[Guest]

Hey guys, have you noticed lately that most of the North American manufacturers have reduced their number of ARFs and have gone more towards the BNF and RTF options. I understand that the margins are higher on the latter, but what happened to giving us the option to still enjoy a little bit of building for a reasonable price with the quality ARFs that used to be available.

[flysrcs]

This is why I kit build and scratch build. Quality in, quality out. I am my own QA.

Dave

[Guest]

Hey Dave, I wish I was confident enough or had all the required tools to build scratch kits. I wish I could meet an experienced builder who would build my first kit with me.

[Struts1]

Originally Posted by sall_tag

Hey Dave, I wish I was confident enough or had all the required tools to build scratch kits. I wish I could meet an experienced builder who would build my first kit with me.

Since scratch building and kit building is what interests you then ur in for a treat of watching me freshen up and taxi my scratch built Super Constellation model one of these evenings...check ur inbox.

Want real frustration? Try and find a 30-50cc Kit!

[Guest]

Another example here the flyzone Tidewater great looking plane would love to get it in ARF but it doesnt come as ARF only as RTF and TX-ready that is really frustrating and off putting.

[mwavesdave]

We had a post on our club forum recently, a build thread, on a Tucano. I was excited, till I found out it was an ARF. Assembly thread? Sure. But not a build. I have a couple of electrics, a parkzone Spit, and an EFlite Hurricane, and I love flying them. I enjoyed assembling the Hurricane, what little work there was, took an evening. Fortunately, both had excellent hardware installed, and they are fine aircraft stock. Sadly, I've seen too many ARF/RTF/BNF stuff at our field, that frankly, is crap. I've seen flutter issues, controls/hinges coming apart, parts falling off, and minor mishaps causing a complete failure and total destruction. A T-34 was being thrown in the garbage one day, I stopped the owner, and offered to take a look at it, it was after all, built-up wood frame, covered in iron on covering, so had to be able to fix it! Not a chance. The wood quality was horrid, and the "hot glue gun" assembly was ridiculous, and the only thing the covering was doing, was holding a bag full of shattered toothpicks. It was indeed, garbage. Last fall, I was flying my Dynaflite Super Decathelon, and another member was flying a large Seagull ARF. We were yakking while flying, and approaching head on. We both decided we had plenty of lateral separation, and no need to turn. Oops. Size difference meant that we were wrong, and we literally collided nose to nose, my prop actually sliced clean through his engine muffler! We both went home with garbage bags full of parts. 2 weeks later, I fired up the rebuilt Super Decathelon, she looks brand new, and you'd never know there was ever any damage. Sadly, the Seagull airplane (a gorgeous 30s style air racer), stayed in it's garbage bags, being completely shattered beyond repair. I'll stick with kits, and scratchbuilding. We have this horrid thing called winter in Canada, but for many of us, we know it as building season! I always have more projects to work on than time, but that's ok, I'm super busy all winter in the shop, and still immersed in the hobby. Because of a very small number of builders in our club, we're seeing the interest grow, and more and more guys are getting into building a kit, with the intention of doing a few kits, and then venturing into scratchbuilding. I offer assistance, and even space/time in my workshop, and have cut several short kits, at material cost, so that members can build their dream plane. Companies will only supply what they think is in demand. Want more, better ARFs? Get a campaign started to let manufacturers know! Same with kits, plans, accessories, etc.

New to building? Tons of build threads on here, and other sites, and most guys will gladly answer questions, offer advice, provide additional pics, etc, no shortage of info on the internet. You don't need any special tools for scratchbuilding, an X-Acto knife and a razor saw or two, ruler, that's about it to start. I've got a hobby sized disc/belt sander, scroll saw, and a drill press, all from Cdn Tire, all under $100 ea, and they let me do just about anything needed for any project. Go for it!!!!!

[Midair]

I have no real issue with many of the quality ARFs available. Although I'm a builder at heart, my busy schedule does not now allow me as much flexibility to build as in the past, so I welcome the availability of the numerous good subjects. My big concern is the proliferation of low quality "foam" aircraft. It seems that more and more distributors are offering these things and if the trend continues I'm afraid that we may not be able to buy any good wood, fibreglass and traditionally covered models. That would be a shame, because in my opinion the foam has no longevity and doesn't really look as good as a traditionally built model.

Peter

[Max]

Originally Posted by sall_tag

not enough quality ARFs

"Quality ARF's" is an oxymoron.

The objective of ARF makers is to bang out as many planes as possible for the lowest cost, the cheapest material, cheapest labour and the least amount of quality control to maximize profit. Given those factors, "Quality" is not the top priority.

If you want quality, you have to build it yourself.

If you cant build, you have to settle for an ARF. (Hey its better than you can build, no? )

If you "have to settle for an ARF", then you should acknowledge that there will be compromises in the construction and materials. If that suits you, great.

If not, there is always "Plan B"- Buy the kit and get someone who is reputable to build it for you. But beware. Doing it this way will get you a good quality build. (assuming the builder is experienced and knowledgeable) But it wont be cheap. You can probably buy 3 cheap ARF's for the price of what a builder will charge you to build your kit. Why? Because quality builds take time, and time costs money.

In the end, you get what you pay for.

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Originally Posted by Max

"Quality ARF's" is an oxymoron.

The objective of ARF makers is to bang out as many planes as possible for the lowest cost, the cheapest material, cheapest labour and the least amount of quality control to maximize profit. Given those factors, "Quality" is not the top priority.

If you want quality, you have to build it yourself.

If you cant build, you have to settle for an ARF. (Hey its better than you can build, no? )

If you "have to settle for an ARF", then you should acknowledge that there will be compromises in the construction and materials. If that suits you, great.

If not, there is always "Plan B"- Buy the kit and get someone who is reputable to build it for you. But beware. Doing it this way will get you a good quality build. (assuming the builder is experienced and knowledgeable) But it wont be cheap. You can probably buy 3 cheap ARF's for the price of what a builder will charge you to build your kit. Why? Because quality builds take time, and time costs money.

In the end, you get what you pay for.

I'm with Max 100% on this one! Those of us that have always built our own birds look at these ARFs & shudder.

Now for those that are new to the hobby, have never seen a real build & haven't developed the manual dexterity needed I can see why you would see it differently. It takes time to learn to build too. We all started at the bottom!