RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

I started in the hobby with only ARF's as i cant build straight for the life of me, but more and more im leaning towards building my own..

I have scratch built a Quickie 500 type of plane for my first as it was a box fuse and a non tapered wing and i didnt check the way the ailerons was moving and she went in. But i loved building my own.I have since built a new fuse for it.

I have also grabed an plan off one of our older club members of a Super Declatalon and its for a 2m size plane which im going to try and scratch build next year.

Ive had 10 ARF's since i started flying at the end of 2003 and found my self getting bored with the hobby so ive been flying pattern for the last year trying to push myself to do better and have been doing it with an ESM Adrenaline ARF. I needed to find some direction as none of the models gave me the exctiement that my first flight with my trainer did.After a club member gave me a Cyclone pattern plane that he didnt want i got hooked on the buildng side of things..The Cyclone was a one off and was scratch built but it was damaged and fixing this plane made me want to do more.

I think that if i didnt start with ARF;s i would of been too attached to what ive built and wouldnt of pushed my flying ability as much and wouldnt be where im at today.Sure i crashed alot,but now i know SOME of my limits and i think im a better pilot for it..

Being only new to the hobby i hope i can gain alot of knowlage off the older guys about building as im lucky to have alot of them at my club and they are master builders.

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

I've never had an ARF. I never want an ARF.

I get greater satisfaction knowing that what I'm flying is what I built. IMO if you build them from scratch or a kit you are an "RC Hobbist" that takes pride in what you have at the field. If you buy an ARF you are an "RC Pilot" that has one that looks just like 5 others at the field. "Da, Gee Daddy? Which one is mine!?

On the other hand I've bought Kits and when I opened the box my first thought was; "Gee Daddy! Where do I start?" They gave me a blue print, I huge pile of balso and plywood along with 4 or 5 pages that looked like a letter with no pictures. At that time there were no ARF's available so I sold it and and found other planes that were easier to build and fun to fly.

Some ARF's are pretty cool to look at but don't impress me one bit knowing they DIDN'T build them!

And that's what I have to say about that; Like it really matters... lol

Well, I guess I DO have 2 ARF's ..... [link=http://www.bigdanspicks.com/arfs.html]My 2 ARF's[/link]

Big Dan "Da RC Dummy"

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

I know what your saying about the pile of balsa and just printed instructions, I'm going tru that now with a 40 telemaster after building a lot of sig kits this is a shock but we are getting tru it,just takes a little longer.The thing that got me the most was after sig which has eveything but the kitchen sink in the box is opening the master and just a bundle of wood.It is alright as we want to try some new hardware with this kit so it will work out.As far as arf's go I guess they have their place it does get people flying and then hopefully to building.I just seem to get the ones that need to be rebuilt so I probably should start with a kit anyway.I think those of us who build will continue to build and hopefully the others will give it a try.to each his own that is what this sport is about just get together and have fun.I find thoser who arf want a little more out of their plane and to get that they need to build and a least they try.

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

First, the history.... I started off building kits, as it was really the only option. ARF's were heavy, ugly, and built by lanier. First Kit was a TopFlite Schoolmaster, Citizenship Mule Xmtr, Super Regen Rcvr, Royal Servo, Lasted about 4 flights. Followed by a Jr. Falcon, same radio. Followed by a Tauri, then a Taurus, Sr. Falcon, Aeromaster, Contender, Smith Mini-plane, etc. etc. Seems like only yesterday that the only thing you could do was build a kit. Now, it's almost impossible to find a good kit at a decent price. I know I for one would love to see a lot of the 'old' kits re-issued. A comment was made that kit manuf. are making more $$ for less work with ARF's, i guess by importing them from overseas. Now I wonder if TopFlite re-issued the Taurus, or Goldberg the Sr. Falcon, if those would be profitable. With some changes to the construction to more modern methods, I'll bet they'd do well with them. Then there is the pride of building it, the shear joy of showing off at the local field with a new bird with real sweat built in. Just don't seem to able to get all excited about the newest ARF, but throw a pile of even die-crunched balsa in front of me and I start drooling like pavlov's dogs. maybe someday soon, we'll see some new kits, at least I sure hope so. I'm getting tired of prowling swap meets and flea-bay looking for my bi-yearly fix of balsa dust.

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

Well said!

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

I would like to add my 2c. When i first got into this hobby i bought an RTF because i saw i liked i wanted right now. Plus i had no cluse as to what i needed. This was the fastest way to get in the air. However since my LHS told me about RCUNIVERSE i have spent a lot of time on the forums reading about this and that. I have also watched a lot of build threads over the summer. This has got me to the point now that i will just buy kits unless i have nothing flight worthy.

Flyboy76

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

Another fellow posted this here on RCU, and it is a good opportunity to let your thoughts be known.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_34...tm.htm#3477113

RE: Is Building Comming Back?
 

Thanks for the link...

Jerry