Ultimate Bipe-EP

The Ultimate Bipe from Nitroplanes.com is a beautifully constructed high quality plane. As an RTF kit is goes together very quickly and everything to put the plane together is supplied with the kit. All you need to do is pick your favorite brushless out runner motor, esc, and 4 9 gram servo's. The Ultimate comes in Purple, Yellow, Red, or Blue. It's your choice they are are great! If you go to the NitroPlanes.com you'll see a video of it in action. So if your looking for a great smaller sized bipe this is a great choice and it helps keep cost down when it will fly on a 3S 1300 to 2100 mAH. Take a look you won't be disapointed.

Jason
MaxAmps.com

Remote Control Helicopter R/C 3-channels double propeller full proportional helicopter

It's considerably bigger and heavier than the Air Hogs types, you definitely want a fair sized room to fly it in.  It's very stable, will hover with no inputs from you. It has a third channel, a very clever system, in that a magnet pops up and makes the rotor tilt forward and makes the helo fly forward.  Duration is about five minutes.  It has enough power to fly, but not excess power, just enough to hover and fly around a bit, full bore all the time.  I don't know, maybe mine is a dud and others have more power...
Anyway, I've had some fun with it, particularly at the cheap price.  It's a cool toy.

Red Micro Palm Size Indoor R/C Helicopter

This is called the Syma Fly Fairy.  It flies very well.  It is set up differently from some of the other microcopters, in that when trimmed out, it wants to circle and move forward, rather than hover in one position, like most of them.  ONce you understand that, it's very easy to fly.  It's more scale and more attractive than the foam bodied ones, but more fragile, too.  It does not like flying outdoors much, and it's a little fragile for that, but it's very nice in the living room.  It's also nicer in that you can actually land it on the skids, no problem.
Lots of fun, but maybe a good second one, if you already have the air hogs havoc style one, this flies differently and keeps things interesting.

China Model Productions CMP 50 sized P-40 Warhawk

Just to clear up some confusion, and a lot of misinformation on the internet...CMP is not Willhobby, or FlyModel, or any other company.  CMP is thier own company, and they have been around for  while. I have built a few of their planes, and found the quality to be quite exceptional, they are high-end stuff, and from a scale point of view, nobody else comes close.
The P-40, from a scale aspect, blows away the Hangar 9 and everybody else's P-40.  The paint job is dead flat and perfect, and there are a ton of factory-installed water transfer decals, a beautiful glass belly tank, strut covers, prepainted canopy frame, lots of nice stuff.  All the hardware is exceptional, too, with a fiberglass pushrod for the elevator, and a pull-pull system for the rudder.
You need to be careful flying it, though.  It has no washout, it's not light, and it will tip stall if you pull too hard or get too slow.  The big problem, though, is that the CG in the manual is actually for the much larger 71" one, and will leave you very tailheavy if you don't correct it to about 85mm from the LE.  It's really, really important.
If you fly off grass, you will have really hard time finding rotating retracts that will hold up.  Seriously consider fixed gear like I used.
I flew mine with a Saito 62, fit perfectly and was plenty of power.
Let's here some other comments, this is a beautiful plane..

Nitroplanes FlyModel B-17 Flying Fortress

One of the most interesting models I have ever assembled.  A four engined bomber without a lot of hassle and expense...
First, the good parts...it goes togther pretty quickly, and it flies BEAUTIFULLY.  It also looks GREAT in the air.
Second, the bad parts...there are some minor quality control issues, and it's not perfectly scale.

It's mostly nicely-done wood, with a few plastic and fiberglass parts.  The decals were simply awful, and I threw them away.  The QC issues were not enough paint on the upper canopy deck, and complete and total mispainting of the ball turret.  Also, the nose is painted solid, it would really look better with some windows.  The retracts are not in the scale position, but that's something of a plus, as they are very simple and strong to set up.  I used Nitroplanes retracts, and had no problems.
The rest of the equipment...Raiden 1300kv speed 400 motors, Nitroplanes 8x4 props, Raiden 25a escs, towerpro 4010 servos, one JR retract servo, Spektrum AR7000 receiver, 2 2220 3s packs, one driving the inner motors, the other for the outer.
The motor and esc package is the one offered  by nitroplanes for $160, it's cheap, and works like a charm.
The plane flies just beautifully...I will post more detail if anybody is interested...

