New C/L Flier ARF Flite Streak OSLA .25

A friend of mine attended Golden State Stunt contest in Clovis,Ca

and decided he wanted to fly C/L. He purchased an ARF Flite Streak

and an OS LA .25. Last night three of us assembled the plane it

weighed 25.5 OZ! Today we broke in the engine we assisted him on his

,maiden flite and the the beginneer soloed . We used a Tornado

9/4 prop and ran it at 10,000 rpm nice 4 cycle flew slow with

adequate tension. The ARF and OS LA .25 both very impressive.

Now we have another C/L flier who will start learning how to build

his own plane. And all this with about 4 hours assembly time!

We ran 4 tanks of fuel 10% 29% all castor through the engine and he

went flying . Pretty neat stuff.

Bravo! One more member into the fold. This weekend at our field we also got another retread back into the air - his first flight in 30 years. I was afraid he was going to crash, but he straightened out and flew real nice! Ukey 35 with LA 25. Viva les arfs!

We had a flyer take to the air for the first time in 30 years also and he was doing well for a while, even got in a few loops. Unfortunately the wind or a bad clevis stepped in and the plane is no more. It was a new Banshee too. Darn. Probably not nearly as crash resilient as a Ukey. Speaking of ARF Streaks, here's one doing its thing at our field last Saturday.

A "new" retread flier brought out his ARF Flite Streak with LA .25
this last weekend. It had already been repaired from a previous
flight, which was not altogether successful.

He had balanced the plane according to plans with approximately two
ounces of tail weight...Perhaps there is no correction from the manufacture indicating where the balance point really should be.

All ended well with his flying his Streak and working on a Nobler
ARF for next season.

>He had balanced the plane according to plans with
>approximately two
>ounces of tail weight...Perhaps there is no correction from
>the manufacture indicating where the balance point really
>should be.

FYI-the December 2003 Flying Models has a review. Regarding the CG issue, it states:

"A CG Location of 3 1/4" behind the leading edge of the wing is recommended and the instructions note that the prototype required an ounce of weight in the tail; similarly, an ounce was used to bring this model nearly that far back. As the model was being flown, though, every flyer that tried the Flite Streak preferred a further forward CG, and we ended up with no tail weight and a CG about two inches behind the leading edge. So don't be afraid to make your first flights with the CG this far forward."

Comment: Strikes me as soft pedaling a near-disaster, IMHO.

Other quotes:

"After a couple of landings, though, the (single) landing gear wire had twisted inside the fuselage; this was fixed by drilling out the hole, inserting a brass eyelet (Sig SH-215), and epoxying the both the eyelet and wire in the fuselage."

Comment: DUH!!!

"The engine mounting wood is plywood rather than hardwood and will crush if you crank on the supplied 4-40 mounting screws. However the .25 LA-S engine was so smooth that no problems have been noted."

"The small metal tank that is supplied (holding about 2 ounces) permits only about a 3-minute flight. This is ideal for new flyers!"

Comment: I get it, it's a *feature*, not a bug! The glass..err-uhh TANK is half *full*.

"The fixed leadouts have held up well."

This is not exactly an insightful, hard-hitting piece of journalism. But if you read between the lines, it does tell you what you need to know to set up a better-than-average ARF Flite Streak.

I see the ARF's as enticing interested newcomers into our event.... but a major benefit that I see is that they may keep a few who are already flying controline active......by allowing straight, flyable aircraft rather than crooked, heavy and poor flying owner assembled pieces. A Streak or Gotcha can do a great deal to build a bit of confidence and to return some enthusiasm to flying! Look at the number of comments thusfar to the tune of "what a great flyer" or "I wish I could build this well".....

We're planning AFR events for next season!

See Ya

Ya it's kinda funny. I have three pretty good stunt ships built from kits or scratch, when I am looking around deciding which plane(s) I am going to take to the field the ARF Nobler always seems to end up in the van.

Bob,

Exactly.

Although the sequence is slightly different in my case. When planning to go flying, the ARF Flite Streaks are at the bottom of the I-need-to-practice-with-this-model list. And so I load the van with at least a couple models which I know need work.

Always at the last moment I toss in one or both of the Streaks.

And at every single flying session one of them gets used. Sometimes just to give friends a ride on something they can buy that very day and fly the next. More often because I enjoy the little critters and will put up several flights just for my own selfish interests.

Wasn't going to get one, now I want one again, damm you guys.

Giffy

>Wasn't going to get one, now I want one again, damm you
>guys.

I’m with Giffy on this one. I was set on passing on the ARF’s. But now I think a Flite Streak will be under the tree this Christmas. I recently picked up an old Fox 35 that Mr. Denny helped me rework and it's in desperate need of a new home.
Chris

Giffy,

Give in......resistance is futile......assimilate and buy one now!

Just additional information to help you justify the purchase.

Don't leave home with out it.

>Giffy,
>
>Give in......resistance is futile......assimilate and buy
>one now!
>
>Just additional information to help you justify the
>purchase.
>
>Don't leave home with out it.

Cruel, very cruel!

My ARF Streak has a 25 LA also and flies great. It's the best money I ever spent, mine will fly this weekend!

Just got off the phone with a friend here in KC, after talking him into buying one 2 weeks ago after the death of his Brodak Galaxy that must have had a little something wrong with it somewhere, he says it was the Fox 35.

Anyways, I mentioned I knew he had an OS 25 LA rc and he could use that on the Streak, he had it ordered from Tower and in his hands by Wednesday.

He had a blast and is talking about taking Friday off to come fly with us in the park.

Purty cool planes.