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How are ARF's made?

Old 05-17-2007, 08:49 AM
  #1  
rpembert
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Default How are ARF's made?

I was wondering how are ARF's are made? Is there one guy that works on a plane at a time or is it more like an assembly line? I would like to know the process. The reason i am asking is because I am watching How It's Made on TLC and got to thinking about it. You know, I have been flying since 91 and never really thought about it.

Thanks,
Joshua
Old 05-17-2007, 10:21 AM
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John Redman
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

It is more of an assembly line than you can imagine. Pretty amazing all in all. I have watched the people in China cover a model in minutes compared to our hours as modelers. Just incredible to see. Everything is jig built one way or another. All in all the process is very good and the ARF's of today will rival most modelers attempts at construction.
Old 05-17-2007, 06:46 PM
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GeneG
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

I have always wondered that myself. I think I would like to see that in action.
Old 05-18-2007, 10:30 AM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Has anyone ever made a video of this manufacturing process?
Old 05-18-2007, 01:44 PM
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Robotech
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

From what I understand from other threads the workers make $.25 an hour and are beaten repeatedly with spruce wing spars if production quotas are not met. All this while their families are held hostage and tortured with hot glue guns from the assembly line. I don't want to see a video of this as it will impart guilt feelings on me when I fly my ARF.

Seriously, it would be facinating to see an ARF, say a Hangar 9 Edge 540, built from start to finish and it would be good PR for a manufacturer too. I don't know if the "How It's Made" people would take it on though as most if not all of their stuff is filmed in the USA.
Old 05-18-2007, 02:14 PM
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Halogen
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

I was also thinking about this ! The covering is awesome , it takes me ages for me to do. Also what is that wonderful smell in an ARF ?
The planes I build never smell like that ! Do they use Cyno or glue guns ?
Old 05-18-2007, 03:42 PM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

by the keebler elf's
Old 05-18-2007, 03:59 PM
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sw1241
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Actualy i believe the "How Its Made" program is from Canada, the Canadian Public Broadcasting System or whatever, the Measurements are always metric and the accents are funny
Old 05-18-2007, 07:51 PM
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ChuckW
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

This has a few small pictures of them being built: http://www.horizonhobby.com/Articles...ArticleID=1028
Old 05-18-2007, 08:59 PM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

kewl
Old 05-18-2007, 09:50 PM
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ianwynne
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Hello John:

>All in all the process is very good and the ARF's of today will rival most modelers attempts at construction.

Yes, I 've been thinking about that. When I was in my early to middle teens, I built and flew control line planes. The wings would be warped and all sorts of things. While I have no doubt I could do a vastly better job now, I'm really not sure I could reach the standard of some of the better ARF's.

Bye, Ian
Old 05-19-2007, 07:09 AM
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Tsutomu Mabuchi
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

More factory pictures. I found these pics in a home page of a
shop in Japan who imports and sells KMP airplanes.
The explanation is written in Japanese though.

http://www.rc-matrix.com/factory/index.html

Tsutomu Mabuchi
Old 05-19-2007, 08:43 AM
  #13  
da Rock
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

The factories that churn out most of the ARFs we have today are mostly in China. There are a few in VietNam and maybe one or two still going in Japan, although Japan seems on the way out. Japan has developed and their workers actually have somewhat better conditions and wages now, so you can expect them to fade away entirely, more probably sooner than later.

The methods used in all the factories are excellent for producing well put together wings, fuselages, etc. Even very experienced hobbiest who've been modeling for years and years have nothing like the construction experience of those factory workers. Nor do hobbiests usually construct jigs for every component of every model. And few hobbiests have the floorspace in their shops to dedicate space like a factory can.

Those ARFs have every reason to look well made. They do look way better than the average hobby builder can produce and they should. However....................

Every one of us needs to keep in mind that the ARFs are being built with little understanding of the products being manufactured. We have to become experienced in the use of ARFs, just as modelers had to become experienced in years past when building for their own use. We used to have to know what wood worked where and what strengths were needed. We also learned what strength hardware was going to work and what wouldn't last more than a few flights. And we learned some engineering whether we knew it or not. Those workers only have to stick the parts together, no more, no less.

