I have been out of R/C for awhile, but my wife recently bought me an Avistar 40 Select.

Last time I had one of these "quick build" ARFs (a Skyvista), there were a few changes I made during construction to make the model better.

Do any of you have any recommendations or hints for the Avistar 40 Select? Any improvements that should be made before flying?

Thanks

Edit to add: I have been a member since 2004 and this is my first post.

I can tell you what I did with mine but I would get your feet wet again before you want to bore holes in the sky a bit faster.
I have a bigger engine on mine.
I allso reworked the root of the wings so when I butt them together I have very little dihedral and I took the big fat nose wheel off and converted the plane into a tail dragger.
The nose wheel turns with the rudder and caused to much drag.
I also set all the control surfaces to MAX for better response.
Hope this helps some and I would go with the metal type snap links.
I have them on all 3 of my planes.
Vegas/

I also started with the Avi Select. Still fly it and enjoy it after almost four years. The 40 LA that it comes with is OK for someone just starting out. I soon replaced it with a 40 fx and it made the Avistar a MUCH better airplane IMHO. Also, for peace of mind if nothing else, suggest you go ahead and epoxy the wing together in addition to the straps. Same for the fin and horizontal stabilizer. Great flying plane!

Put a OS 46AX on it. Epoxy the wings together and get low bounce wheels. This is a excellent flying plane and will last a long time with the proper care.

Sorry. I meant to say that I replaced the 40LA with a 46 fx

All Avistars (select included) tend to build nose heavy. Either move the battery behind the bulkhead at the rear of the wing saddle or plan on adding weight to the tail. I've build about a dozen of these, and always found this to be the case.

If you fly off of grass, you will want to replace the wheels with larger ones. There just isn't enough prop clearance to avoid chopping a lot of grass, which will slow that 40LA engine the plane comes with to the point where it might not even taxi, let alone get enought speed to take off. Just replacing the front wheel with a larger one will help a lot too, if you don't want to replace the whole set.

Again, if you will be flying off of grass, replace the wood prop that comes with this plane with an APC 10x6 or similar prop. The Topflite wood prop that comes with the "Select" will get chewed up by the grass and dandelions it will surely encounter.

You may also want to replace the plastic spinner that comes with the kit with a suitable "spinner nut". You will need a 1/4-28 threaded one for the 40LA. You can get these in a wide variety of collors. Be sure to get an aluminum one, as the other metals this item comes in are heavier, and more weight on the nose is one thing this plane doesn't need! The spinner nut is a nice convenience, as it won't get marred up if you are using an electric starter, and if the engine backfires and the prop gets loose, it is much easier to retighten the spinner nut than it is to remove a spinner so that you can get to the nut holding the prop in place.

BTW, I only crashed 2 of those 12 that I've put together. The plane is the 1st to go when the hangar gets too full, and then I'm always sorry when I do and end up buying another (new/used/damaged/??). I've also built 4 just for a model aviation class our club holds every year. It's one of our favorites because it does fly so nicely.

avistar's are good flying planes. 3 years ago myself and a flying buddy bought two of them from tower hobbies for $69.00 a piece. yep they were avistars alright.......but the older ones!!... covered in stick on covering and plastic wingtips and on horz. stab also.. we thought we were getting the newer all wood and ironed on covering ones............but still it was a good deal and i still fly mine once in a while...without the plastic wingtips and plastic horz. tail tips, which finally broke off. looks funny but still flys good.