I found the Zeta BV-38 to be a very interesting & great looking model, the size is great for transport, & definitely a bargain price. I like flying wings. I made several mods that I feel will improve landings by fabricating alum. LG & added more vents for greater cooling. I painted the wingtips & vert. stabs bright yellow for contrast & a much better visual orientation in the air. I got new Iron Cross graphics from Callie to replace the painted-over factory graphics since they were not removable. I also changed the prop to a balanced APC 7 X 4. When assembly was completed, I applied a nice coat of Minwax Satin Polycrylic that definitely enhanced appearance & protected the easy-to-remove factory paint. Setting up with a 2200mah batt., I had to add (8) 1/4oz weights to the frontal inside cowl to get correct CG. With a 2450mah batt., I could remove (4) of the weights. I will maiden as soon as spring finally decides to arrive here in SW PA. I installed a Spektrum AR400 Rx & set my JR10X Tx to "Elevon" for flight control. For pics & description of my mods, you can see them on the RCG "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" thread.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2026327&page=50 (Posted on 4/10/2016)
I have been flying the zeta for a few months and have very few complaints/problems. The biggest issue is the front landing gear is very weak. If you do not grease all landings it will bend or come loose. The steering servo arm also has broken a coupe of times but with a little ingenuity and epoxy I can keep the bird in the air. It is a great floater when landing. It is a little tail heavy. Adding an ounce of lead in the nose and placing a 2400 lipo as far forward is the key. Even with that done, one time the front wheel fell off on take off and it took God and a prayer to get it down in one piece. The paint is another problem. It flaked off and was very thin in places. Also the lettering on the under carriage was upside down. I removed the original paint and applied flat black enamel to the top and mottled grey on the bottom. I repainted the German Cross (being a professional artist, it was no problemo) and now it is a real eye catcher at the field and the comments are all favorable. If you are willing to overlook some of the minuses and can paint then you will absolutely enjoy this plane. (Posted on 10/4/2015)
Cool looking model and flies very well. Easy to build, a lot of room for batt., receiver etc.
Landing gear is junk, too much spring and bounces down the runway when landing even with a "greased" landing. Gear broke first time on landing and will need to be replaced. I plan on installing strong retracts. As other people have pointed out the paint needs to be sealed or repainted.
Flight characteristics are very good and predictable however, the size and thin shape makes it difficult to see when flying directly toward or away from you.
This is a fun model to fly and gets great comments from pilots at the field. I would recommend this model with modifications. (Posted on 2/15/2015)
This is a fun plane and easy build park flyer with pusher prop very safe , the only thing is the color it really does not do plane justice it looks great I did mine in desert tan on bottom with olive green and lighter green camo paint scheme on top for orientation in flight , there is plenty of power with supplied motor and lots of ventilation thought the slots on underside of fuse the wings seem strong due to size and shape landing gear is ok , but there is room for some retracts if u wanted to there is lots of room in the battery compartment and u can put any size battery u want there is tons of room , I,'m using a 2650 mah 35 c 3s , it carries it fine with very good flight time.
In short if you want a fun attention getter with easy transport and good handling and fun get this one .I'm getting another one and do some serious mods to it put edf in center move vertical stabs to outside end of wing and make it thinner it will be fast very fast any way have fun fly safe and teach a kid to fly it the gift that keeps on giving fun and family bonding time . This is Capt. Smoke over and out (Posted on 7/23/2014)
I pick this plane up after seeing many videos and post on the forums, I was very happy with the how the plane came together. The flights have been really good, the flight time has been around 5-6 minutes per flight using the 2200 Mah 30c battery (my 1800 30c also gave it the same amount of time with power to spare) so that part I have really been happy with. I did do a repaint of the plane to get rid of the BV-38 decals and painted the bottom a lite blue and added the Swastikas to the rudder areas.. I am thinking about buying a second one with the intent of using it as a camera platform since it appears it could easily carry one. The only gripe I have is the paint seems to come off easy, so either repaint it with better paint or use dull coat to seal the paint.
Easy flyer - takes off in 5-10 feet at full throttle and can land very soft with a head wind! (Posted on 6/4/2014)
Easy assembly & very fun to fly.
I have 10 flights on it now & i like it more each flight.
I have a lot of RC planes & this one is becoming a favorite.
The paint job that doesn't stick is the only negative i have on this one. (Posted on 4/29/2014)
Although the esc and motor smoked the first time I powered it up, this plane is really unique and extremely easy to fly. All the Raiders of the lost ark geeks love this plane. Best flown with little or no wind. I would buy another. (Posted on 4/26/2014)
this bird is very easy to fly im using the flysky 6 channel transmitter and reciever i was able to get a roll out of it and a flip on high rates but i did land really hard and busted the font landing gear off but no worries glued it back on and ready to fly again (Posted on 3/27/2014)
very easy build havent flown it yet need to buy the battery but from what i have seen on the video it glides really nice cant wait to fly it.i have never put together anything so if i can do it so can you buy it you just might like it. (Posted on 3/12/2014)
