Thunder Tiger Beaver (previously ARC)

Steve Fish wrote on 12/06/2012:

Strengths: Easy build, cheap, easy to clean, no covering, easy to convert to floats

Weaknesses: Looks better in real life. Pictures make it look like a toy!

Overall: A friend of mine bought a TT Cessna 172 for use off water and, as this was an aspect of the sport I had never done decided to go for it too. But what to get? I liked the idea of PLASTIC off water rather than wood, I do not have a lot of building time and the readymade float kit made it all a no-brainer, especially as I had a spare GMS .47 2 stroke kicking around looking lost without a model behind it. (I have 2 of these and both are the most reliable 2 strokes I have ever owned and powerful to boot. Talk about frugal too!) Out of the box it's well-packed, has quality hardware and the fit of the parts is excellent. I've never glued plastic for modelling before but so far it's held together, except for the wing struts which, if knocked, tends to break brittle glue joins. However, use Cyano or 5min epoxy and - job's a good'n. I have contemplated using methylethylketone or contact adhesive for something less brittle. There's minimal cutting for the cowl - simply a well-placed circle for the engine head, the carb needle and muffler bolt access holes. The model has a recess for the muffler which was not big enough for the GMS stock muffler so I used an OS 46 powerbox muffler (used a pitts style for the engine it came with). Flying - straight as a die, floats well in the glide approach despite feeling heavy and is VICELESS even in the stall. Aerobatics are smooth and predictable with little rudder needed in hte upline on the loop and rolls are pretty well axial. With floats - needs to be flown as scale as possible - gentle climbs and turns but rewards good conttrolled approaches with smooth touch-downs. You can more or less forget aerobatics with this set-up but then for me, that's not what float flying is about, especially when you have something that looks scale in the air. As I use an 18% oil mix there's a fair amount of cleaning to be down afterward - but this is no problem with the lack of wood and no covering. Great. There really is nothing to dislike about it. Keeper for sure.