RCU Forums - beechcraft

I'm finishing my old kit now, and will assume that the re-issue comes from the same plans. Maybe TF used laser cutting on this issue, but other than that, the kits should be the same. My thoughts on the kit and the build:

I wouldn't make it my first kit build, but it could be a second depending on which of the options (discussed below) you decide you want in your Bonanza. The quality of the wood in the kit was good, and the instructions are pretty complete, so one doesn't get lost during the build. But there are some decisions to make, which can make the build run from easy to difficult:

Easy: Fixed gear. No worry's about adding landing gear rails and cutting the balsa wing sheeting.

Medium: Retracts: Robart makes a set specifically for the Bonanza/T34 Mentor. It's not hard to add the retracts, but there are additional steps in the build process to make sure airlines get routed, and you also may have to cut slots to get the air cylinder nipples to fit. You also have to cut wheel wells and openings in the wing sheeting. The manual guides you through most of this, but there are more decisions about where to mount air tanks, valves, fittings etc. Where it gets complicated is if you decide that you want:

Harder: Operating gear doors: Thanks to a bunch of folks here on RCUniverse (PT21Flyer, HalH, TeamScalePilot, Swill, and I know I've overlooked other people) that have done operating gear doors and documented it. See the "Building a Bonanza Thread" as well as the ones on the T34 construction (as well as over at RCScaleBuilders and RCWarbirds) and they'll show you how to do it... but gear doors make the build much more involved and there's a lot more to figure out on your own. You also have to recess the gear rails further into the wing so the doors/struts will close flush. Again, gear doors add another level of complexity, decisions, and mental engineering to the build.

You also need to figure out how to power the plane. TF says it'll fly on a .60 2S, but most of the builds say it comes out much heavier than expected (11 to 14 pounds), and that a .90 2S / 1.20 4S is probably necessary. There are also some "interesting" decisions you'll have to make about getting the exhaust/muffler system done. Cutting the cowl is the simple approach, but it you don't want a muffler sticking out someplace, things get more complicated when hiding the exhaust but still providing enough engine cooling.

And once all that's done, you get to decide how to finish the Bonanza (which will probably take 50% of your building time!) Monokote, Ultracote, or fiberglass/paint, with all of the options each technique offers. Once I get the nose gear doors finished up, I'm at the prime/sand, prime/sand, repeat ad nauseum stage.

It's not so much that the kit is hard, it's more that the Bonanza is a scale/semi-scale plane so it takes longer to build, and there are more decisions to make during the building process. Having some experience with other kits helps with these decisions, which is why I wouldn't recommend it as a first build, and maybe not a second. It also takes time. I'm sure one of these kits could be finished in a month with uninterupted build time and dedication, especially if one did fixed gear and film covering. But most of them seem to take at least a year or longer (I'm started last September, but haven't really done anything on the Bonanza since late April), so there's some dedication required. As somebody else on the forums says "... Scale planes are never finished, you just stop working on them..."

Oh yeah, one last thing: that 80 inch wing takes up lots of space in your shop!