I have been building and flying since 1953. The first ARF I tried was a Lanier in 1976. It had heavy foam wings, a fragile plastic body, and flew poorly. Then around 1990 I tried two Eazy ARFs. The Telestar 40 pattern plane and a Piper Cherokee. They had built up wings and fusalage. The fusalage was covered with foam sheet with a printed plastic surface. The were both good flying planes but the fusalages were difficult to repair. Then a couple of years ago I tried the new generation of ARFs and have been generally very impressed with them. They provide an easy to assemble plane that is good looking, good flying, and easy to repair. In the last 2 years I have assembled the following ARF's:
Hobbico NextStar
MegaTech Capitol Flyer
H9 Pulse XT 60
GP Piper Cherokee
BH Trojan T28
GP Escapade
H9 Piper Pawnee
GP RV-4
Sig Kadet Senior
The NextStar was my least favorite of the bunch. The problem was in its flying. It was sensitive to wind, floated on landing, and would swing right immediately upon leaving the ground. It is the only one I have crashed when I put it into the trees on a cross wind landing approach.
The MegaTech was a surprise. MegaTech products do not have a good reputation. The Capitol Flyer can be assembled very quickly and when built with the wing dihedral option is an average 40 trainer. But it can also be built with the no dihedral option and with its semisymetrical wing is a great rugged sport plane. The one problem with it is the shelf paper covering. I had to replace the wing covering after 11 flights. The covering on the fusalage is holding up (35 flights).
The Pulse XT 60, Piper Pawnee, and Piper Cherokee are just great overall airplanes. No problems assembling or flying.
The Escapade is my favorite plane of the bunch. It is inexpensive ($99), specially with the $47 dollar Magnum .46 XLS motor on sale from Hobby People. I did have to glue in the connector rod for the elevator halves and fix one of the wing hold down tabs but otherwise it went together very well. I love flying that plane and the landings are great.
The Trojan T28 is a good kit but I had a little trouble aligning the tail. In the end it came out well and flies fine.
The Kadet Senior was a fun build and is a great flying plane. Some people complain about the covering, but I like it. Where it will "dent" when being punched, other coverings rip. All it takes is a quick pass with the heat gun and the "dent" is gone. I did replace the nose gear with a Fultz nose gear for more strength.
The RV-4 I just finished yesterday. It was the nicest building plane of the bunch and I am looking forward to maidening it when the rain stops here in Atlanta
.
With all of the ARF's I fuel proof the fire wall and fuel sections. I am glad I did this with the Escapade because I forgot to tighten the screw on the fuel tank bung and after the maiden landing I found fuel dripping out of the wing saddle. Also, depending on the plane I will reinforce the firewall and landing gear attachment points. To date I have never had a landing gear or firewall problem on these planes.
Overall, I think the ARFs are generally high quality and getting better. Most people end up with a better plane than they could produce by building from a kit. I still build from kits but those are winter projects
.
Bruce