Anyone know the quality of the ARF's, they just came out with a p51b that looks pretty sweet, just wondering of anyone has ever put together one of these arf's

regards

Currently the importer/distributer for VQ models is
www.morrishobbies.com

Give them a call and ask for Matt or Robert, they'll answer any questions you may have.

I have ordered the A-26 as well as the P-51B. Have not arrived yet, but could not resist them. They look like good models. I sure hope so! Can't beat the price that's for sure. I could not build a 40 size Mustang for that money.
I hate to say it as I love to build from scratch, but if the ARFs keep getting better I may have more of them in my garage.
Hans

My A-26 came in yesterday and the box was huge. Morris packed it full of newspaper and it had only one minor flaw from the trip. As big as the box is, that seems pretty good.
Some of the wood parts could be a bit better, but the important parts seem to be of good wood. The covering is tight and it seems from first look that it is all wood sheeted.
It is set up for spring air retracts and shows them in the instructions. It also has glass cowls.
The most important part of it for me is that the scale outline looks to be real close to what it should be. It looks like an A-26.
More when I get it built and ready to fly.
Hans

thanks for all the info im leaning heavily towards their p51b model.....its either that or the hanger 9 p51d.....$175 or $250 decisions decisions

Get the Hangar 9 one. I had the VQ Invader...it was all right, flew fine, but quality, well...you get what you pay for. The VQ A26 made me wish I had paid more and gotten better quality. Just an inexpensive airplane, made cheaply with cheap materials. IF there was anybody else with an A26, I would gladly have paid more, but there ain't.
Go look up some of the past threads before ordering.
They are not junk, but they are certainly not top shelf products. Treat yourself to a better model if you want a mustang and you can afford to spend a little more.

Easytiger is right on. You get what you pay for. I just purchased a Hanger 9 P51. There is $75 difference.

The A26 flys nice looks good in the air, but owner had many quality issues during build-up. Control surfaces pulled out, instructions sucked. Another kit had two of the same cowls. Covering is stick-on and always loose somewhere.

Once more, though...you DO get your money's worth with a VQ kit...I would just rather pay more and get more!

Biplane,
The instructions for the A-26 say's you can remove wrinkles in the covering with a heat gun so I guess it's a heat shrink material.
The quality of the plane is "OK" considering it's the only ARF of it's kind on the market. I'll run epoxy down all joints to reinforce, make a "gun nose" for it, install Spring-air's and OS-52 4/strokes.
I have the silver one. Be sure to check it out really well for shipping damage before you buy if you can, they are not packed well!

I saw the .40 size Texan at the LHS and am not at all impressed with the quality. The covering is the same sticky-backed shelf paper as on many other less expensive ARFs. Not great, but tolerable. The hinges, however, are some some crappy thick plastic kind that literally fell out of the very imprecisely cut slots. The wood used is marginal looking too. It looks like really hard balsa, but I'm not sure.

Like anything else in RC, these VQ ARFs have their place in the market. To me, they are safer bets than most of the beat up old planes of questionable history and builder skill you see at swap meets . Just don't expect top quality as I've come to known from H9, WM, GP and others.

My A26 came looking like a raisin. Worst wrinkles I have ever seen....BUT...a heat gun, set on low, shrank everything perfectly, almost instantly. Shrank faster and more than anything else I have ever seen. So I would not worry about wrinkles.
Good post, Volfy. These planes do have their place in the market.
The wood used is POSITIVELY not balsa.
Two of the same cowls? Yes, there SHOULD be two of the same cowls...they are not left-and-right, they are the same.
52's should be great, mine had two saito 50s.

I have a VQ macchi 205 with about 10hr of flying time on it. I'm done with it:
- wing tips are cracked,
- cowl is cracked,
- wing fillets are removed because they cracked somuch they were just ureparable,
- Pilots headrest is cracked,
- oil cooled on the bottom of the wing departed during one flight because it was also cracking badly,
- plastic retract inserts all fell out once the cracking got bad enough.

It flys fine if landing into the wind. But it is short coupled and is quite a handfull in a good cross wind. while its not the worst plane I've ever flown its not even close to half way up that scale. I still have mine and plan to sacrifice it to the cloud gods rather than give it to one of the new fliers in the club. One season of flight required 36hr of my time to build and keep flying, with that time I could have built a cheap and dirty model, from a kit, that I'ld still be flying now.


Good Luck

Paladin,

Is the Maachi covered in the dark euro scheme (green, etc.)? I've seen the desert colored arf (tan) and it must be another brand(?)

Thanks

Hideho all,

VQ models has been out for a couple of years under a different importer, and distributor. Their standards were quite lower than the Morris group.
When Morris agreed to import and dist. VQ models, Morris raised the standards and quality of mfg. by demanding certain quality upgrades.

As previously stated in this thread their are obvious differences in the old products VS the new imports under the Morris moniker.

I saw the Morris ones at Toledo firsthand, they were NO different from the one I got from Texas.
This reminds me a lot of a certain sales pitch we heard a few weeks ago about the Flair Arfs...don't beleive everything you read.
Again, these airplanes are not all bad, but they were not suddenly turned into better airplanes just because Morris started to import them.