Wart Hog

My Feedback: (22)

Thanks Tim, You were a world of help and I fully understand. I appreciate all the information. I wish you were the distributor for ESM, yall are great to do business with.
I hate what happened with Troybuilt as well. I expected more from a company like that. I have no respect for them at all any longer.

The gentleman at ESM seems to be genuine in his effort to make sure I am taken care of.

I am looking foward to getting this plane in the air. My plans are to buy the ESM Corsair, I will be giving you a call at ARFpros when I do.

tevans55

Another Wow! That is great news that ESM is working with you on this. Makes me want to show them the bad dihedral in my wings. Think I got an old kit.

Congratulations.

Wart Hog

My Feedback: (22)

Well, ESM emailed me back with a price for my share of the shipping and time frame to recieve the wing.

Hi Charles,
It will be grateful that if you can pay $150.00 for the air freight, we can accept paypal and it will cost us about 30-45 work days to prepare the whole wing set.
You can pay the freight to us later until the B-25 wing set ready. Hope it is ok for you, many thanks for your understanding & cooperation.
2012-09-21

Yours sincerely,
Herlin.He
ESM Producing Co


Looks like I am going to be cutting my wing up and rebuilding it instead. $150 is my "share" of the shipping and a month to a month and a half for them to ship.
I was expecting maybe $50 for my share and a couple of weeks at the most to get it.

Zoomer02

You might try to get the new wing from Troy Built models and have them wait for the shipping container wing. Send them your e-mails and see what they say.

Good Luck!

Wart Hog

My Feedback: (22)

Well I asked ESM about having Troybuilt ship me a wing and let them wait. ESM said to go ahead and do it. Email after email to Troybuilt have gone unanswered.
Hell of a thing, Troybuilt shipped this plane to me and that's as far as they go as the distributor. Warranty means nothing to them.
What a way to find out Troybuilt is just complete waste of my time to deal with.
I never wish bad luck on any one, but that is one company I hope turns belly up.
You spend that much on one of the products from them and they talk to you like you are an idiot and refuse to even make any attempt to stand behind the warranty for the products they sell.

Fidelity101

My Feedback: (13)

I hope someone has pointed Troy built to this thread! I am really on the fence about ordering the esm or top flite b-25, but if troybuilt treates people like this and they are the only distributor...I'm sold on top flite.

Wart Hog

My Feedback: (22)

As bad as I hate to say it, I don't think it bothers TBM one bit. I have always been a fan of building kits and the old standards like Goldberg, Hanger9 and Topflite myself.
I liked the looks of the ESM planes and decided to give them a shot. First impression was great. I hate the problem I had with the wing and wouldn't be as nearly upset if TBM would have been a stand up company and taken care of a first time customer.
I won't be spending anymore of my money on their product lines.

Fidelity101

My Feedback: (13)

Do you think the Esm is of the same quality as the top flite model?

Wart Hog

My Feedback: (22)

I think they both have their pluses. The ESM B-25 is a nice looking plane on first glance, but once you look on the inside and check parts fit the nice ends.
One of the things I expected when I bought the kit was to replace the hardware that come with it. I was correct on that one when I checked the contents.
Topflite always includes pretty good hardware for assembly.
Topflite also has a great QA system on their kits. This ESM plane has several issues that have to be repaired while building. I don't mind doing some "fixes" while building an ARF, but when I spend this much on a plane I really hoped for better attention on some of the major points that need to be checked before it left the factory. You can see from my posts on this thread how my wing was mis-assembled at the factory.
The instructions on the ESM B-25 are sparse at best. They leave a lot to the descretion of the builder. The plastics such as cockpit, Nose glass ane the tail gunner cover crack and crumble when you cut them. Very brittle plastic and not a good fit when you cut them. Just a heads up, when you do trim them cut outside of the trim lines that are vacuum formed into them because they will not fit if you don't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these nit-picky people. Yet after my issue with trying to get warranty from TBM on the wing problem on this plane I just ran through a list of all the problems with this kit and asked myself "Is it a good value?". It is if you have time to wait for 4 or 5 months in hopes of getting part so you can actually assemble the plane and it is if you can build by the seat of your pants. There are fixes and changes you have to figure out as you go along. This really isn't an ARF you just assemble and fly. It does require some alterations to make it airworthy.

Eldher

I agree with wart hog's comments. I call it an ARB - Almost Ready to Build.

All that said, it is the best looking of the B-25 in this class. The flat paint, scale looks/details, and overall size make for an impressive plane. If you're willing to put the extra effort in, you'll be pleased with the results. If the goal is to have a very nice B-25 that's east to put together, then I would get the Top Flight.

Junior55

My Feedback: (9)

done fill bad guys i had the same problem with my wing. no body help me. had to buy another wing panel, and fix it my seft. and they haveing problems with the DC-3 too.

