Another Focus review

[George Kennie]

Just wait 'til you flt it, Mike.You just may totally give up
scratchin'.

Mike Hester wrote:

>   What the heck. 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. 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. 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. The wing
> roots don't fit perfectly, but again it's not a major problem. 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. 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. 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. The tail wheel assy was replaced with an MK
> version. I love those things, they weigh nothing. 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. 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. There's plenty of
> room for equipment inside. I mounted the battery next to the
> throttle servo in front of the tank for balance. There's a few
> more minor details, but nothing worth mentioning. 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. 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. 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. 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. I think I like it, but I'm not trading in my scratch built
> planes just yet!!! -Mike Hester


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