caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

heres a pic of my wing block and the lack of glue.the wing came off and fluttered to the ground undamaged-how lucky is that.but the fuse is not that lucky-pulled the motor out off the ground.was straight flight pulling up to do a stall turn and the wing let loose.check the glue joints in this area.as you would in any arf.but this was hard to see that there was no -or little glue.horizon is making me jump thru all the hoops to get me a new fuse kit.pretty simple-be liable foe the product you sell and its craftsmenship.do we ask for much more.

ultra stick 40 wing
 

wing failure

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Have you offered to send the fuse back for them to look at? It's a very reasonable thing to do if you want them to replace the broken parts.

John

ultra stick
 

wing bolt failure

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

What size Ultra Stick?

ultra stick 40
 

its a 40,this sticks have to many problems-i belong to a club thats over 100 members strong that fly.this is are contest plane.everyone one of these has the landing gear block popin out even on the softest landings.dont get me wrong.i love these sticks,but hanger 9 knows the faults with these and should back it up.anytime you call,its always like pulling teeth.should have stopped with hanger 9 after my edge 540 wing failure.sorry if im on my wagon,but more than one product from them is lacking safe craftsmenship.

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

What are they doing that's making is so difficult for you to get a new fuse? All I see on these boards anymore is people complaining about how hard it is for them to get a replacement part, but few ever say what it is they are being asked to do.

If H9 wants the fuse back to look at it, then send it. It will cost you max, $10.00 to stick it in a box and return it. You can't actually expect them to replace something site unseen based on your word that this was a workmanship issue do you? If you build someone a plane and it came apart in the air, wouldn't you want to see it before you just built the guy a new plane and sent it him for free? The worse they will do is return your busted fuse to you in the same condition you sent it claiming you are at fault.

Besides, if you, and everyone else, refuses to send in defective items, how can you expect them to go back to the factory who made it and get the problem corrected? As someone who deals with OEM's all day long, I know first hand that they will not do anything to change their procedures unless you can actually show them how they are doing things wrong and costing you $$.

just my .02

John

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Well I am finishing up one right now and the first thing I saw was the 2 weak spots mentioned here. Some reinforcing and epoxy would have gone a long way to prevent this from happening. Never ever expect an ARF to be up to snuff as they are made on an assembly line and some preventative work in these areas are quite common.

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Problem is too many people now in the hobby, due to ARF's, are not builders so don't know enough to look for potential problem areas. It is just another toy that broke and most retail establishments today will replace something quickly, no questions asked. Some folks try to carry that over to this hobby get miffed if THEY have to do a little extra to get compensation.

Most ARF manufacturers/distributors try to ship the best product they can but defects do slip through and they will make it right if given a reasonable chance to. Those that don't get relief are usually the ones who call up, rant-cuss and rave about how they are being screwed and won't follow the proceedures for returning the broken pieces. The manufacturer/distributor has every right to tell them to go pound sand.

One need to either work with them or shut up and move on.

I had one of these with.....
 

over 100 flights......I can assure you that I have flown the crap out of it......never a problem. A few may get through the QA process I guess.....but this is one fine plane....

Sold it intact.......great plane.

I'm now flying the crap out of my .60 size US......the .40 is great.....the .60 is killer. I've owned all 3 US, and the .60 is by far the best one......

Pug

Your Ultra Stick Problems
 

I just finshed an Ultra Stick 60 and prior to putting it together spent some time checking RC Universe threads placed by other Ultra Stick owners just to see what problems they encountered. When I got my kit, I did find a few broken ribs but had no problem getting a replacement wing set from the place where I bought the kit. I also sent an e-mail to Horizon and they were also willing to supply a set of wings or covering material if I decided to make the repair myself. I had no problem getting support from them.
I made a few fixes and upgrades as suggested by other US 60 owners and now have a great flying airplane. There are two members of our club who have the US40 and are happy with them.
I think you are always going to find some problems with ARF's because they are hand made and some of assemblers are better than others. So, the best things to do when you get a new ARF is to check all the major areas, firewall, wing hold down, etc to be sure that everything was done correctly and fix anthing that doesn't meet your standards. Also check these threads for any problems or suggestions other modelers may have commented about.
Thanks

