sowega flyer

Excuse me while I vent...

Trying to assemble the Tiger 120, and have been met with problem after problem. I had always heard that CG had a golden reputation, but this ARF has led me to believe that I will never, ever waste my money on any CG product again. The price is outrageous compared to other companies who provide a quality product with all included hardware.
The problems begin with construction. The lack of glue is ridiculous even for an ARF. I could have assembled two ARF's in the time it took to straighten out the poor covering job. The CA hinges on the elevator are mis-aligned so that one side of the elevator hangs below the horizontal stab by about an 1/8 of an inch. Then after getting that right, I try to insert the pushrods for the elevator, and the sleeves that they used are for 2-56 rods. The 4-40 rods won't fit. Call the not-so-LHS and have them send me a 4-40 pushrod set so I can replace the sleeves. Then I start working on the pull-pull rudder cable system...whoops they forgot to put the hardware in the box to connect the cable to the linkages. Call the not-so-LHS back...
another 8 bucks for shipping plus the cost of the hardware that should be included. Now while building, I like to stop and check the center of gravity as I go so I can plan ahead. It looks like about a pound of dead weight in the front to get this bird to balance. Nice work Carl Goldberg! You'll never see another dime from my pocket...I have seen better ARF's at less than half the price.

Ok, I'm done

tym2brn

I have the TIGER 120 from Goldberg, Dont waist your money on it....Missing hardware, took an act of god to get through to them..Very poorly
constructed...First attempt at takeoff the lt landing gear folded up on it,Had to cut a hatch into the wing an reinforce the landing gear mount. Few flights later had to reinforce the rt side...Epoxy around the firewall was cracking "PROBABLY FROM THE POUND OF LEAD TO BALANCE IT" so that had to be reinforced. All this with less then 10 flights on it...

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Wow. .......Sorry to read this..........I have always liked Carl Goldberg products. I have built more kits though. Just the one ARF from them, but is was a good experience. It is the Ultimate ARF. I found it to have a good manual, good quality construction, good covering, usable good quality hardware, things fit well, flys like a dream, really, I have no complaints other than the stupid looking black paint on the canopy that should have been blue IMO.

Having said all that, on any ARF, I still check things like glue joints, landing gear mounts, fire walls and the like, because lets face it, these planes are not bing built by modelers anymore. We need to check the work of these little Chinese people, no matter who's name is on the box.

BTW, I had a major crash with my Ultimate, and used parts from a NIB kit I had to rebuild it, and everything fit, even being an ARF. The kits always have good plans and manuals, nice wood parts, (don't like the ABS) but except for that, always built into very good flying planes. At least all the ones I built were.

Goldberg glass replacement parts (as well as new kits and ARFs) do cost more than many others, but now that Great Planes owns them, maybe that will change. I still think The Goldberg Ultimate is one of the best flying bipes in it's class.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

I've assemblied two CG products (Pitts Monster and Skylark 70) and both had EXCELLENT quality! But when you purchase an ARF it is still "Pot Luck" whether or not you will be pleased with the contents...

da Rock

A buddy of mine maidened his Tiger120 a week ago. The gear in one wing folded on the first landing. The support wasn't glued in. Sounds like a number of people have seen this.

roknHS

You gotta remember Goldberg wasn't really Goldberg...........Lanier bought Goldberg and owned them for the last few years..........Lanier has always been junk in my opinion; I was sorry to hear that Lanier purchased Goldberg because I figured Lanier would screw up a good company..........and they did. Before Goldberg was purchased, they put out some of the best kits I ever built........head and shoulders above the competition.

What will happen now that Great Planes owns the whole works???????.......I don't think it can go anywhere but up.............time will tell....

ira d

I think you can say that about many of the name brands on the market today
what is being sold is in no way related to the orignal product but is being made
in China. I do however think that GP will improve the Goldberg line.

sowega flyer

Ram3500- I have heard others say the same about their experiences with CG- I guess that just raises the disappointment level for me. Like I said, I have heard about their golden reputation for quality, but apparently I'm not the only one who has experienced a complete lack of it. I will admit, the intsructions are well written but useless when faced with the problems that I (and others) encountered.

I usually modify, tweak, fix, re-inforce, etc. when assembling an ARF, and have grown to expect a certain level of that with any ARF, but this one has gone way past the "usual" things. The quality is way below the price point, and thats what is frustrating. Maybe its only certain models. Maybe only this one particular model. Who knows?

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

roknhs comments prompt me to mention, about that "reputation for quality" ..... I believe the original Carl Goldberg reputation was made with balsa kits, not ARF's. I still think the Tiger and other kits (build-it-yourself type) are fine options.

Bashing anyone's ARF offerings are a real yawner at this point. Yep. You found an ARF that lacked quality.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I have been where you are with this ARF, just never with the Goldberg ones I have experience with. I know your frustration. Good money chasing bad, on top of everything else.

Many 'white box' planes coming in from China are hopelessly flawed kits for any but the most experienced among us like yourself. It just shouldn't be this hard. Your right to be upset. You didn't buy the white box. You bought Goldberg.

I think one of the problems is, as even good companies change hands, what may suffer most, is the R & D that the company originally did to build that good name. That is why my hat is off to companies like Skyshark that, while still having to turn to the Orient to be competitive, will actually build what comes back and test it, and then make the factory make any changes necessary BEFORE it goes into general production and distribution. This takes time and money that translates into a higher priced product, BUT, isn't it worth it to save all the frustration we go through, and like your having now?

I would hope that in the near future the Goldberg name will once again represent a tried and tested, well thought out design built with quality parts.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I agree with this 100%. From what I have seen, and read here (on RCU), the quality-AND customer service- went straight into the toilet after the Lanier acquisition. There were two CG ARFs I was looking at for a long time; but in the end, I passed on both because of numerous complaints here, and looking at a few current offerings. When a half-dozen or more folks report the same shortcoming, that's no coincidence.

