BOT ARF is here!
Funny you should mention it, but we went to the field this evening to fly my buddy's BOT arf. He is retired so he had more time to work on it. DOesn't take long to assemble, but it still takes time. I was working or flying when I should have been in the shop.
Plane flies great. He has a winch, and the plane will stand a reasonable winch launch. NOT a full pedal, but it will get as high with a bumping launch as a full pedal launch. So much wing doesn't need a full pedal. All you have to do is get it moving, and it will climb just fine. Need to watch it in a headwind. We had a launch or two where the wing got tested a little more than it should, but it stood the test OK. CG came about right. He had to add a little lead, but not much. We moved the hook forward, but couldn't tell the difference. Turns near the ground were good without trying to drop a wing from slowing down in a turn. NIce slow glide with the wings turned up. Looks really good. Evening(5-6pm) air was neutral, but we got some three minute flights for trimming. I am going to try a bellcrank in mine to get some weight out of the tail. Mini servo might actually be lighter but I'm too lazy to install a servo and solder the lead to make it long enough. I don't use extensions in order to reduce the chance of a bad connection. Might be a little slop in the linkage, but if I pay attention, it will be minimal. After all how much control do you need in the elevator at 10mph. I can drill the holes for almost zero tolerance around the pushrod.
Anyway the thing is well worth the money. We also had it hit the ground a little hard while throwing it to test the balance. A couple of good dorks. It took it in stride. No damage!! Canopy can just be taped on. Clear tape doesn't show up enough to matter. We operate using the 50ft at 50mph rule. If you can't see it at 50/50, who cares.