Conference vmszoo::rc

    I have seen a PLanet 40. Very nice kit and plane. Well worth the
    money. I didn't like the hinges.
    I haven't seen the RTF 40 from royal but have seen some of their
    other kits. They are also very good. If money is the issue then
    go with the cheaper of the two. If your looking for a groovey
    pattern type ship then go with the planet. If your looking for a
    bang around sport ship then the RTF 40 is probably the one to choose.
    
    						Tom

    Hello Bob,
    I am a fan of ARFs. No mere building for me. I have assembled four
    of them and my conclusions are:
     - EZ makes the best kits.
     - Royal has the best copies of the EZ kits
     - INDY kits are less expensive but of lower quality
     - I don't know about the Kyosho kits
    
    I do have experience with the Royal Telstar 40. I have one with
    a Magnum 45 abc, 10x7 prop. It like stink and it performs the
    whole intermediate pattern. It is working as my pattern-trainer.
    
    EZ has the Supra Fly 45 and another Supra (see their ad in RCM)
    which have both won FAI pattern contests. They are both on the
    expensive side (US$300 ball park).
    
    Please comment.
    Fern

        Re:< Note 572.2 by TRCA03::MARQUES >

                I concur  with  .-1.  Let me add that the Kyosho Valencia
        is such a  bit  of  junk  that  they ought to be hit with a class
        action suit for deceptive advertising. The darn thing can't fly!
        
                Personally I have bought  my  first and last RTF, a Royal
        .25  Chipmunk.  On the  maiden  flight  I  lost  the  engine  and
        discovered  that  this  kit  has  the  most  vicious  snap  stall
        imaginable.  Unfortunately into the trees.  The kit is so lightly
        built  with  such  terrible  quality  ply  that it  was  hard  to
        reconnect the two fuselage halves again.  Planes WILL  crash  and
        RTFs are hard to impossible to repair.  Another endearing quality
        of this model is that it's the first model I have ever flown that
        won't  come  out  of a spin automatically when you let go of  the
        controls.   It  just  keeps on going!  Opposide stick does get it
        out, otherwise it would have been two crashes in two flights.
        
                Now that I  know how it flies I can get it to do the most
        incredible snap rolls.
        
                      _ 
                     / |
        |  _====____/==|
        |-/____________|
        |    |        o \
             O           \ 
                          O
         Hang in there! o_|_
                          |
             Anker      \_|_/

    I CONCUR THAT KYOSHO RTF'S ARE JUNK;  MY EXPERIENCE IS WITH THE
    MELODY MP.
    
                             |                      
   \	       	         ____|____                      /   Regards,
    \________________________O_________________________/    Frank.
    

    Bob,
    I disagree with the other guys. 
    I will say the Valencia is junk.Not because it is an arf, though.
    Only because it can't fly. Kadets from SIG can't stay right side
    up on the ground either.
    Also, planes don't crash that often. And the right arf trainer will
    be repaired many times before giving up.
    In addition, one should try a Goldberg Superchipmunk or anybody's
    Cap 21 before saying that the Royal Chipmunk snaps... They all snap,
    it is their genes.
    I have a Royal Telstar 40, which is a low wing sport flyer. It has
    an awful lot of hours in it and it is still going. And I did land
    in the tall grass a couple of times... I must admit, repairing it
    could be tricky. But with a 45 it performs all the intermediate
    turnaroud pattern (smaller manouvers than a 61, of course).
    I already bought an EZ Supra Fly with a os 61. It isn't ready yet,
    but I am sure it will take me through the first few contests...
    I'll tell you how it goes.
    Arfs are the present. And the future. Not accepting them is like
    not using ZAP or covering with japanese tissue and dope. It is just
    a matter of time.
    
    See you
    
    Fern
    

    I agree that arfs are here to stay and that they are getting better
    and better.  Unfortunately, you don't get anything for nothing and
    the manufacturers have to cut corners to keep the labor down.  This
    usually involves inferior covering materials or difficult ones to
    repair.  For example, many arfs use contact adhesive rather than
    heat activated ones.  The stuff slowly creeps and the edges start
    comming apart.  I have owned and flown several arfs, but I still
    prefer building my own stuff.  I feel more confident in the structural
    strength of my own built up planes than I do with one I didn't build.
    Building is time consuming, but it is a rewarding part of this hobby.
    I have learned a lot from every plane I have built and I intend
    to build a nice scale plane as soon as my skills and time permit.
    

    I can't agree with everyone dumping on the Kyosho Valencia.  I
    found that not only would it fly, but that, with a little coaxing
    it would loop, and fly inverted with very reasonable stability.
    Its major problem was that you could put the wing together wrong
    without realizing it, and then, when you pulled out of a dive, the
    wing rod would push through the bottom wing-root sheeting, allowing the
    wing to fold.  I liked it, but could not justify buying a new one,
    having wreck my first one on the third flight !

    Re: .5,
    
    Like Charlie, I must grudgingly admit that ARF/RTF's are probably
    here to stay.  However, the suggestion that they are the way of the
    future makes me violently ill!
    
    Half of being a modeler is _BUILDING_ and I hope I don't offend
    anyone but, in my book, a guy who flies ARF/RTF's to the exclusion
    of all else IS NOT A MODELER!!  And _that's_ my primary objection
    to ARF/RTF's; they allow access to our hobby to people who have
    no business in it and, otherwise, would never have tried it...the
    "pay_yer'_money_and_fly" toy airplane made it accessible simply
    because of the ability to pay, nothing more.  Now, before the outraged
    response begins, let me hastily add that I have _no_ problem with
    a "modeler" using an ARF/RTF as an interim or knockaround bird.
    It's the goofball that plunks his money down and shows up at the
    field with an ARF/RTF and proceeds to cause trouble because of
    ignorance of what modeling _is_ (or should be) that irks me,
    personally. 
    
    Way of the future?  NO THANKS!  Should the day come when ARF/RTF's
    are the _only_ way to fly, that's the day this cowboy will quit
    the most beloved pastime of his life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

      |
      | |      00	 Adios,      Al
    |_|_|      ( >o
      |    Z__(O_\_	(The Desert Rat)