Several CG ARFs I have seen at the club in the past couple of years were definitely not up to the standard I have seen in the past.

And I have never seen a Lanier offering that impressed me.

Hopefully, The Empire will turn this around. But it will be some time before I even consider another CG model of ANY flavor...

.

jollyroger

My Feedback: (6)

I had to replace the canopy on my Tiger 2 last summer. After 3 weeks of attempts at calling the listed CG number I finally realized lanier was the owner. It took me a week to contact them, I talked with a young lady who was there only a few days out of the week, guess which ones.
I needed the canopy so I agreed to pay the $13.00 for the once 7.00 canopy and another $13.00 for shipping. That's one expensive Tiger 2 canopy. Thank you lanier[:@] !
Lanier has to have the worst customer service in the industry. Hope Bubba reads this and finally gets it through his fat head!
Oh well, I'm done with CG kits until further notice, that is until I know the customer service is improved along with kit quality.
As far as ARFS go, I guess Hangar 9 is one of the best in that price range. Still you have to inspect the construction before proceding.
It would be nice if there was some sort of required level of quality in this industry when building these ARFS. No hot melt or other cheap adhesive. Also some of the coverings leave something to be desired, sorta like shelf lining LOL, with color printed on the outer surface. Talk about cheap!
Anyway, I personally plan to stay away from CG Arfs and most of the cheap ones as well.
If I have to I'll sell off as much of my hangar and unbuilt little kits to buy an ARF of good quality.
Otherwise I'll stick to kit building.
cheers and Happy Holidays jollyroger

roxyndav

My Feedback: (2)

I bought the Carl Goldberg Tiger 60 ARF. I must agree with most of the comments made on this tread.

The plane was not too bad except that it really needed a going over with the heat gun. However, the hardware was another issue altogether.

It was the sorriest bucket of bolts I have ever seen in a kit or an ARF. Even the wheel collars did not fit the landing gear wires. The nose gear block was three times smaller than the nose gear strut. I had to drill it out to make it fit. I don't think drilling out parts to fit, is what ARF's are suppose to be about! I found the hardware to be very light duty (even for a 60 size airplane). The nose gear control arm did not have the proper size set screw and insert. And to top it off, the canopy had waves in it like it had been sitting in the sun for a long time. I sent there tech. support people a list of all of the problems I encountered with the hardware, but I have been down this road before, they will probably just blow me off.

Now that Great Planes has bought them out, I hope they will look into the quality of the hardware. I am now waiting on a order from Tower Hobbies to fix all of the hardware issues. Hope the landing gear does not fold up after I have it finished as indicated by others.
[>:]

The pooch has been screwed

roxyndav

My Feedback: (2)

Oh, I forgot to mention.

Since this airplane got a great review with zero problems during construction.

I was wondering, do they pay these reviewers, or do they give great reviews because they get free airplanes?

Just wondering how that works.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Ok Guys...here goes...
I remember when the only ARF company out there was Lanier. And I will admit, that their old ARF's were (by today's standards) just not good. But one thing Lanier models did do...is fly well. And being the only ARF company in opeeration, who did you complain to. I built several of their old ARF models...and I know well all their problems and issues.

Now I did buy their P-47N model a few years back and flew the paint off that model. I installed Robart retracts, beefed up the landing gear area (I do this on all ARF models...for this is a weak area on all ARF's I've seen so far), laid more epoxy and cloth in the cowl area, for in my opinnion the cowl fiberglass was way under built...light, true...but not what I am comfortable with. The covering was flawless, and paint work on the cowl matched the model and well applied.

The Lanier P-47N is a great flying model, and I powered mine with a K&B .61. I wore out one set of Robart mechanical retracts, and when I installed my new retracts, I installed a K&B Sportster .65. What a great combo for this airframe, and it flew for a full season until I managed to re-kit the modle...my fault...just dumb thumbs. I was on a high speed inverted pass with two other club members and when I went to go up...I pushed up on the sticks...not down-being inverted as I was. So folks...I can say from experience...not all Lanier models are junk.

The Lanier P-47N is almost identical to the older P-47 Hobby People used to sell seven or eight years ago...Laniers is a "N" model, the older Hobby People P-47 was a "D." But there are several nice upgrades to the kit. The airfoil was changed...and the Lanier P-47N will not high speed snap roll on you. The retract landing gear that sets in the Lanier kit is a bit different and takes some work to set up and bend properly, but once in...your set for good. The model will do the most beautiful wheel landing you'll ever see and why I wore out my Robarts. I had a ball doing landings...lots and lots of them. It's not a big model as P-47's go, but this Lanier model will make a not so good pilot, look good.

Buy the way...I usually always just toss out any hardware in an ARF...and go with DuBro or other brands I know are up to the job. I also place Haynes or Sullivan fuel tanks in my ARF's...for I've had to many ARF model fuel tanks leak or break down in time. I do buy cheap ARF's and modify them to my hearts content...and fun for me. I've found it's cheaper and faster then building a kit.

Soft Landings always,
Bobby of Maui

sharpnr

Hey Guys, I just finished assembley of Tiger120, the stab was warped. Tried to iron coat to pull it straight, made it better but still not right, wants to go to the right. Second landing, right wheel went back 2-3 inches. Looks like I get to work on it again. Like the rest of you, had to put atleast a pound of weight in the nose. I put a Magnum 1.20 in it.
I have the Tiger 60 with a OS .61 and love flying it. First flight, had to do one click on the alierons and that was it. It was my first ARF assembley. Bought another Tigert 60 and going to make it a tail dragger with a Magnum 70 4-stroker.