What is wrong with RTF?

[Lee Morgan]

At the end of the day as long as you have fun what does it matter

And if a pilot regardless of model type wants a hand I think most modelers inc myself would allways lend a hand, but there always going to be grumpy sods around, not directed at Myron of cause.

Lee

[Martin McIntosh]

Don`t worry Gareth, we shall always be here to help with pleasure.

[Dave Bran]

Quote......... "Don`t worry Gareth, we shall always be here to help with pleasure."

Errrr, moving swiftly on............................ 

Had a conversation with a 7 year old with Grandma and dog in tow in the park yesterday, they came across while I was flying so I immediately landed before they got close.

He'd been bought no less than THREE RTF's from "Ripoff Models" in the High Street, and "none flew".  (A bit of gentle exploring proved Dad and Grandad had NO idea!!)

I don't think they believed that what I'd just been looping, rolling, knife edging and doing snap rolls into low inverted passes with started life as a £9.99 kids chuck glider. (Fik 80)

ARFs and RTFs are all well and good IF they happen to be trimmed OK.......but the mentality surrounding them is one of "buy and fly", with no thought of difficulty or what needs to be set up.......and thats where they "fail" (or the owners do!!)

I have a Formosa to build, not much there TO "build" you might say, yet it's several weeks now and I have not had the time.  An RTF bought at the same time would have done many hours by now with the recent very favourable weather!!!

However, I get the greatest satisfaction out of making something really really cheap fly as good or better than something costing far more. I'm not a "builder" per se, and most of my models look pretty grotty, bare EPP, etc, etc.......... but in the air they look OK and they fly well beyond their appearance suggests.

I ran a session for some 11 year olds on Thurs.........Some time ago I "built" (Ha Ha!!) a Fik 80 with Fik 100 wing, rudder & elevator, cheapest GWS brushless combo, cheapest servos and receiver, 800mAh "Medevac" cell...gives fast near vertical climb to training height, then cruises around with them on buddy for in excess of 30 mins, doesn't balloon out of turns like an ElectroFun, better glide, more stable, lower stall speed, better wind range.

Point being, the RTF ElectroFun is good, but for very little effort you can do much better!!!

[Gareth Child]

To be fair, I started with a contra-rotating Twister and it does say in the instructions that while the model is capable of hovering 'out of the box,' it takes a pilot a lot of practice to reach the point where they can do it. In the words of the instruction manual, 'if you don't want to spend the time learning how to fly, then this model is not for you.' And when a friend bought a Medevac, and was convinced that it was faulty, I had a go and yes, it was capable of flying out of the box. With no adjustments whatsoever, I was flying figure 8s in his sitting room. I think that the bottom line is that there are two legitimate ways into the hobby now. Instead of having to learn by building whether you liked it or not, you can now learn to fly first.

[Peter Miller]

Martin

" If we all are rich enough to just buy any model we fancy, who will be left to design them? "

Simple answer, ME! and all the people like me. We are designers because we love designing and building, not because we can't afford things.

We also like turning up at the field with models that we know are unique...at least until the plan is published. We have the choice of a scale model of ANY aeroplane ever built, not what the manufacturers say we can have. We can have a custom model that is exactly what we want.

When the wind is howling round the chimney or the rain is lashing down we are still totally wrapped up in our hobby because weather doesn't affect designing and building.

As I always say, even if one of my designs is a total failure in flight, it wasn't wasted time because I enjoyed building and designing it.

As long as there are people like me around (And there always will be) you will have people to design your ARTFs.

[scott cuppello]

Yeah, Peter is right, some will always build, some will always assemble, one tradition staying alive, while ARTF offers people what they want.....a cheap, simple entry point and a way to fly that is not time consuming.

 And let's get something straight.....there are a lot of ARTF's out there that are simply beautiful, they now embrace everything from pocket money jobs, up to 100" giants, and turbines.....slagging off ARTF is basically silly.

They are bringing more people into flying....FLYING......which as far as I remember...is what they are for.

[Peter Miller]

There is one thing that I really do appreciate about ARTFs. They keep the price of radios and engines down.

All the people who see them and think, "OOH! Ican go fl;y a kmodel" and rush out and buy the radios and engines to go with them means that manufacturers make more and get the unit cost down.

Heck, I remember paying several weeks money for a Reftec UHF radio many years ago. Now my Spektrum can be bought for less than many computer radios.

[Martin McIntosh]

The problem that I am finding is that retailers stocks of basic building materials is generally dwindling because it is more profitable to fill the shelves with ARTF, which usually means that I have to drive for miles doing a tour of the not so local shops. Very rarely do I find one which has balsa/ply/glue/coverings/hardware anymore.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Myron Beaumont]

I'm a bit confused Eric ?    Are you saying that sunspot minima causes MORE interference than usual ? If so -  Any body want to swap an unused Optic 6 Tx & Rx  for some balsa wood &/or plan for a mOSQUITO for two SC 52 's  I shall use my Futaba 2.4 from now on  Scary stuff  35 meg  or am I over reacting '?  are any particular regions more susceptible to interference than others ? I'm in the Newcastle area . 

Would like to hear your comments _being a Radio ham & all that. I'm sure others would as well ! 

Grumpy Myron     & by the way( other folks )why are some of the E-mails wider than my screen so that I have to move left & right to read messages all of a sudden ?

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Peter Miller]

If you want good stocks of beautiful balsawood, selected to your stated requirements and way, way cheaper than any shop,  order from SLEC. Tel, 01953885279.

Fast delivery, cheap, just wonderful.
All usual disclaimers.

[scott cuppello]

Yeah, this takes me back to a time when I worked as on Outside Broadcast engineer for a small, rather awful radio station .....when we had to go out to the site and check signals from the vehicle back to the station, we were always having to take into account atmospheric conditions.....it wasn't unknown for somebody to go to a site that was at the limit of our range on a decent day to check......then return for the big day, which was in poor conditions....to find we had no signal!!!! No broadcast.....very upset people at Utterly Butterly or whatever it was we were promoting!