When ARF's/ARC's first started showing up, I absolutely hated them. After a few years, I broke down and bought an ARF Streak just to see what all the fuss was about. Gotta admit, it was a fun sport plane. But that's all it was, a sport plane. Just recently, a long time friend of mine, Rob, expressed a little interest in the hobby. So, I took him out flying, taking the ARF Streak with us. With a little help at first, he managed to fly out the tank several times and now is already looping and doing eights. He has more or less taken ownership of the plane, which is fine.
But there is more to the story. Durring our first outing, we were spotted by another young R/C modeler. He stopped to watch and ask questions and such. He stayed for better than an hour until we finished. I didn't have anything for him to fly. (if he had crashed the Streak, then Rob would have been "planeless".) Anyway, he said it looked really cool and wanted to give it a whirl sometime.
Next day I stopped by the LHS to pickup something and BS a little. In walks the kid, his name is Harley, and asks to order one Flite Streak and an engine. I told the shop owner which engine to get him (OS LA25) and he plunked down the cash for both items and then we talked for a while. Keep in mind that at this point, Harley had not even held a handle yet. But since the Streak came with everything needed to finish it (including a gas tank) for 55 bucks, he figured it was worth a try.
Turns out he, like Rob, are naturals. Harley is already flying by himself. Rob is learning stunts and has already started building a new plane. I feel like a proud papa!
So, in cases like these, the ARF has turned out to be a useful tool to get a couple more pilots in the air. I still couldn't bring myself to compete with one. But, it turns out the ARF isn't all bad. Dammit!
Topic: My somewhat changed opinion on ARF's (Read 1462 times)