I'm working on my Aresti and I have stumbled across a few things that I wonder if anyone else had a problem with.

1) The axles--too short to center the wheel in the wheel pants

2) Fitting the wheel pants--I drilled the first hole 5/8" up from the bottom. Now my wheel rubs agaisnt the wheel pant

3) The wing bolt plate--the plate is flat,; the wing is not. I sanded the exposed wood, sanding more out of the middle and tapered up to the outboard sides.

So far, these are the problems I have ran into. Nothing major, and 2 of the three are easy fixes for the manufactor. Just put in longer axles and change the instructions to drill the hole 1/2" up form the bottom. I still really like the airplane and look forward to finishing it.

-Bob George

Shouldn't be a problem. How long are they?
Yup. I measured after it seemed to be too close. The old hole won't be visible, just use a Dremel and fix it up. They ought to fix those instructions.
Mine was OK. The saddle contacted the wing to level it up. The plate with the recessed nuts wasn't a problem.
It flies great. Might need some more right/down thrust than is built in to the firewall to get it trimmed out nicely. Recommend you tuck the battery under the turtledeck and toss the heavy motor mount to help get the CG back with a standard engine (OS 46 FX or Saito 72).

Lots of threads on this plane. Look them up!

BGI,

The axles were about 1/8" inch too short. Normally I wouldn't worry about the wheels being that small amount off center, but it was an issue this time because I needed the wheel centered due to the rubbing problem. The rubbing problem would have been easily solved had I just opted to buy some 2.25" wheels, but the 2.5" wheels that came with it looked good and they were fairly light.

I did get rid of the heavy engine mount that came with the airplane. I plugged the holes and installed a Great Planes 40-70 size mount. I needed to eliminate that extra wieght because I am using a .61FX I had laying around from Great Planes Mustang that is no longer with us...

I am really looking forward to flying her. All I have left is to install the radio, fuel system, and pilot. I am waiting on some new servo grommets from Airtronics and I haven't been able to find a Scooby small enough to fit the cockpit yet, so I guess I will install the fuel system next.

Thanks for the reply,
-Bob George

Look at that engine poking out of the cowl! Ought to be a screamer.

Best of luck with it. Check out the other threads. Lots of good info here already.

Hanger 9 has an addemdum sheet for this. Give Horizon a call and I am sure they can send it to you.

Mark

I was wondering if there was one. I went to the Horizon site looking for it but it wasn't with the downloadable manual.

I just called Horizon and they told me there is no addemdum for it. They were very happy to help me if I had a problem though... I told him that I had several small problems that were resolved now, but I was hoping to aviod any others. He said to call back if I run into anything else.

-Bob George

Bruiser,
Maybe it was just for the original kits. I will look, and if I find something will send you a PM.

Mark

LIke my Aresti since I got it situated..Watch the throws on the control surfaces.It don't take much at all. It was almost uncontrollable at first till I cut the throws way,way down. Seems like 3/8 on the ailerons is plenty.
Nice flyer..

Yall have fun...Walt

Thinking about putting these pants on the wheels even tho' I should know better.I've put pants on planes with wire landing gear and they always seem to find the bottom of the wing on landing and a nice hole appears...
I'm getting brave cause the Aresti has a solid glass landing gear that's not going to flex backward..Rite??

OK,I see some disagreement on put them on and going by the instructions...

What is the correct way to put the pants on other than the directions.How do I do it..

Thanx Walt

Bruiser.. from looking at the picture of the Aresti I might suggest loosening the bolt of the muffler and turning the exhaust so that it points down and away from the fuselage.. will helpreduce the time you spend cleaning after flying

On the landing gear: I ended up using a spacer nut and the wheel collars to center the wheel in the wheel pants. I had to cut off some of the length of the axle to fit it in the wheel pants. And I had to cut a slot, not just a hole, to slide the wheel into place in the wheel pants. There was no other way to get it all in there. Then I used an aluminum washer on the inside of the wheel pants to cover the slot.

By the way, Testor enamel paint--red and blue--match the color of this plane well, and it is fuel proof. I used these colors to touch up some hardware, like blue for the nuts for the wheel axles, and blue for the elevator control horn plate on the tops of the elevator, and red for the same thing on the top of the ailerons. It makes the plane look a lot sharper--look at the photos I posted. I got the paints from Michael's Crafts.

