I'll offer a somewhat contra opinion on the Fleet, but it is missing the important element of having built and flown one!

I just bought one of the kits and haven't started it. It looks good in the box - sort of like a Sig kit or any other quality 1970s kit. Parts are all machine cut and the job looks fine to me. It will build up pretty much like a Sig Cub with lots of parts but no real difficulty. There is a lot of wood in the box for the money. If you've only built an ARF you would probably struggle pretty much to get through it. But for us old guys more than 1/2 the fun is in the building.

Here's what I think are the good parts: It has a semisymetrical airfoil and very good nose and tail moments; ailerons on lower wing only. I think it's going to fly just great and that it will be aerobatic enough to satisfy me. I scratch built a Platt 1/4 Jungmeister years ago. I'm certain it was a better aerobatic plane than the Fleet could ever be, but it demanded constant attention during the entire flight - from getting it off the ground to getting it back on. I'm not that great a pilot - the Fleet will be a better match for my skills.

Plans show a Quadra; I'll use a G-38.

http://www.mailbag.com/users/conceptmodels/concept.html

Jim