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Airplane Ratings by the Pilots
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Links to the Ratings Pages
5-Star Ratings - 4-Star Ratings
- 3-Star Ratings - 2-Star Ratings
- 1-Star Ratings - 0-Star Ratings
| Plane | Rating | Comments | E-mail the Pilot | |
| Skyrunner, Hobbico | ** 1/2 | w/Tamiya Mini-Black, 7 N650SC, stock 7x6. 10 minute full power flight time.
Other Skyrunner Ratings: 4-stars, 1-star |
Tony Turley | |
| HL Bloody Mary | ** | ARF parkflyer with span of 38.5", motor supplied was a geared 280 of unknown manufacture with 9.5" prop needing 350 mAh batteries. Weight was 15 oz. Kavan, did an excellent job of fabricating the parts with everything fitting just as it should - first class. Instructions were skimpy. Rather nice looking. Little luck keeping the thing in the air - with its high wing tip dihedral, the lightest breeze flips it around and out of control. It seems under-powered, climb is rather labored. Touted as a beginner's plane, it's not doing too well so far, needing several repairs. | Bernie Hunt | |
| Canario, Cox | ** | came with motor, 5x450 mah, on/off switch, came with prop | Orville Shields | |
| ElectroStreak, Great Planes | ** | It was difficult to build because of the very small fuselage and unstable when flown. It
is fast, so it crashes quickly! The only reason I didn't give it a single * is that it looked
good when finished.
Other ElectroStreak ratings: 5-stars, 4-stars, 3-stars | Grant Calkins | |
| Hots, Midwest | ** | Astro 035 cobalt, 7x5 APC prop, 6 cell Sanyo 1700SCRC, Futaba Attack-E (full house), 39 oz. Pulling 25 amps with the 7x6
resulted in unacceptably short (for me) flight times, 3.5 to 4 minutes. Although it gave exciting performance, this is another plane
that needs a lot of power to maintain flight. I believe that in this case the airfoil is to blame, it is thin and certainly not a high lift
profile. I should have taken the hint a couple of years ago at the Mid Am Electric Fly in Saline when I witnessed a Cobalt
powered, 7 cell E-Hots take to the air for a high performance 2.5 minute flight.
See these other ratings on the Hots: 5-stars, 4-stars, 0-stars |
Jim Jager | |
| Jodel Parkflyer | ** | Great-looking Speed 280 geared (6:1) ARF. Sport scale, fiberglass body and built-up wing. High quality, easily assembled. Flew OK, but seemed under-powered and too wind-sensitive, not for beginners. | Andre McFayden | |
| Ju-52, Graupner | ** | A nice kit but mine had problems. A number of vital, irreplaceable (in the US) parts were missing. Instructions have major gaps which are best bridged if you have a lot of kit and scratchbuilding
experience. Instructions and parts supplied do not match photographs. Other gaffes would mean if you follow their directions and
timing, you will build and glue several parts that will have to be torn apart to do the next step. The standard 400 motors and scale
props have been criticized by others, but I found them quite adequate. I had built the wing/aileron set-up as described, although I
added aileron differential by separating the cable (snake) attachments to the servo wheel to give more up than down. Major
problem--limited "up" available without the aileron touching the wing trailing edge. Climbed
to about 50 feet and tried a gentle left turn. Gave right aileron and rudder (you need rudder coordination for this
aircraft) but instead of straightening up, the left bank steepened into a spiral into the ground--no recovery possible. The problem
was that the left "down" aileron created more drag
than the right "up" aileron could counter and rudder was not sufficient to overcome it once the turn had started. This
has the potential to be a nice scale-like flier, but watch out for the hidden construction and
flying problems.
Other Ju-52 ratings: 3-stars |
George Scrimshaw | |
| Lazy Bee Special 50", Clancy Aviation | ** | equipment: Master Airscrew geared (3:1) 050 electric,11x7 APC prop JR Rx, 2 mini servos (R and E) and 1 Hitec micro servo (aileron), 600 mAh Rx battery, hitec 217 ESC. Weight about 49 oz Comments: Fun to fly, although a little radical on the controls, but a nightmare to build. Instructions inadequate and sketches (there are no photos) don't necessarily match the particular version you are building. Short of wood in several places, and whole plane seems to be built from you-laminate-them balsa sticks. Plane ends up pretty strong except for a serious structural weakness at the front wing hold down point (top front of cabin) and tailwheel mount (part of rudder, which is only hinged to fuse!). A kit in name only, several club members, myself included, have said we'll never build another "Bee". | Grant Calkins | |
| LeCrate, Davey | ** | 05 /gearbox 11/7 prop,7-1700SCR's. This kit was stick built and had a flying stab probably from the free flight conversion. Very large fuse and a nice looking plane. I didn't like mine as far as flying. It would never turn with power off and kinda lumberd around in the sky..in no big hurry compared to my Mirage. Came with a very detailed instruction manual on electric flight and motor/battery combo's. I'm giving this kit another try as I'm adding ailerons to the wing and going to a bigger motor. | Jim Marinelli | |
| Modified LowWatt | ** | Note that this is NOT the same as the stock plane (which has had many, many good ratings). Building style (all sticks) is excellent and very economical. I removed all the dihedral, added ailerons and extra servo. Covered in transparent film. Stock speed 400 motor and 7 cells. Flew too quickly for my glider-honed senses. I enjoyed the concept so much that I will probably build another stock, maybe with gearing or 6 cells to slow it down. Experienced flyers will probably have no problems with the aileron mod and 7 cells. | Andre McFayden | |
| Megowcoupe | ** | Hyperthrust 075, 8x4 prop, and 7 SR1100Max | Tony Turley | |
| Nitto Kitty (same as Cox Canario) | ** | 280 can motor, Benson ESC, stock prop, 5x425mah, It did fly, but was probably the lowest powered plane I ever saw. | Dave Segal | |
| Partenavia, Astro Flight | ** | (2) Speed 600 7.2 v, Futaba electric radio, 7x1400, 7x4 props, 72oz. | Orville Shields | |
| Red Zypher 72" | ** | Astro 05G, Futaba electric radio, 7x1400, 11x7 prop, 60oz. | Orville Shields | |
| Riser 78", Sig | ** | Mabuchi 550 can motor, 6-7x1200SC battery, 8x4 prop, 46oz.
More Riser Ratings: 5-stars, 4-star, 3-stars |
Orville Shields | |
| Goldberg Eaglet wing scratch fusalage and tail | ** | Leisure LT-50 w/Astro-Flite belt drive 11x7 prop, 6x1200SC battery, 46oz. | Orville Shields | |
| Scratch Ace foam straight cord, Quicky 200 style | ** | 05 Twister, 6x1200SC, Jomar on/off, 6x4 Cox prop, 22oz | Orville Shields | |
| Windstar EP (ARF) | ** | 540 can motor, APT on/off, 7x1400mah, stock prop, 54oz. A lead sled. Slow climb and too fast glide due to excess weight. The covering is a horrible "linoleum" that is unshrinkable. Turned into a great flyer by converting to .10 glow power and recovering wing with Monokote. | Dave Segal |
