<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2716.2200" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Heh...somehow I doubt that =)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>-Mike</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=geobet@gis.net href="mailto:geobet@gis.net">George Kennie</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 30, 2002 3:02
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Another Focus review</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Just wait 'til you flt it, Mike.You just may totally give up
scratchin'.
<P>Mike Hester wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE">
<STYLE></STYLE>
<FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>What the heck.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>I just built one of these for a friend who needed a
plane in a hurry. I had mixed feelings on it, but keep in mind this is
coming from a scratch builder who is very picky.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>When I got it, I was very impressed with the
overall quality. I've seen a few ARFs in my time, this is definitely on the
upper end as ARFs go. The covering, while a little plain, was excellent and
smooth.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Alignment of the
tail and wings was effortless. It didn't take mich tweaking to get it right
in a hurry, a big plus. I found both ailerons and the horizontal stab a
little warped, but not serious enough to abort. The stab warp was in the
tips, and little heat took care of that. Same thing for the ailerons.
In fairness, it had been sitting for a while so who knows if it really came
like that or not. Not a big deal either way.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The wing roots don't fit perfectly, but again it's
not a major problem.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The
engine box was very simple. However, special attention had to be made as the
cowl had already been drilled up by the previous owner. It looked right on,
but after taking a measurement, I found that with an FAI spinner and NO gap
between the cowl and spinner back plate, the plane would have been 79 1/4"
long. No big deal, I cut the mount, moved it back and redrilled the cowl.
Problem solved.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The
landing gear is another story. The stock gear is heavy, and the mounting
plate is inadequate. I replaced the standard gear with a bolly F3A large
swept gear and reinforced the gear plate. Looks good, it's strong, and we'll
see how it holds up. The supplied "axle" screws were a little too short.
Again, no big deal.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Many
additional steps were taken to lighten the plane. A lot of grinding and knee
deep in balsa dust later, I'm sure it took a few ounces off. The wings are a
little on the heavy side, but not too bad.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The tail wheel assy was replaced with an MK
version. I love those things, they weigh nothing.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The elevator pushrod...I hate this thing. It's
heavy and sloppy. But there's a lot of these out there, and it flies ok, so
I guess it's fine for what it is. I would much prefer another setup
personally, and it could be done. But my instructions were "use what ya
got", so I did. Bottom line is it works, so I
digress.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>I am also not
very fond of the bottom entry access. Basically, you have to remove the pipe
tunnel every time you want to get inside, which means removing the pipe as
well. I'm spoiled with a removable canopy/hatch, so this is understandable.
What I don't like is the seal at the firewall. The OS 1.40RX and factory
header tend to slop a little fuel around the engine compartment, and there
is/was a nasty gap where the tunnel "seals" against the firewall. I solved
this with some high temp silicone as a seal, I just ain't real fond of it.
(Yes the tunnel is mounted right, the shape of the tunnel was a little
pinched). It remains to be seen if this is an issue, so far it's fine just
not attractive.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>There's
plenty of room for equipment inside. I mounted the battery next to the
throttle servo in front of the tank for balance.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>There's a few more minor details, but nothing worth
mentioning.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Now for the
bottom line. For the money, this is a great 2 meter pattern plane. It flies
great. Time will tell how well it holds up to flying 40-50 flights a week.
It has some issues, but all of them can be attributed to being a $600-700
ARF. Price dictates certain things.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The finished plane came in at 10 lbs 9 ozs. That's
a wee bit heavy as pattern planes go, but the OS doesn't care, and neither
would the Webra or DZ. It's legal though, which is more than can be said for
a lot of "professionally built" planes out there. A hyde ARI mount was used,
but there are much cheaper alternatives.</FONT></FONT> <FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>It's a simple plane that flies great, and for the
money, it's a great way to go if you need a plane in a hurry that will fly
with the best. With just a little attention you can easily and cheaply get
around all of it's minor shortcomings. It's a good answer for the gaping
hole in the market it fills.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=-1>I intend to fly it some myself this weekend, the owner just doesn't
know it yet <VBG>. He could make a POS look good, I want to feel it
for myself before I give a blanket stamp of approval. But from what I saw,
it didn't need much trim and the alignment worked very
well.</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>I think I like it,
but I'm not trading in my scratch built planes just
yet!!!</FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>-Mike
Hester</FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>