All of the ARF guys claim "light weight -full aerobatics- rugged--etc..
What is the real world?
Is there really a difference in construction ?
The guys I know in this business -ALL asked for / worked for / designed for/ prayed for, their products to be light and solid and good looking.
A few , obviously , asked for " the bottom buck".
Why?
Because YOU the buyer asked for "the best price"
The two prices are not related.-
Sorry.
This is all a learning curve --for the builders - the importers and -most importantly YOU the buyer.
Newbies don't know what to compare to, or what questions to ask - so are the easiest to get lost in the huge array of product offered.
What is light?
Frankly it is relative -
at sea level - 30 oz ft -on 1000 squares is very flyable
at 500 ft altitude - it is still flyable
what would be a good comparison ?
the same model needs to be at 26 oz ft- or close to that at high altitude
Good pattern models from many years of flying, have shown to be in the same ball park
A light 1000 sq in scalish model will have a wing loading of 25 oz ft - or thereabouts
over 30 - -will fly but there is a huge performance shift -and that is -- the speed envelope is decreased .
Meaning - it needs more speed for any given maneuver (forget hovers please).
on ARFS over 1500 sq in - add a couple of oz to each sq ft.
for models under 1000 sq - subtract 2-3 ozs per sq ft
fot the models under 600 squares - cut all of this in 2/3 to1/2
impossible for most - but that is a good goal for really good performance.
So far - all of the ARFS I have purchased/tried etc- are quite good tho I did watch weight on all of em-
H9/ WildHare/AeroWorks--
Is this weight criteria fair?
any other thoughts?