Kit comparison

[Maxout]

Perhaps a bit late in the season, but I have done build reviews for most of the available glider kits (the one from Steven's Aero is still in progress). Here the videos showing my findings:
Retro RC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZFcciEkIk
Guru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Md_mt-htI
Freedom Flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hDolLrPDOo

Flying session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGRu8ZOl3Sc

I found the Guru glider the easiest build by far, but ran into trouble with wing flutter. After taping the wings, this went away, but I've never made it much past 15 seconds in Cat I sites.
The Retro RC model is a pretty reasonable build, puts in similar times to the Guru plane, and doesn't really have bad habits. It's a little higher priced though
The Freedom Flight kit is overengineered by flies quite well. I cannot, however, get any significant camber into the wings. Bottom line: Rohacell is not a material for beginners to mess with. The kits are nice, but that stuff is murder to work with. Also the fuselages are much to underbuilt and that extra 0.5g of weight I ended up needing could have been spend on carbon rods to make the fuselage bulletproof. Also, the wing has nothing to keep it from sliding side to side, making alignment inconsistent. Given the low weight of the model, a movable wing is completely unnecessary.

Of these models, the Guru and Retro RC models will have trouble reaching the ceiling at the Nats. I've tested them outdoors and both fluttered severely when I tried to launch higher than 30'.

[DatSciolyBoi]

Freedom Flight may seem more complicated, but if you know how to use your tools, and have been working on these kits for awhile, it gets pretty easy.

[coachchuckaahs]

Josh:

Thank you for doing this. While we know (and you even say so) that the reviews are biased, it is a great service to see all of the various kits and approaches in one place, and actual build and fly by an experienced reviewer. All of you various videos are a great service to the community. I think your criticisms of the various kits are spot-on, and can lead to improvements if taken to heart.

From what I have seen, and our own experimentation, the direction you have taken with the Super Protege has stepped up the performance of available kits and plans.

Coach Chuck