RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

The plane does appear to look like the Ventura. Since I have had this model on the market over 2 years, I wonder why they would copy my plane?

Chris

By the eay shipping generally takes about a week PVG.

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

All I know Chris it is about time you lower the price on the FF. just a word of advice from a #1 customer Mr. Jones if you remember :D .

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

I had flown FF for almost 4 months, ordered part from E4U a couple times.
Really like it at the beginning until components began to fail on me, first servos and then ESC. Not easy to work in the narrow fuselage either.:(
Had to "re-learn" due to the poor control stick configuration, no variable speed control was also a big minus too.[>:] In this regard I think Hibico's true 3 ch. control is far better.
I think both versions are just some RTF packages OEM in Taiwan. I doubt if either distributor really "own" the original design.
Nevertheless, it's a great place to start, even though the maintenance is a little too costly, prop at the nose for a trainer could be a bad idea. If you have twice the money to spend, which you will spend anyway with this plane, consider getting into a true 3-4 channel set up like GWS or other park flyers. With these planes you can actually learn some basic aerobatic moves like rake-off,l landing, aileron rolls and inverted flight.[:o] Trust me it is far more fun!;)

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Thanks for the post, however I do own the design. I co-designed this model with the manufacturer in China. I paid for the mold that Hobbico uses today. However, ,I do disagree that the average person will spend twice as much on this plane as you mention. I ship plenty of spare parts for the money. Compare the prices of other similar models and you will see that you get nothing but a fuse and controller from other suppliers. The components on the inside can and do break, but it also depends on how hard you are on your product. I have FF's that I have been flying for years that I have crashed hard. I have planes that have been returned that I have done the repair work for people as well and then shipped back. depends on your preference.

By the way incase you are wondering, the price on the plane is about to come down. Check out our site in the very near future to get your plane needs.

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Chris,
If that is the case, I apologize for my earlier comments about the originator of the FF design. I said it is a great kit to start with because I did like the flight performance of FF.
I also acknowledge the generosity of replacement parts you included in the kit. But for anybody to learn how to fly a RC plane from no previous experience, it is reasonable and logical to include a re-inventory budget for parts. If you remember those days when we exchanged e-mails every two weeks or so to order more parts, simply because I absolutely loved to fly my FF#1 and FF#2. I think you deserve a round of applause since you came out with the very good original design. However, RC industry is an evolving world. My suggestions and observations are based on : 1.) what's available today on the market. and 2.) what can be done to improve the FF kit. I have no doubt that the semi-3 channel on-off type speed control or the transmitter layout can be improved. All I wish for is that you will have these suggestions in mind when you design the next beginner kit.

Best of Luck!
Ben

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Why would one ask for the price to be lowered? This is the best RC buy in the world if you order from the owner's web site. Where else do you also get a spare wing, spare tail assembly, and 3 props for such a ridiculously low price? I challenge anyone to find a better deal. By the way, the owner is right, the Ventura was copied from him. By the way, it cost quite a bit more and does not have the extra parts. As a novice, I really appreciate the extra parts. :D

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

I'm going to answer gcarrier post as nicely as I can [:@]. Beleive it or not you can get plenty of better deals, better quality and quantity parts for planes . For example I bought my .40 trainer for $150 dollars . It was flown once. The guy treed it and didn't want to fix the fuselage. So I bought it .....WHY ! well lets see ...it came with the servos the engine the radio the receiver , basically everything it needed to fly. I had to buy a new fuselage $60 bucks, and a tank $2.89 . so if you go look up the price of this plane ready to fly you can figure out how much I saved. Its in the ball park of $120.00 approximately a year ago. The price on the FF was perfect when I was learning how to fly. But When I tried to buy the plane ARF, Chris wanted to sell it to me for half the price . I simply refused to buy the shell of this plane for $50 or so , then i decided to just go glow ....The FF is a great starter plane but I'm over it at this moment :).

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Let's see if I've got this straight, you bought a broken used plane for $150 and had to spend another $65 to make it fly. How is that a better deal than getting a new plane, a radio, servos, two wings and two tail sections and three folding props for $99? I could have two planes, two radios, four servos, four wings, four tail sections, and six folding props for what you paid. Just asking?