Wart Hog

My Feedback: (22)

You might try contacting ESM direct. I spoke with the owner in China. He is sending me another wing. I just have to wait 4-5 months.

tevans55

I agree with Eldher...the ESM planes require much more than simple assembly. Top FLite and H9 are much more the definition of an ARF. As Eldher stated, in most cases the ESM planes are more interesting due to their finishes and with a little bit of effort they can be made to look like the plane of your choice. The ESM planes require alot of modeling skills that the other ARF's do not. The fit and parts quality are less than what many other manufacturer's provide. If you have the skill and patience to modify, reinforce, and supplement you can build a very nice looking and flying plane. I have not considered ESM planes as ARF's since the first one I built...the hobby may call them that but I think the ESM planes are at their best when time is spent enhancing their very capable air frames.

dgiatr

I agree with you and i could also say that esm planes are the definition of what we call "value for money" , for what they offer you cannot pay less at that quality!my only complain is that they dont have mosquito and p-38.....i cannot believe that esm company wouldnt sell enough quantities from those beautifull planes in order to ensure a new production line.

Eldher

Yah! I'd love to see a Mosquito or P-38.

tevans55

Yep...sign me up for two more planes!

gunny11

My Feedback: (6)

Well folks, I have now officially begun my build. The first thing I did was to unpack the well wrapped up parts after parts. I had this bomber sitting for one year. I wanted to open it up then but is was well packaged. I have the third run ESM B-25 which I purchased from TBM.

The second thing I did was to dry assemble the entire wings with the nacelles and check for the droop in the one wing panel. I was pretty sure they had fixed this problem.... maybe they did, but my right wing panel is the droopy one. The problem in mine is not in the outer wing panel "wing tubes" but the fiberglass wing tube socket in the right nacelle. It goes through the hole in the root rib of the engine nacelle and is butt glued up against the inside of the other side of the nacelle with a ply doughnut. The "butt" end was not glued in the same position as the other nacelle. (The socket should have gone entirely through the other root rib for strength and consistent alignment.) However, I found a simple fix. I used a long narrow chisel and removed the ply doughnut and glue from around the fiber tube. (If you future builders have to do this, make sure the aluminum wing tube is fully inserted into the socket as such you wont damage or deform the fiberglass socket end.) Now it will pivot to the correct location and can be glued back into place. Pictures of this will come later when I'm ready to glue the assembly together.

So this evening I spent the time to cut out all the vacuumed plastic parts. You guys weren't kidding about the plastic being brittle. Then I got to the last part. Those 28 little vents that go around the cowl. No way was I going to cut them out. So I sprayed MANN 2300 mold release wax into the inside of those parts and mixed up a batch of micro balloons and resin and poured it in. We'll see how they come out tomorrow.

Gunny

Eldher

Gunny,

Nice idea for the engine exhaust covers. Will be interested to see how this works out. The only thing I can see that will need to be addressed (besides paint) is the fit to the side of the cowl. Probably just need a little filing with a curved file to get a nice fit.

tevans55

Nice idea Gunny. When I first started on this plane I thought I was going to cut out the holes in the cowls and push the ports through from the inside like I did on the Spitfire. Fortunately I found out that the B version that I built did not have these exhaust ports. I like your idea best!

tevans55

double post

bedrock

Hi Guys,


I bought an ESM B-25. What engine is the best choise?
I thinking about glow 15ccm 4T ASP. It haslight weight, and cheap price. It will enough for this plane? I know the specs and manual.

The "B" plan is RCG 20 gas. But it has plus 1kg. And the sound is not the best i think.

I need power board or it not necessary?
.

Thanks!

tevans55

What options are you adding to your plane? Will you have retracts? Will you have finished cockpit with pilots and finished turrets? All of these features and others add to the final weight of your plane. At a minimum, if you plan to add retracts to your plane I would go with 20cc engines. If you do not have retracts your engines are probably fine.

I do not think a "power board" is necessary. It really depends again on how much you want to include in your plane and the reliability you want to build into it. A power board's primary advantage is to supply the same voltage to each servo on a same channel. It also allows for easy setup of a redundant battery. If you plan to add a lot of options like lights and bomb drop among other things, it is a nice thing to add.

My suggestion would be to sit down and make a list of all of the things you want to do to your plane and then list them here so that the fellows that have built this plane will have a better idea of the weight and power requirements you may need. It will also be helpful to know the radio you will be using. I hope this helps!

By the way, welcome to RCU!

bedrock

I bought the optional air retracts. If the plane flying well, i'd like to ad a bomb bay door system. 

Eldher

Just for context, I have retracts, breaks, and bomb drop system. all up weight is almost 14 kilo.

Couple thoughts on engine choice:
- don't worry too much about the weight. you will need the weight to balance the plane. I have 2 Saito 150s (they sound GREAT). They weigh 850g each, I pushed the batteries as far forward as possible and I still added some weight to the nose.
- I agree with tevans, 20cc or MORE (my Saito 150s are about 24cc)
- If you want a 4 cycle engine and can afford it, the Saito FG 20 or FG 30 would be great and would sound wonderful!

Let us know how we can help!!

bedrock

eldher13, please show your bomb drop system.

Have you got any experience with JC EVO engines?
What do you think about this engine?http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._9_000rpm.html