If you ever wanted to do a B-17, here is your chance.  Anything else is hideously complicated, or not very scale, or incredibly expensive.  This was my first four engined model, and everything went very well, and people are VERY impressed with it in the air.  And you can't beat the price.  Go for it, it's not too challenging, it's easy enough to get together, and very easy to fly, and the performance is just great.

Nitroplanes Guanli PBY Catalina Seaplane

It's a wonderful plane. It took about an hour for me to get it together. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about putting it together, except things will go much faster with five minute epoxy instead of the provided contact cement. Every single item is included, even a screwdriver and glue. The only thing you need to provide is 8 AA batteries for the transmitter.
So...how does it fly? Just great. With the provided brushed geared motors and NIMH battery, it has adequate power to fly around nicely, and will loop from a shallow dive. It is extremely stable, and extremely easy to fly. It could be a first or second plane. Hand launching is very easy. It will also get off water or snow. If you plan on flying off water, you will probably want to add a water rudder to help steer it around after landing. If you are flying off anything but soft grass or water, you will probably want to add some clear packing tape to the bottom of the fuselage and wing floats to prevent them from getting scratched up. Do not attempt to fly it without the provided wing struts, they are needed, and stay away from any wild aerobatics that might give the wing negative G forces, it's not really stressed for that. The plane is plenty strong for normal flying, but it's not an aerobat, nor was the real PBY Catalina. It looks best doing a low pass or touch and goes off the water. It's extremely light, and will fly very very slowly, it's hard for beginning pilots to get into trouble with it, and the flight charachteristics are certainly suitable for park flying.

Flight times are around 8 minutes with the provided pack, and the wall charger takes about an hour to refill the pack. The 27 MHZ radio works fine, it occasionally glitches here and there, but recovers right away. Keep in mind that range is not unlimited, keep the plane withing 500 feet of you or so, and that you are subject to interference from many other toys and other devices out there. It would be very easy to install a different receiver, but, again, the provided one is perfectly adequate. Do make sure your receiver antenna is stretched out all the way to the tail, that you have fresh batteries in the transmitter, and that you range check your system before you fly it.

As far as upgrades go, if you change the installed connector, you can put in an inexpensive 12c 3 cell 2200mah lipo battery. It will fit flat on the tray right above where the NIMH pack went, and will stay where it is by just a friction fit between the tray and the fuselage and the pushrods. The extra power of the 11v lipo makes for a dramatic transformation...power is now much more than is needed, she will climb out at a 45 degree angle, and flight times are 12-15 minutes. Full throttle is rarely needed. Motor life may suffer in the long run, but mine has been fine so far, and it's a lot more fun to fly with the lipo pack. I feel no need at all to upgrade the motors to brushless, the provided geared systems are more than adequate to fly the plane very well.

It's a heck of a deal for $99, you really can't go too far wrong. I'm very pleased.

Nitroplanes Guanli A-10 Warthog

Construction quality and paintwork from the factory is excellent, no problems at all.  It took me about 20 minutes to put it together using five minute epoxy.  I left the landing gear off, I prefer to hand launch.  Be sure ot put some tape on the bottom for protection.

The plane flies fine on the stock NIMH pack and brushed motors, in spite of all the internet "Experts" saying it would not.  It will loop and roll, no problem, but it's modestly powered with the stock setup, and flight times are maybe five minutes, tops.
Swapping out the 650NIMH pack for a three cell 1300 lipo made a whole new airplane out of it.  Now it is fast and vividly aerobatic, and flight times are long.  I set a timer at eight minutes to make sure I do not overdrain the lipo and ruin it.  No reason why you could not put in a 2200 pack, either.
Beware of one thing, though...the way it is set up from the factory, there is way too much elevator throw, and you may kill it on the first flight attempt.  Move the control horn to the innermost hole on the elevator servo horn, and the outermost one on the horn on the elevator, and everything will be fine.
I am still using the included 27mhz radio.  It will occasionally glitch if I point the TX antenna right at the airplane, otherwise, it has been working fine.
I have put a dozen flights in using the 11v lipo and the stock brushed motors, and the motors and ESC are still going strong, so consider that before buying a brushless converson for it.  Power is a non-issue with the stock motors and a lipo batt.
The plane is stable and easy to fly, yet very aerobatic.  I like flying it in low and close, like the real thing.  
All I can say is the plane is better than expected in all respects, much better than the similar GWS offering, and it is well built and a super value for the money.  Great plane to keep in the back of the car and toss around whenever you see an open space.