As far as the wing bolt plate goes, the gap was small for such a slight angle on the bottom of the wing. After I exposed the wood, I just used epoxy to fill in the gap. It didn't take much glue, and I figure it made the structure stronger.

Okay guys, how does the Aresti fly by now?? There are some newer planes out there but I keep looking at the Aresti and wondering how you like them.

How could enamal for plastic cars possibly be fuel proof?

Thanks a bunch!

Ernie

Personally, I haven't flown mine yet. I'm trying to figure out why I can't start my Saito .72 I've got installed in it. I just think my fuel is old.

As far as the Testor paint goes, I actually tested it. I painted some on a plastic Dixie cup, let it dry, and then let some 10% fuel sit on it. I let it soak for a while. The paint wouldn't run--even when I tried to rub it off. I painted my fuel dot with it, my on-off switch, my landing gear screws, my control wires, and part of my black antenna wire.

I also used some red trim tape that matched the Ultracote red pretty closely to tape down the canopy like they show the Aresti on the box photos.

Thanks for the reply. Let us know when you get it running. They sure are one pretty plane ~

Ernie

Have a couple of dozen flites on my Aresti and I guess it's an average plane. I like it and it's an easy flier.Not a speed plane by any means but gets the job done.It moves pretty good with a Irvine 53 and 10X7 prop.It was almost impossible to control at first till I cut the throws way down.Like "way" down. I set the ailerons down a bunch and it flies much better. It's nice to look at and gets a lot of complements.The only thing about mine is that I bought it from a guy and had three or four flites on it.The canopy is tinted yellow which is fine but when you look in the cockpit theres nothing there.I just can't see haveing a clear or tinted canopy and no pilot...If you can see inside,let's put a pilot in there. A guy at the club brought out his brand new U/Can/Do yesterday. A nice looking plane except a clear canopy and nothing inside.I guess that's just a peve of mine...If I don't fix up a cockpit to look scale,I paint the canopy where you can't see inside.

But you'd probably like the Aresti.Nice looker and nice flyer..Just watch those throws.
Thanx Walt

Mine runs fine with a OS 46 FX w/Tower Muffler. It's a pattern trainer, not a speed or 3D plane. I run the recommended throws with the CG at the rear end of the recommended range. There's a big difference in handling with the CG at the front or rear of the recommended range. It's hard to hold knife-edge with CG forward.

The best thing about it is: It's neutral It goes where you point it. I can run a 11x5 for thrust and good strong uplines or a 10x7 for speed. Either way, it takes some time to slow down when you want to land.

It's very stable with no snap tendancies.

Well, the .61 FX might be coming out. I finally got the energy and the time to adjust out the ailerons and balance the airplane. With this engine, it is going to need 3.5 to 4 ounces of wieght in the tail, that's even with changing the engine mount out. That will put the airplane at 6 pounds and 3.5 ounces. I just don't know that I want to go there...

I figure it'll be almost 11 ounces lighter with a .46FX so I am thinking it over... The wing loading will go from 25.5 with the .61FX down to 22.7 with the .46FX. I just don't kow if I will be happy with the performance of the smaller engine...

-Bob George

....mines a barn-burner with an OS .60 FSR, turning a
11-8 MAS at 14,000 It balanced out perfectly,
using an 1100 mi pack mounted on the front of the
servo tray.

I used smaller wheels, the stockers were too big, and
the wheel pants instructions didn't make much sense.

I have to use low rates to take off and land the plane.
The first flight was almost uncontrolable, and I barely
got the plane back in.

My friends said it may be faster than my F-20 prop-jet.
Check out....

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...=&pagenumber=1

Dave. )

Question for you guys saying that the high rates are too much: did you start out with the CG rearward?

My first take-off was almost a disaster with the CG at the forward recommendation because I took off on low rates and almost didn't have enough up elevator when I ran out of runway.

I'm not having a problem on high rates with some expo and the CG back. curious...

Bruiser, if you want some excitement withough the weight, put a Webra 50 in the nose.