Strykaas

OK now onto my next project

Here is what you get from the kit, right out of a colourful box :

Strykaas

First impression is good, build quality is nice, wood looks good, and the bird is not heavy, but not ultralight either.

Canopy is molded in ABS, nicely painted, and a plywood base is already glued in place. Two supplied screws/blind nuts are just what is needed to attach it to the fuse.

The servo tray is made of plywood and looks OK.

Hardware package is not satisfactory for that kind of bird : the cheap plastic clevises will have to be replaced by metallic & secured ones ; I'll keep one of them though, for the engine throttle linkage, engine side.

Control horns look OK.

Fuel tank is about 280 cc, one of the biggest that can be fitted in the corresponding bay. A bent brass pipe will have to be added to the tank setup for muffler pressure, as those supplied are only straight [sm=confused.gif].

4 nice screws are supplied to secure the engine to the pre-drilled engine mount. It is obviously a drop in for the West V1, and hopefully for a Webra .50 Gt .

Engine bay is already painted with a fuel proof paint, most probably. Painting the tank bay will have to be done though.

Strykaas

The TigerShark is a Shark after all, so appropriate stickers have been applied at the factory [sm=regular_smile.gif]. They are absolutely stunning [sm=regular_smile.gif], but maybe too thick ... So some clear varnish will have to be applied to avoid scrapping them when cleaning the Shark, or some extra care will be required.

Strykaas

And now comes the part where the chinese kids have messed it up [:@] : covering quality. Although the paint scheme looks really good (seller point), the way the film is applied is simply lame. Ripples, bubbles, everywhere [sm=drowning.gif] !

Hopefully, I will be able to iron them out [&:], with a needle if required.

Strykaas

More ... shame on them ! This kit was not far from the perfect ARF

MHHHhh I've just noticed these bubbles are on the wing only, none of them on the fuse / tailfin [sm=confused.gif]

Strykaas

My conclusion : probably, at the chinese kids factory, you must have two workshops :

- the first one : "fuse shop" with dedicated and highly skilled children (those who master the Iron).

- the second one : the "wing shop", with poorly trained kids, freshly hired, basically beginners.



[&:]

Later.

skOOby

Good write up - keep it up!

dorset john

I bought one of these planes and also found that the covering looked like moles were living under it.
Beware of overheating when tightening the covering - underneath it is NOT lite-ply, it is in fact ordinary planks glued together at the edges.
This plane will warp if you look at it, make sure that you park it in the shadows or you may end up with combined dihedral and anhedral plus convex/concave wings !!
This one will really tax your radio mixing - I had to mix a lot of roll into elevator (different rates for each wing) to stop it skewing when trying to loop.
After a year I finally killed it last week - and good riddance. The one saving grace is that it was as tough as old boots, so I only brought it out on windy days when I didn't want to break a real model.[>:]

freakingfast

My Feedback: (3)

Wow, thats the worst ARF covering job I've ever seen ! [:'(] I think with a bit of time, iron, covering glove & heat gun you may get most of it out. The first Vipers were real bad on the wings. The best I've seen was the Shrike 40 ARF. Great revue Strykaas !