Hello,

I bought a laser form phoenix modeln and I am somewhat dissapointed with its quality and I am not sure if I should keep it or send it back. It seems that the amount of glue that is used is minimal - I didn't know that glue was that expensive
The other ARF that I have if from G.P and I feel that it is better build - I had to change or reinforce a few things but it has survived many "accidents"... What do you think?

Thanks,

Le fou

I have a 300S and 330 from Phoenix. They are two of the oldest planes in my fleet. The 330 had excellent hardware and the control surfaces were factory installed with pinned hinges. I would buy another Phoenix plane tomorrow. My H9 planes are lighter, but don't seem to be holding up as well. An ARF is an ARF. Just re-glue every visible joint for extra piece of mind.

also epoxy the engine firewall from inside if you can get to it.. use a epoxy brush on a 1/4 dowel to reach down in there. the early phoenix models were good quality. they were covered in oracover which is ultracote. i had two of phoenix models when they first came out and were great. but i have heard recently their quality has gone down some and they are starting to use cheaper chinacote coverings on "some" of their models now.

I've owned two of the Phoenix SeaBee ARFs and I've found them to be well made and of surprisingly good quality given the price. I'd advise you to reinforce any areas of concern but go ahead and try the plane out and see how you like it.

Yup...just get yourself some balsa and epoxy and go to town where you feel nessessary. I do it to each model. Usually in the firewall area leading to the fuse. I just unwrapped my seagull spacewalker and am impressed as usual. I also have their edge 540 and it has seen many flights with 2 different motors and still has no issues. I however spent a great deal of time making it flight ready as far as trhe fuse strength went. I took he time to mount things in the right spots so no extra weight was needed and that took a small bit of balsa in itself. Get a few sticks of balsa and have it on hand. It will come in handy.....always does.

Kevin

yes i have seen an engine fall out of a near new hagner pulse , this was due to NO epoxy around the main bulkhead sides where it meets the fuse. i feel when you buy an ARF they should supply a box of epoxy so all can be finished off properly.

When I got back into R/C a few years back, one of my first ARFs was a Phoenix Sukhoi 31. I thought it was decently priced.

Turns out a number of things Phoenix had done showed they knew less about modeling than other mfgs. The idea that "you get what you pay for" doesn't actually work for you, it works against you. It really is, "you don't get what you don't pay for, and the rest is just as big a gamble as with better mfgs." No modeler in their right mind would slap a lead plate into the nose of a model they were building. They'd possibly redesign the aft fuselage, choose better wood for the aft fuselage and tail, cut lightening holes, and maybe shift the wing a touch.

Would I buy another Phoenix? Nope. There will be enough to check over and possibly fix with the more reliable brands. And even the brands with better reputations show that us modelers won't ever have it easy. H9 proved their lack of understanding with that F22 trainer that isn't even close to a good weekend flyer for experienced modelers.

Some Phoenix seem to be good. Some H9 have been bad. The issue isn't the manufacturer nowadays. It's each individual model. With the higher priced mfgs you have a better chance, but you still need to ask around. With the cheaper priced mfgs, you have less chance, but it's worth asking around if price is that important to you.

ARFs today are a gamble. Some mfgs give you better odds, some poorer odds. The odds are pretty much linked to price. But it still helps to ask about each model, and you're still going to need to learn the hobby. And that includes assembling with some understanding of what to look for and bring up to standards. We used to have the ability to choose wood, glue, improve on the strength of the design, etc when we built kits. And when we crashed, we found out what we needed to do next model. Today you still need to have a subset of those skills. And you're going to pick them up very much like we did. You just won't spend much time getting the plane in the air. But you are going to need to develop skills to do our hobby. And one of them will be inspection skills. Another will be assembly skills. And you'll have an advantage over the mfg and it's employees. You'll actually fly the model and learn from that.

Thank you everybody for your inputs. I have put together many airplanes from kits and plans, my latest one if the patriot xl from GP. The reason why I am going with ARF's lately is lack of time... I have found out that with ARF's you always need to make modifications and reinforce some areas. My concern however with this particular model is the obvious lack of glue on some of the fuselage formers which I can somewhat fix depending on the accessbility of the area. On the other hand, it is going to be much more difficult to do the same thing with the wing! I think that I will keep this model and give it a try since some people seem to be quite happy with Phoenix models.

Thanks again,

Le fou

Yes, and 8 years later, it seems as if the QC is still a problem at Phoenix...

Personally, I will avoid purchasing Phoenix models from now on. I just bought a SBach 1.20 from Tower.

