I finished building and flying my model today outfitted with a RIM Fire electric engine and a 22.5 V 4000 mah battery from Value Hobbies.
The delivery: I received my plane via UPS, when I opened the package everything was very nicely packaged together and there was no damage to any of the parts.
The build. As I reviewed the user guide, I quickly realized I will have to depend on my experience to finish the model correctly. Many instructions were abbreviated or skipped.
The wing construction went very smoothly. The only issue was a control horn that would not thread properly, so I replaced it with my own.
The tail construction was fine, but the hinge slot on the rudder was misplaced. I had to re-cut the rudder in the correct position.
The landing gear wheel came with one unthreaded lock nut. I replaced it with my own (you'll see it cost me the wheel in flight)
The biggest issue came when connecting the wing to the main body. The plastic screws provided were too short, and quickly stripped at the tips. When I went to the store to buy new ones, they turned out to be a metric thread. So I had to buy a complete replacement, which meant removing the existing nut already epoxied in the wood.It took a little work, but at the end it felt a lot safer than what was included.
When it came to balancing, there were no instructions on the location of the CG. so again with some experience you can do that. I balanced the model by adding weights to the tail.
The flight. I took off in about 11mph wind. The .46 engine was a bit overpowering for the plane, but on a windy day, it was fine. The plane flew nice and straight I did a few loops and turns and all wen t well. When I came to land I saw that the wheel with my replacement nut had come off and the wheel was gone. I landed smoothly on grass, and plan on replacing with my own wheels.
Overall lots of fun, and great value for money, other similar models will cost no less than $180. So even adding the cost of replacement parts keeps you well under those prices.