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

rcairmike

hey, are you with tri villages???

i'll check my little stick and see how the block looks...sorry to hear about yours. my gear did break away, but the landing was pretty hard (rudder hardover, but landed on the wheels after throttle back).

hey, if it is you mikey, my G-202 is for sale. email me at

[email protected]

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

I'm in the same club as Mike, and the US 40 was chosen as the club contest plane, and we've seen dozens of them just fall apart during contests and other events. It's just frustrating and tiresome. Many have cooperated with the return policy,and it sounds like Mike is too, but that doesn't keep you in the contest, and everyone has to worry about babying the plane as if it were made of kleenex and popsicle sticks, so it will still be together for the next contest. People choose ARFs, newbies and experienced builders alike when building isn't an option. Having worked in quality control I'm aware of the difficulties of assembly line product quality. But to have product just failing in the air for something petty like lack of glue or balsa where there should be hardwood to save 3$ per unit really blows.

My 2 cents (or was it more like 3?)

JJ

US40
 

JJ, you have a good point here, I didn't realize that these planes were that badly assembled. Maybe a letter from your club president or collectively from everyone in your club to Horizon is a better way to go. There should be some form of quality control and Horizon needs to go and see the manufacturer.
Like I said, we have at least two people in our club who fly the same plane year round and have had no complaints.
Where do you guys fly? I lived in Fox River Grove for a few years and used the field on Show Factory Rd many times.

arfs
 

In most cases, you get what you pay for, in the case of arfs, i believe you get more than you pay for, if these were being built here, the price would be at least three times more than they are and would still have problems, the quality is very good, considering what you pay for them.
These models are built by people in some Chinese Jail (cheap labor) that have no idea how strong they are or how strong they need to be and probably have no idea what we even do with them, most of them could eat for a year on what little we pay for them. The companies here market them and may or may not have input on how they are constructed, they are probably lucky to get them to look like they want them to.
Our hobby has turned into fliers only instead of builder / fliers, if you have building skills or at least experience, you should be able to look at an arf and know what it needs to be airworthy, i don't think that any of the better arfs are unusable without going over them yourself, but they will last a lot longer if you just spend a little time checking them out.
Then we take a .40 size airplane and strap a.90 on it and a half pound weight in the rear for balance and then complain when the thing cant keep the firewall or the wings on and does not fly like we think it should because of the high wing loading, i like fast airplanes too, but expect them to not hold up as well as one that is powered correctly. if theese airplanes were scale powered, you would see very few problems.
The finish on most of these ARFs is better than most can do themselves and a lot of the ones complaining have not even tried.
These airplanes have made it possible for a lot more people to get involved in RC, be that good or bad, a lot of people that just don't have time to build can now be involved in the hobby.
maybe they should make the time to build at least one, so they know what is or is not needed in an airplane so they can straighten out any problems their new ARF has.
As far as Horizon goes, i believe they market some of the nicest ARFs out there along with a whole lot of other RC stuff, and any time i have had a problem, they were very professional and courteous. All you have to do is be the same.

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

well to put a good word in for horizon,all i was asking for was a
fuse kit.horizon sent me a whole plane.very nice on there part.the wing fluttered down undamaged.so the first step is to
put a little more snot on the wing block for sure.oh ya and the landing gear block is a must.thanks agian horizon for backing up ur product......mike fahey

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

I glad they took care of you and hope you enjoy flying you new US40.
fossil

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Way to go Horizon!!

Doug

Failures on sticks
 

I've done extensive research on these planes and their shortcomings.Seems too me horizon is a Stand up kind of distributor and thats where my business will go.GOOD JOB HORIZON SHARKEY

The A in ARF stands for ALMOST (hehe)
 

Admittedly "ALMOST" is a relative term.

