Procrastinator

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Here it is! The Unofficial Hobbyzone longest wing span! The span measures 87-1/2" inches or 2222.5 millimeter(s). It flew around good but was very slow to turn. It bowed so badly, I thought is was going to break at any second. I flew it twice and videoed the flights! SO... WHO WILL BREAK THIS RECORD?


My batteries are charging, and soon, I shall be up there... AGAIN!
Check out our cool site at
http://groups.msn.com/HobbyzoneRCPla...Clubunofficial
Big Thanks form the Procrastinator

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

Huh? 87" a world record? For what? There are at least 8 planes in my club with much larger wingspans.

The largest I've seen in person was a 12 foot wingspan Telemaster (3657.6 mm), but I've seen videos of 25 foot wingspan (7620 mm) RC bombers.


Dennis-

causeitflies

I think he means for that particular plane.

Procrastinator

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HOBBYZONE PLANES, just as written in the thread!

DBCherry

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Okay. From the post and the website, it appeared to me as though the HobbyZone site was sponsoring a contest for general "world's records" and Procrastinator was saying 87" was a world record wingspan. (No mention of a particular plane.)

Sorry,
Dennis-

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Help me understand here, why would anyone want to tape a bunch of wings together from a bad flying series of airplanes that has turned a lot of folks away from the sport?

John

midnitedew

to the contrary, i have the hobbyzone firebird II and aerobird BOTH of them fly beautifully and have taught me well... and i have now progressed into glow airplanes... personally i feel that someone SHOULD learn on an aerobird by themselves before getting an instructor... aerobird flys so easy, and doing it yourself will give you confidence for the faster glow models...

Procrastinator

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JohnBuckner
Senior Member,

Senior Member is right, you seem to have lost all hope of your childhood fun aspects. Please, this is a screwy challenge for people to push for the max abilities of their Aerobirds and Firebird series planes. I have a nice balsa, but YOU can't get stupid on balsa, unless you don't care about it any longer.

My batteries are charging, and soon, I shall be up there... AGAIN!
Big Thanks form the Procrastinator

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Procrastinator, actually you are a man of my own heart and that is that it may be evident just by looking at the 'trainer' in my avitar, is that kit bashing is my favorite activity when it comes to sport flying and have done a very large number of silly aircraft as well. So bash away and enjoy.

When it comes that series of airplanes however I will stand by my opinion which of course is only just my opinion and that is they are not a viable option for learning to fly model aircraft. This is due in fact to faulty control design of the 'V' tail. A situation where any directional imput is made will also imput a severe 'up' response, add the fact that this pitch up can only be controlled by pulling off power. Needless to say Midnite you have mastered it and i congratulate you however these ships can in no rational way be considered a trainer if the goal is to go on and fly conventioal RC aircraft. The result for those in my witness who do succeed with these things is invaribly a greater expendature of both time and money by the time they get to the skill levels they have dreamed of rather than if they have started with a 'true trainer' be glow or electric.

It depresses me to no end watching beaming people show up on a daily basis with most particularly the fighter bird and going home in a bag never to be seen agine. These airplanes are not radio 'controlled' only somewhat guided and certainly not trainers.


All of the above is only my opinion and I stand by it based on close personal observation.

John

midnitedew

aerobird has speed control rudder and ELEVATOR!!!

prangster

My experience learning to fly with the Aerobird has be excellent. On my third outing, I brought my 11 year old son along and before the first battery pack had discharged, he had made two complete launch to landing flights (no crashes) with nothing more than encouragement from dad. No he's hooked too.

Yet, I can imagine a scenario where I would exactly resemble the disheartened first-timer John Buckner has described.

Had I gone to the local RC Club (within 5 minutes of my home) and tried my first-flights in front of all those experienced flyers, with their gas powered planes, club rules about safe flight areas and a relatively small landing area.... holy cow... anything less than perfection and I'd be embarassed to come back. As nice as the members seem at the club near me, I opted for a learn-in-isolation strategy just to relieve the stress.

