Hey guys. I just recently started flying my biggest aircraft in 2 years, a Seagull Extra 260 powered by a 100 Evo. I have 3 other 40 size planes but last week I busted up my longtime favorite trainer. Darn thing served me well but it exp. date finally came. I bought a Hobbico Avistar ARF today and was wondering for those of you that have one how it flies. My local H/S guy says its a rock solid aircraft. What do you think? I know some folks ditch their trainers after flying for a few years but sometimes I like a little "sit back and relax" flying.

I love my Avistar....still have it and still fly it. I powered it with a Super Tiger 45 using an 11=6 MAS prop. I get unlimited verticle. Its easy to fly....and can do quite alot with out a ton of effort for a trainer. A worth while upgrade is installing a dural style main landing gear.
Ive thought of selling it to fund a pattern/3D plane...but havent gotten myself to do it yet. Its my laid back aerobatic plane when I want something simple.

An Avistar with a good 46 up front is just a great high wing airplane. Still have the one I trained and soloed on four years ago. Even though I fly other sport and sport scale planes, I still enjoy flying my Avistar. She`s a bit the worse for wear, but is my " just want to fly and relax, do a few basic aerobatics " bird. I think you`ll be very pleased with your Avistar. I know I have been with mine.

hope you got the all wood monokote covered version. there is a older one that is covered with stick on covering and plastic wingtips and plastic tips on the tail surfaces. about 14 months ago i got suckered into buying one from tower hobbies when they had avistars on sale. i thought the price was to good to be true. turns out it was the older one they were clearing out but they did not advertise it as that one. it flys alright but those plastic wingtips get brittle and break after time and the stick on covering has no shrinking quality at all.

Thanks guys. I forgot how easy it is the build these trainer ARF's. It took me about 2 nights after work taking my time to finish it. I'm gonna fly it tomorrow after work, weather permiting anyway. I am lucky enough to live 10 min from the club field.

And to answer the last post mine is the MonoKote version and all wood.

Brian

Let us know how it goes.

I'm trying to find a good 46 engine to throw in my Avistar. It was my first nitro plane and I have since owned 4 more planes, but I would still love to thrash it around. All in all, it's a very fun airplane.

SiNCE ITS "JUST AN AVISTAR" I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND A SUPER TIGER 45. ITS VERY ECONOMICAL....YET VERY POWERFUL FOR THIS PLANE. I ACTUALLY LIKE IT BETTER THAN WHEN I HAD AN OS 46 AX IN IT. I GET AMAZING- AMAZING VERTICLE WITH THE 45 AND AN 11/6 PROP. NO EXAGERATION...I CAN GOOSE IT AND TAKE OFF IN LESS THAN 6 FT OR SO. I WOULDNT CHANGE ANYTHING WITH THIS COMBO.

GOOD LUCK.

I bought a used one for my son to learn on. As your local H/S said, it's a solid flyer. My son's plane has an OS .40. It will pull it through loops, etc., but a .46 would be better. We recently re-covered it to freshen it up.

Dan

Just out of curiosity, how do you remove old covering? I have a Superstar I wouldn't mind refinishing, but I'm at a total loss on how to do that stuff. Good work, aegis.

NorfolkSouthern

That looks great! Honestly, my first glow powered aircraft was a Tower Hobbies trainer 40. It was a great aircraft but the covering did suck. I recovered it once about 2 years after I got it new because It was a bit tattered. I'll take some pics of whats left of it soon. As far as engines go I will just use the trusty old .46LA. I have an Evo .46 that powers my Hangar 9 PulseXT quite nicely but I want to leave it on the pulse because I have the aircraft flying so well right now. You can buy a Evo .46 for around 100 bucks I think and its a ball bearing motor and has tons more power than the OS. Never owned a Super Tiger so I can comment on it. If you buy an Evo count on adding a bit of lead to the tail because the Evo is a bit heavy over other same size engines.

Thanks.

On the wing, you can cut the covering between ribs and then just start peeling it off. When removing the covering, there may be areas where some of the color sticks to the balsa even after removing the film. That can be removed by gently sanding the area. To remove the covering from the fuselage, make a small cut in the film somewhere and then start peeling. Except for a few areas, the covering came off very easily.

Prior to re-covering, I used some 220-grit sandpaper to smooth things since the manufacturer didn't spend much/any time doing the same. If you want to have the finish be really smooth, you'll need to also go over it with 320- or 400-grit. For the windows, I just used some of the stick-on black, which is starting to come off. I'll need to re-do them with actual film.

When applying the new covering to the leading and trailing edges, make very sure that you get it butted right up against the hinges so that fuel from the exhaust doesn't get in under the covering.

That's good to know. On my son's plane, I had to add 6 ozs to the tail even with just the OS .40.

Dan