RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS  
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RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 4/6/2007 4:29:04 PM   
Dyehard


 

Posts: 284
Joined: 12/26/2001
From: Cedar Bluff, VA, USA
Status: offline 		For Christmas my son bought me a Fancyfoam Excaliber, we had heard it was a great flying plane, much better than any Flatout. This is the third or forth plane we have built using hinge tape. Given a choise, I would rather have the Flatout clip hinges any time. The clip hinges are several times free-er than any tape I have used, including blenderm, when you are using 60 degrees of throw. Between my son and myself, we have built six or seven Reflections, four Turmoils, and one Flatana. We have never boiled the plastic and have never broken a hinge on assembly. In the dozens of crashes we have had with the Flatouts, we have broken one hinge clip and two control horn clips. I can't count the times that a clip has popped off in a crash, without breaking. Just pop it back on and go back to flying. Oh BTW, the Excaliber didn't turn out to be that great a flyer. It is lighter than a Reflection, so it will fly a touch slower, but it flexes more and is less stable. It will still break when you hit the ground. In a hover there is no comparison, the aileron actually work on the Reflection, on the Excaliber they don't. When it is calm, I can hold the Reflection in a dead still hover two foot in front of my face, indiffently, and reach out and catch it out of the air easily. The Reflection is simply the best hovering and best flying foamie I have flown so far. For $25 it is a steal.

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Allen Dye

(in reply to Hibrass)
       Post #: 226

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 4/6/2007 4:30:17 PM   
goff101


 

Posts: 44
Joined: 3/11/2007
From: Rigby, ID, USA
Status: offline 		great planes just made the flatouts smaller. I guess that if they did use the extra hardware that it would be too heavy to fly. one thing iv found out its that the flatouts are pretty weak. you cant crash them or they will break. but they fly well for doing 3d. I just barely started flying these flat foamies and am building a second so I wouldnt know. but the second is off some plans online not a flatout. its allot stronger and will fly better. its just what works for me

(in reply to Hibrass)
       Post #: 227

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 4/7/2007 5:12:46 AM   
hobbydude214


 

Posts: 247
Joined: 9/3/2005
From: syracuse, NY, USA
Status: offline 		ya they dont fly 3d very well, usually its to the pilots ability but in the case of the flatouts they arent very good at all

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Long ago the greatest mathmatical minds said humans could NEVER fly

(in reply to goff101)
       Post #: 228

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 4/9/2007 4:09:44 AM   
goff101


 

Posts: 44
Joined: 3/11/2007
From: Rigby, ID, USA
Status: offline 		in my case, I wouldnt know how well it flies. I just know how durable it is. imagine (dude, oh crap! CRUNCH!) im new to 3d and have been flying for three years. not to bad for someone under 20 right?

(in reply to hobbydude214)
       Post #: 229

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 4/9/2007 4:12:49 AM   
goff101


 

Posts: 44
Joined: 3/11/2007
From: Rigby, ID, USA
Status: offline 		by the way, dyehard, your right, the hinge clips are allot stronger. but the foam they use should be thicker. it is way to thin and easy to break. on the foamie im building I made it with carbon rods through the wing and elevator. all I needed was three rods and it is allot stronger than the flatouts carbon rod system

(in reply to goff101)
       Post #: 230

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 5/27/2007 9:26:37 AM   
linkadrip



Posts: 1313
Joined: 3/17/2006
From: Tehachapi, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Well i can see buy all the post i have read were my Matt Chapman 580 Flatout build went down the tubes i was almost finished too. and wouldnt you know it the rudder tube got glue in the joint and busted off. the plane has been broken in so many points that its basically just good for parts now. Good thing it was cheap. And at least i learned a thing or two about building foamy planes. should have let my son put it together. He was right i was rushing the job and screwed it all up.

So as said many times before proper equipment building techniques and patience. Mainly patience after i broke the rudder i got so frustrated with it just threw it in the corner and said to heck with it but my little toss sent the plane to its grave. But even though i didnt finish the build and the plane is beyond repair. Now i'm more determined then ever to build a flatout foamy and fly it.