It looks like they threw everything in the box, taped everything together and shipped it. Canopy bubble was crushed and has a permanent dimple. The wing covering was burnt. I am not putting a model into the air with burnt wing covering for fear of failure. So now I have to buy covering and I have a lot of work to do. Some hardware was missing, and control rods were ALL different lengths....Uhhhh which ones go where?
I tried to reach out to Phoenix Models...ha ha. So...be warned...and if by chance Phoenix models does change their mind and contact me with reply, I will edit my post, but so far, they are laughing not me.

The pic I took of the bubble didn't come out but I will post when I can.

You had to go back 8 years to find a string you could comment on/add to?

This seemed to be the thread relative to Phoenix SBach 120, at least that I could find. Most important is that it is the thread that Google lead me to, and that is where anyone needing info on this model will also be led.

My comment was meant as tongue in cheek. My suggestion would be to start a new topic so your comments aren't lost in ancient history. Regarding Phoenix, I've bought a couple over the last few years and found the quality no worse than other ARF's purchased in that same time span. My only real comment regarding them is that they're generally a hair heavy.

Agree on all counts. I will comment here that I bought this model because it was suggested that this model had such nice covering. I expected to be heavy, and although I haven't weighed it yet, it "feels" heavy. Thus my shock when I opened the box. thx.

Has anyone built a Phoenix Models Texan II with glow power?

Here, in India, we have been flying Phoenix and its sister makes- Black Horse and Seagull for the longest time. Two thing are for certain- they are very sturdily built and they are heavy. Unless you buy one thats specific 3d- seagull harrier 90, phoenix topstar 60 and such. Those are so light, i used to break something every weekend.
Phoenix has two sets of builds- trainers and similar planes which are covered with pvc and the more premium builds covered with oracover. The pvc models are often called covered with chinakote. Its has advantages- easy to maintain and patch. Can be tightened with a hair dryer. Very rough & tough. The oracover models use good covering. Its as good as topflite monokote. However majority of the builds are heavy. My last yak 120 size weighed over 4kgs. But it flew well till i minced a bird. Likewise all the other airplanes over 64" span. They are also usually well packed. In fact i still have a 12+ year ols airplane nib (have it for 6 years)

Ameyam

How about a response to a year old response to boot? I feel like if it's pertinent, why not keep all the comments together on the same thread? It's hard enough to find what you want here to begin with.

I am expecting a Phoenix Lysander today, and will report here on the quality here. I do know at this point that I was just surprised by the UPS listed weight of the package, 97.6lbs (!). We'll see if that is correct...

I think the weight is a shipping category. My notice said the same.
You all might not have seen this:

Yeah, I figured it must be a tare weight and not actual lbs, but the web page says "Weight"... we'll see in a couple hours (on the truck now).

So it didn't show up that day; UPS screwed up. It came the next day.

I didn't weigh it, but there's no way it was over 40 lbs., so the 97.6 was tare.

It was double boxed, with both boxes showing minor crushes and partial punctures, but nothing serious. The large parts were foam- and then bubble-wrapped and taped with miles of packing tape; smaller less fragile items were either bagged or packed in bags in the cowl, which was sealed with cardboard top and bottom and then double wrapped. Most items were then thoroughly packing taped to the inside of the box, without much filler around them. The main gear extrusions and the wing struts were loose in the box (although they were wrapped also), and thudded around when the box was turned. However, no parts were damaged at all other than the cowl ring, which doesn't matter because of the way it is mounted.

So while the packing job didn't *look* very professional, it did the job.

My Stuka is on the delivery truck for today. Looking forward to checking it out. Has any one on here put together the Stuka? Any thoughts on it would be appreciated.

I have four Phoenix kits and I find them to be as good as any other ARF kit out there. I have learned over the years that no matter who makes the ARF there is going to be some work that needs to be done to it. Most of this work always seem to be a reinforcing some apart of the kit. I am working on the Spitfire right now and I have reinforced the engine mount, Land gear areas and got epoxy in areas I thought need the extra support. I am happy with what I have and looking forward to doing the maiden flight. The Spitfire is the larger one with a 30cc gas engine.

You could be interested in this page on my web site-The Phoenix Stuka JU 87: 1.20/20cc or Electric Power I have tried to combine all the information on one page

Thanks Robert. I have been flying this Stuka for quite some time now. While i found it to be a good plane/kit, it is not great. The biggest issue besides the high gloss has been the very thin plastic used for the wheel spats. One can hardly touch that material without cracking or breaking it, even soft grass field landings has taken its toll. Over this summer i have used fiberglass ca'd to the inside which has helped. I did use flat clear Klass Kote and some black/brown mix for weathering, that improved the appearance greatly, it is fun to fly and very realistic looking in the air.

Thanks Steve. I have added notes to the page-much appreciate your interest!

Does anyone know what price the Phoenix Extra 330s, 78.7" blue, white and red, 61-.90 GP/EP, arf went for? It's.discontinued at Tower Hobbies, but they still have parts. Thanks for any info.






Bob G.