What is in your opinion Best 140 - 170 f3a artf pattern plane.

Keep in mind

Value for money,

Assembly time,

quality,

flying performace.

etc......

probably the eclipse

Focus II by Piedmont Models. $625.00 for a full fledge 2meter. Don Sczur finished 4th with it plus he has a great building thread on here.

Agreed , Focus II ( finished first place last year )

tommy s

I would take a look an Impact. All composite painted in the mold ARF for 900.00. Wing covers included. --john

I have witnessed the Aresti III take 1st and consistently place high in Masters...w/ an OS160.

The Arresti III is undoubtedly the best "bang for the buck" in the F3A pattern Community today <period>

At the incredible price of $375 (307 EUR), this plane is a full 2M (ARF) pattern aircraft, proven capable of winning Master events.

[link=http://www.kmp.ca/contact.htm]Kondor Models[/link]

[link=http://www.rcaerobats.net]Bob Pastorello[/link]

_________
Schpankme


“It's all about the competition.�

The focus is a very good plane for the money. The fuse looks small in the air. The canopies suck in the sun. I don't know how they finished at the nats this year but did do well last year. The impact is a great deal. The color scheme is butt ugly though. I think Bob is right that the Arestti III is a awesome deal. Haven't had the chance to see one fly. His website pictures make the plane look way better than on the planes own website. Seems like its quite heavy though. What class are you going to fly it in. I think that the only 2 compatible for FAI would probably be the eclipse and possibly the focus. I am probably wrong here. Just depends on the pilot and setup I guess.

Have to clear up the Arresti weight issue. The NEWEST one is at 183.9 oz., over 5 kg. With CF gear, pants, and pipe, and changing my heavy battery to a lighter one, it will be 173.5oz, well under 5kg. MANY current state-of-the-art F3A designs sport all the SAME "CF" needs, and still come in at the same "nearly 5kg" weight limits.

Not pushing, just clarifying....data is on my website.
[link=http://www.rcaerobats.net/Arresti/arresti_iii_weights.htm]Arresti Weights[/link]

Just wondering what you guys think.

I am looking at a new pattern plane (ARTF) for next year. For once there are plenty of options on the Market. Here what I have narrowed it down to.


1. Focus Piedmont

2. Eclipse CaModels

3. Impact Composite ARTF



I would like to hear your comments, experiences of any of these models that you may of had. I would especially like to hear negative points of the models listed above.

Thanking you in advance for your help, I am going mad trying to decide what to do.

Also maybe you can suggest another ARTF thats not on my list.

I have to change my opinion after seeing a flight demostration of the
Impact this past weekend. Granted it was being flown by Todd Blose who
is an amazing pilot but the airplane itself is awesome. Quality looked
very good , very good looking airplane also. I think for the money , maybe
even regardless of the money , this is one of the best I have seen.

tommy s

I saw the Impact fly as well at Nederland, TX this weekend. Very, very nice aircraft. However, a very accomplished builder and pilot assembled this aircraft with minimal flying weight in mind, and final weight with a YS140sport was 10lb. 6oz. This is not even close to some of the sub-10 lbs. numbers stated elsewhere.

Fit and Finish looked excellent.

Did the impact's you saw have the stock paint scheme on them?????? I don't like the stock scheme... Just curious , thanks

Yes , stock paint scheme. I would prefer the all white one so I could do my own
painting but the stock looks very good. It looks much better in person than the
add pictures. Nice airplane.

tommy s

In the UK pattern a is very very expensive hobby to get into, and the Impact in my opinion has given us some hope. There are cheap F3a planes in the UK but it's the old design of stick and wing planes. We just don't have a proper manufacturer of F3a composite planes here. But at £495 for the artf Impact, (cheaper than most kits) it's unbelieiveable value for us UK modellers.

arresti shood be 'e best combination......look...... it has so many good points
1. flys well.....won big competition
2. resonable price @350 us bux
3.comes with good materials eg.CF landing gear
4.Not that heavy(new version)
5.easy to build(not much time needed too)
6.quite nice
7.strong

Have to clarify something....the Arresti, as manufactured by ESM models in China, various world-wide distributors is a continuing refinement of a VERY good design by Tom and Bill Bloodworth of Australia.

It does NOT - repeat NOT - come stock with ANY carbon fiber accessories. The stock wing tube and landing gear are aluminum, and pretty heavy. The latest built-up wing version is still right at 5.2kg or so.

To be FAI 'legal', one must install a Carbon Fiber wing tube, Landing gear, and wheel pants.
These modifications bring it to 4.9kg or less, easily.

Forgot to add that using a good CF tuned pipe or muffler ALSO reduces weight. Then lightened backplate spinner, and a few other things CAN bring this airplane to 10 lb 6 oz.
Both of mine started life well over 11 lb, and performed flawlessly. Lighter can be noticed, but doesn't seem to be much of a factor on this airplane. It has plenty of wing.

Bob,
Does your new Arresti fly any different than the first one and is the wing
construction the only change in the kit ?

tommy s

Did they strengthen the wing on the latest version of the Aresti? Heard there were some issues with the first version.

The current production version has a built up wing, with the wing joiner tube sockets going through 4 ribs in the wing, with plywood doublers on the outboard rib around the socket. In addition, the outboard end of the tube/rib is tied to the upper and lower spars in the wing. The wing tube length that goes into the wing has been increased from7.1" to 10.4", still 25mm diameter.

two questions reguarding the composite arf impact ? Where does it say that the wing bags are included? also they mention a small gas engine that some are using. what are they refering to as far as gas engine goes?