Started a top flite staggerwing
 

So for xmas I received a Top Flite Staggerwing ARF with retracts and a Saito 1.80. I spent a couple days working on it and here's what I have found so far.

The quality is very nice, I'm impressed for an ARF. There were LOTS of wrinkles in the covering but they came out with some patience and the heat gun. The retract door mechanism works pretty easy, didn't take long to set that up either.

There are a couple things that bother me though.

1. I read about the wing dowel alignment problems on the lower wings. It appears top flite corrected this on this kit as you could see where the old holes were plugged and new ones drilled, they lined up perfect with the fuse BUT..........
The aluminum spars would not allow the wing root to match the mating wing root. The actual wing leading edge was 1/8" lower than the root on the fuse. They both fit with negative incidence, not a good thing! Low at the LE and high at the TE. With some careful filing I managed to get them to line up and have the incidence be correct but what a PITA!

2. The lower wings have washout, but sadly the flaps do not, they are built dead flat, as a result, when they line up at the wing root, they are about 1/8" low at the tips, cosmetic mostly but still kind of dissappointing. The wings aren't warped, both are identical, as are the flaps.

3. The tail wheel doors suck, they are so warped and twisted they'd never match up correctly, I got them pretty close with heat, but not perfect.

4. The main gear doors work well and it was easy to get them to fit and close correctly, but it's to bad they didn't mold them with the lower wing airfoil so they actually flowed with the airfoil. Again, some work with the heat gun got them closer, still not perfect but closer.

5. The left landing gear mounting rails weren't quite level with each other, when I mounted the retract, when all 4 bolts were tight, the gear bound and would not go up or down, some shimming on the rail cured this, but again kind of a pain. I wish that manufactures would put blind nuts into retract mounting rails instead of using wood screws though! The fixed gear mounts match the hole pattern of the robart retracts, wouldn't be tough to have the holes drilled with blind nuts in there so the wood doesn't strip out after a couple of times in and out.

That's about as far as I've gotten so far, the plane is at my parents house (where I got it during my christmas holidays) so I won't be working on it again until February 9th when I head back there again. I'm really excited about this plane, it will be a great departure from turbines, just wondering if others have had the same issues in their kits and what else I should look out for while continuing the build.

Jeremy

RE: Started a top flite staggerwing
 

And anti-ARF'ers say it takes no skill to build an ARF (Almost Ready to Fix). I can see now why so many ARF buyers knock the kit they purchased, as they believe it is a bolt together go fly out of the box perfect airplane. Well 99 percent of the time it just ain't so. Maybe we could band together and get a "Lemon Law" for ARF's ;)

RE: Started a top flite staggerwing
 

Thanks for the update on your build. I've been looking at that plane, but haveing been burnt on one ARF, I am not willing to jump into another yet, espically at the price for that puppy. Sure looks nice though. Let us know how it flys.

By the way, did you see the SIG waco cabin ARF they just relased? I would love to see an independent (not a mag article) review of that one also.

Don

RE: Started a top flite staggerwing
 

I never expect an ARF to go together with no problems, and I don't consider the Staggerwing expensive, compared to what it would cost as a kit plus time, extra materials etc it's a bargain. Things like the gear doors are an inconvenience, but things like the wing incidence being incorrect I do consider a problem. If you didn't know better it would leave you with an unflyable aircraft. I have built kits most of my life, and still do when it comes to the jets I fly, but I buy ARF's as well because my time is limited. I can deal with minor issues, and I'm not complaining about this ARF, it's worlds better than any of the great planes junk I've put together in the past, just was wanting to share my experiences with it so far.

RE: Started a top flite staggerwing
 

Dear LGM,

There are two other threads here on this plane. They go back a couple of months and have a lot of info and pictures.

You can see the pictures of mine with the Saito 180 there. Also, Top Flite was quoted as recommending using blind nuts on the main gear mounts. etc.

Jim K

RE: Started a top flite staggerwing
 

I'm looking for a set of tail wheel doors for my Staggerwing. If anyone out out there is willing to part with their doors, please let me know.

Thanks