Between the ARF Cardinal and Oriental, Which One?

Sung to the appropriate tune:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,
please put an ARF in the old man's hat...

So, if you had a choice between the Cadinal ARF and the Oriental ARF, which one owuld you choose and why? Heck, might as well also consider the Nobler ARF, but I'm mainly interested in Brodaks.

Let 'er rip!

Kim Elmore

At this point, it looks like the correct answer is "Any you can get", and more likely you could get an ARC vs. an ARF. Check with Leonard first. Given a choice, I think the Cardinal will fly better, especially if weight becomes a problem. My OrientARC is pretty porky, but with film and minimal paint, it should come out ok. Steve

by any act, error, or omission, I have, intentionally or
unintentionally, displayed any breedist, disciplinist, sexist, racist,
culturalist, nationalist, regionalist, localist, ageist, lookist, ableist,
sizeist, speciesist, intellectualist, socioeconomicist, ethnocentrist,
phallocentrist, heteropatriarchalist, or other violation of the rules of
political correctness, known or unknown, I am not sorry and I encourage you
to get over it.

Get one of each. Heck, you only live once. Fly them both and enjoy in spite of everyones complaining of bulk,lousy control, yadda yadda yadda. I have one or so of every arf that came out and will get one of every other that arrives on the shore. These are the instant gratification planes that you use while your doing your next masterpiece. The plane that will make you a pro because your not afraid to do something with it. The one that you can enter your first contest with and perhaps not go nuts because your worried about crashing your newest treasure.Nuff said!!

I like this attitude! Might as well have both. I'm a firm believer that "too many airplanes" is an oxymoron, be they models or FAA type-certicated.

I'll let you know which one Santa shows up with...

Kim Elmore

My ARF Oriental weighs 29 oz—all the bits in the box so it's not too porky.

I would think that if you must choose, available engines might be a factor. The Cardinal is a slightly bigger with a fatter wing.

I believe that there are Cardinals coming in January?
I would venture that the Cardinal is a better flyer quicker....the Oriental seems to require lots of tinkering.....
I believe that the Pathfinder is coming soon, too...I have the ARC prototype and am very, very impressed.....I also have a kit build that was/is terrific....

See Ya

I have an ARF Cardinal and, I like it. It took more work to get it going than I thought it would. I think it would require more work to get the Oriental going because of the cowled in engine/tank but, I could be wrong. I guess it depends if you like the look of a built up fuselage over profile. It was a little hard to do some things because didn't want to disturb the covering so, I wouldn't hesitate to get the ARC models.

Giffy;)

I have the Cardinal and I like it. The only thing I don't understand is why they would cut holes in the back of the fuse. Just seems pointless to me, plus it makes the rear section weak in my opinion.

I thought the ARF/ARC had a ply skin on it. I would imagine that would be much stronger than the original balsa (unless they used "Sterling" Grade )

I haven't seen the Oriental so I can't comment on that one. I got a Cardinal ARF to see what everyone was talking about.

The wing on mine is much heavier outboard. And one flap is a great deal heavier than the other. I had to put the heavy flap inboard to avoid having the whole thing too heavy outboard to trim, even with no weight in the tip box.

But overall I think it's worth more than I paid for it. I especially like the wheel pants.

By the way, anyone know what threads are on those engine mounting bolts?

3mm