There has to be a better engineered flatout foam plane out there somewere.

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TwisT 150 Brotherhood 12
AMA 888111 Club Saito 572

(in reply to goff101)
       Post #: 231

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 5/29/2007 6:49:52 PM   
calendar


 

Posts: 4
Joined: 5/18/2005
From: St. Helens, OR, USA
Status: offline 		I'm a beginner. I've had 2 Flatouts. The first one was a Flatana. It was my first foam plane and took me a long time to build. I think the hinges move nice, but they do take a lot longer to put together. I don't know how to do 3d yet, but I thought it flew nice. I landed it in the grass on my second flight, and it looked like a nice landing, but the landing gear broke and ripped the foam all apart. I took the landing gear off and next time I flew, it fell apart and crashed, so it must have been damaged more than I thought.

I built a cap and it went together a lot faster due to my experience and finding out about glue accelerator. I put a TON of glue around the landing gear hoping it would hold up better. It flew nice also in my opinion. I landed it for my second flight, and it looked like a nice landing, but the landing gear broke and ripped the foam all apart. The next time I flew it, it fell apart in the air and crashed. Rats.

It might be an OK plane, but it's definitely not for a beginner like me. I think if you get one, the landing gear needs to be reinforced. Don't ever land in grass. Accelerator is a must. The clips definitely need to be warmed up or they break. You already know that if your read everyone's gripes here right? At least I got a motor out of the deal.

I'm now almost done building "The Nasty" from scratch. I find that it goes together much faster and easier than flatouts and I don't break the foam just by building it. By looking at some of the videos, I'm hopeful that it can handle a landing without falling apart.

Anyway, my opinion is that flatouts aren't a good first plane. Maybe they are a good plane after becoming and expert builder and an expert pilot. For those that have success with Flatouts, I'm happy for you. I'm a beginner, so it's obvious that it's my problem and the plane is good - all I needed to do is know about all of the mods and fixes some have figured out. If I'm ever given one as a present though, I'm going to STOMP on it!

Mike

(in reply to linkadrip)
       Post #: 232

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 6/7/2007 1:23:00 AM   
goff101


 

Posts: 44
Joined: 3/11/2007
From: Rigby, ID, USA
Status: offline 		I dont have good luck with flatouts, but home builts work well

(in reply to calendar)
       Post #: 233

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 9/21/2007 9:14:03 PM   
map1177


 

Posts: 10
Joined: 9/9/2007
From: burleson, TX, USA
Status: offline 		I have the extra 300s and I am no expert builder but to my suprise every thing went smooth if you first read through the directions,and what helped me the most is reading you guys replys on the flat outs and your explanations on how to's.I flew mine for the first time yesterday and it flew great I love it.The only thing that happend when i landed in grass it kinda tore the foam back where the landing gear goes through but a little epoxy fixed it and is alot stronger now.

(in reply to goff101)
       Post #: 234

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 9/26/2007 6:48:38 AM   
donkey doctor



Posts: 1170
Joined: 12/1/2002
From: Lake Cowichan, BC, CANADA
Status: offline 		Hello; I have the cap 580, I built it carefully, took 5 days of spare time. Balanced propperly, correct throws. Toss it into the air at half throttle. It rolls left as it leaves my hand. i get my thumb on the right stick and give it right aileron, and wait to see it react and fly out of it. Nope it scrapes a left wing tip and folds up like a castle of cards. Okay, I know I had a too big motor in it, but I balanced it out, and never got over half throttle. I took the wreckage home and left it on my building board.

Three days later, a fellow flyer offers me a Extra 330 shock flyer. I take that home and build the wing, hmmm, this might work.

I have been flying a park zone gee bee since they came out and having a lot of fun with it, I was dissappointed with the flat out, but I might still glue the wreckage back together and give it another chance.

