leedees

It's mostly the poor quality of the smaller bits that is so frustrating It seems nothing fits or it's made from poor quality materials.

For example, how many times do you fiddle with connecting the charger to the external battery charge connector and it just refuses to fit? It did ten minutes ago so why not now!

I'm sure you can think of many more. Isn't there room in this market for a company to build products with high quality, charge me double, and save me the annoyance of fixing everything that is sold to me.

At least the ARFs are getting better but they still have a long long way to go. (Aero-Works excepted, they are amazing.) Another plus is the radios and engines are quite good.

The old timers in the hobby will laugh and tell me I should've been around trying to get these planes built and flying 30 years ago. These guys are incredibly helpful when you are trying to overcome the shoddy equipment of some major supplier.

The problem is, I am the future of the hobby, working guys with only a little time to invest in maintaining their sanity via a great hobby like ours.

Sorry for the rant, it was a long night.

Ram Jet

Suggestion. Great Planes, Sig, Brodak, Hobby Lobby, Hobbico.

Bill

leedees

A couple of those are the culprits. :-)

red head

Funny thing is that us old timers also had the same problems, it was just a different time and it was us not you. ENJOY !!! RED

red head

Sorry about that, I'm still trying to figure out how some of this stuff works.

It was supposed to be the quote about working guys with only a little time ETC. ENJOY !!! RED

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

I have 1000's of $ of stuff and 20 + years in acessories.I try to buy tried and tested equipment.Everything has worked very well,no complaints on electr, engines or on ARF's (judged by cost..dirt cheap,needs some extra thoughts etc.)
Nothing really comes to mind that bothers me or has failed or is junk,unless I have bought junk.
One of my 15$ H9 fuel hand pumps has a sticky spot,thats about it.All electronics worked really well,except for one Eflite 300 motor.
Maybe I am just lucky so far.I'll think about it some more,maybe there is some other stuff,memory getting bad

kojak41

[X(]Having flown RC since 1953, I am constantly amazed by the quality and reliability of modern RC equipment. Lazer cutting has even made kit parts fit without a lot of trimming and sanding. Even some of the cheaper Chinese engines and ARFs have been good values and flyers. Overcomming problems is what produces pride in the final product. The selection is just too great. That's my only problem.

leedees

Don't get me worng fellows, ours is a truly grand hobby.

After some fairly frustrating experiences with a few products, I was in a real mood about some of the folks that accept our money. There is clearly lots of good values and quality out there that has enhanced our enjoyment a lot.

At the end of the day, the very best thing about this hobby is being around really intelligent, friendly and helpful guys spending a long sunny afternoon at the flying field.

Now that I am thinking about it, I am going to take a day off work tomorrow and head out to the club field with a couple planes in the truck.

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Wish I could too,flying season is just aound the corner,its a bit cold (40F arctic front) right now,no snow and sunny.
In another month things should OK.Its dark at 6:30-7 right now.
In June we can have our last flights well past 9-9:30 pm and its 70-80F or better.
I get out for a few short hops here and there,mostly small aircraft.
Have fun on your day off

TruBlu02

I joined this hobby about 13-14 years ago. It is always amazing to me how far the quality and selection has come in that time. Now I will agree sometimes I get really frustrated at the quality of hardware specifically in some models. A good example is when I wanted to have a trainer setup for friends and family. I purchased a Tower Hobby's Trainer 40 MkII. Not a bad deal at $80. I am a firm believe in you get what you pay for so I was expecting a marginal airplane and that was fine. When I got the plane I was actually quite impressed with the build quality of the airframe. It was very solid and had some very suprising details already built in. Then I opened the hardware bag. All of it was garbage. I had to spend another $20 on hardware to get it flying. I took the stock stuff and threw it in the trash. I would have preferred the kit just came with no hardware. I guess that is my only real complaint. I know not all ARF's are like that as I have seen some nice hardware kits (Aeroworks). As far as big purchases go, I will say I am very happy with what I have to choose from, especially engines. I am a glow freek and I love my 4-strokes. There is not much to complain about in this hobby really. Some of the more frustrating stuff seems to not matter really when I am out there thrashing on one of my planes.

outdoorhunting

Hey, Nitro. I thought I had the only *&% H9 fuel pump. Sometimes it leaks. Sometimes it don't. I. take it apart to fix it. I've used silicone to seal it. It does fine for a while. The last time I epoxied it. Yah, IT STARTED LEAKING AGAIN. I guess it beat me.

wyo69cowboy

My Feedback: (2)

I just rejoined the hobby 2 years ago, after an 18 year absence. I would say the quality of a lot of things has improved, especially the build quality of arf's. I had a couple arf's back then, and though they were pretty, they were built heavy and yet, were still quite weak in minor mishaps. The arf's of today aren't really much tougher, but they are 1-2lbs lighter in a comparable size. Example: I had an EZ Models Bud Light Laser 200 in a 55" wingspan; it weighed over 7 lbs. My 58" GP Reactor weighs 5 1/2 lbs!

