I am a big scratch build guy i want to say that up front. However I just wondered how many people here remembered the first ARF's the Ezy's and stuff. I remember them and they were crap the last time i built an arf was when i made a sig cap around 05 and it was decent. But the first ones were really bad. I just want to kno if you guys agree?

I remember. My first was a Royal Trainer. I think it was easier building my PT 40 than making that thing fit together. When joining the wings with the main spar, one wing half was about 3/8 inch in front of the other. Then there were the Lanier "plastic" ARFs--had 2 of them. Great flyers, but again, getting anything to fit. I had a Hobbico 46 Extra snap a wing on the 4th flight (they did replace it). My latest was a Sig Rascal 110 and GP Ultimate. The ARFs have come a long, long, long way.[8D]

My first ARTF was a Thundertiger Sharp 45 "pattern" plane.
The covering was that awful sticky back stuff with more wrinkles than an elephant's behind. Trying to improve it with a heat gun only made it worse. It weighed a ton and the "precut" hinge slots were at 30deg to the true hinge line. The wood was not balsa but some kind of "tea chest" quality rubbish. When I'd finished building it, I promptly threw it in the bin unflown. I kid you not, it was so bad that I could not face taking it to my club field.

I laugh when people complain about todays ARFs,,,,,,,,,any of todays ARFs!!!!! I'd love to hand them a Lanier Jester with its plastic fuse and Aerosheet wings... They don't know how good these ARFs are today!

That Lanier Jester has to have been the worst ARF in the world to assemble. It was the reason I grew to hate Lanier and after all these years bitter feelings still remain even though I know it is not the same company. It was an assemblage of bad ideas and they must have never tried to assemble one at the factory. After running out of curse words and inventing some new ones I completed the Jester with some necessary repairs and modifications.

The surprising thing about it was that it would have been a great flying plane if the entire back end of that plastic fuselage didn't flutter violently. Lanier had the nerve to throw a piece of paper in the box telling the customer to go out and buy liquid foam to pour inside the fuselage to prevent it from fluttering. Why didn't they fix that and everything else that was wrong with the Jester? They could have elevated it from junk ARF to superior ARF.
Oh well, maybe I'll go out buy some liquid foam one day.

In the mid 70's, my first ARF was a all foam Cessna Cardinal powered with a OS.20. It was my first RC flyer and an easy 3 channel to fly. Not being aware fo any RC Clubs, I started learning to fly by myself at Whittier Narrows flying field. The first few landings were a little scarey at times. Later I joined a club but at that time flying was pretty easy. I sold the plane with the Heathkit Radio after 2 years of flying without a crash.

The plane didn't look like much, but it was a good stable flyer. It was so good it taught me how to fly.