Flair DH Mosquito ARTF Model


ARTF model of the famous WW2 aircraft with flaps, retracts, glass fuselage and wing centre section.


This model lasted 4 mins before rolling into the ground and being written off completely. It never flew it just stayed in the air due to engine power. THIS HAS BEEN THE MOST DISAPPOINTING MODEL I HAVE BUILT IN OVER 40 YEARS. The whole experience has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I would take a serious look at this plane before you part with your hard earned money. I also see it is being sold off cheap on certain web sites - BEWARE !!

Submitted by Guy Glover 20/11/2005 - Flair ARTF Mosquito is a semi scale representation of the classic fighter bomber with glass fuselage and wing centre section. Overall the model looks pretty good but there are some issues with the wood construction in the nacelles and I had a warped rudder and elevator which I e-mailed Flair about and have received no response from. There are loads of articles on the internet about this model - some are quite scary - but all have issues with centre of gravity ( wrong on instructions ) and this has led to some early crashes. Engine suggestions on the box are complete rubbish, ( I am fitting 2x ASP 52 four strokes to help with the weight issue and for extra power ) and generally speaking the model is let down by some slapdash finishing. Don't get me wrong there is nothing which can't be sorted but it all takes that bit longer than you think. The instructions with this model are a joke when compared to a Hangar 9 ARTF and indeed a Seagull Models ARTF twin I have just bought. On the other hand the paint finish is so much better than some of the 'plastic' warbirds I have seen recently and the model does look good in the flesh with the wheels up. I do not intend to make this a scale masterpiece as it is not built for that. It should look the part once in the air and hopfully I should be able to land with the fitted flaps, which I read are essential.



Following pictures show most of work done. One of the ASP .52 four stroke engines fitted. This has been bench run in and then flown for 3 flights in Bens Aresti 40 to check out. Ran faultlessly. Retract servos finally installed and tested. Mini servos fitted for throttles as I know rear weight bias is a problem with this model. The paint finish has proved to be very poor and it flakes very easily. I have been trying to match the colours in order to touch up the white patches left. More chips appear as soon as the model is moved - just how have they prepared the surface prior to painting?? More problems with lack of glue in some of the joints in the wing centre section and one of the retract supports broke fitting the unit in - landings should be fun!








3/12/2005 1/7th scale pilots painted and installed. Fitted front windows with much fiddling. Second engine added to wing after flight testing in Aresti 40.




Update 29/12/2005 Plane is pretty well finished now sporting 8oz of lead in each nacelle!.All up weight is 13lbs! Engines have been run up in the plane. What a noise - she cleared off up the garden very quickly and I am sure she will get into the air - staying there and getting down again might be a problem. Yesterday had problems with the plate holding the flap servo which just fell apart. Had to make new part with the grain running the correct way and epoxy in. Reinforced all the glue joints I could find. Decided I had to e-mail Flair with a list of the problems I had encountered in the build of this plane. I can't say I am confident with this one and have told Flair so.



Update 06/01/2006 Sent Flair an e-mail expressing my feelings for the quality of this model and listing some of the issues I had had to deal with. You may be interested in the reply... "Hi Guy, We are sorry you are experiencing problems. When we took over Flair in June we did give the Chinese factory some comments on their construction. However they chose to ignore us and believed they had the perfect product.In August 05 we handed the UK agency back to them as they were unwilling to work to our requirements, infact iam no longer dealing with a Chinese firm as I can produce a better product made in the UK even though the products are kits. We believe that Perkins are the distributors now for cmpro. I will despatch to you some glue to assit with some of your trouble. Thanks Flair"
I replied mentioning the fact that their web site is still showing these models ..