Plane went together well. 2 of my friends have the version 1. Theirs are much faster. Barely flies on 4 cell. Would not take off on grass. Changed to 5 cell and the plane flew fine, but much slower than friends. I am upgrading to 80 amp esc. I hope the motor holds up. (Posted on 5/26/2015)
I have 6 flights on this plane and I love it. The plane flies great and is easy to handle. The retracts work flawlessly. The jet tracks well and required almost no trimming of the controls. The CG was spot on. The only draw back is the pane could be a little faster. Don't get me wrong, this jet is pretty fast just not a rocket. I may switch to a 10 blade fan. This jet is a great value for the money. (Posted on 3/31/2015)
Received this from Value about 3 weeks ago and finally able to maiden this week. Completely stock, on new Glacier 4s 3300 30C battery. This is an excellent flyer, without any single bad side. I fly off a grass runway - on maiden takeoff run, was caught by surprise when plane lifted off after less than a 75' run! Fully expected far longer run; there is more than adequate power on the stock setup. Flight performance was excellent - plane flies on rails, does exactly what it is commanded to do without drama. This is not the fastest plane in the fleet - guessing top speed, on 4s, to be in the 80mph - 85mph range. This will change dramatically with 5s power. Huge (200'+) loops from level flight easy to do; rolls decently axial and quick.
Only negative comment is retracts require about 8 - 10 seconds to energize after power-up. Never have seen this behavior before - after that start-up they work perfectly. DO expect to balance the fan rotor before you ever fly it....but this is a must-do for ANY fan. With this done, it even sounds good; not like a 10 or 12 blade fan, but substantially better than typical screeching 5 blade fans.
Unmodified, this plane will fly excellent, without issues. Of course, speed is addictive, and mods are easy. Very much worth the money! (Posted on 3/3/2015)
With other reviews i studied plus my own i have found that the first generation dynam motor had more power and more promise in the 4s and 5s lipo category.They detuned the motor. A motor swap and esc swap are in order i prefer a hobby-wing 60a or 80a esc and external bec to start or a exceed rc proton 60a or 80a esc and external bec for safety esc over heat cut off protection .The fan and motor i will upgrade to a 6 to 10 blade cyclone edf unit with a free-wing 2300 kv motor rated for 4s, 5s ,and 6s capable. The dynam esc loses motor tracking capability on quick throttle up then regains its tracking motor on throttle up shortly after ranging a quarter throttle spool up. Liner tracking is compromised on sudden throttle up. When tested the two other esc i describe are more linear across the board while throttling up they were very smooth without missing motor tracking phase. Also spring loaded landing gear instead of single strait shaft landing gear decrease the possibility of wheel hop and a better sticking buffered landing and less stress on fuselage under carriage.And wing installed retracts I also noted battery tray loose in glue areas noted checked and re-glued and noted by other post and reviews looked at by me. Also i made an elevator servo arm swap to gain more throw to upgrade handling response do to improper elevator travel all these upgrades were made by me before i even attempted to assemble the plane. And it is put back in the box until it gets warm out then i will assemble it. I also checked servos with a servo tester to make sure there were no sudden failures in that department if you do all of these spot checks , fixes , check all glue surfaces you will have a descent first maiden flight and a very safe one and last but not least do a surfaces check and cg check always before flight. this jet turns from [c] class to [a] class with just a few changes. Over all it is a very good frame to work with. Thank you (Posted on 1/24/2015)
