Well I received my DF65 today and I have just finished it. I thought I'd make a few comments on this little delight.
Firstly, Im pretty new to model yachts but I have vast experience with aeroplanes and other models. Someone somewhere made the comment that, if you rushed it, you'd get this boat on the water in half an hour. Well, there's no way I could!
I DID make the following mods to mine: epoxy the deck eyes, cut one of the eyes into a hook, epoxy the aft deck main sheet pulley. I also took out the radio tray and varnished it. Please note all newbies than when you epoxy the eyes in THE STATIC ELECTRICITY OF THE DECK WILL ATTRACT THE THING STRANDS OF EPOXY LIKE BEES TO HONEY! The best thing to wipe epoxy off (anything) is meths. Im glad I knew this. I wish I'd know the static thing.
The instructions are good and augmented by importers notes.
The fitted radio is not great and certainly not water proof but I am using it.
The PVC decking (sticky back plastic) covers the sail winch drum and Ive seen at least one mod which suggests covering the winch drum with the backing sheet to avoid sticking. This is un-necessary because (a) the drum is recessed into a drum shroud and (b) the stick plastic covering isnt sticky in that area anyway!
I don't know why I cut deck eye 4 into a hook! It isnt used with the provided sails and rig.
Questions:
Why is deck eye 4 a hook?
The instructions say to remove the pvc decking after each outing in order to dry the innards. I appreciate the whys and wherefores, but will this not trash the PVC decking in short order?
The set up as sold give sheet out as "throttle off" , i.e. stick back and sheeting in as "full throttle". i.e. stick forward. My other yacht I set up opposite...is there a standard?
In conclusion this is a lovely little kit and builds into a very nice boat. I bought it to learn how to rig boats and get a benchmark for building my own scratch built yacht. It's done this admirably.
I look forward to getting my boat wet tomorrow.
David