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From the top of my head I think of QQ Aircraft (Somenzini's), Aero-Works, Great Planes with their performance series, TopFlite, and Hangar-9.

In terms of quality, what can be expected from each of these or any other known brands?

Charlie P.

Only one I have any experience with is Great Planes (65", 27% Ultimate bipe) and the quality was very good at the price point. I only changed one engineer/design feature as it didn't seem good enough for the job at hand: the balsa & lite ply wing joiner blocks. Included hardware was sufficient and what I fly.

I could certainly build stronger, but it would weigh much more and take a year or more longer. I thought the ARF was a great idea and well executed.

Covering is good to very good but not excellent - I have some persistant/recurring wrinkles but minor and of no consequence to the flight.

Building a Balsa USA kit (Phaeton 90 bashed to a Curtiss F6C-4; Navy version of the P-1) and the materials are very good to excellent but the instructions are minimal. Definately more of a builder's kit than some.

AirWizard

My Feedback: (3)

Extreme Flight makes a fantastic plane......check out the 88 inch Yak we call it the WOW Plane.

Nathan King

From seeing the aircraft first hand, Quique makes some very good quality aircraft. They are very light, strong, straight, and pretty.

Flying freak

Comp arf - very nice
XTREME COMPOSITES (herd many good things)
The new line from dawg hous rc is getting good reviews
wildhare again mainy people love em

umm giant scale kits you gotta give it to dalton

Steven

pupmeister

You do not state what you are looking for in your large scale planes, i.e. proper scale qualities or IMAC/3D performance. The planes such as the Aero-Works and QQ planes that you mentioned are designed with 3D/IMAC in mind and are designed to meet the scale requirements for IMAC (i.e 10% rule and must have a similar profile to the full scale real plane) They look great and fly even better but would most probably send chills down the back of a true scale enthusiast. They also tend to have high price tags (when compared to true scale planes) due to all the requirements and special techniques required to make them lite, strong and to give them precision performance. The other type is a lot truer to scale but normally sacrifice weight and flying qualities to achieve this.

I have a WildHare 28% Sukhoi and I am starting to gather the pieces together for the Hanger 9 Sukhoi SU-26MM, and I can tell you that from a ARF quality point of view they are both excellent planes. I have only seen good things about the QQ planes, however I unfamiliar with the Great Planes (I only know of one IMAC Great Planes aircraft) and Aero Works large scale planes and I have never heard anything about the Topflight giant scale planes (I suspect they only produce for the scale enthusiast).

The best resource on RCU for Giant Scale planes are the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_467/tt.htm]Giant Scale Aircraft - General[/link] and the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_110/tt.htm]Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic [/link] forums. There are also some other great websites out there that focus on large scale planes (but unfortunately I am not allowed to post links to them on RCU)

One last thing, since you are posting in the beginners section, I hope you are not thinking of using one of these planes as your first plane, because that will be a very expensive way to get a small box of sticks. Although I must admit that these planes generally fly better and are easier to fly than my trainer was, they do not have any self correcting qualities and react a lot faster to any control input and thus any mistake creates a lot greater chance to loose the aircraft than a trainer (and is normally a lot more expensive). The earliest I would recommend that you get one of these planes is as your third plane and even then only if your instructor has Giant Scale experience and is familiar with your skills level and feels that you can handle one of these planes (My WH Sukhoi was my 4th plane and I only considered it after consulting my instructor)

Cheers
Pupmeister

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Thanks for the advice pupmeister, I learned to fly on a NexStar which is long gone (On top of a shelve, not crashed), and I'm currently between a Four Star .40 and an Extra .60. I kinda like the QQ Yak but my step into giant scale wont happen at least for another year. I just want to get to know what's out there. I probably don't want to focus on the 3D capabilities of these planes but rather on their precision aerobatics capabilities.

Nathan King

I find statements like "XXXX flies easier than my trainer" to sound a bit misleading. They typically fly more smoothly, but are NOT easier to fly as a whole. They are not tolerant of mistakes and require much more precise piloting to keep them flying safely. They require faster thinking (and fingers) from the pilot and a good working knowledge of aerodynamics. Gas aircraft are MUCH more difficult to set up as well as they typically don't allow the builder to get away with small setup deficiencies like smaller glow stuff does. Larger aircraft don't tolerate bounced landings unless you're real quick with power and rudder as well.

Nathan King

You're smart not to get into giant scale for your second (or third) aircraft. I don't blame you for being curious though. They're a ton of fun!

Are you looking to transition to pattern? If so, you should know that hardly any pattern guys fly gas. Almost all use large glow engines on their two meter aircraft.

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Thanks Nathan, this is something I give a lot of thought to. I like pattern much more than 3D, but I just cant take the fake look of those pattern planes, they look awful. This is why I want to investigate and find out which is the best midpoint plus I'd really like to start paying $3.50 a gallon instead of the $25 I currently have to churn to get a gallon of 5% glow.

Nathan King

I see, so you want something that looks like a full size airplane which is capable of pattern style aerobatics.

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If you could also add that I'd like it to be big and run on gas, you'd hit the mark.

Nathan King

I think a goal of getting into giant scale by the end of next year is ambitious, but very doable. All brands you mentioned are well known for their quality, great flight characteristics, excellent support, and good looks. I personally have owned airplanes from Great Planes, Top-Flite, and Hangar 9. I have flown a QQ Yak and was very impressed. I have no first hand experience with Aero-Works, but have heard nothing but good things about them.