I have had two of the Art-Tech Su-27s and yes they are underpowered but because of the lightweight, high-lift airframe, its not difficult to fly with the stock setup. If you do, decide on one, and this is your first jet, be sure NOT to use the maximum throw on the ailerons. Landing speeds are slow and stall characteristics on this plane are pretty darn forgiving for an EDF as well.

Now, for the bad news. The electronics, fans, and motors that come with this plane are junk. My first Flanker fried its reciever resulting in a crash on the second flight. In keeping up with Hobby-Lobby's outstanding reputation with customer service, they sent me another one within a week. The second plane's reciever has been holding up fine but after about 20 flights, the left motor shredded its bearings due to a fan that was very out of balance. Also the speed controller would cut out briefly when a few times during the first few minutes of flight, nothing serious, just a sputter.

I then took the fans out, balanced the impellers, changed out the bad motor from my first Flanker and changed out the speed controller for a Jeti 30A. I rerouted the antenna from running down the middle of the plane (right next to the speed contoller and between the fans=BAD) and mounted the new speed controller outside the access hatch for better cooling.

Now the plane flies noticably faster but there is not much of a power increase. Still fun to fly though. I'll be upgrading the fans to EDF64's soon, changing out the reciever to one of my Hitecs and making it brushless powered as soon as I can afford it.

Bottom line;
While thier planes DO fly well, I would stay away from Art-Tech products until they can get their electronics issues sorted out unless you plan on changing out the running gear anyway.

Scott