ARFs weren't released until after Thunder Tiger began providing replacement parts to beef up the original Rare Bear. It would only be natural after "screwing the pooch" on such a promising project as the original Rare Bear ARF that Thunder Tiger's design team would want to make amends. The September Fury and the F-8F Bearcat ARFs are those attempts at redemtion.
Consider the following specifications:
Rare Bear ARF
63" wing span
55.5" fuselage length
10.5 to 11 lbs. flying weight
September Fury ARF
67.75" wing span
60" fuselage length
13 lbss flying weight
F-8F Bearcat ARF
63" wing span
49.5" fulage length
9.9 lbs. flying weight
Thunder Tiger didn't "pull a VMar" and put eight different trim schemes over the same ARF and call them different models. These are three seperate airframes. Thunder Tiger released the September Fury and the F-8F Bearcat ARFs specifically because they designed them to be much better than the original Rare Bear. They would do themselves a favor by releasing the Rare Bear as a Mk II ARF and getting some new reviews done with the redesigned airframe.
Thunder Tiger normally designs terrific ARFs that are solid and dependable. The Rare Bear was a mistake that they've been working on correcting. Don't be so quick to lump the September Fury or the F-8F Bearcat ARFs into the same category.