Which ARF for $100
 

Guys - I have flown the Twist & Super Sportster -

Was wondering what ARF's you would suggest that will have 3D capability but still able to sport fly also - I would like to stay in the $100 - $125 range

any info is appreciated

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Add another $50 and get the Sig Mayhem 40. great plane from a quality company

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Thanks - just checked it out - I have better luck when I am flying $100 dollar planes - I seem to be more at ease with flying them and will take more risks - also looking for no cowl

Looks like the Mayhem is $172 - nice plane -

thanks for info

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Guys - I need to log off - any info you can give me is appreciated -

I also have a Super Tigre .51 ready for this ARF

I will check info in the am

thanks again

Coop

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

The TWIST 40 is going to be hard to beat for $100. It's a solid flying airplane thast doesn't seem to have any bad habits. My son and I both have one and we love them. My son just bought the TWIST 60. I'm anxoius to try it out.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

The Super Sportster flys more trainer like than a 3D flyer. If you are really going to fly 3D, get a Twist.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Cooperfly,

I'm not sure the perfect $100 3D/Sport ARF exists. I believe you may have to give up on one capability maybe somewhat. I have an OMP Katana profile 48" that is a hoot for 3D. The guys at the field just drop their's mouths when I fly it. But if you want something in the sporty arena, check out my post here in the ARF section on the WM LA Racer 40 review. $109 I believe, I love this model and I made a couple minor changes to it. World Models makes inexpensive models and they're built fairly well. You can view them at the Airborne-Models site. Good luck!

http://www.airborne-models.com/Index.asp

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Thanks - I agree on the Super Sportster - very reliable second plane

The Twist is a great plane but it would be better if it had a longer moment arm to help hover - does anyone have info on how to hover the twist like prop selection or any mods

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Great Planes UcanDo 46. With discounts available from Tower, you should be able to get it shipped around $125.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

I have a Twist also. It will do most 3D moves. I fly it with a OS 46FX and a 12.25X3.75 prop. With all I could do it still came out tail heavy and I needed some lead on the cheeks to balance it. Mybe a 51 would help. It lands like a trainer.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

World Models Cap 232 46S. $119 I had the 46R (Castrol Aviator) and loved it. In fact when I'm in Hong Kong this November I'm going to see if they still have one at Radar. [sm=idea.gif]

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

the Harrier 3D 46 is on sale for $100 on Horizon Hobby

Extreme Flight has a profile that is also on sale for $109...everyone that has it seems to love it

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Build a Profile plane and That will get you all the 3D you can handle :) I have a MoJo that is just plain FUN!

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

You might take a look at the model tech magic extra 300L. You can find them on sale for 100 bucks all the time. I had one with a FX 46 on it and it was a blast. Everyone wanted to know what it was and where to get one. I flew the S%&* out of it for 3 years and decided to get into warbirds. I practically gave it to my neighbor as a first tail dragger and he flew it just as hard. Just my .02.
Stangevil29

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

I've got one of these coming. http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/123414.asp

Probably not a full blown 3D bird but it should be at least a good sport aerobatic flier with some 3D ability. Should be fun in anycase.

I think its a limited time offer so you better jump if you want one.

Mine should be here this evening. If anybody is interested I'll post what I find.

Later,
Mike

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Harrier 3D 46

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Have you seen the SKYRAIDER series from World Models ! The Mach I is the high wing and the Mach II is the low wing version. Both sell fro only $69.99 ! Your.50 will work fine..

Ugo

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

OOPS ! Disregard the Robinhood !
Ugo

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

i agree!. i have been in rc planes since the early 1980's. back then there were only a handful of arfs and they were heavy plastic and foam and flew like crap.. to get a high quality plane you had to build from a kit and cover it yourself. when the new generation of arfs came out i started buying them. no more building. but a lot these arfs are poor quality. these $89 to $100 arfs are made in china and most of them have very poor covering jobs with a unknown covering that nothing matches. they look good out of the box until you start flying them and the covering starts coming loose at the seams and the graphics just start dropping off. sportsman avaition, modeltech and global are the worst i've ever purchased. my tower hobbies kaos arf was covered in towerkote and after a few flights the covering was coming loose everywhere on it. it is made in china too. i ended up stripping it and recovered it in ultracote. i know a asian-american buisness man and fellow flyer who has been to those manufacturer's in china and he told me they cover those models in minutes and the adhesive they use is no good. he said it was like watching 'meat wrappers' on a assembly line.. yes your right. sig and goldberg are better quality. more money but worth the extra $$. also,phoniex models, made in vietnam are good arfs for the money..............sorry to ramble on but i've been burnt a few times by these cheap arfs.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

$100 ?????

