JoeMamma

I'm just glad they placed my motor mount facing forward at the front of the plane.

My mount was so bad (lack of glue, big air gaps, mis-fitting parts) I decided to remove most of it and start from scratch.

I had mentioned earlier that this plane is definitely not for beginners. Too me, it's been a lot of extra and needless work, but I think I can turn her into a nice flying machine when I finish her up.

I have learned a valuable lesson though: Before I ever buy another ARF, do a thorough check of all the related reviews and on-line threads before purchasing. I just did this on the Hangar 9 Inverza 33. Not perfect, and a little pricey, but it looks pretty good from where I stand. Plus, Horizon Hobby has always responded to my emails............can Ya hear that TBM ?

Joe M.

rekit500

Mine came with the blocks, did not come with a mount. Did yours? I pulled my DLE 20 along with the (Hanger 9?) mount off of my Funtana 90, and found if I used the 1/8" aluminum spacer i would be ok with the cowl. I had a Great Planes 1.80 mount but it would not work.
I needed 2 1/2" 8-32 bolts to make it all the way to firewall. Not that easy to find.....

rekit500

Yes, reviews are your friend. This last two weeks I had to take back a LG 60" TV that seemed like a good deal at 6am when I got off work but when I got home, and hooked it up, if the picture was darkish you could see the LED lighting all around the edge of the picture. The reviews all pointed this out if I had taken the time to read. This week I almost bought the wife an electric range (Samsung) but when I read the reviews the stove had burned down a house, blown the door completely off on the oven clean cycle, numerous wiring fires, and Samsung could not give a ****. Not sure why these companies are ruining their hard fought good reputations with this crap. Kinda like TBM.....
I have spent a lot of hours on this plane repairing some manufacturing defects and trying to figure out the parts and info they did not. I still think it's going to be a great flier, But I've been wrong before...........

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Meanwhile, I'm still playing with my 'other' manufacturer's Sbach 30 cc

Bcolici

Mine came with the blocks too, but i see N83mc didnt need to use them.
I have the G. P. 60-120 mount which looks like what he used.

I hope you're right this time with it being a good flying plane. If not then at least i could use the components in a revolver.
I think shes going to fly nice.

JoeMamma

A lot of companies currently selling Sbach's. Which one is yours ?

Joe M.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Fly Models....now I'm working on their Thunder Bird....also a 30 cc plane...

JoeMamma

The Sbach looks great ! I just read the review on yours over at the FG forum http://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=93413

Now that I've got through some of the difficult repairs and mods. on mine, she's actually starting to look pretty good to me.

Joe M.

JoeMamma

tailskid,

I almost forgot. How does your fly, and did you use the recommended 4 7/8" initial CG point ?

I'm still looking for a Sbach CG guinea pig.

Joe M.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

A couple of the guys think it is slightly nose heavy....I personally LOVE the way it flies....on low rates.....go to high rates and you better hold on to your hat!

dderst

My Feedback: (1)

So, would you guys recommend this plane? I have seen a lot of negative stuff about TBM, and there customer service. It also seems like the model needs a lot of work after you get it!

rekit500

We'll know soon. For the record, I've never bought an ARF that didn't need most of what I've done with this one. Change out hardware, add some glue, reinforce now rather than repair later. Maybe more on this one because it's my first gasser and I'm worried about the higher vibration level. And after doing this for 35 years I know what works and what won't. But if you've done some building, it's nothing you haven't done before, just wish the instructions were better. CG calculator is probably something we should do on our own to verify the design anyway. The design of the plane seems very good, and I bought a second one-no sense in wasting all this time that I've invested in sorting this one out. The next one will be a breeze. I love the way these type of planes fly-Extras, Edge, Yak, MX2-just neutral handling. You realize how much work it is to fly a Cub after getting used to one of these (to me).

Bcolici

Depends on what one considers alot of work.
As rekit said somethings are what i would do to an arf anyways.
The wheels will work if you use a set screw that sinks in to the collar. I changed them out because of how hard they are and i prefer dubro wheels.
My wings aligned well but the wing tube was a tight fit, to tight actually.
I went over glueing what and where it needed it.
ant rotation pins for the horizontal stab needed to be worked some as these were tight also.
The tailwheel i believe was missing something to make it function. I just used something to make it work from my parts bin.
Some had issues with the landing gear angled aluminum not being at 90 but rather ar 87 degrees. It is possible to get at the screws without cutting the covering to fix this if needed.

