Another Focus review

[Mike Hester]

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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