Originally Posted by cale10

check out the extreme flight/ pilot factory tour videos, almost every part of the plane is made in a jig. im not saying it cant be done but most kit models offer slight design variations to allow for easier building. IE the flat bottom wing. blocking up a fully symmetrical wing with a double taper, and dihedral would be a real pain to work with.

What?!?!?!?!?! Have you even built an airplane? Assembling ARFs dont count.

Dont knock what you dont know.

Exactly

Originally Posted by carrid02

I prefer to support the original Skywing designer and just fly AJ stuff . Cant beat the AJ lasers and ARS... great designs for 3D or IMAC.

-Craig

Who was the original Skywing designer?

Originally Posted by Bunky F. Knuckle

What?!?!?!?!?! Have you even built an airplane? Assembling ARFs dont count.

Dont knock what you dont know.

ive built plenty of airplane kits (20+), and if i could find a Carden to build i would build one of those too, but theyre hard to find anymore. im thinking of this from a casual modelers standpoint. Sure, anyone can build a Carden, or an EF plane for that matter, but it wont be nearly as easy as a SIG kadet that everyone has built at some point. you really need to have several builds under your belt before attempting to build something like that. a 100cc airplane is no joke, and should not be built by a true amateur without guidance or previous experience.

Cardens (and other kits) fly fantastic don't get me wrong, but they aren't the hot new XA modern 3D planes if that's what the OP is interested in, at least not without major modifications/ reinforcement

Originally Posted by cale10

check out the extreme flight/ pilot factory tour videos, almost every part of the plane is made in a jig. im not saying it cant be done but most kit models offer slight design variations to allow for easier building. IE the flat bottom wing. blocking up a fully symmetrical wing with a double taper, and dihedral would be a real pain to work with.

You are correct, the jigs are to allow the workers to assemble the airplanes far easier and quickly. But you are comparing a manufacturing environment to the home modeler- of course the manufacturing side is going to do everything they can to allow for rapid assembly of an airframe, because their goal is ultimately to produce as much as they can as quickly as they can and still provide a top notch product. The jigs help the workers do that efficiently.

We as home modelers don't need a jig for the most part because we can take the time to build the airplane how we see fit by pinning wood, clamping parts together, using whatever glue is the best choice, so on and so forth.

It really depends on the kit. the foam shucks that come with foam wings are a type of jig and no one in their right mind would try to make wings without the shucks.