aec12

What company makes the absolute highest quality ARFs?

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

What kind are you looking for? Scale, Aerobatic, Sticks, 3D?

aec12

Aerobatic and 3D. Quality is much more important than cost to me. I have heard some say World Models is the best but I would like to know the opinions of several different seasoned pilots. I simply want the BEST QUALITY ARF that is available.

Thanks for the post,

Allen

forestroke

aec12 - price-no-object? What about completeness?

If quality is all you're looking for... why not get a 3W Extra. They are suppose to be the BEST! And since price is no object, you can get all the best parts for it. Couple with their Quique Somenzini 150cc Twin, both would be amazing planes. Would only run you US$8-10k to get it flying.

If anyone has an absolute better ARF than the 3W Extra's you can list it... otherwise, let it stand that this is the ultimate Aerobatic/3D ARF.

Please post your pictures after you buy it! THANKS!

Of course, if price IS a factor, you may want to help those willing to help you by narrowing it down for us. :-p

Calflyer

Try Carden aircraft.

STEVE LENZ

My Feedback: (45)

Try and make a trade show or expo show they have lots on display often suppliers or dealers will let you open the boxes to look. I think the Dave Patric planes are nice little pricey. Extreme flight has nice covering good quality control as well. I will stop there I have a hangar 9 Funtana I think I will save up for my next plane just because the plane looks good and the price is low I rather not have to deal with possible wing problems.

islandflyer

I didn't know Carden made ARFs.
For large scale ARFs, I have read/heard good things about Composite ARFs, but they are much more difficult to repair even from minor dammage.
I have been flying my 33% Cap ARF from Hangar 9 (my avatar) a whole lot for three years, and I really love it. In fact, in smaller sized ARFs, I also have Hangar 9's Funtana 40 and 90, and I really like them both. I think Hangar 9 puts out the best ARFs for the money.
I you want large ARFs (33% or bigger) AND want the absolute best, maybe 3W or Composite ARF is the way to go.
Instead of an ARF though, when I decided to get a 42% plane, I had an Extra 260 built by Troy Built Models: it is all wood and Ultrakote, so I can repair it in case of little accident. I feel that when you spend $8-10K, you can pick any Aeroworks, Carden Aircraft , Dalton Aviation or other airplanes and have it built to your specs and with your colors and equipment by one of their custom builders.
Below is a picture of my 42% Extra built by Gene Payson and finished by Tony Russo- Tony of Dalton Aviation now builds the plane too (He just built one for Mark Leseberg).

DragonHeart

I would vote Great Planes or Hanger 9........... ive tried lots of different ones like Koyosho, World Models, Segull etc etc but GP and H9 are the only 2 i had no gripes about

sbaugz

My Feedback: (37)

Hands down, my vote goes for Kangke. They make the best ARFs I have seen.

hancop

Vector flight

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

Aec12, I think as you can see by the answers so far that your question is far too vague.....

I'm sure all the above posts are fine.....

but I think you should be much more specific on what you are looking for....

I bet the company that makes the "best" .40 size arf is not the best for a 33% size plane and vice versa...
while another company makes great warbirds...and another makes great .60 size..etc. etc. etc....

you might get a better answer if you narrowed it down to a few planes.....

Just my little .02

aec12

You are right, exeter-acres. I can see that my question is much too broad. Thanks verfy much for the advice.
I am looking for a high quality .40 size aerobatic or 3D ARF airplane. I have been flying for only 6 months. I am doing basic aerobatics (rolls, loops, inverted flight, etc.). I now want a fully aerobatic or even a 3D plane.

Thanks for your input,

Allen

hookedonrc

Based on your response, I would recommend the U-Can-Do 46. I have one with a Saito 72 on it and it is one of my favorites. Undoubtedly you will get many more responses to this question. So the best way is to take the list you get and pick the one that fits what you want to do. There are many more planes out there besides the one I have indicated, it's just that other than a Funtana 40s I haven't flown them.

OH...almost forgot, I have a Somethin Extra that I really like since you mentioned aerobatics as well as 3D. I didn't mention it because I have the kit version...but the ARF version is pretty popular.

islandflyer

Now that we know a little more, I would definitely recommend the Funtana 40 S.
It is by far the best flying plane of its size I have ever flown (not to mention the affordability); I have flown the Flip 3D, the U-CANDO extreme 3D, and other thick wingged planes, and none was as good as the Funtana for both traditional aerobatic maneuvres (point rolls, rolling circles, etc...) and 3D (torque rolls, walls, parachutes, water fall). Mine does a decent knife edge, but the harrier has a bad wing-rocking.

ptgarcia

My Feedback: (36)

Another vote for the Funtana.

As far as best ARF (and I'll qualify it by saying under $600): Kangke...by far. The quality on these planes is outstanding. I own one and have seen many and they are just fantastic.

aec12

Thanks guys for all the responses. This will help me narrow down my search.

Allen

Rcpilot

My Feedback: (78)

May not be the absolute BEST quality, but this one is about as complete as you can get. I slapped it together inless than 8 hours and flew it the next day. Easy build.

I put a TH .75 on the nose and installed a functional tailwheel. It only had a skid from the factory and ground handling was poor during first trip out to the field.

At sea level- any 50-60 engine would give you ability to hover under 1/2 throttle.

Mine weighed 5 pounds with TH .75 and a tailwheel installed. 6 servos total. 2-elevator 2-ailerons 1--rudder and 1--throttle.

This thing will 3D with the best of them. I had NEVER done 3D before and I was hovering it and doing really bad torque rolls with it on my 3rd flight. It's pretty solid in a Harrier and it will knife edge loop in about 20' of air. Slow flying?? YUP!! you can't hardly stall it. And flat spins?? ALLLLL DAY. I once counted 23 rotations before I chickened out. Flat spins are effortless. Just drop it to idle and allpy elevator slowly untill it stalls. The full right with ailerons and rudder and add a bit of up elevator. It'll flat spin till the cows come home. I was hovering at a bit less than 1/2 throttle with the TH .75 and a 13-5 prop and 15% nitro. Pull out of hover was like the space shuttle on launch. Absolute rocket ship straight up till you couldn't see it-- and FAST.

It's very complete-- right out of the box, and it flies awesome!! Excellent 3D trainer. Did I mention that I ripped the firewall out after about 100 flights? That TH .75 musta been too much-- even at 6000' above sea level. I should have pinned and glassed the firewall.

And did I mention it's silly cheap????? How about $104 shipped to your door??
Check it out:

http://store.yahoo.com/raidentech168/3dgi40arfrac.html

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

My vote! I've seen a few fly great! Look great, http://www.jtecrc.com/edge.htm