It's bad enough when....
 

you crash YOU'RE plane!!!

I did the Maiden on a Funtana 90X today. After looking it over I noticed some slop in the servo's... they were a bit old so I was concerned about Fluter... I figured as long as I didn't fly to fast it would be fine... turns out I was Right:eek: What I didn't know is the Super tiger 90 on the nose had a problem of dead sticking when you least expect it... and it did[:@] I was in fairly good shape since I had just made a down wind pass to set up a slow fly-by and then land... as I started my up wind turn it died... to high to risk a landing(would have been long) so I made a short turn to bleed off a little speed and altitude... turned back to the runway set up about a perfect glide and about 50 yds away from me it was about ready to touch down... I couldn't see the flair very well but it looked good... as I touched down the freaking gear folded:( It may have been a slight pancake but not near hard enough to rip out the gear IF it had been glued in good! we looked at the gear plate only to find a few spots where some hot glue had been used to hold it in place... he had added 2 small pieces of tri stock and that was the ONLY surface that had torn any wood off... the rest of the near glue less joints had separated with no damage at all to the contact surface... I guess hot glue is not good at gap filling bonds:eek: It will be a simple fix and really no damage was done to the structure... a little epoxy and a little covering will have it good as... no... BETTER than new. I flew the crap out of my funtana 90 before giving it to a friend...I made some hard harrier landings... hard enough to spread the gear but it NEVER came loose!!! If they build these newer planes any lighter a freaking feather will break um[>:]

John

RE: It's bad enough when....
 

Thats why I don't like ARFs.

If you build it, you know how well its built.

Brad

RE: It's bad enough when....
 

I agree brad, something like this would have never happened if the plane was glued together well. I sure wish the ARF suppliers would start using CA or good wood glue and use epoxy where it's needed... like gear plates and fire wall's. This crap hot glue is marginal at best... when you hardly use any hot glue it just don't work at all. When I slap together a new ARF I wick thin CA everywhere I can and fuel proof everything with epoxy... I also add some tri stock in key areas if needed when fuel proofing to beef up weak spots... yeah it adds a few ounces... so what. This practice may be what made my funtana 90 survive the harrier landings.

John

RE: It's bad enough when....
 

I bought my son an ARF Harmon Rocket, just to have some fun with. I don't thimk much of ARF's, but this is a good one. He has yanked and banked it all over the sky with great results. However, this is the only ARF I have purchased that I can say this about. I have looked at many others and found them to be not to my acceptability of flight level. Now, I must point out there is a higher level ARF manufacturer out there that I may try at some point. The is Mr. Yellow Aircraft himself. From what I have seen and read, Yellow ARF's are built just like I would build an aircraft. I realize Yellow Aircraft are in the higher dollar range, but then again, one can't expect to get a high quality pre-built scale aircraft for pocket change. I hope in the future all ARF manufacturers use better glue and materials in their aircraft to appease the needs and concerns of the flying commumity. Remember, we are a strong lobby, as our hard earned dollars keep these folks in business. What say you? Good luck, and try to build a kit plane at some point, you may find it quite enjoyable. Who knows, you could end up being a Scratch Builder like me.

RE: It's bad enough when....
 

Let's see... Sig trainer(can't remember the name), Sig Fazer, Sig 4* x2, Sig wonder x2, Birdi Kaos and Krafty 25, Goldberg Tiger II, Great Planes Super sportster 40, GP Cub, Morris Knife, Cap and Balsa Nova... few more...dam If I can think of the kit's at the moment. At any rate I've built a few kit's don't ya think? I started this hobby when ARF's were so BAD it was like throwing money in the trash buying them... Today's ARF's are MUCH better over all... sure most need a little TLC to bring them up to snuff and some are just built so poorly you almost have to rebuild the darn thing... still over all it saves me ton's of time spending 10-20 hours putting together and beefing up an ARF Vs. building them... back when I was building I didn't have kid's... now that I do I like to spend time with them not in the shop;)

BTW the plane in question was NOT mine... If it were mine I wouldn't have bothered with the post... I was just still a bit down on myself for crashing the guy's plane... well breaking it anyway:eek:

John