Bill Diedrich

This is heads up on an ARF that I purchased on E-Bay from a vendor known
as cyradio, it is his "Stylus 65-75" (copy of a Sig 4-Star), if you haven't already
discovered it by now the two diagonal wing ribs inboard of the wing servo mounting
bays don't have any holes or slots in them to pass the servco wires through. You
will have to cut the covering open on the wing bottom to make these passages.
I also found that the push rods supplied with the ARF kit would not function
properly as the outer sleeve suppoting them had too sharp of a bend at the exit
slot in the rear of the fuselage, had to cut covering off of the bottom of fuselage
so that I could remove sleeves and install better quality push-rod material. Also
had to elongate the slot for the tube to exit, as at the current position it was just
to tight for the inner to work through the sleeve without any binding.

Attached is a pic of the Stylus and the Sportster Extra that I bought from ther same guy,
I am expecting to have to do the same with the Sportster Extra which is next on the
assembly list.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Welcome to the cheap ARF world.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Hey, Bill! What did you pay for both models (4*40 and Sportster clones)? They look pretty good in the pictures.

If the wings are shipped in two pieces, it wouldn't be difficult to buy a piece of K&S tubing with a diameter large enough to pass the servo connector and wire through and then modify the tubing to be a manual drill. Just taper the leading edge circumferance and then notch some teeth into the edge. I use this method to cut holes through foam cores and balsa ribs.


Ed Cregger


*Spelling correction

Dauntae

I wouldn't be so sure you will have to do the same on the other, Purchased the US40+ clone from him and there where no issues like that, But the hardware was all replaced with some better quality stuff. Decent plane for the price too.

Dauntae

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

Sounds like a typical cheap ARF to me! I don't think the seller deserves a bashing.

da Rock

Don't see any seller bashing, just a list of things that were wrong with the ARF.

But yes, it certainly sounds like a typical cheap one.

Bill Diedrich

Not bashing the seller just giving a heads up about the problems I incured with the plane, I know
I bought it cheap, took a chance, but I'm not going to let it stop me from finishing & flying. Just
wanted to let others know what they are in for if they purchased the same airplane.

On the tube idea, it was too late to do it as I had already joined the wing halves.

What did I pay for the ARF's: the Stylus cost me $61.67 + $29.73 S&H,
the Sporster Extra was $51.00 + $28.73 S&H.

Yes a great deal on both even if I have to spend half as much to make them right.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I agree with others. Didn't feel like a bashing, more a report on what you discovered about the plane / planes. Really though, this is par for the course with the low end imports we deal with today.

It isn't even that they are made in China. Many companies do their own R & D with higher standards of quality, and still have their products made by the Chinese. It is when these same Chinese companies are left to their own devices that they seem to pump out these 'clones' that are clearly just a way to keep people working and make a little money in the process. No pride in the product here. Just a means to an end. We are left with the R & D of what we may have thought was a final product when it really wasn't. I wonder sometimes if these guys even fly RC.

I guess thanks is in order for your taking the time to give us the heads up on the planes. No matter what we pay for a plane, we all what it to fly and last (at least initially). Hope it goes well for you and your new planes.

And again, welcome to the wonderful world of the 'brown box' ARF.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

yep, as is said "do do happens"
I've bought low and high end ARFs, and seen workmanship I'd never be able to accomplish by myself in some of the lowest cost kits. AND I've seen some stuff that boggles the mind in the high end stuff. Like instead of epoxy the company used silicone sealer to attach formers to fiberglass. $900.00 for an ARF that I had to strip and completly rebuild, as in finding so much wrong with what I could see, I wasn't about to take a chance on what I couldn't see. Hmm this peticular aircraft is no longer available, I wonder why?

To give the high end ARF's their due though, you can usually get customer service assistance, whereas with a no name bird from overseas you may end up pulling your hair out before you get anywhere with them when you need help.


As for me I tend to buy the low end stuff as it's a foundation only for what I want the bird to end up to be. Not what everyone else has the same version of.

As Gary (Ram3500) knows and has done, it's a pleasure to pull out a so called ARF that looks nothing like what the other guys have. Ask him about his P38 kit for the NitroPlanes version that adds all the goodies for retracts, and cosmetic corrections for shall we say a not so accurate scale plane.

da Rock

Our entire hobby has the same possibilities throughout.

The least expensive stuff is usually the cheapest manufacturing possible. The name brands are usually quality controlled. But you might have problems with both.

However, it's really not "you get what you pay for" throughout. It's "you pays your money, and you take your chances.">

Every price we pay is a bet. The less you pay, the higher probability of losing your bet... losing some or all of your bet.

Buy only quality stuff and you might lose somewhere along the line, but will probably encounter nothing but inconvenience. Name brands get their names with quality and customer support. Buy the cheapest stuff and you'll lose more often and have a probability of losing the whole thing. We're just playing the odds. With more to lose on the bottom than what we'll save in the long run.

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

Just wanted to be sure; I read it a little differently the first time through

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Let me restate something here. The long standing companies in this hobby, and even newer companies with the same business model, are modelers offering a service to other modelers. The service includes their knowledge base and model aircraft design, customer service and product support, research and development as well as flight testing of their aircraft, among other things. This all comes at some cost. This cost is reflected in their pricing. So, really, IMO you do to a certain degree get what you pay for. If you want to sacrifice all that a dedicated companies like Skyshark, Great Planes, World Models, Troy Built, to name A few I have personal experience with, puts into their planes, and 'fix' it all yourself, then you are apt to save some money. However, one will pay, now or later in repairs, rebuilds, and often replacing after a loss.

lflf

My Feedback: (1)

The planes are a good deal for the money, I have one of the stiks from cyradio. They do need a few things to make them better, like better hardware, etc, but that is stuff I just pull from my junk box and put in. These planes are good for modelers that don't mind doing a few things to them to save a few bucks- actually quite a few bucks. At the price of these things you can get two for the price of one of the more expensive arfs such as Hangar 9.