alotbsol
Posts: 2
Joined: 6/6/2004
From: , OH, USA
Status: offline
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Hello fellow flyers. Long time reader, relatively new poster. I usually fly low when it comes to product recommendations or endorsements, but I feel personally obligated to help protect the hard working people in this hobby.
I have, like many, been eagerly awaiting the release of these so-called superior 3D flatouts. I went to my local hobby shop yesterday and picked up my brand new Matt Chapman EP. That was the first mistake I made. I saw on the box that assembly time was 2~3 hours and was excited because I thought I’d have it built in the evening and ready to fly today. 2 hours into assembly and realizing that foam safe CA takes a very long time to adhere, I began to feel assembly is more like 2~3 days. Use 5-minute epoxy!!! Enough about that.
The kit leaves much to be desired. The foam wings are much too thin and even with the carbon fiber tubes attached I could tell this plane would never be able to handle aggressive maneuvers. And speaking of carbon fiber tubes, they are extremely difficult to glue to the foam edges of the panels. The cut lines of the foam are not clean and the manual says nothing about trimming or sanding them smooth, but I guess you should or you will only get intermittent glue contact with the tubes. I didn’t do that and so I have tubes that are attached to the foam in very few places and so I know I’d have to go back with epoxy to make things stick together. All in all I am very uncomfortable with the method of assembling the hinge tubes. It’s just a major accident waiting to happen. I broke the rubber tube off before I was even half way done.
The manual has numerous mistakes as well. For example, the photos of the control horns on the elevator are on the wrong side of the plane and if you don’t catch it ahead of time you’ll have to break the control horn out of the wing to fix it. Not good.
I am so disappointed with the assembly of this kit. I feel like I have gotten totally taken by Great Planes. I am a mechanical engineer and if I designed stuff with this degree of quality, I’d be out of work in a hurry. The worst part is that I have beaten the kit up so badly during assembly that it is now unfinishable and will never see the air. And if it did ever fly, heaven forbid I land the least bit rough. It would be destroyed in no time.
If you are considering a profile foam flyer, I highly suggest another alternative. Save your money for a better design.
I hope I’ve helped someone who was on the fence, not get burned by a poor quality kit!
Good luck and happy flying!
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All Forums >> Electric Aircraft Universe >> 3D Electric Flying! >> GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS 
GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 
RE: GREAT PLANES FLATOUTS - 
You sound like a guy at my field 
He bought a $19.99 
It was his first flat foam plane and he also screwed it up putting it together 
But of coarse, it was the kits fault 