My first flight was at a deserted soccer field. I crashed, several times but survived the trip. Later, I read many aerobird threads here to glean a little advice. Consequently, I found a larger flying field without obstructions or spectators, and only flew when the winds were near zero. Result was no stress to hit a specific landing target, more time to think, and plenty of opportunity to improve my control, depth perception, landing accuracy, etc.

My point is, there are more variables to learning successfully than the type of plane. If you are going to learn in a public park by your lonesome then you pretty much need to go electric. If you want to learn at an RC Club, you may be best suited first getting used to the club, its members, and rules then following their advice with regard to a suitable trainer plane.

Just my $.02

Procrastinator

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prangster

Can I get 3 cheers for prangster, HIP, HIP,...HOORAY!
HIP, HIP,...HOORAY!
Thank You. My first and second planes were balsa, and between them, my total flight time was 34 seconds. That is discouraging! I went back to the Hobbystore and bought a RC car.
I took a 10 year retirement that the because of the scares the so called real plane carved into my confidence!

When Fighterbird came out, I hesitated at first. But taught myself the basics, then I moved onto the Aerobird (of which I hated at first) MASTERED THAT, and now I have moved safely into balsa. I LOVE the way my balsa handles. BUT WITH FIGHTERBIRD AND AEROBIRD YOU GET MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK!

My batteries are charging, and soon, I shall be up there... AGAIN!
Check out our cool site at
http://groups.msn.com/HobbyzoneRCPla...Clubunofficial
Big Thanks form the Procrastinator

JohnBuckner

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Exactly, and the fighterbird along with the various v tail clones do not have an elevator function but worse do suffer a pitch up imput every time a directional imput is made. This airplane is no trainer and requires technique unlike anything else out there. Therefore a waste of time if your goal is to fly conventional craft and it is still a waste of time even if you fly it in total solitude somewhere or a flying field.

John

midnitedew

i guss everyone have their opinions... i personally think the firebird is junk however the aerobird is a functionaly controlable model.....

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

It would seem Midnitedew that we are of the same opinion and of course my posting was directed at the two function 'V' tail fighterbird and its clones. The intent was to point out these versions inability to function as conventional trainers not to demean their value as toys.

The properly designed tail of the Aerobird can provide this function by avoiding the unmixed 'V' tail of the others.

John

Procrastinator

My Feedback: (1)

Well Johnnie,
Toys they may be, but that does not change the fact, that it was the only way to receive the proper training needed to go balsa. Not all of us have a stuffy old RC club in our area to join. I would love you to witness the extreme accuracy we have achieved with the V-TAIL models. We got crazy video of these things flying unplug and off the deck at full throttle. You sound like you have a lot to say about a model you do not own. Before one can place a valid point onto something, he or she must have some experience with it, or ye shall be labeled PIG HEADED!

My batteries are charging, and soon, I shall be up there... AGAIN!
Check out our cool site at
http://groups.msn.com/HobbyzoneRCPla...Clubunofficial
Big Thanks form the Procrastinator

midnitedew

flying n aerobird is EXACTLY like flying a glider rudder and elevator on right speed control on the left... same exact thing and teaches you perspective of flight , flight control direction and landing skills....

flying klown

My Feedback: (24)

Man what is wrong with you guys? If Pro wants to share his wing and his creation with everyone why belittle him? I mean I am sure there are times in your life when you were at a point where you built something and people made fun of it. That is out of line and uncalled for. I cannot believe that fellow RC'r would make fun and belittle a hobby. I fly and build Paper airplanes, rubber band planes, electric, Aerobird and 3d's. So what is wrong? You may see me build and fly anything! If I shared it where I am supposed to and you make fun of me instead of encouraging me even if you think it is funny and/or do not like at it all. It just makes me sick to see how people hurt other people. It makes me want to not be a part of this. If I have to walk around on eggshells scared someone may make fun of me because I am being and acting like a kid. I am close to 50 years old and I have made some weird planes out of egg cartons....I guess the Wright Brothers went through this. It is just ashamed that after 100 years it is still going on.

