I have had lots of good luck with the vmar kits and dont hessitate to buy another 1 from the local shop
I have had the navaho,stiletto,at-6, miss oshkosh,apache,challenger,and extra 300 that I was in the dirt with everyday back on the bench rebuilding and all I could think was what a tough airplane.

Like the saying goes there is a lemon in everybatch

Well that's the problem with the Vietnamese Kits .

They are cheap & they all have this kind of problem .

I guess u ahve to live with this , if u are going to purchase a kit which is cheap in price .

Re - enforcement has to be done . Theses kits are also heavy .

Cheers

Arjun

I've owned a couple of VMAR ARFs (There, I admitted it) and posted the review they have on their site about the T-34. The company is good, they fly very, very well, the wood and coverings suck. If you know going in that it's a low end plane and that (yeah, I know about the new covering material on some of their planes) the covering will not be up to Ultracote quality. Then the VMAR's are OK.

BUT, WM and others are superior in just about every respect and after a hard season they will 'wear' lots better that the VMAR's. I've recovered and improved both my T-34 and P-51. - Then passed them on to my grandson. I now fly a WM T-34 (again) and a Hangar-9 P-51. You get what you pay for...

quint

I luv my VMAR, jus lerning to fly, but my CAP with an os .40 LA is just fine.

Luv this sticky kuvering, man... Real easy to rip off and replace with duct tape...

Man, best thing I ever did with my monthly check. I wuld by anuther.

I think Great Planes kits are put to shame by VMAR, I really do. I would never buy anothur plain.

But seriously, I just have to wonder why one buys a junk ARF and instead of being mad about it's lack of quality, you try to justify your mistake by saying, "If your gonna buy a cheap plane" or "You get what you pay for". I agree, but only if the manufacturer, or seller, tells you up front what the quality of the product is.

But, in these days of overpriced ARF's and kits, who wouldn't jump on a lower priced ARF with nice shiny pictures on a web page, with the manufacturer selling it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

Just how much do you guys have to be bitten before you admit you have been wronged?

I honestly know nothing about VMAR, but it sounds just like the tank Sukhoi I bought from Vector Flight. Weighs a ton and sticky covering. Yes, its tough, tough as a tank. But, it ain't no joy ride in the air, unless you are full throttle and purposely trying to crash it. Yet, people come on here stating it's the best plane around.

Either you really do not have this plane, or your just mistaken.

I would concur on VMAR. A friend of mine had the Spitfire. The horizontal stab literally flew apart in flight. The plane was not overpowered or abused, but failed anyway. One look at the stab construction showed why and convinced me to NEVER buy VMAR.

The company wouldn't stand behind its products either.

I have the Vmar "HotRod". When I got it I was impressed looking at it in the box. Lots of little extras like pushrod guides and antenna exit already installed.
Once I started putting it together however my opinion started changing. The elevator was warped so bad I had to cut it apart, flatten it and reglue. The aileron hinges were installed with the end ones much lower the the center ones. Had to cut these out and center them to take the droop out of the ailerons. I pinned the firewall in and braced everything everywhere I could. The covering was stickyback, but it did tighten up with heat. It does however fade fast in the sun.
It does fly good and fast. I have an OS 46fx in mine for club racings and it does that well. I figure I got just about what I paid for.
I have several of the World Model ARF's (3 T-34's for racing, a Frontier and a Dago Red) all of which are much better ARF's.

Well radfly, you say you don't know about VMAR yet you have an opinion and that's OK too I guess. I've been in this hobby and building since 1953 and have done a few reviews for manufacturers along the way. I had heard about VMAR's quality and material shortcomings, yet found them a good 'bang-for-the-buck' at the time. Now after living with a pair I agree with just what you pointed out. - They have flashy looking models in pictures that can't compete with better ARF's in reality. We buy, and form opinions right after building a plane, yet a few seasons down the road they may become a pain in the...

Some folks are going to be satisfied if they haven't owned better and some are never going to get near one. It's hard to get 100% agreement on what's good quality in an ARF, but VMAR falls short of other ARFs in my book.

Hideho all,

Well, I think that this thread has run it's course. I'm locking it down as the opinions stated have covered every aspect I can think of.

