Has anyone seen any of the new Brodak ARF's? I understood they were going to be shipping this month.

Ron Brown

I've got two of the prototypes. The Oriental and the Smoothie. The quality is outstanding. Check out Brodak.com

Are the ARFS going to be available to buy in time to get at the Brodak meet or didn't they come in yet? I can't wait to get a cardinal. Do you have any pics of that Smoothie you can post? What engine are you putting in it?
Ryan

Sam, the Smoothie interests me a lot. They were one of the top stunt ships back in my c/l heyday. I never owned one, but maybe it's not too late. Any idea when they will be available? I see that they are not on the list of those that will be available this month.

Seems like Fox .35 was the engine of choice for stunt back in the 50's. I'd also be interested in hearing what others are using on ships like the Smoothie today.

Ron

As far as I know they will not be available at the Flyin next week. The first three should be in by the end of June with the Smoothie and the others not far behind. I've attached a picture of the Smoothie complete with a circa 1958 Fox 35 that I found NIB at a swap meet last year. It's plenty of power. The Smoothie complete with engine is only 36 ounces. How do they build that light. It is the most manuverable plane I've ever flown but I'm having a very dificult time getting it trimmed out. It wants to come in at the top of the square loop. I've only flown it a few times. I've added 1/2 ounce to the outside wing and put a little offset in the rudder. Any suggestions?

I just got back into CL last fall but one of the best engines I've seen for it's size is the Brodak 40. They are so popular that when John gets in a new batch of 200 or so they are usually gone within a week. It's about 7 ounces lighter than the LA 40 CL. If any of you can make it the Brodak Flyin is fantastic. Chedk out the web site for everything you need to know.

That smoothie sure looks great! I can see that I'll be buying some more planes in the near future Are you going to be flying the Oriental or Smoothie ARF at the brodak fly-in? I would like to see it fly. only 6 more days and i'll be in carmichaels, can't wait! Maybe some flap tweaking could help out with your squares, i had to do that with my accentor for outside manuevers last year.
Ryan

I've got a Nobler that I just finished last night that I will be flying in Old Time and Classic. I'm going yo fly the Oriental in the ARF contest. I'm assumming that all the other ARFs will be the Top Flite Nobler. I'm not sure whether ARFs are permitted in the old time and classic contests. Look me up. I'll be working circles one and two with John Snyder. I'll bring the Smoothie also.

sam

Cool, I'll be flying the TF Nobler in ARF Intermediate. If you are talking about the ARF Nobler, that wouldn't be old time legal, but you could fly it in classic. The Brodak Nobler would be OTS legal since its the 52' nobler but you get 20 points off for a flapped airplane in OTS. Getting close to leaving time, should be arriving at Carmichales around 2pm on wednesday. I'm camping across the road in the camping area with the camper we have like we did the other years!
Ryan

The Nobler I just finished is the Brodak original. Man that was a lot of work. A lot of blocks that had to be carved and hollowed out. The build came out OK but I didn't have enough time to put into the finishing. See you on Thursday.

Wow, a "Smoothie" already built for around $109. The Kit is $87 or so.

When I was a kid in the '50's the "Smoothie" was the model I always wanted but never got.

I think Bob Palmer used a Veco .35 in his but I'm not sure.

Got to start saving my pennies for that one.

I saw the Brodak Arfs at the brodak flyin. Wow they are really nice and built really well. I don't know what engine Palmer used in his. My dad has a Veco 35 with a Veco Thunderbird from when he was kid that he wants to re-finish this winter.

I saw the final prototypes for the Oriental and Cardinal today. You're gonna love them. John Brodak actually builds each of the prototypes to make sure they meet his requirements. He's working on the bislob now. It looks great. Hopefully they will be in soon.

Well June has come and gone with no sight or sound of the ARF's I wonder what the major malfunction is? I would have thought that there would be at least a new release date on the Brodak site but nothing so far. Anyone hear anything?

John has continued to make minor tweaks here and there. I think the main delay is the time it takes to mail them back and forth. I'll see if I can get a tentative date and talk to them about updating the web site.

Looking foward to seeing the final results!

I spoke with John today. The first batch of ARF's shipped on Wednesday from China. Expected delivery time is 3-4 weeks.

Oh. China.

Aren't most if not all of the ARF's made in China?

An awful lot of them. And a lot of those are of very good quality, too.

I just worry about issues that I know I shouldn't get into here -- In short, I love the Chinese people but China as a country says that it is our enemy and intends to act that way when the time is right. Sorry 'bout that, I'll drop the China subject.

I saw a lot of Orientals (the airplane to be ARF'd) at Bodak's during the fly-in... various sizes and really looking good.

They're in New York!

Fot those of you that haven't heard, they are now available.

We got our Brodak Arfs yesturday and they look really great. I couldn't build it any nicer. I got the Cardinal and my dad got the Oriental. I won't be putting it together right away though, later on in the building season I am. I'm thinking about putting a PA 40 in it.? Or maybe just an LA 46. Not sure yet. My dad is putting either a K&B 40 or LA 40 in his oriental ARf.

I heard that the Strega is going to get arf'd. Does anybody know if this is true or not? That would be an awesome plane that you don't have to build.
Ryan

As of now, the only Brodak ARF's announced are shown:

[link=http://www.brodak.com/images/News/arfad.pdf]Brodak ARF's[/link]

My dad emailed Brodak Mfg the other day. They said that next year in 05 they are going to ARF the Randy Smith SV-11 and Vector, and the Brodak Strega. All really great planes!