First impressions ARF Nobler

My ship came in today, but I was at the airport. Good thing because my ARF Nobler came in.
I rushed home and went out into the garage, moved three planes and opened the big box. First thing out is the rudder. Thinner than the kit version, but light, no airfoil. It fits into a notch on the rear of the fuselage, neat idea. It does have some offset built in. I may use it(the idea of mounting it) on other planes. Next out comes the elevators, stab, wing, fuselage. The only fault with the wing is no weight box and those leadouts HAVE TO GO. No way would I fly that plane with that set up. Also sliding leadouts would be inorder today. The leadout wires are too small and the way they are litteraly hooked, like a fish hook set up, into the bellcrank is a no, no. An AMA sanctioned contest CD would "dq" that set up. Or should. The fuselage is very light, very well assembled, lots of lightening techniques, straight, but the cowl will be a job. Not a big one, but it ain't falling onto the nose. The tank seems a little heavy, but drops right into place and will be easy to remove, in fact it is easy to remove. I tried it several times. There needs to be a balsa filler between the motor mounts to help dampen vibrations, but the original kit didn't have them, so it is a copy. Just not up to date in a few areas. This will also give the tank a floor to sit on. The motor mounts appear to be oak or hard maple, they appear dark brown, but is it oak or just the varnish or whatever? Nice big light wheels, just right for grass fields. Inside of the nose area appears to be fuel proofed with thinned epoxy or very thick dope?
As to the elevators and flaps, the notches for the hinges are there and the control horns at first glance looked a little hokey, but on closer examination, I decided I would use them. They are two lpiece but very well wired and soldered. I'll probalbly wreck this plane before those horns ever go bad. Let's hope not because of them!!
Thje hinges are typical looking r/c type. I am going to use them also. The push rods should be a little heavier, those I will replace. Bell cranks looks like an old Veco style that had been sand blasted.
Once I get this thing assembled and flown I'll report more on it. As it first appears, it is a very nice and well built, light, plane and should be great for someone geting back into PA with not a lot of time to build or has doubts about his/her building skills after a long lay off. It sure will not hurt this hobby/sport. Mine cost 99.99 at RC Hobbies here in Rocket City. (Huntsville AL). Well at tomorrow fun fly, the guys will get to see it and I'll have their emotions, logic, ideas, etc on it also.

I also got an ARF Nobler and started working on it. I'm beefing the front end toying with the idea of setting it up for more than one style of engine case. The recommended LA .40 should work fine. The tank is nice, but too small to run the pattern with a LA or FP forty. The only engine I have that might run long enough on the supplied tank is the DS forty. They could have (should have) made the fuselage wide enough to accept the more commonly available 2" wide tanks. I have some Brodak medium wedge tanks in route that are narrow enough to fit, but length then becomes an issue. I need a 5 ounce tank (4.5 minimum) for the LA and FP engines I plan to use. I concur that the leadouts must go. I just finished the ARF Flite Streak, where I replaced the supplied crank and leads with a Sig 3" nylon crank and .027" cable leads with wrapped end. I also used a 3/32" MW pushrod (the supplied Flite Streak rod is too thin and flexible). I like the way they made the wing takeapart, as an aide in alignment and gluing. I'm considering making the whole plane takeapart, with appropriate beefing of course. It's already built, so I figure why not tinker with it. It's early in the game, but at this point I'd rate the ARF Nobler kit a "B" and it could become an "A" with a few changes. The ARF Flite Streak is done and has several flights on it. Here's my brief report (copied from another email):

"We had an outdoor club meeting tonight, where I flew my Top Flite ARF Flite Streak for the first time. It flies great!!! Corners are incredible: smooth and tight! I'd rate the kit a B+ and the overall experience an A-. Mine has many mods. I beefed the front end considerably, replaced the bellcrank and leadouts, added a robust tail gear (doubles as the stooge release) and used Brodak removable 2-wheel wire gear (vs. the included single wheel gear). It's shown here with some of the tank and prop options ready to try. The Dixon re-timed FP .25 runs well and puts out surprisingly good power. Despite being in the hobby 40++ years, this is the first .25 powered model I've ever owned. Total weight (with an ounce of tail weight) is 31 ounces. Although I didn't use any of the stock hardware, it was good quality except for the leadouts. There is some room for improvement, but overall Top-Flite did a great job on this kit. I could not do a better framing or covering job. My price was under $60, which is a real bargain. I could not build one from a kit, or scratch build it, for less. Next up: the ARF Nobler!!"