The only thing I've had trouble with so far is an H9 voltmeter/tach. I bought it used off Ebay, and maybe shoulda known, as there were several available on there at the time! Voltmeter part is fine, but the tach is garbage. I can't even get it to consistently read a lightbulb at 3600 rpm, like everyone says is a good tester. Looking for a good tach; is the Glowbee a decent one for the money?

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

Hahah,true, I have 3 or 4,one of them seems to spill into my hand sometimes,then goes away..?

SoCalSal

My Feedback: (16)

I have been putting my cash into this hobby since about '65.. let me tell you newer folks that many things have changed since then. I once had a Lanier Jester.boy what a pile of crap of a ARF but it was as good as most out then. The new stuff you guys have today in the ARF field is a 1000 times better in quality and build.but even it needs to be a bit better.mostly the wood they use.it is a cheaper grade then I would ever use. But that is how they build them so cheap...that and slave wages. Now the radios have come so far I can't even begin to explain how good they are compared to what we had 35 years ago. Monokote is still the same crap it always is and was( just my view of the stuff) But so much has improved and doing so even as you read this. Just think what might be out there in 10 20 30 years from now???????????????

Have fun.

Tom Nied

I just bought a new manual handpump. I took it apart to familiarize myself with how it works. My g/f thought it was funny that I'd take apart something that is brand new. I added some grease to the gears and made sure the screws were tight. Somewhere down the line it will probably fail.

bigbird3

Love my monocote, put it up against any paint! Just my view!
Not trying to be a smart ***** there buddy but as you can see, it makes a nice finish. Perhaps you could get past your predjudice like i did in 78' and expand your tallents. Surely you aren't admitting to being at the end of your learning curve? I was a silk and dope guy since 65' and thought that there just wasn't anything that compared but I was wrong too. Monocote has been out since 65' and it was crap then, thick and unyealding to stretch but now it is the best but only if you have the talent. I think you do, as long as you have been in this hobby. It would be a snap for an artist like you. I really mean it. bird.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

Gents

this is a great discussion but I feel as a preemptive measure I wanted to remind everyone this is the ARF forum and to please stay on topic. With that said lets keep this lively discussion

In regards to the topic, I feel I have been very lucky as a few minor things have come up in the past 10 years but I never once blinked. If something was broken I addressed it and moved on. There is isn't enough time sweating the small stuff.

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

My biggest issues so far were with hardware from one of the cheapest sellers online of RC planes. However I knew to expect this from reading the forum. I should have just thrown it out, but I tried to salvage bits and pieces creating a massive headache and hours of extra work.

Everything else I've had so far has come from a major distributor and things generally work out OK. My hand fuel cranks are pretty much junk though - seems to be a theme here - not sure if it's 'cause I went with Tower brand.

The charge jacks are a bit tedious to setup properly. There is such a fine line between getting the plug in the perfect spot against the tiny little stop, and also tightening the screw enough without crushing the plastic. I ruined one and learned from it, the rest have all worked out very well.

leedees

Yep, the hand crank fuel pumps are a mystery. They sometimes seem completely locked up and then later in the day work perfectly. I buy at least two of them a year. I am still adding to the hangar, building ARFs, and I use the hand crank pumps to give an indication of the rate of fuel burn for new planes/engines/props.

Does anyone have experience with the electric pumps? If they are more reliable I may go that route.

outdoorhunting

I've found on most ARFs you keep the plane & toss the hardware!!! -After I go over ALL glue joints.

ppkk

Interesting... I first got into this hobby 7-8 years ago for a brief period of time, but quit and just came back last year. When I first got into the hobby, a few people told me not to buy electric pumps since they are a pain and will eventually fail, but guess what, I bought one any way. I am using the same electric pump that I bought 7 years ago (including many years of storage time) and it has been working like a charm - and no leaks. Thinking that one of these days the pump was going to fail at the field and ruin a perfect day of flying, I went ahead and bought a hand pump (yep, the Tower brand) and replaced my electric pump with it.

I still haven't used the new pump, but reading through this thread, I am wondering maybe I should have kept my old pump... Is there a brand that works better than others (higher cost is OK)?

leedees

ppkk,

The hand crank pumps all look to be from the same factory somewhere in China. Your last comment (higher cost is OK) is a point I wanted to make, sell me quality and don't worry about the price. As an example, I have to buy a spare pump now so why not just sell me a good one and charge me 100% more. Save me the aggravation.

ppkk

leedees,

Agreed, I'd just rather pay $40 for a good pump instead of $15, and be done with it for a while. But the reality is that demand drives supply, so if the majority of what you see is out there is low cost (read cheap) items, that's because the majority of buyers demand lower cost items. Higher quality items at premium prices then become niche products that you have to look for.

In a similar thread in another forum, someone was recommending this pump:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGCY3&P=7

I would buy one, but the pump itself look like a standard one. I recall reading a few others recommend this one:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXB887&P=7

Either way, I'll get another one as a spare and keep it in my field box. Apparently I'll be needing one sooner than later .