More Info on World's Cheapest ARF

Just found another cheap trainer ARF, Its a Polks Hobby Dorothy

Wingspan is 72" and looks to be lightweight construction. It's on sal for 50 bucks. I had called Polks about there Tracker III radio an asked about the Dorothy (stupid name). They say its very much like Telemaster. I might give this one a try and sell the Evolution.

-- flyboyanderso

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Check out the shipping weight of Dorothy and Lucy! mk

CHECK OUT THE WEIGHT FOR THE C-47!!!

http://216.86.38.243/mmPOLKS/Images/PLK10045.jpg I'm sure the hardware will be at least as good (probably much better) as the Start Evolution ARF from Raidentech. That is really one ugly looking plane, however. It looks like it's covered with red wax paper or something. Still, if it goes together easy and it flies well, that's what really counts.

Lets hear some flight reports on the Start .40 Evolution II trainers.

I've got one here going together, but wont have a chance to fly it until it warms up.

What Engine / prop combos are you using in them too??

Jef

-- KyFBCGu

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Mine has a bolt-on wing conversion and is powered by a Magnum .52 four-stroke swinging a 12x6 APC prop. It's a heavy airplane. Haven't flown it yet.... waiting for Spring!

Good flying, desmobob

Weather permitting I'll be flying the Evolution again the week afte

Christmas (vacation). I'll probably use the SK 50 I bought a couple o weeks ago.

The first flight was about 6 weeks ago with an old K&B 45. The K&B wa hemorraging fuel from the front bearing and consequently the engin surged and ran terrible. It was also very windy and my old AM radio wa gliching. I was lucky to get it down in one piece. Hardly a fair test o the Evolution. I did notice it had a stong tendency to nose up o anything more than half throttle. It seemed to handle the wind wel which is probably due to its weight. I've trained a couple of people o Duraplanes and it seems to fly much better than that. so ...

I got rid of the engine and radio and hopefully I'll see what this bir can do. I took it to our last club meeting and people where amazed a the price, several were interested enough to ask for the website. Th guy that works at the LHS wasn,t thrilled but his prices are actuall excellent (gets a lot of my money) so I really don't think he has muc to worry about. However ....

I bought the Dorothy as well. I'm a sucker for light airplanes and thi one looks like a light weight. I might also use it to dabble in som aerial photo/video stuff. Depending on how it goes together (and th weather) I might fly it next week as well

-- flyboyanderso

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It might be nice enough later this week that I can finally get a chance to fly mine. I'll be running a Magnum XLS .52 two-stroke with an 11x6 APC prop.

Guys, The more I think about this start evolution II the more I think it's a .25 size plane. Just look at the WS and length. I'm considering a .25 for it but the only ones I have are a OS .25 FX currently in a plane, OS .25 FP, not sure it'll pull it and a combat wombat webra .25. I am going to us it for training so it doesn't have to have unlimited vert.! OH well, we will see. mk

I think not.

25 for this Evolution is too small. It is similar to an Avistar, but heavier. Go for 46 at least and you'll be OK. HTH.

Eye Indo

I have to agree with Eye Indo, I can't imagine this thing getting of the ground with a .25. If you want to make good use of the .25 then would look at the Phoenix models Sonic 25 High wing. Its 65 bucks a tower and omnimodels.

I had the Sonic Low wing which I used to get back into RC over a yea ago, and I was very happy with it. I used an OS .25 LA. However ...

The low wing is not a trainer, it goes where you point it. Stick wit the High wing. There aren't to many .25 trainer out there. In fac there are very few .25 models of any type out there.

Eye Indo, I'll take up your challenge and invite the C/L guys to ou Fun Fly. I still have a Sterling beginners mustang I could breakout fo the occasion

-- flyboyanderso

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You will not be sorry. As I stated before, the routine that "our" CL pilot has is awesome, since it is his compaction routine. I think it is a required routine. The best thing you can do is to announce his maneuvres beforehand, right before he does them, and then follow through. You have time to announce beforehand, because the compaction routines have a "pause" where the CL pilot flies at a constant distance above the ground (which BTW is not that high above ground !!) to give the judges time to get their bearings back and do the ratings. As always, demonstration flights are much better, if they have good commentators, who have done a bit research first, including the background of the pilot him/her self. Another thing we do during our AMA shows is to let all get a close up of the plane afterwards.

Haff phun. (spiritofutah AST)

oops, dang speel chuker !! competition, NOT compaction

I put a tower hobbies .46 on my radientech trainer...and I think it would be a perfect plane for a cheap .40 engine.

This evolution plane flies just as good as my nexstar and lands without a bounce and slows down quickly on grass....even with the cheap wheels included.

I did about 15 touch and goes with mine on the first flight...and came back with half a tank of fuel...flies great at low throttle.

I didn't try the rudder yet, but I wouldn't compare this plane to anything that cost over $100 (ARF)....it is just what it is...a cheap plane that is well worth the price.....just don't expect to get something for nothing....think about what it would cost to produce.

Get this plane, a cheap .40-.46, and have fun....I only wish it would have had room for dual aleron servos.

There are other choices for a .25 sized trainer if you don't mind some easy assembly. The Great Planes PT20, Goldberg Freedom 20, and the SIG Kadet LT-25 are all available through Tower Hobbies as well:

?&I=LXDJC0&P=0 All three of the above kits are laser cut and are considered very easy to assemble, ideal choices for first kits.

If you want another ARF choice, I'll go ahead and preach more Thunder Tiger to you in the form of the new .15 size Dragonfly:

You can probably stick a .25 2-stroke on the dragonfly if you already have one. If you need an engine, you can buy the Dragonfly .15 and a TT .15 GP engine both for $114.95 + s&h

You can also enjoy flying the TT Lazy Tiger P-51 with a .25 2-stroke motor:

Amazingly, it's one of the few Thunder Tiger planes available through Tower Hobbies!

I've heard good things about the Phoenix Sonic .25 high and low wing planes, and either should be excellent choices. .25 sized planes aren't going the way of the dinosaur, you just have to look a little bit harder to find them.

You can do that EASILY!

You better pick up another one and try again.... :-)

Good flying, desmobob

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I plan on putting a TT.46 Pro in mine for now.It should have plenty o power for it. Will start with an 11x5 prop for starters and go from there. How does the main landing gear hold up? I assume that you used large screws in the nose wheel bracket to hold it better. I was thinking o making it a taildragger and ditching the nose wheel, but i think i will just us the stock set up now. Im going to make it a straight wing with no dihedral. Did you use the stock wing joiner that came with it or did anyone mak a new one? The stock wing joiner seems a little too short, about quarter of an inch, and i was going to attempt to build a new one t take up the extra length in the wing slot. I dont imagine that it will make much of difference but just thought it might be a good idea. Is there a way to reiforc the wing with screw down tabs on the top and bottom to help hold i together?

For those that did the bolt on wings, how did you install the hol downs and where did you place them on the wing?? Do you have to put on a "lip" in the front or rear or the wing saddle to help hold the win down?? Ive got the hold down hardwear, but am not sure just how to do it.

Sorry for all the questions...:)

thanks in advance, Jef

-- KyFBCGu

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A little wood, a little epoxy, and 2 HS-81's later and that's what I've got...

Steve

Yes, please, can someone shed some light on this? There are several of wanting to ditch the rubber bands...

Anyone have pics, of the wing in particular?

Thanks, Steve