I can't help but notice that general aviation has gone done the crapper. I undre stand Flying Giants is a 3D site so PLEASE DONt HANG ME FOR AN IDEA.FUN FLYS have become a 3D fest with jets. And that seems to be the only topic of conversation anymore. Extras,Yaks,Edges. I love these planes as well but except for a Steerman here and there there is a complete lack of anything else. Why are our most poopular arf builders only building 3D aircraft. What about Cessnas, Citabrias, War Birds, Moneys, Beach twins. Wouldn't the giant scale population still be intristed in such aircraft, Or are we 3D crazy. I wish Comp arf or Aeroworks or airwild would produce arfs like this. Maybe if a poll was used it may grab some attention from these guys to give us more to chose from. Sorry Wendell I don't have time scratch build one of your beautiful scale planes. I fly 3D and love it but also enjoy the others. Would Giant scale modlers not support these companies if they produced a great quality civilian aircraft. If you can't be objective I will request for the thread to be pulled.

I voted "don't give a rats..."

I play with warbirds during the week and 3D on the weekends....


50%

You make a very good point........ummm what?

If you look around they are there. Aeroworks has a beautiful scale bipe, great planes a 310. Eflite has a new 15 size Pawnee coming out. IF you truly want something you can find it. Somethign is always for sale it doesnt have to be a mass produced ARF. There are some great builders out there that sell there art work to build the next piece. Guys today want what is easy to fly.. Nothing flies like a heavy warbird or some scale Cesna that has just enough power. Guys today want perfect power to weight 3 to 1 and wing loading numbers that make your head spin.. Dont give up find what you want..... I do..

GMONEY

Well, it doesn't help that you are on a 3D site. Here at Flying Giants we all have a thing for aviation. It's just that we really love 3D capable scale aerobatics.

Our forte' is FULL SIZE down on the deck.

We have to also remember that doing this pole on this site will have a very much badass bias towards the "don't give a rats @$$"....but i'm sure if you did the same poll on RCU or RCG, you would get a drastically different result. I know myself, the reason I fly the big aerobatic stuff is becuase it is never boring...i.e. no matter how good you are or how much time you have under your belt, a finely tuned aerobatic airframe will always allow you to improve and do better. Personally, with the general aviation stuff, (Cessna, Cub, warbirds, circle flyers and go fast/turn left planes) it was what almost made me quit the hobby. I was getting uber bored with the sport planes..you can only do so many low passes, left hand turns and touch and goes before it is no longer a challenge. If you want general avaition aircraft, just have a look on towers or horizon's website...tons of it.

On the flipside, what if all we had was general aviation stuff? I would be you wouldn't see nearly as many pilots at your local flying field(s) if it weren't for aerobatic aircraft. Just a thought but you raise a good point. I could see where some people would get tired of the same old Extras, Edges and Yaks.

My son flys IMAC very good and all the time. I enjoy watching him fly to his heart content, but give me a large scale B25 any day of the week. I feel that there s nothing more graceful than a scale bomber in a slow flyby. Maybe it cant do snap roll but it has graceful lines and alot of class that the extras and edges dont have. Im for scale anytime of the day or week.

The real beauty of this sport/obsession is that there are so many ways an individual can appease his quest for flying an RC aircraft of his choice. There is everything out there from scale Wright Flyers to the F-22 and I agree that there are still builders around so that you don't have to build it yourself. Maybe instead of an ARF we could have BBA (built by another)

What is general aviation?

Very simple. This was an IDEA that I had. I love my 3D Planes. Just wish some ARF builders out there would carry some giant scale civilian aircraft. Times change. Fun flys use to be 10% aerobatic planes do to the skill levels needed to fly them. Now you go to a fun fly and its 90% Extra,Yak and so on. Its just a thought guys don't string me up and hang me just yet. I just was thinking.

Originally Posted by TazmanianDevil

What is general aviation?

general aviation = "Doing it" with your mother-in law and in a way that she is happy to be along for the ride.

I understand your gripe, but here are more options out there than you may have credited.Depending on what is considered a " most poopular arf builders".
start with these guys?
http://www.kmp.ca/index.php?cPath=22

kmp makes a great model, im building one of thier Husky's right now,, sure i like my edge but flying a plane that rides on rails because it has to much power is way differnt then a plane you actually have to fly on the wing, besides, we all fly general avaition craft, except those with warbirds...
mike

A blood transfusiuon wouldn't get large aerobatic models out of me. It is just to much fun.

I agree with Pitviper, check out KMP. They have some gorgeous GA scale and warbird Arfs. Not like their old line of aerobatic arfs, not even close to the same. Most of them are glass, and the attention to detail is excellent. For example, I usually dont buy raffle tickets for anything, because I dont win jack. I saw a KMP Beaver on floats that was being raffled off, I think I spent $50 in raffle tickets because I wanted that thing, really fricken nice. Topflight has the big mustang arf, and Hobbico has a few other offerings. I think the reason you don't see that many scale arfs out there because in that genre of flying, a large fun part of the hobby is building some as scale as you can, and using a full envelope of craftsmenship techniques. Another issue out there is the cost involved with a highly fabricated, detailed arf. In the giant scale aerobat world, guys flying 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc birds don't balk in putting the best equipment they can afford into their airplane. I can't tell you how many beatiful scale jobs I have seen using minimal equipment or equipment that is not intended for that size use, strictly based on cost. I watched a brand new, amazingly detailed B17 get vaporized on the maiden flight this past year. Attention to detail was amazing... then you look at the setup. It was setup for E-Power, running 540 Can motors and Nicad Battery packs. It barely had enough power to fly, turned down wind, and subsequently went into the B17 death spiral that I have seen in the WWII videos. It was all I could do to keep from asking the guy why would he build something so nice, then put crap in it because they didnt want to spend the money. Im not saying all scale guys are like this, because I have seen plenty of great setups, but I have seen enough to scare the beejeezus out of me as well while walking up and down the Joe Nall flight line every year... nothing like standard servos on a 30 pound mustang going 150MPH down the flight line...

This seems like a bit of an odd discussion to me (purely from my biased point of view). For me, there is very little redeeming quality in flying a heavy, poorly engineered ARF of a scale airplane. In my years in the hobby, the only redeeming quality I found in a true scale (non aerobatic) subject was BUILDING IT MYSELF!!!! Stated another way, I got much more joy from building a scale subject than flying it.

This is certainly not a knock at ARF's. With products like the extremely well engineered airplanes from Extreme Flight, etc, and the lack of time many of us face (I'm a parent too like most) they are wonderful and help us get our FLYING fix. However, as well engineered and completely built they are, they cannot replace the joy of building a true scale subject, researching it, documenting it, etc.