NitroPlanes Guanli FW-190 RTF Kit (Green Paint Scheme)

I got this yesterday from a friend and when I opened the box I was really surprised at what I saw. I have experience with GWS kits and I was expexting something on that order. But WOW this was way better than any GWS kit. I couldn't believe all of this and they sell em' for only 85 bucks. This is a greta deal. The quality is good and talk about quick set-up time. Like the box says it's almost RTF. You can't do this with any over priced GWS kit. Look if you want to get a few warbirds or heck even the whole squadron try these Guanli Warbird RTF kits out from NitroPlanes. You'll have a plane or two that are easy to set-up, look great and they won't break the bank. Not only that but if you ever want to upgrade to A Brushless system it's a breeze to do. Oh yeah, you can read the instructions. Yup they are in english and very easy to follow. That's another one up on the GWS kits.

If you have any questions on these planes e-mail me at jason@maxamps.com


Thanks Nitroplanes for making the hobby a bit more affordable for us all.


Jason

Nitroplanes Sea Fury

 

It's a big model, very brawny.

I am using a Monster Power 110 motor, which is probably overkill, but it will go straight up.  Unlimited vertical.
Power is two 4000mah 4s packs.
Speed control is a Castle Creations 85hv.
Using a seperate 1600 5 cell pack for the radio.
I have Raidentech digital servos on all surfaces, they seem just great so far, not cheap junk, but very nice servos.
It comes with flaps, but fixed gear.  It is not retract ready, but installing retract bays should be no big deal, it's a plain wood wing.
Woodwork and covering is superb.  Glasswork is good, and very light.  The wing and stab tips are fiberglass, too.
I made mine a two-piece wing, it holds up in flight, no problem.
I fitted one of the Nitroplanes WWII pilots, it looks GREAT, and they are very cheap.  I had to cut his base down a little to fit.
The only complaint I have had so far is I think the elevator pushrod is a little too flexy for my tastes, so I replaced it with 4/40 rods and a fiberglass tube.
So far, very pleased...

I have about a dozen flights on it, the more I fly it, the more I love it.  Incredibly aerobatic, fast, and very very very easy to land.  Wonderful plane.

Nitroplanes Guanli P-47 Thunderbolt

Firstup, in spite of all the internet "experts", the plane does indeed fly fine on the stock brushed system with NIMH batteries. Power is adequate, flight times are six minutes or so.
You don't need brushless power...if you really want to honk around, just change to a 3 cell 1300 lipo pack, then power is more than you need, and duration is 10 minutes plus.
It will do any maneuver in the book, it's very stable, and it's a lot of fun to fly.  It's cute as a button, too.
Quality is excellent all around.  If one of your servos does not work, try tightening the case screws, they are often loose from the factory.   I have been using the included 27mhz radio with no problems.
I used five minute epoxy instead of the provided contact cement, I like it better.
I did not use the landing gear, I hand launch mine.  I used the remains of the decal sheet to cover the bottom of the fuse for landing protection.
This is about as much fun as you can have for $80, it's an amazing deal.  I keep it in the back of the car and toss it around at any little park or field I can find.
It's not a copy of the E-flight P-47 or anybody else's plane, it's an original.

Towerpro SG5010 standard servos

I had some bad luck with the 995 Towerpro digital servos a few years ago, they were really bad, so I was kind of gunshy about trying these ones.
Well, I've used about 20 so far, with no issues.  All have been fine right out of the box, they are just a decent, powerful, accurate standard servo, with a nice quiet geartrain, suitable for most uses, with a nice complete package of horns and mounting hardware.  I have put quite a lot of flying on them with no issues at all, I'm very happy.  I build a lot of planes, and I am always looking for ways of fitting them out without spending so much, and these really help.  They work the same as my Futaba or JR standard servos, no issues.