I just flew the Aerobird and I take it where ever I go. I fly at East Coast Swamp Fliers AMA club. No one makes fun of it there. In fact many have went out and got one for their kids, grandchildren, wives' and so on..many for themselves. Toy? Well I hear people say, that are not in the RC business or Hobby, say "The guy flies those toy planes and they are flying a 3D! Or a P-51 scale. So it is a matter of opinion. But to belittle and make fun of someone that is uncalled for. I think he did a good job putting all those wings together and making his creation fly! Even if it is his own world record. Why burst someone’s bubble? Are you that miserable?

midnitedew

what he said....

flyinrog

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anything that gets you in the air with a smile on your face ,, thats what the game is all about...Rog

JohnBuckner

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I will try to say it agine as well as my limited communication and typing skills will allow and if that is not adaquate then for that I apologize but not for my opinion.

I am not talking about the Aerobird.

I am talking about the Fighterbird.

A 'V' tail aircraft with only a directional input that just moves one of the surfaces up will provide a direction change but also an unwanted pitch change.

A 'V' tail aircraft with a direction and pitch inputs that is mixed will allow for differential surfaces for a rudder input without any pitch change. This will also allow both surfaces to work together for pitch changes without directional input.

For those who take me to task for not owning a fighterbird then I would say you are correct but have helped folks with that airplane successfully eleven times in about the last year with that airplane. By successful I mean each was able to eventually
move to more conventional craft which in each of these cases was the goal. Now what bothers me is the numbers of folks that show up destroy them in short order and are gone forever. Since I am the only one locally who will work with them and cannot help all of them.

So yes I have flown the fighter bird quite a bit. Now for the gentleman who wants to challenge me to some sort of dual with the airplanes, well no need I have no doubt that you are skilled with the airplane but that in no way changes my opinion an that is: The Fighterbird is a fun park flyer that is not and can not function as an effective trainer and will increase costs and time to archive the goal of learning to fly conventional model craft glow or electric if that is the goal.

John

midnitedew

i have the firebird II(with only rudder) and the aerobird... the firebird does not have the characteristics that your talking about...
when you give left rudder it goes left NOT left and up!! the only way to gain altitude with the firebird/fighterbird/commander/outlaw is to increase the speed on the speed controller... i have never noticed any tendacy to gain altitude from simply turning left or right...

Crashem

Not to stir the pot... But I have to agree with JohnBuckner... And yes as much as I hate to admit it I owned fighterbird (very briefly)


One observation on this board and Ezone it seems that the guys that have experience in most cases seem to warn newbies away from these planes where as the guys praising them seem to have little or no experience with other types of planes... go figure

midnitedew

would i recomend this airplane to someone thinking about buying one? NO ! BUT.... if they only have $149 and thats it total and they are not sure that this hobby is for them.... the aerobird would get them hooked... i would advise them not to put to much money back into it and move up as soon as they are able...

Charlie P.

I have a Fighterbird. If someone started out with that as a first plane and mastered it I believe they could skip traners entirely in switching to glow RC and hop right to low-wing taildraggers. It is a challenge to fly deliberately (not just up/down/find). No elevator - the throttle controls ascent/desent - and that only moves half way and then becomes the 'gun' trigger. In even a light wind it becomes a handful to land it when and where you want it. Get it too high and it thermals wonderfully; but remember - no down elevator. Bye, bye birdie. My longest RC flight (not including highstart gliders) of any kind is with the Fighterbird. For twenty-five minutes I tried to get that teeny, tiny little speck back to the hilltop I handlaunched it from. I finally did with plenty of battery to spare as the engine had been off all but the first two minutes of the flight. They don't cut into a headwind much at all. To their credit the wing can be shimmed if you're expecting wind.

All in all it's a neat little plane. I keep mine in my trunk and fly it on my lunch break. But I would not recommend it to a beginner.