KYOSHO has two 40-size ARFs. One is a low winger, the other is a highwing. A buddy and I just assembled the high winger in about 4 hours and flew it the next day. It flies great.

Both of them are named CALMATO. What that means is way beyond me. Got no clue what it means, but it could be Japanese for "flies great". The low wing is the Calmato SPORT. The high wing is just the Calmato.

The low wing is almost exactly like my $150 Tiger2. I've got another hour of work before I find out if it flies like the Tiger2.

Both airplanes are REALLY almost ready to fly. Glue the wing halves together, the horizontal stab into the fuselage and go fly..... uh.... put the radio in and the engine on..... and go fly.

Good value..... Great value actually.

Got both from the LHS for $105. each.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

BTW, check out the thread about an arf that really is almost ready to fly. Toward the end is a picture of the airplane's first buddy-box flight (2nd flight ever for the airplane). It's a picture of the highwing doing a pass. It's upside down. It IS a stable and able flying airplane!

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

hope you have good luck with that sukhoi. i don't mean to be the black cloud of gloom but i have purchased a few arfs from h.p. and i'll never buy from them again unless the plane has known covering on it. that sukhoi is made by modeltech and i had a couple of modeltech arfs and the covering on mine started coming off just after a few flights.they recently had a .40 me 109 for $69.00. it now is $100.00. it is also a modeltech with hobby people name on it. also some of the sportsman aviation arfs(sonic 500) are now hobby people arfs, they are the worse! i've have a sonic 500 and a hot knife .40 and they are without question the worst arfs i have ever bought.........anyway good luck.

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

pheonix models has at least 4 aerobatic models in the price range you lookin to spend including a sukhio,extra 300,strega p51 and a 3d plane which name eludes me right now.
check it out on tower hobbies.com

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

yes.. i had the phoenix models sukhoi. excellent airplane for the money. several of my flyings buddies have phoenix arfs. decent covering jobs with oracover(same as ultracote). already installed control surfaces and canopies. my earlier post was warning people about those hobby people specials. i had bought 4 arfs from them. never again!

RE: Which ARF for $100
 

Russell,

The Sukhoi actually looks pretty good. The only major thing that I'll have do something about is the bellypan piece is not the same color white as the rest of the plane so I'll probably repaint it. Cheap ARF covering is cheap ARF covering. There are things you can do to mitigate the problem (see below) but, in the end, what do you expect for <$100. If it was any more I would buy it as there are other better ARFs for the money.

As for Phoenix.... yeah they look nice but they are the heaviest ARFs I've ever built. Which I don't understand because they fall apart after a few flights at the field. I'm in the middle of repairing a SeeBee that the landing gear fell out of after a few landings. The wood is crap and falls apart at the slightest touch. I wouldn't even call it plywood. Everybody at my field thats had a Phoenix ended up hating it and this SeeBee is the last one I will buy.

Back to the cheap covering. I've been building airplanes for about 30years now and the first thing I usually do with a new ARF is go over the seems with clear epoxy paint or similar. If there is alot of small trim I'll paint over it with clear paint to keep it from coming up. I reach in with brushes and clear varnish (solvent, not water base varnish) all exposed wood I can acess. I repaint firewalls with fuel proof paint or a coat of varnish. All stuff I do when building because fuel WILL get underneath. The problem is the ARFs do not get, or at all in some cases, enough fuel proofing. Fuel and oil leaks under the seams (espescially around firewalls, engine bays, and wing saddles) and "poof", the covering comes off. You can see these differances when builder brings an ARF to the field and an ARFer brings an ARF to the field. Spend a little more time with the ARF and the coverings last just fine.

Mike