I have noted the various comments on the new Sr. Falcon ARF with regard to the dihedral - - reducing it by half, reducing it almost to nothing. Has anyone had experience flying one with the unmodified dihedral? I am looking for a relaxing Sunday flyer but after over 50 years of RC flying and mainly pattern planes, I am not looking for a basic trainer.

I built two Sr. Falcons back in the 60's and 70's and flew them on reeds. I am sure I used the prescribed dihedral and remember them as great flyers. I seem to recall being able to do a number of maneuvers even with reeds. The plane was not thought of as a trainer.

Any comments on how the ARF flies with kit dihedral would be most welcome.

I have about 40 flights on mine. I did take half of the dihedral out and converted it to a taildragger. With half of the dihedral out, it is still a very gentle flying, easy going airplane. It will float the entire length of our 600" runway if I let it. The only difference I can see if you keep the dihedral in the stock format is that you will have to work a little extra to maintain decent inverted flight. In the stock format, it will just be more inclined to self right itself. I also think mine rolls a bit smoother. I have an O.S. Max .46 FX in mine and it has plenty of power, I am at half throttle most of the time. I purchased my Falcon for the same reason you are looking at it. I have other aircraft to rip open the sky with, so the Falcon is the one I use to cruise the pattern and do lazy rolls and loops.
The one thing I did not like was the flimsy 2mm spaghetti rods the provided for the pushrods. I did replace those with better quality stuff. I also left off the canopy, it looks different from the original Sr. Falcon so it didn't sit well with me. All in all I am very pleased with mine and I plan to put many more flights on it.
By the way, I noticed your comment about the Sr. Falcon was not thought of as a trainer. Thats what I learned to fly on one back in 1972 with an E.K Logitrol radio. The ARF, in my opinion is an excellent trainer and I would recommend it over a lot of the other "trainers" on the market.

Thanks for the information on the dihedral for the Sr. Falcon. It is very helpful. Although I do maneuvers such as inverted cuban-8's, outside loops, inverted true spins and the like, I only fly around inverted when I want to torture myself, so I am going to go with the stock dihedral. I expect to use an OS Max .46AX since the FX is no longer available. Logitrol is a name I haven’t heard for decades. This plane certainly brings back memories. I think it was a Kraft reed set that I used in my Sr. Falcons.

I agree with you that the Sr. Falcon may well be an excellent trainer - - what I like, besides the nostalgia, is that it is a beautiful plane which does not look like a trainer and is capable of many maneuvers that a trainer can’t do. It should be a relaxing change from the Super Kwik Fli 90 and modified Super Kaos 60 I have been flying. Meanwhile, I am in the midst of building another Kwik Fli Mark III from scratch.

When I have the Sr. Falcon flying I’ll let you know how it goes with the stock format.

Thanks again.

30 yrs ago i taught myself to fly on a sr falcon I still have the plane in flying condition