I've got my eye on a couple of Nitromodels planes and am wondering if any of you have experience with them and the quality of the planes and the covering. I like the Quest 50 and the CMPro Swallow EX90.

does the covering last? is it easy to repair/replace?

any experience you have with this vendor is much appreciated.

thanks.

I have the CMP Swallow 90 and consider it a very well built plane. The covering is okay and the trim pieces seperate from the covering after awhile. I just iron down or apply some thin CA. The plane flies almost like a full size pattern plane. The painted cowl also comes with a clear cowl that go over the painted one for marking the location of your cutout holes. Nice touch. Overall, I would recommend this plane. I did reinforce the center of the wing with fiberglass cloth and resin just to make it a little more rigid.

Thanks. It is a sharp looking plane, that's for sure!

I removed some of the covering from my Bobcat 50 without issue to change to some colors I like. Otherwise well built.

What works best is to apply several coats of Top Flight Clear Coat spray ( either the matte or glossy finish ) onto the plane AFTER it is built, but before you fly it, and before you install any clear or transparent plastic items.

To do this:

Get the plane as clean as possible. Buff it lightly with a PLASTIC ( important it must be plastic! ) disk pad to dislodge any debris and prepare the surface.

Apply a coat to the bottom, getting all the sides, etc. Wait 15 minutes, rinse later and repeat 2-4 times, then do the same to the top.

Let the whole thing dry overnight or longer.

Once dry again lightly buff the finish until you can practically NOT tell that it has been sprayed.

This seals all of the edges, trim, etc. and prohibits the flow of fuel into the adhesive.

On each plane ( including my Bobcat ) I have done this to, I have not had any pealing problems even after several seasons. They look great.

I've seen a lot of planes like this where the clear layer separated from the color layer on the covering. Others seem seem just fine though. Nitoplanes is hit and miss; some stuff is OK and some stuff is junk. The CMP planes are generally pretty good though. The only problem you might run into is matching the covering in case of a major repair. In that case, get out the heat gun and strip it and redo it with Ultracote or Monokote.

Also be prepared for some less than stellar instructions. The excellent instructions and hardware you get from companies like Great Planes, Hangar-9, Sig and others can spoil you.

I've also had my eye on the Quest-50. The Fascination also looks pretty cool. For $79 bucks it might be worth a shot:

http://www.nitroplanes.com/newfaf3aarfa.html

Yup though I've also have had the same problem with the "big boys" too.

The covering used seems to vary even on some T.H. planes.



Ditto on the instructions: phew! Not for the beginner.


As with many vendors as you go up in the cost of the ARF the hardware seems to improve.

My NP 50CC Edge 540T actually had fairly usable hardware. I also used all of the hardware included with the wonderfully priced Giles 202 .50. ( version 2 )... whereas on my .60 Extra 330, I ended up replacing a good amount, yet it ended up being a decent plane considering the cost.

Speaking of Niroplanes/Raidentech, I saw one of these up close not too long ago:

http://www.raidentech.com/nilosuaetr40.html

I was impressed. It looks like a Goldberg Tiger-2 but it's not quite the same. The Tiger-2 has a symmetrical airfoil and this one appears to be flat bottomed. Still, for $69 it didn't look half bad in person and flew great. It would make a good, inexpensive, relaxing Sunday flyer.

I have the Fascination from Nitoplanes. The covering looks like some where between Ekonakote, flitekote and the real monokote, ultra cote. It had a small area of wrinkles in the tail section. It feels pretty strong and flexible. the edges did start to lift a little along the bottom of the fuse right on the corner. No biggy. Just a touch with the iron and some Ca and all is well. Looks liek I will be ordering a few more planes from them. I too am looking at the Jr Tiger look a like. The original Jr Tiger had a 1/3 symmetrical wing. not full flat bottom but not symmetrical either. For the price it is hard to beat.

I also have the Giles 202 50 from them. It is a great looking plane. There is no way you could build it, paint it and get all of the hardware together for that price.



Dru.

There's one review I think on RCU. I emailed the guy who wrote it and said that this plane was awesome; he definitely recommended it. I almost got it but decided on something else as the shipping cost is $30, so for $99 I got something from Tower and saved the $10 shipping.

Sharp looking low-wing trainer though.

How does it fly? I have a homeless engine and servos and I wouldn't mind picking up something cheap to put them in just to have a psare plane ready to go.

I have only been able to fly it about 3 minutes so far. It flew well for all I did. It was just a quick up and down flight. The day light was fading fast and I did not have any time to see what it was doing. I have a Magnum .52 in the nose and the engine works well with this plane. It will be a while before I can do a real set of test flights on it.


Dru.

P.S. The shipping on the Fascination, Giles and a small electric plane was $22.00 total.

What engine do you have in your Fascination? Because I have a Saito 82.

I put a Magnum .52 in the nose. Yanks it around with no problems. I was going to use my YS 63. I put that in the Giles 202 50 sized. The Saito 82 would pull it with no problems. Might be tight in the nose. It did come in just a little tail heavy with the 52 in the nose. I had to put the 5 cell 2200 mah battery behind the rear fuse former to get it to balance. May have to mount a servo or servos in the tail to get it to balance. I was tempted to mount (2) HS-65MG's in the tail for the elevators. Those servos should have plenty of power for the Fascination's elevator halves.


Dru.

Gp sells ARF'S for top dollar that they claim are covered in Monokote, but are in fact covered with a China cote that peels the clear layer too. The RV-4 is one of them. So why not pay less and get the same covering.