Raidentech Formula 1 Ride On Car

When I was a kid, we would go to FAO Schwartz and see toys like this, they cost thousands and were for young princes and such, totally out of my league.  But, hey, I always wanted one.
Well...I'm always getting all these big boxes from UPS, and my six year old daughter keeps getting mad that none of the boxes are for HER(they are all RC models for me), so I was poking around one day on the Raidentech site, checking out all the toy stuff I never knew they had, when I spotted this thing...hey, it was only $189, I took a chance, and six days later, UPS delivered this box, this HUGE box, much bigger than my airplane boxes, and my daughter was very thrilled that finally, here was a box for HER, and it was as big as a hot dog stand.  She would have been happy with just the cardboard box for a playhouse, but inside the box was this great car...

It took about 45 minutes to assemble it, you need to put on the mirrors and the rear spoiler and steering wheel, not much else.  Simple stuff.

So, how does she go?  About 5mph, much faster than the old Barbie Jeep she has, fast enough to be interesting, not fast enough to be dangerous.  It has three speeds built in, so you can limit the speed for smaller children.
I'm sure I will be able to modify it for a lot more speed at some future day(I'm handy that way!) but for now, she's really happy.
It has lights, a horn, turn signals, built in digital music player, plus a working FM radio.
The battery lasts for about two hours of play.
The quality is excellent, the thing is tough.
They also make a two seater jeep, but it's only in camo, not really her speed. I hope Raidentech imports something like an MG roadster, so I can get her something else, too.
I just need to persuade some other parent to get one of these so we can have races through Central Park.
We drive this thing down the street, it gets an unbeleivable amount of attention.  All the kids want one, and all the adults all say they wanted one when they were a kid.  And everybody thinks it costs a grand or so.  I don't really tell them otherwise, I let my kid be the center of attention for a bit, she's proud of her car.
I have to say, it has been the most incredibly impressive and fun thing for the money that I have ever gotten for my kid, it's very afforadable, and very big and cool, it's a big, serious toy, any kid's fantasy.  She's pleased as punch.
I'm going to try to get some good video when the weather gets better.

Nitroplanes P-82 Twin Mustang

All wood, except for the fiberglass cowls and chin scoops.  Very light, very accurate construction.
I made the outer wing panels removeable.  The two fuses with the center section are very easy to transport.
It includes mechanical retracts.  They are plastic, they work, but off grass, they won't last forever.
I converted it to electric with two Monster Power 46 motors, two TowerPro 70a escs, a seperate BEC, and two 4000 5s Exceed lipos.  Performance is superb, very easy to fly, very very easy to land, very aerobatic.  Has flaps.  I added two Nitroplanes pilots, too, they look good.
Fast to build, very inexpensive to buy and fit out, flies superbly.  Great first twin.

It's a real bargain of a model, sells for an insanely low price for what it is.  It's big and impressive, and flies beautifully.
Later on, I repainted it black to make a nightfighter, see the bottom picture.

NITROPLANES SU47 BEKRUT

I'm a foamie freak, I love all the new foamie jets coming out, I get them all, and this one is my current favorite.

It's fast, maybe 70mph, has plenty of power, and makes a really cool twin sound.  The foam is very tough, and CA safe.

It's very stable, in spite of the forward-swept wings.  It's very very maneuverable, you need to watch out, it reacts really fast.  The roll rate is unbeleiveable, fastest I have ever seen.

Takeoffs are about 75 feet off pavement, or you can hand launch it easily.

Flight times are maybe 6 minutes.

I'd stay away from the version that includes the radio, as it really helps to have a good computer radio with expo and dual rates.
The CG is set at the factory, you can't go wrong that way.  But you need to watch out, the plane is very agile and might surprise you on the first takeoff.  It's not for beginning pilots, but it turns in a really sparkling performance for more experienced guys.
It only takes an hour or so to put together.  Contact cement is included, but five minute epoxy works better and faster.  Be sure to secure all screws and connectors with CA or locktite, and make sure you have no slop in your control system.

