Those hinges are NOT glued in, just a tight fit, at least I've never seen an ARF come with hinges glued in. Seem to remember someone losing an ARF because he thought the hinges were glued in and they came out in flight.

Hi Dick,

You made a very good selection. The P-40 is an excellent design and the ARF is well built. My ARF P-40 is over 3 years old and has almost 400 flights on it. I built it almost completely stock because I wanted to show the anti-ARF guys out here that the Brodak ARFs were safe "as is". The only minor change I made was I used one CF tube between the flap horn and the EL horn with 4-40 ball links at each end. I made this minor change because I am used to this set up in my RC planes and I like having my controls be easily adjustable for minor trim changes. BTW: All the larger CL ARF/ARCs are coming with this CF tube and ball link setup as standard.

This is a modern design with a modern thick airfoil and large tail surfaces. You will really like how this plane flies. You can confidently build it stock with the HW included.

1. The mushy spot may be a small crack. It wold not hurt to make a small pin hole and put a drop of thin CA there. If it is a very small area I would not do anything. Our wing sheeting does not add a lot of strength to our wings, the spars on this plane are more than enough. The sheeting adds a little stiffness to the wing, but a small spot will not hurt anything.

2. I'm glad Bob cleared that up, he saved you an airplane!

3. This ARF used to come with CA hinges, which should NEVER be used on a CL plane. The new ones are perfect. I, and everyone else I know, uses 15 to 30 min. epoxy to install these pin hinges. It might be able to be done with thick slow CA but I would not like to try it, it does not give you much time to get them perfectly lined up. Epoxy is easy, and helps you sleep better at night.

4. Yes, the lead-outs are improved and they are solid. John has always been very diligent about making constant improvements on his products. The LOs are all doubled through the crimped tube and are very safe.

5. The push rod from the BC to the flap horn is perfect. The keeper is very good and sturdy. As I said above I would replace the long PR with a CF unit from Jim at CLC (Morris type). If you are not familiar with making one up using JB Weld etc., then you can give Jim the measurement between the flap horn and the EL horn and he will make a perfect one for you with ball links at each end. Just tell him it is for the Brodak P-40 ARF.

6. The engine clamp setup is fine as is. It is used in RC with even larger engines than we use in CL. There are already brass threaded inserts in the planes hardwood MMs. Use as is and you won't have any problems.

7. RE: the heat gun/iron. If you know any RC flyers in your area they will all have both of these tools. 99% of all RC planes are ARFs and the RC guys are used to doing a little tightening up of the covering and also adding their own trim schemes. They would be glad to help you. An iron or a gun are inexpensive items that last forever. Or you can do it the really old fashioned way that we did in the 1960s and use your home iron. Please check with the wife 1st! It is not ideal but it can work. start with low heat and slowly work your way up, be careful this stuff melts easily when using a big iron, just use the tip.

8. Again, you will really like this plane. It looks good in the air and it flys great. Follow the very good directions and you will have a solid, long lasting plane.

Have Fun! :-)   

Great answers, guys.  Thanks a bunch.  One more question, the instructions say to use CA for wing, stab and rudder assembly to the fuselage.  I guess I'm not too concerned with the tail feathers, but how did you do the wing/fuselage joint?  CA or epoxy?

Great answers, guys.  Thanks a bunch.  One more question, the instructions say to use CA for wing, stab and rudder assembly to the fuselage.  I guess I'm not too concerned with the tail feathers, but how did you do the wing/fuselage joint?  CA or epoxy?

Epoxy.