I have to chime in on jjmiller1's comment. Popsicle sticks and tri-stock are my favorite form of ARF reinforcement. On most of my aerobatic and funfly ARFs I reinforce the fuse with trusty popsicle sticks and epoxy tri-stock to all the stressed blocks (firewall, landing gear, wing mount...). I figure I add a few ounces but at least none of them have come apart in flight.

I've bought and assembled about a dozen ARFs and a couple of kits. I'm completely amazed that they can manufacture these things at such low cost. Assembly line or not, there is a lot of labor in those things. At the end of the day, each flyer is responsible for the airworthyness of their plane, ARF or not. I aplaud Horizon's commitment to good customer service.

Jason :D

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Well, how about a word from a new guy. Glad I am able to join in on the fun. As far as arf's go, i have had many. I think the OK model company (EZ) line was the best looking and made ever. But again, that is my opinion. Anyway, when I go through an arf, I always glue every joint I can see with medium super glue. After all, these things are assembled with hot glue in many cases. In the case of the wing anchor, I put triangle stock and epoxy under the corners. If I think the firewall is weak or I can't get any wood in the fuel compartment, I will take a foot long 1/8th inch drill bit and bamboo skures, scures?, and drill just inside the fuse sides and to the leading edge bulk head. About three or four on each side will suffice. Glue the scures to each bulkhead and to the fuse sides in the fuel compartment with epoxy and you will never twist it loose. Also, if you can seal the wing joiner box so the glue doesn't squeeze out in to the wing it will insure a total glue joint. The best way I have found to do this is to use medium CA and let it run to the bottom and kick it off so it seals all cracks and holes. Then sand the joiner to slide in till it fits. If many fliers knew how little glue was really holding their wing together they would cringe! Back to the fuse. If you can't find bamboo scures then 1/8th dowel will work. The bamboo is tougher though. This same idea works very well in larger models and will add more strength than weight and will keep many models from breaking on rough landings. Hope I have shed a positive light and helped in some way. Many thanx. Bird.

US 40
 

I have an US 40 that I've flow and rung out and it has held together very well. What I did was to research some of the short coming of the plane before I put it together and learned from the people on this forum. It's always a good idea to use the wisdom of this forum before assemblying a plane. Don't hesitate to use the search function.

Denny

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Golden rules for ARFs:

1. Make sure to fillet any visible areas with the appropriate CA or epoxy.

2. ALWAYS epoxy tri-stock in any critical areas such as the firewall,
landing gear block, wing holddown blocks, etc.

3. Take the wing halves and twist them by hand. If you hear a creak, or feel movement, peel back the bottom side of the covering, and hit it with CA.

4. Replace any nylon clevises, or junk hardware with good quality stuff. Even Dubro stuff is very reasonably priced.

5. Understand that in the vast majority of these planes, you could not build it cheaper, so the price you pay is a little attention to detail. Whats the big deal if you spend a couple of the 20 or 30 hours that you saved by buying an ARF to make sure it's right?

I've had 3 different Hanger 9 ARF's over the last two years.

A Pizazz, which had the interior wing braces fall loose. H9 sent me a roll of covering, and CA to fix it.

An Edge 540. Went through three kits to find a good one, but they stood behind the product to make sure I was satisfied.

A US40. Great plane, built straight, and flew straight into a tree one day. :D

Hanger 9 is a great company to deal with, and I am perfectly happy with the level of attention that I have recieved.

Brad

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

All:

I have an UltraStick120. Anybody have words on this size? So far it's been no problem - Saito 120 engine, flies very well but did take nose weight to balance. Even with the Iron Annie engine.

For relaxation the UltraStick, when serious it's twins I pick.

Bill.

PS:BigBird, the word is "Skewer."

caution-ultra stick wing failure
 

Thanks Bill, I knew I could rely on someone more literate than I.HEHE! I use to be pretty good with my spelling when I was younger but it faded away like my hair! I guess I should have used spell check or my dictionary. Right? Anyway, the way they spell things these days, it's no wonder we're confused with a capital 'K' on how to spell it. I guess as long as you get it close it counts. Aye? Again many thanks. bird.