Anyway...I cannot say enough nice things about this plane.  I have about fifteen flights with not a scratch on it, the sound and shape are fantastic in the air, and the performance good enough to keep me interested and excited.

Exceed Monster Power outrunner motors

I thought I would put down a few words on my experiences with the Monster Power motors...

I have a lot of planes, and most of them nowadays are electric. It generally costs a bundle to do large electrics, so I am always looking for ways to reduce the costs, without taking big chances on losing an airplane. Last year, I rolled the dice and ordered up a pair of Monster Power 46 motors. I set my expectations low...I had never heard much said about these on the internet or magazines, there were pretty much no flight reports around, so I had no real idea of what I was getting into. Let me say in no uncertain terms that I have been beyond pleased, and very surprised.

The motors come very neatly packaged, in tight form-fitting foam holders, in cardboard boxes. There is a sheet of motor specs inside, but not a lot in the way of instructions. A ton of accessories are included...there is a sturdy cross mount, a set of quality bullet connectors, a special collar for the shaft to keep it from sliding forward, a very brawny bolt-on prop adapter, a prop washer, a prop nut, a really nicely done anodized prop spinner/nut, and every bolt and screw needed to get it together. You can either use it as it comes, with a rear firewall mount, or loosen the allen grub screws holding the motor to the shaft and push the shaft through the motor using gentle pressure in a vice to reverse the mounting and mount the motor from the forward end. I think you will have to use a different prop adapter, though, as the included one mounts right to the front of the motor case with four provided bolts, and you may need a collet-style prop adapter that goes directly to the shaft. I do not know, I have not tried. It's really great that everything is included...I had problems before with motors I ordered from overseas having missing prop adapters, connectors, or screws, and it's been a real headache. That's not the kind of stuff you will find at most hobby stores, so you will spend your time arguing with vendors overseas to send you the stuff you need to mount your motor and make it work.

What really struck me, though, at first impression, was the quality of the machining. It's not cheap Chinese junk. It's Mercedes-class machine work. And the motor is anodized a nice blue color. Ball bearings, too. I'm an old-school engine freak, I have had everything from 1930's Brown Junior ignition motors to Jetcat turbines, and one of the bummers about most electric motors is they generally have a sort of purposeful, semi-disposeable feel to them, but these ones just feel different, they are a nice, QUALITY feeling piece of machinery, and I spent a certain amount of time just flipping them over and feeling the way they rotate, just like I would enjoy with a good glow motor. Sorry, I'm a motor nut, I can't help it.

I don't go in for all the weird new metal or plastic mounts they have nowadays for outrunner motors...I simply made up some 1/4" plywood boxes for mounting my motors, with a hole drilled in the firewalls for the rear shafts to protrude. My test bed was a new Nitroplanes P-82, and the electric conversion was dead simple, the longest part was making up the motor mounts. I mounted two TowerPro 70a ESCs right to the side of the box motor mounts I made up, no problems there, and used Exceed Fusion power 4000mah 5s lipos, one per side. 4s would have been enough for this plane, too.

There are no prop recommendations with the motors, but the specs for the entire line seem to match up with the E-flight Power series of motors, so I used E-flight's advice on prop choices. I picked something in the middle of the range, a pair of 13/8 APC props. Well...in the air, the plane has unlimited vertical, and is almost dead silent. Takeoffs are in 50 feet. The motors easily meet or exceed the power of a pair of 46 glow engines, only no noise, dead reliability, no fuss starting a twin. Many flights, zero service issues, the motors are still going strong.

Since then, I have tried some of the others in the range...some of them I have gotten airborne, others, the projects are still on the bench, but I have the Monster Power 15, 25, 46, 60, 110, and also a new 160 on the way, which I will be putting into one of the FlyModel F-86D propjets. The 110 is in a Sea Fury that is almost ready to go. I have flown the smaller ones(if you can consider the 60 small!) in a bunch of projects, and have had nothing but positive things to say. So, I'm really happy, as I am getting very high quality motors at stupid low prices, and not having to deal with ordering from overseas.