If you really like the specs on this and dont mind doing some work i'd go for it, but as far as tbm i wouldn't purchase any other items or expect any C.S.
I sent them an e-mail and never heard back.
As far as flight performance we dont know yet.
Hopefully soon.

There are other brands as well close to the specs of this one. The choice is yours to get what brand you prefer to go with.

JoeMamma

I've had many ARF's over the past 40 years. With any ARF I always expect to do some added work, but this particular model (mine at least) has been really bad.

I can and will do the repairs, but what has really ticked me off is the lack of customer service if a problem does arise. Guess I'm spoiled by the excellent customer service I get from Horizon Hobbies, Tower Hobby and a lot of other RC related companies.

My personal advice...........stay away from this one.

Joe M.

rekit500

Ended up with 2- 5 cell nimh at the front and balanced at 5.25". I'm going to add another battery and switch in parallel and that should balance it at 4.75 or so. I like the idea of redundant batteries and switches. Red Schofield has an article on it.

Bcolici

Im going to try and keep it somewhat simple.
1- li-fe 2s 2100 mah battery with two power leads to 2 swithches.
1- tech aero ibec.
If i need more weight up front i can always add another battery.

Bcolici

Rekit, any possibility of a video(s)?

JoeMamma

I'll second that as I'm still looking for an Sbach CG guinea pig.

Joe M.

rekit500

After thinking about it if I'm going to have two batteries and two switches I'm gonna go ahead and put in two receivers. I've already got them laying around so I'll have half a plane on each system. Futaba 7C. There will definitely be video---ground and onboard.

hitman5363

Were the base plates you got from Pilot.......made of G10 or Carbon Fiber to match the carbon fiber horns supplied? I was in Sarasota Florida last week and pick one of these up...even though I had read about some of their problems. However, I missed this part where not base plates were supplied or I would have obtained them when I was there. I was just on Pilot's Web page and do not see any base plates for sale.

rekit500

Mine was missing the plates also but I have no idea what good they would do so I didn't worry about it. The strength is where theyre epoxied down in the wood. Be sure and check where your wing anti rotation pins are --make sure they protrude a little ways into the fuselage. The wing should suck on in, there should not be a gap between the wing rib and where the wing bolt plate is. Mine were too tight.

rekit500

I've mentioned I'm concerned about vibes, these are some of my solutions that have worked well for me. I think it was Sullivan that made Nyrod (Goldenrod?) for long control rods for 40 size planes.This is the splined inner rod. I still use it like a nylok bolt on canopy and cowl bolts. Just epoxy a piece in the cowl and use servo mount screws or better yet the allen head ones. On my canopy I went all the way across with the nyrod-that way if it comes loose from one side, it is still attached to the other side. Or you can use dowel or carbon fiber with fuel line pieces on the ends. I havent tried that yet, I think it would be ok for electrics. For the wing bolts, I removed the metric blindnut and used a 10-24 one. But first get a bolt and locktite it in the blindnut, then insert it from inside the wing. Now you have a stud that you can use a nylock nut on. You can also use a regular nut and drill a hole for a hitch pin or cotter pin.

Bcolici

Mine was missing the base plates as well for the control horns.
I dont know what they do either so i just grinded down the end that goes into the control surface to shorten them up, otherwise they are a bit to long and buldge out at the other end. Test fit and then epoxied in place.I put the ball link in place to make sure it fit well while letting the epoxy cure.

Thanks for the updates and tips rekit.
very much appreciated.

rekit500

More progress and pics. They left us a nice place to put shelves for rx's, and holes for locking bars over the tank and ign. module. (Hey, glad I had on clean socks <G>).

rekit500

This is not the tank that came with it, it's a little smaller. Also I ordered some Viton 1/8" tubing from Dudadiesel, seemed like a good price. What works for a good fuel line clamp? Most Viton on ebay was from China.....I'm gonna redo my clunk line-my planes spend a lot of time upside down or sideways. Also have some new batteries coming, again-cheap insurance. I've got most stuff nylocked or locktited. I need to do my metal servo arm bolts I guess. They're gonna be hell to undo one day....Anyway. time to get past the holidaze and on with the flying!