(in reply to map1177)
       Post #: 235

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 10/30/2007 3:35:11 AM   
Daryl Martel



Posts: 595
Joined: 2/10/2002
From: WinnipegManitoba, CANADA
Status: offline 		Flew my "Red Bull" Edge 540 Flatout today for the 1st time. Mine is built pretty much stock, but with the Rimfire motor/speed controller combo and suggested 3 cell 640 mah Lipo pack. It flew great, and it was even a little windy. I had a blast - I'm hooked! I've read through this entire thread and am dissapointed in those responses where people are calling the kits junk. I did have to trim a few plastic pieces to get them to fit properly (hinge pieces), but overal found the quality very good. It takes hobby skills to do a good job putting a kit like this together... it's much like building a plastic display model in that regard. Flys good if done right though :^)

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Spending my daughters inheritance one plane at a time...

(in reply to donkey doctor)
       Post #: 236

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 10/30/2007 12:32:28 PM   
wedgewing



Posts: 233
Joined: 6/7/2006
From: cleveland , OH, USA
Status: online 		I have a RCU Bipe, and I did not build it for 3D, but can do it if I want. LHS wouldn't come out and rip on it, but they politely tried to steer me away from any flatout based on what some of the other posters have put up. Going into it you know the thing is more fragile, and I like to fly it outside so I expect it to get banged up. I have foregone the illusion that the plane should weigh as much as a paper clip, and used low temp hot glue for much of the planes construction. It works great and I am not cursing when the CA separates from the carbon rod and foam. I also have cut the links off of zip ties, and have glued them along the outside leading edges of the wings not covered with the carbon rod. I have never had a wing snap and it has not degraded performance. I have also used the zip ties (cut off the link) and run them along the vertical edges to provide some additional support and to reduce flex. For the landing gear, I cut out 3 one-inch square biscuits of left over foam and slid them up the landing gear and glued them to the bottom of the wing with low temp glue. My plane lands pretty hard on the grass and I have not incurred a landing gear/wing tearout. I also flew this as a newbie, and learned how to fly using the RCU Bipe. The slow speed potential, plus its ability to handle some pretty stiff winds (provided you stop worrying about 3D weight) makes it a favorite.

If you build them to be the fragile nymph they want you to, you are going to be repairing things a lot. put a little armor on it, and it flies great. Truth be told I have even flown it with a 3C 2100 lipo on it for some ballast in the wind. flew great and I enjoyed the extra time.

(in reply to Daryl Martel)
       Post #: 237

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 12/30/2007 6:02:37 PM   
wildhog


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 11/8/2007
From: Sullivan, IN, USA
Status: offline 		Just finished building the GP Flatana. It was quite a challenge for a first time foam build. I followed the manual with the only exception was I boiled the plastic parts as earlier mentioned in this forum. Plane went together very nice and I had NO broken parts.

I did go with the brushless set up. Have not flown yet, just waiting for the weather to warm up a tad. So far I would recommend this plane, can't beat it for the price.







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(in reply to wedgewing)
       Post #: 238

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 12/30/2007 7:51:12 PM   
hobbydude214


 

Posts: 247
Joined: 9/3/2005
From: syracuse, NY, USA
Status: offline 		Im really suprised that a lot of people out there are still making the flatout mistake, and building anything with hot glue, foam safe ca and activator? you cant get any easier. I'd say if you cant handle some ca and accelerator you probably shouldnt be building foamys. Im not saying that the flatouts are a total failure, but with so many other planes out there at equal or lesser price that are about 100x better, why still go with them?

_____________________________

Long ago the greatest mathmatical minds said humans could NEVER fly

(in reply to wildhog)
       Post #: 239

RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 12/31/2007 12:43:08 PM   
wildhog


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 11/8/2007
From: Sullivan, IN, USA
Status: offline 		Since this is the only one I've owned and don't know much about foam planes, just what is the best foamy out there? What is your recommendation?

(in reply to hobbydude214)
       Post #: 240