Customer Reviews

Great Plane Review by Blues Pilot

Quality
Value
Overall

I belong to a couple of clubs in the area and there must be 10 or so of these Hummers flying around, Good value, Flys great,,, Maybe not a drunken Bumble Bee like the 31inchers, takes a pretty got hit at times(: 2216 or 450 gives some vertical if that's what you like. Very popular plan around these Parts.
Airplane Guy (Posted on 2/29/2016)

good value beater Review by matthew

Quality
Value
Overall

Don't expect a very tight performing plane, but is a great beater to practice skills at a nearby park or beach. Good value for a toss in the car spur of the moment plane. (Posted on 3/23/2015)

You get what you pay for, and not too bad Review by Matt

Quality
Value
Overall

this kit is sturdier than I expected and nicely constructed. for the price you can not go wrong. my main complaints are that the instructions weren't very good, it was 1 double sided photocopy with tiny black and white pictures and not very good english so it is tough to tell what you are supposed to do. however the kit is not very complicated and I am an amateur builder and I was able to figure it out.

I didn't like what they said to do with the control linkages, basically stick the two sticks (from control horn and servo horn) into a shrinkwrap tube and fill it with glue. in my experience glue doesn't hold on to metal for very long, so I opted to use my own linkages.

when the box showed up there were carbon rods sticking out of the corner, they were bent in a big C to fit in to the box and had poked out the corner. the rods were ok but I was worried they'd fall out or the post office would reject it. (Posted on 3/21/2015)

Terrific value Review by Jay

Value
Overall
Quality

I have just started learning 3D flying. After destroying a pair of expensive models I decided to look for a more economical approach. The Hummer has certainly lived up to that desire. Assembly was not too tough after viewing two vids on YouTube. The included directions are of little help. I purchased the recommended motor, ESC and servos. This turned out to be a bad decision - more on this later.

The model only required battery placement to achieve balance. Maiden flight required only minor trimming.

The airframe has proven to be very strong. After several crashes I have only managed to break two props. The landing gear attachment is one of the best I have seen on a foam model.

After just a few flights one of the servos failed. After 30 flights the ESC failed. I purchased the recommended 18a ESC. Now I see that the recommendation is 20 - 40a. Oops.

Overall - a great value and an excellent 3D trainer I heartily recommend the Hummer. (Posted on 9/27/2014)

First flight today Review by David

Overall
Quality
Value

First flight, trimmed easy, and stable.take time to make sure wings and control surfaces are level and squared. I added CF rods to stiffen up tail and rudder,.also cut and plywood framed area behind motor for battery above fuselage supports. can fly w/ up to 2200mah battery.great plane (Posted on 6/30/2014)

Good airplane, bad build instructions. Review by Soren

Value
Overall
Quality

Instructions are in fine print, both sides of one 8.5x11 inch paper. It's all there, but unless you know what to look for, it could be challenging.

The main negative is that they recommend 502 glue (non-foam safe CA) for the assembly. Non-foam safe CA is fine to use on EPP, but this is a 3D plane, it's going to hit the ground (at least with me flying it...), and CA is brittle. I really wanted to build it fast, and I let that and the instructions over-rule my better judgement (which was my fault), and used CA for the build. As I feared, CA is fine until you hit something. I've had several glue joint fracture. Repairs have been done with 5 minute epoxy when possible, thin CA when I need it to wick. I should add that this is not my first rodeo, and I know how to make good glue joints.

Another issue is that you wind up gluing to painted surfaces, never a good thing.

I did not glue the landing gear in. It does not come out in flight, but can be removed by pinching the legs together. I recommend this approach if you 're going to fly on grass.

I'm using a turnigy d2830/11 @1000kv (nearly the same as the Gforce e400), an acp 11x3.8 slow fly prop (also used the 10x4.5 slow fly from value hobby - cheap but fragile), a hobbyking 18amp esc, 4 9gm tower pro servos), and an frsky 5ch micro rx(4gm). Weight w/o battery is 455gm. No way will the flying weight be under 500gm w/o mods to the airframe; there's nothing heavy in my build A thunderpower 1300mah 3s runs about 65gm, and that's about as light a battery as can be used. Perhaps "flying weight" of 450-500 means w/o battery?

I built some servo arm extensions by screwing a double sided arm to a single sided arm with 2ea 2mmx8mm screws. The single sided arm goes on the servo, the control rod goes into the far end of the double sided arm. Without this, I did not have sufficient roll rate. There are some plywood bits that look like they are supposed to be servo arm extensions, but usage was unclear and would have required more work than my approach.