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Ok gcarrier you can have all of that and while Im flying on a 20mph day your're holding your FF on your lap. The difference is huge... my plane weighs 5 pounds when ready for take off. The wing span is 60 inches and is capable of flying for 30 min. to one hour on a 10 oz tank of glow fuel . Not to mention perfect inverted flight ,ROGs, barrel rolls. tip stalls etc. not to mention speed control and no charging of batteries for power. Dont get me wrong the FF is worth every dime but my goodness the price after three years has not fallen [X(]. Basically if you are looking to fly scale planes then you need to move on to glow if you haven't...Is glow better than electric ? as far as Im concerned the performance of a glow engine is 20 times better then an electric so just the engine on this plane cost a little bit more than half of what the FF cost and you say I didnt get a deal ?

PS the fuselage was repairable but since I saved money I decided to just by a new one :D. Did you no you can get a ARF trainer for .40 engine for only $50.......Well thats how much my Megatech cost. Yep wore it out with the equipement from the SUPERSTAR ,and thats when I started flying the Hobbico SUPERSTAR and guess what with the same equipement that came with the plane.....

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Hey im come from the thunder down under which is australia
anyway i bought a ff but mine has 3 channels speed regulator elevator and rudder but it looks exactly like the pics in this thread and its made by venom chris i was wondering does ur company make this plane

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

I have a Ventura and it looks alot better than that FF. For one it has porportional motor. Conventional rc transmitter, so you don't learn the wrong way! And the parts are very cheap and easily obtainable. It also contains a field charger. This may be a nice plane, but I'll stick with my ventura! I mean no discredit to the designer, just defending my Ventura!

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Yes,like yourself I just purchased a Freeedom Flyer. It may have been too windy, but
anyway I couldn't off the ground(well. about two feet) then it dove into the ground.
Result: motor shaft is bent, so I guess I buy a new motor.Megatech hasn't been very
cooperative, so i ordered a new motor and rubber bands from someone else. I don't
know, but my impression is this plane is not for a beginner like me. John

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Hi,

I'm just curious about this thread and the change in tone of the posters.

Initially, everyone was very positive about the airplane, but at some much later time dissatisfaction occurred.

Was the problem, that initially as a new flier the plane was relatively easy to use, but as your skills grew, you were looking for more in the airplane? It would seem so from reading the thread. Wouldn't that type of progression have been natural as you gained skills and knowledge and could better describe what you wanted in a plane to match your skill sets?

Just a question.

Andy

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

the FF for me was the best ep plane I have ever flown. But when I lost it I turned to glow planes immediately and realized buying and charging batteries was no longer for me. I still have a few ep wing/gliders , but very much prefer glow. Although messy when you are done flying it is much more satisfying when everything goes right. ;) For the price of the FF these days you can pretty much buy a glow ARF plane for the same price. Adding in the servos and radio gear may be a bit more costly than the FF but holds up better on grass and windy days than EP planes. Most EP planes are thrown into flight , well were is the fun in that. If you are going to come back at me with saying brushless EP plane can ROG , please give the reader an idea of the cost of the ESC,brushless motor,and Lipo batteries. CAN YOU SAY ASTRONOMICAL, if thats a word.

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

RC,

Thanks for the reply. Being my first post on the forum, I wasn't planning on flaming anyone or start a war.

I'm new to RC flying and my only experience in the past was when I was younger (and I'm going to date myself here), my brothers and I would spend weeks building a COX kit, the kind with strings to control the airplane as you went around in a circle. For us that usally ended up resulting a quick nose dive and the plane flying a part. We still may have a lot of old gas engines at my parents house. My dad was always building large balsa planes, but never did finish them or fly them.

I just picked up the FF from Electronics4u2 on ebay, where he bundled six of them together as package. My hope is that I just killed all of my brothers and father's Christmas shopping and hopefully my brothers can get my dad out to try his hand at flying one. The fact that it is primarily a glider I am hopeful will prevent the previous experience of a quick nose dive (another reason for going with the FF was the spare parts).

The electric appealed to me as I never liked trying to start the gas engine as I always thought if I didn't get my fingers out of the way they would be chopped off. Honestly though I wouldn't be able to intelligently tell the different types of engines apart at this stage. I am just hopeful for a nice day this weekend to try one out.

Thanks,

Andy

RE: Freedom Flyer Anyone tried it yet?
 

Fergy , you definitely will enjoy fling the FF and I hope you and yours the best of luck with fling the FF. It definitely will take a beating . I know because it was the first RC plane I have successfully flown. I flew my FF so vigorously I folded the wing twice. I learned to reinforce the main wing and then switched the motor to a 400 and made the plane full throttle control. Good luck Fergy and remember to have fun .;)