In the last year or so, after getting back into the hobby after a few years layoff, I've assembled 18-20 ARFs, and all but a few had construction details or design details that I NEVER would have done had I been building the models from scratch. And had the models have been from kits from years ago, most of the flaws would not have been there. The ARF workers were probably assembling Barbie Dolls last year. Or SquarePants things.

I've seen a number of ARFs lose their stabs to flutter. The 2nd ARF I assembled would have done the same if I hadn't noticed how lousy the wood choice and how little of it was back there. One recent ARF's fuselage started failing during the maiden flight. They'd used punk balsa where there should have been at least spruce. The people in those factories seem to have very little understanding that wood selection matters. My club recently had a number of guys all assemble the same ARF. That sucker turned out to have plywood wing ribs. Every rib. And they doubled some of them at the tips! Not at the root, but the tips. Truth is, the ply was strong enough it didn't need to be doubled at the ROOT. And a couple had the wing joiner spar boxes built into the wing halves upside down. If the joiner spars hadn't had such awful tolerances, and the boxes so poorly done, those wings would have been evil to assemble with dihedral. As it was, I assembled mine with anhedral. (the root ribs required almost no fitting that way) But that one was actually out of the ordinary for fit. But truth is, that ARF is really the only one I've seen with anything less than almost perfect fits. I've had one tricycle gear airplane with main struts that placed the tires directly under the CG. amazing I've built and helped build a couple of highwing Cub-types whose wing hold down design and/or construction wouldn't have lasted a month. There was an aerobatic model that had the bulkhead that held the wing on at the front made out of veneer. The wing hold down that stuck through that worthless bulkhead was only two layers of the same veneer. I had noticed it and reinforced it, but the bulkhead wood was not easily seen for what it was, and I'd never have thought anyone in their right mind would have used anything but decent plywood in such a critical bulkhead. The wing made it through the first maiden. That flight only had a mild snap roll or two. The wing would have blown off in the 3rd flight that day, but I noticed the airplane trim suddenly change and landed it. amazing The 3rd ARF was a hotliner. The engine bulkhead pushed back into the fuselage on the 3rd or 4th landing. It was not a hard landing. The wood was crap ply, too thin and too weak, and was "glued" in with something that looked robust but hadn't stuck to the composite worth spit. I've got an unbuilt glider that has balsa spars in the wing. It's a gorgeous thing. Immaculate construction. Nowhere is there a warning to take it easy and only fly the sucker gently.

We made all those mistakes when we were building our own. We built 'em and then went out and flew them. Those workers over there don't have that experience.

BTW, there was a documentary just yesterday about Chinese coal mines. Over six thousand miners die every year in Chinese coal mines.... every year. Jeez, no wonder they work for less in the ARF factories. Just wish they made enough working in the ARF factories that they could actually fly RC and have a better understanding of their job.

If we're going to buy ARFs, we'd best learn to inspect and fix them during our assembly. We have to develop a more modern set of skills today. Fewer skills, but just as necessary to fly safely. And needed to increase the probability that we don't waste the money we spent on them beauties. For example, laser cutting often hides the plywood layers. Sometimes it's plywood under that ash, sometimes what's under the burn is just veneer ply.

But the ARFs... They are purty, ain't they.
Old 05-19-2007, 12:33 PM
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ChuckW
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

How about wing bolt plates or firewalls just held in with a little hot glue? ARF's are a bargain but that stuff can get frustrating.
Old 05-19-2007, 08:37 PM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

That's why we call them BARFs.

And that will be the day that any BARF has the same structural integrity of my builds. Take one apart. Look at all the poor fits where peices don't even touch, like spars in ribs and sheeting on bulkeads. They just slap them together with that crappy hot melt glue.

Naturally they build on jigs and modelers do not generally make jigs for every phase of construction. They are building many copies so jigs speed things up. When I laser cut 12 SE5s and assembled them, I had first made jigs and tooling for every phase of construction, including drilling special holes for landing gears, etc. Man, did the builds go fast! The time went into the tooling.

Those BARFs are built to a price point and nothing else. That's why you get poor wood selection, minimalist structures with sometimes too few pieces and so forth. The workers just follow an assemnbly sequence. I agree. They lack an understanding of what the requirements of the components are.