CG. I could not believe the recommended CG, 120-130mm aft of the leading edge, so I searched RCGroups. People said it works, and it does, but it is boarderline stable in pitch. I have programmed a landing mode on my radio. Lower throws and adds LOTS of expo. Landing it yesterday, it was floating down nicely. A small gust hit it, and it ballooned up 8 ft. Several times... If your radio does not support multiple flight modes, I'd go with either really low rates with a dual rate setup (like 40%) or really high expo (like 70%) for the initial flights.

On the plus side, it flys inverted with no forward stick at all. Trim it right side up, flip it over, and it's still trimmed! Never seen that before! I suggest starting more like 100-110mm and working the cg aft. I should add that I generally fly with the CG fairly far aft and am fairly good at not over controlling.

The motor I'm using provides sufficient power and is probably limited by the generally poor condition of my batteries. Of the two props I've used, I would recommend a 11x3.8 over a 10x4.5 prop. Current draw is about the same, but the larger prop will be more efficient and provide a little better throttle response.

Bottom line is if flys great, build with epoxy where ever possible, and have fun!

One final pointer. I have two pieces of ~40" 1.25"x1.25" aluminum angle. I used these to hold the fuse straight and align the fuse stiffeners when I glued them. Worked very well.

(Posted on 5/26/2014)

Durable, fun easy plane to fly. Great for learning 3D Review by Big Steve

Value
Overall
Quality

Had 10+ flights on this plane. Turnigy 2826-13 motor and 9x4.7 or 10x4.7 prop. 1300mAh, 1800mAh or 2200mAh 3s battery. Heavier battery for windy (> 10mph) days.

CG should be right on the spar, NOT as indicated in the manual for stable flight.

Crashed head-on a few times with minimal damage, including hitting a tall tree, requiring me to poke it down with a long pole.

Build instruction provided with kit is mostly useless. Google search for advice on how to build it straight. If done right you have a very stable flying machine. (Posted on 5/21/2014)

A Good Park 3D Plane Review by Greg/Casehatter

Quality
Value
Overall

I used a 400 alpha , with a 11 x 7.5 slow fly at 920KV's 30amp ESC and a 1000mha 3-cell fly's great and handles good for a EPP they keep getting better. watch my review http://flitetest.com/articles/hummer-3d?preview=1 (Posted on 12/16/2013)

nice profile, strong, good design Review by Greg

Quality
Value
Overall

I put her together with med. CA and activator two part epoxy I used a exceed alpha 28-30/920kv with a 30 esc and a 11-4.5 slow fly and it all fit nice I had the motor for years great motor, 1000ma 3cell battery from here dang thing will move on and spins like a rocket floats and glides well water falls hoovers and knive edge like crazy. I did good with this one thanks Value Hobby for another great plane..!! After I fly it for a spell you can find a review @ flitetest.com under casehatter or @ you tube under Mr. Casehatter..!! (Posted on 12/6/2013)

Great EPP 3D plane for the money! Review by Phil

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This plane is almost identical to the Hyperion sniper II but about 1/2 the price! construction wise, it's about the same but actually I like the hummer LG system better! my sniper LG gave away and broke on a hard landing, Hummer LG still holding so far. I think the color on the EPP is brighter to! But BEWARE of cheaper price on this kit from others than Valuehobby because I have heard on the forums they don't come with the lazer cut wood inserts for servos & aileron horns which make for a much stronger plane than just buring servos in the foam( like the sniper) I powered mine with a Turnigy Park 450 1200kv 30a esc 10x4.7 SF prop & a Gforce 3s 1300mah 40c Lipo and it's balanced perfect! for someone learning to fly 3D, you can't go wrong with this one! Great job Valuehobby & Red Eagle Model! (Posted on 3/31/2013)

Great 3D bang for the buck Review by Roger

Quality
Value
Overall

This EPP foam plane is like a clone of the Hyperion Sniper II, but 40 bucks cheaper! It flys pretty much the same as the Snipper. I used the Emax 1200 rpv seven dollar motor with a 10 x 4.7 prop which is plenty of power. Battery used is a 1000 mah Gforce with a 20 amp ESC, and Tower pro 5 gm servos. The 5 gm servos fit perfect in the wing servo cut outs. I sugggest one be careful to install the wing in the fuse before applying the fuse side joiners/strengtheners. My fuse ended up with a slight bend giving it right motor thrust, but it dosen't seem to effect the way it flys. A fun fully 3D plane......does knife edge very well. Can't get more fun for
so little money. I love these EPP foam planes.....the foam is very rubbery and will take take a lot of abuse. Also you can use CA, epoxy, or most any glue in assembly. (Posted on 1/23/2013)

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