If you want to try a large electric conversion, you might want to give these a shot. Me, I have been very happy with what I have gotten, no complaints at all. And I'm a picky guy....

Nitroplanes F-22 EDF

I got this plane to keep my Su-47 company. I already had the excellent Sapac F-22, so the bar for the Nitroplanes one to beat was pretty high. It's considerably smaller than the Sapac one, and made out of a completely different kind of foam. The foam seems to be CA glue resistant, and very tough, highly resistant to dings and damage. It's close to the indestructable EPP foam used on some models, but maybe not exactly the same. It's definitely not regular expanded polystyrene foam, but something better. The tail surfaces seem to be made of a different material, maybe sheet depron. Every single part is included...glue, a decent screwdriver, two 55mm fans with 4300kv inrunner motors, two 18a ESCs, three servos, a 2200 3s lipo battery, and a decent balancing charger for the battery. You can also get it with a transmitter and receiver included. Everything is installed, too. Construction is dead simple, but I will give you a few tips...



The ailerons and elevators are linked by pushrods. Make sure there is zero slop in the system. Make washers out of the spare control horns included, if you need to take up any slack. Make sure all of the nuts on the EZ connectors are CAed or locktited for safety. Make sure you turn your radio on and center the servos before you put the horns on, as they are hard to access once you have glued the wings on. There was a little bendiness in my ailerons due to the pushrods themselves flexing, but this has not proved to be an issue in flight. I added a strip of carbon fiber to the bottom of each stab, as they felt a little floppy, but I don't know if that's really needed...it just made me feel better. A couple of cocktail sticks would do the same job, if you don't have any carbon fiber around. I moved the nosegear steering to the inner hole of the servo and the outer hole of the steering arm to reduce the sensitivity of the nosegear. Both main gear legs have the shock-absorption coil going the same way, so one goes forward and one goes back, this works perfectly. Only three screws are provided for the main gear mounting for each side, three screws is plenty, even though there are four holes. I changed out the provided bullet connectors on the ESC and battery to Deans connectors, to make it compatable with the rest of my fleet. The bullet connectors came off with a touch of my soldering iron and went into my scrapbox for future use on something else. I used only five minute epoxy for construction. The provided contact cement works, but I don't like the stuff, and it takes too long to dry. The whole assembly of the plane took about an hour.

I used a Spektrum radio with an AR7100 RX, which may be overkill, but I had it on hand. You need to set up your radio for Delta mixing...if you cannot get the surfaces moving in the right direction, try switching the two servos into the opposite ports on the receiver...instead of left on aileron and right on elevator channels, plug the right into aileron and the left into elevator, and everything should work fine. I used the control throws shown in the manual, and used a bit of expo, which I highly recommend for the first flights. I ran the motors up slowly for the first time, to make sure the fans were balanced and to get them "bedded in" properly. There were no issues there, and they really howl. I mean, LOT of power. There are neat little blow-in doors on the bottom made out of flexible plastic, to get extra air to the fans at full throttle...they are very clever and work perfectly.

So...off to the field...

First takeoff took about 75 feet of pavement, then she was up and climbing at a 45 degree angle. She needed down trim...I flew a couple of circuits to get some altitude, then reached for the elevator trim...and switched off my transmitter instead. I did not realize that is what had happened...I thought the radio link was lost somehow. The motors stopped, there was no control, and she settled into a nice turning glide and landed in a tree with no damage. Stable airplane. Got her back down and tried again, this time without turning off the transmitter, and she flies beautifully. Quite fast, at least 70mph, with excellent vertical, great roll rate, very aerobatic. Not a difficult plane to fly, but fast and small and silver, it keeps you on your toes. Landings are dead easy, just keep a little power on and fly her down to the runway. The gear system is excellent, capable of taking some pretty rough landings. I have not tried her without the gear yet...while I think the hand-launch would be very easy, I am afraid of the landing, as the bottoms of the intakes are made of sheet plastic, I am afraid of damaging them, my grass is pretty rough.