I must say though, as I assemble the RV-4 I have to agree with most of the opinions herein, save the service issues.

I'll be doing the review in the RCU online magazine shortly.

Best to you all,

bloody hell, you could have all told me this 2 monthes ago! , im in for a hard flyin learn, well i guess i could have asked...

I really want like a .52 4 stroke size Beaver. I guess this will not be an option. Who else makes one in this size? Don't need an 8 footer.

vmar=junk,no more to be said!

Virtual
Model
Aircraft
Ripoff

wait till that covering gets in the sun, it will look like you have just ironed on covering to the frame with out shrinking it. It looks bad.

I bought a 40 size Cap, I believe, from the lLHS used. Someone crashed it a bit and returned it. I put it back together and crashed it myself. I bought another, a 60 size of the same. It had poor covering, poor quality overall, but it was light and flew well. If you don't ever ding them up, maybe they're OK.

Don't set them in the sun either... The covering will resemble a
prune and will not shrink back up no matter what you do... Really
bad..

That's what happens with sticker type covering ... bad news ... why not buy something like a Black Horse, its cheap and the new laser cut batch flies well.

World Models is selling a couple of ARF's (one high wing, one low wing) for 69.00. These are IMHO one of the best buys out there and are top quality... Several at the field already and have yet to hear any serious negatives about them and they fly so nice to boot. There is talk of using them for pylon racing.... Why would anyone want to buy Vmar .....

You are talking about the SkyRaider Mach I and II ... the Mach II is a great for plyon but not acrobatics or pattern, plane is way too light and does not execute the manuevers that great. Still very nice planes and fast too!

Don't have one myself but the guys that do are doing all kinds of pattern flying..
Will they do the 3D stuff ?. Seriously doubt it but then there is always someone
that trys it it seems...The are like a little bit smaller T-34 which is a great entry level
pattern plane..

I got the Mach II and sold it after 2 flights, did not like the way she handles, too light for my liking. I have seen the Mach I do a proper prop hang ... this guy at my field flies so well ... brings the plane to a prop hang without waivering. He was even flying it inverted slowly all over the field at about 5' above the ground.

It is unbelievable that after all these negative posts, people still run out and buy these poor grade rip-offs!

I just read a positive review of a newer vmar trainer in the new MAN... its MAN though so anyone try a newer one with the improved quality control, etc?!

Have you ever read a bad review ?????...

Yes, but never in MAN.

Trogdor: There is no improvement.

Jim

I bought a VMAR .40 size Pilatus againt the judgement of everthing I saw on RCU.
Upon assembly, I was mildly dissappointed with the seemingly cheesy faux wood laminate on the firewall, overall arf heavyness of the model and hardware that seemed a bit cheap/ clunky.
the wing had a crack in the sheeting and felt brittle as I used a hypo needle to inject CA under the covering.
On the other hand, I was very pleased with it's scale looks in the air and on the runway (up-close, the detail has a little overkill)...It was easy to fly and got a-lot of ohh, and ahhs at my field.
People were impressed with the detail and the cockpit area.
I had been impressing people with the plane for weeks, and grinning that my purchase was not in vain
Then judgment day came...I accidentially had my multiplane radio not set for the corrcet one on TO.

As it screamed down the runway w/ it's MVVS .49 on board, it began to lift at 100' dn the runway, When she was 5' off the ground it banked a lil' left and I THOUGHT I counter rotated.
Given the ailerons were reversed it acceleated the roll and within a nano-second, the air was filled with a plume confetti-like, psuedo balsa wood and brightly colored shelf paper.
there was little to be found in the aftermath but a 6' long divit in the ground and scraps of an incredibly brittle substance I can only equate to that of a vintage box which corn or produce would typically come in.

There was utterly nothing that could be salvaged accept one pilot... plane was a complete and utter gonner.

Although it was 100% pilot error, my take on it was that if I had built it or if perhaps it came from another company...It might have been salvagable.

Overall, I give VMAR:

looks= 8.99
Performance in the air= 8.50
Durability/ actual craft quality= 3.0
value= 6.25

I might buy another just for kicks as it flew great, but I'd know that it's a limited lifespan plane.

Those are my 2 cents.