The kit box is large, with all the major parts well packed in a light foam wrap and clear plastic bags. Slots in the interior cardboard held all items tightly in place, producing a sample of this product for review that will produce no damage from shipping.  Included with the kit are 8-ounce fuel tanks, engine mounts, wheels, hardware, pushrods, clear plastic canopy and nose cone, decal sheet, one-piece fiberglass cowls, and fixed wire landing gear. You will need to purchase some building supplies, engines, spinners, servo extensions, and a radio. Mechanical retracts are an interesting option to consider.  The quality of the materials is excellent with a one-piece fiberglass fuselage/fin straight and true. The 11-page instruction manual has excellent-quality step-by-step drawings.

Pluses:

• Well engineered—all parts fit together nicely.

Details and Recommendations:

Type: Semiscale ARF

Pilot Skill Level: Intermediate

Wingspan: 73 inches

Wing area: 1,286.5 square inches

Length: 52.5 inches

Weight: 11-11.5 pounds

Wing loading: 20.6 ounces per square inch

Engine: .25-.32 (two-stroke) or .26-.30 (four-stroke)

Radio: Five- to six-channel transmitter, seven to nine servos (rudder, elevator, flaps, one for each aileron, one for each throttle, one for each optional retract)

Construction: Molded fiberglass fuselage, tail sections, wing center-section, and engine nacelles with light-plywood support, balsa-and-plywood wing panels and sections

Covering/finish: Three-color flat-finished camouflage paint over fiberglass, film covered wings and tail

Construction: Model assembly begins with attaching the ailerons to the wings using cloth-style hinges provided in the kit. The engine nacelle splits the flaps on each wing panel, which are connected with a U-shaped joiner wire. The flaps are attached after the wing sections are joined, to make their alignment easier to match.

            The wing is composed of a center-section and two outer panels. The outer panels and control surfaces are built-up wooden structures, and the center-section is a fiberglass shell with a plywood skeleton.

            Two aluminum tubes—measuring 8⁷/₁₆ inches in length and ³/₄ inch in diameter—installed with epoxy are used as spars to permanently join the outer panels to the center-section with a slight amount of dihedral.

            The aileron servos are installed in the outer panels before the wing is joined.

            Four plywood formers give interior support to the fuselage’s one-piece fiberglass mold; the exterior seam joining the top and bottom is intelligently hidden with a change in paint color. The wing mates nicely with the fuselage’s saddle area using a notch and groove that ensures alignment. Three hefty metal screws are used to hold the wing in place.

            The elevator halves are an airfoil-shaped, wood-frame construction. An aluminum tube that measures 6¹⁵/₁₆ inches in length and ³/₈ inch in diameter joins the fiberglass stabilizer halves. The aluminum tube passes through a hole that must be cut through the sides of the molded fuselage.        Each elevator half is connected to the ends of a Y-shaped pushrod.

Finishing: The NitroPlanes.com Mosquito ARF is covered with Solartex that has been professionally spray-painted with flat military colors: gray/green camouflage on the top and all light gray on the bottom.

            The finish job is exceptional; all painted surfaces matched perfectly. Panel lines are embedded on all fiberglass parts.  The quality and quantity of included decals are excellent. They are made from a stick-on material and have a flat finish to match the paint.