I'm very pleased with this bird, it has exceeded all my expectations, particularly in the air. I feel no need to upgrade the motor system at all, the performance is more than adequate to me. The plane is very tough, very easy to assemble, looks good, is very inexpensive for what it is. Particularly exceptional is the performance...if you are used to EDF jets that just sort of fly around, this will be a big change for you, because this thing really FLIES. It's certainly not for beginners, but intermediate pilots will have no problem at all.

Nitroplanes F-15 EDF

Edomodels F-15

This plane is absolutley outstanding, particularly on two fronts...flyability and scale appearance.

What's in the box? Motor and 64mm fan and 25a ESC, already installed. Five servos, already installed. 2200mah lipo battery. A very useable balance charger that will peak and balance the battery to 12.6v exactly, just like my expensive charger does. A screwdriver, a package of good quality five minute epoxy. All hardware and landing gear. All foam components prepainted and predecorated. A canopy with the frame painted on. Everything you need except a transmitter and receiver.

Construction took about 45 minutes, with no problems and no surprises. Do check the fit of the foam parts, and sand away any paint where you are gluing. Keep in mind that both elevator control horns need to point towards the same side of the aircraft, so the elevators go up and down together. The main gear gets glued into place...there is no real easy way to change that(maybe with some plywood plates?), so you need to make the choice of either gear up or gear down and live with it. I got one and flew it with the gear on, and was so pleased that I ordered a second one so I could have another with the gear off for hand-launching over grass. Frankly, there is not much to say about building it, it's dead simple to get together.

So...off to the field. First takeoff took about 100 feet. It was obvious that it was at flying speed long before that, and that the slightly negative angle of attack from the small nosewheel was keeping the plane down, and I needed to apply elevator to get it off the ground. I suspect the designers did this deliberately, to make sure that beginning pilots would have adequate speed to avoid a slow takeoff and tipstall. If you put on a bigger nosewheel or bent the main gear forward a bit, it would take off a lot faster. Ground handling is exceptional. It will also go from a really easy hand-toss, or will even take off from its belly on smooth grass. Landings are super easy...just leave a little power on and fly her down to the runway, then cut the power. Don't try to "flare" her in, you would not do that will a full-scale F-15(stall a few feet above the runway!), you should not with the model, either. Again...it's really easy to land.

In the air, with the landing gear on, she likes a little dive before performing a loop. With the gear off, without the extra weight and drag of the wheels, she will go up and over with no issues at all. Rolls are just great, very axial and very scale. Speed is decent, no barn burner, but maybe 50mph. It's not "nominal" in any way, it has plenty of power to fly around with authority. Above all things, it's a very EASY plane to fly, dead stable, a perfect first jet, perfect for anybody with a little aileron experience. And it looks just awesome in the air.

On the scale front, the plane is really exceptional. The outline looks great, and there are lots of panel lines and details molded in to the airframe. Even better, there are some really great decal(well...not waterslide decals, but stickers, anyway) sheets included, with dozens and dozens of little grates and "no steps" and details included, and the instructions show where every one goes. I spent an extra hour or more putting all these on(after I test flew it) and they really add a lot of texture and make the model come alive. So far, nothing I have seen on the foamie EDF front has come close to this F-15 on scale appearance. Both paint schemes available are nice, too.

It flies very nicely on the stock power system, but advanced pilots might want a little more urge...it's easy to modify. On the bottom of the plane you will see a hatch right beneath the motor, if you run a sharp razor around the edges, you will cut the glue joint and you can get to the fan to change motors. The battery holder is a simple and clever velcro strap, and I had no problem fitting in a 4s battery instead of the 3s provided. I flew around for about 3 minutes with the 4s, and it was a dramatic difference in speed and climb, but the motor was not made to take it, and burned out after three minutes. So...you will need a different motor, and perhaps a different ESC. The airframe is plenty strong to handle a lot more power. Fly it first, stock, you might be surprised at how able it is in the air, but feel free to upgrade it further, it's a good airframe for that.

At any rate, this plane is a real winner, and a perfect place to get your feet wet in jets...I can put in 5 quick flights on my way home from work, no maintainance, no problems, and fun in the air.