The hobby is going from modelers to o[perators so that and profit is why BARFs are such a big thing. It also enlarges the marketplace by getting many more people involved. The more comlicated, involved and demanding of skill and knowledge, the fewer participants you have. Every one of those things becomes a roadblock to $ale$.
Old 05-20-2007, 04:33 AM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Every ARF I have bought has been very good quality. CAD designed, Laser cut, jig built and expertly covered. However I always go over the whole plane and fix up any area that looks a little suspect. Mainly the landing gear block and the firewall. I also do not use the supplied hardware (clevises,horns etc), exept on my Phoenix Extra 60-90 where the supplied gear was exellent. ARF's have come a very long way in a very short time and they drive the building snobs crazy, I love it
Old 05-20-2007, 06:30 AM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

I was involved with Aviation Models when they were still around distributing the SD-models line of aircraft. I will post a link to the website that gives a pretty good look at a typical arf Factory. This particular factory built arfs for many many distributors here in the states not just Aviation Models. The secret to having them produce a good arf or a not so good arf is all in the design work. Everything for aviation models was laser cut and jig built so everything would be built corectly. Covering was precut to the exact shape needed for each covering scheme. Imagine how much easier it would be for us to cover if everything was pre-cut to the exact shape it needed to be. I remember talking to the owner of the factory and asking him about the working conditions. He said the living conditions by american standards were awefull and much like our jails. However, he said the workers there were very happy and took alot of pride in thier work. They would come to work there with little or no clothes and no food or housing. Here they recieved a bed, warm clean clothes, and were fed during the day. Yes they are probably paid pennies for the work they do but also have a place to stay and able to raise a family there and send thier kids to school. her is a link to some of the pictures.

www.aerobaticmodels.com/About/about.html



Old 05-20-2007, 06:34 AM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

here are some more pictures
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Old 05-20-2007, 02:59 PM
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Pete850
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

I went to China twice last year and visited 7 ARTF factories in 3 different regions of China.

The quality standard of all but one was surprisingly high. All had CNC Laser cutting equipment and CAD stations for the design. The asssembly areas were on the whole pretty clean and well lit and the workers did not seem to be under any undue pressure. They had radios going on their work benches and it all seemed pretty relaxed.

All the laser-cut parts were assembled in a jig before gluing up. And at 6 of the factories there was a quality gut checling the alignment of the fuzz wing mounting to the tail using straight alignment gauges. But it was the dexterity of the workers that has to be seen to be believed. The way the girls cover a model is unbelievable, sooo fast and acurate.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised, and talking to the factory owners and technical managers I was able to discuss openly and influence the design of several models where I saw improvements could be made. They all seemed very keen to take these ideas on board and to improve their products over their competitors.

I will be returning again later this year looking at more models and factories.

The pictures below show the alighnent being checked and the covering area of one of the factories.

Cheers

Pete
www.planenutz.co.uk
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Old 05-20-2007, 05:23 PM
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Halogen
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Nice Pete850, and thanks for the information. Seen your web site, great prices too. What out of your planes would you suggest for a 46 engine , but with 3D capabilities ?

Also what glue is used ? I dont think they use cyano ?

Cheers
Old 05-20-2007, 06:28 PM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

They do perfect covering jobs and look at thier toold of choice. A regular old houshold iron.
Old 05-20-2007, 09:55 PM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Gents

just wanted to give you a friendly reminder that this thread is not about why you hate arfs but how they are made.

thanks for the sharing the pics from the factories, I am amazed they can create these outstanding models at such a pace

carry on
Old 05-20-2007, 10:25 PM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

WORD!
Old 05-21-2007, 01:58 AM
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

I once bought two artf pattern planes and just for the hell of it tried to swop over the wings. They would not fit, in fact they were a mile out so not all processes are jigged. I will agree though that few builders can match a quality artf for build and finish.
Old 05-21-2007, 02:21 PM
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rpembert
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Default RE: How are ARF's made?

Thanks guys. Sorry that I have not replied to my on thread. I have been sick and did not feel like doin anything. Great stuff though. By the way, How its made comes on the Science channel not TLC but, they are probably owned by the same company. Lets keep it goin[8D]

Thanks

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