Just wondering... Do the retailers, like Great Planes and Hangar Nine and the rest of the bunch, go to the factories in China with a design and or kit and ask for the arfs to be made, or do the factories design and build the arfs first and then offer them to the retailers. I guess this is one of those "chicken or the egg" questions.

Good question...I bet amcross can give us an answer.

Whatever they do, they sure skimp on the Glue!

I don't know about Great Planes, nor if it is true in all cases, but I know Hanger 9 and Dave Patrick design, prototype, test and then spec the planes. They then take the specs to whereever and contract a manufacturer to build them to their specs. What they don't do in most cases is monitor the QA process carefully enough, hence the failures and poor glue in many cases.

I know in the case of Dave Patrick's Extra(which I have one and love) they had problems with it coming out tail heavy and a couple of other problems. Someone from DP went to the manufacturer and agreed on changes for the next run. I'm sure this is a common process for many of the ARF manufacturers.

Bill

I know one of the designers for H9 and know that he takes trips to the factory(ies) that build their ARFS. i believe this is just to check up on the construction of them and make changes if needed(not perfectly sure). and i've also heard that H9 also designs, builds and tests and even repeats the process if mods are needed before the design goes into production.

rob