Knock

My Feedback: (2)

Just putting together a Boomerang XL kit......the hardware is giving me grief. The bolts jamed in one of the boom inserts that mounts the horizontal stab to the left boom.The stab mounting insert in the boom came right out of the boom . I am having a simular problems with blind nuts .Some blind nuts fit the bolts some don,t . Is it possible I have a mix of metric and standard hardware ?


When I drilled through the predrilled holes in the wing center section trailing edge I missed the mounting blocks in the fuselage.........seems the wing mounting blocks were glued to the wrong side of the rear bulkhead . The four other holes were ok ......when I drilled through the other four holes the drill ended up going through the remaining wing mounting blocks .

STKNRUD

I put one together about a year ago and remember I had the same problem you did with two of the wing mounting bolts. I don't remember having the others except that I did have to add a good amount of Hysol to a number of locations...not too unusual for China. Some of the Kindel linkage didn't fit and ended-up making some of my own.

Keep everything you possibly can aft. Even with that, you will most likely have to add a lot of weight to the nose. Besides additional weight, on many landings the fork will compress (ProLink gear) to the point it hits the asphal.[&o]

Knock

My Feedback: (2)

You mean keep everything forward .How much weight did you add ?

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

built two, no problems.....

Knock

My Feedback: (2)

just my luck I guess

STKNRUD

Pay more attention to what I mean and less to what I say. I meant forward. I don't remember but it was considerable and that was with some large NiMH all the way forward. In fact, my kit had a removeable nose cone and that is where I put the lead. I was flying it with a P160 but even if you had a smaller engine, I doubt it would make a big difference.

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (4)

I built one for a friend and didn't have any problems with the wing mounting or stab mounting. Power was a Rhino. Two big NiMH Rx packs in the nose just in front of the canopy. One 3800 Duralite pack on the former at the front of the equipment bay. Extra 40oz fuel tank plus a 40 smoke tank. Added at least 1.5 ls of lead to balance. Pro-Link nose gear strut bottoms out and needs a stronger spring

I glassed the wing, stab, and all control surfaces and painted it in VF-84 colors. After the maiden flight, noticed that the spars didn't hold the booms very well in pitch so I used a couple of 6-32 screws to screw each boom to the center section near the leading edge and trailing edge. A few test flights later (flying the crap out of it, snaps, loops, etc) the sheeting at the leading edge cracked as well as the sheeting over the retracts.

I fixed the wing and added some 4oz cloth to the sheeting at the leading edge and Hysoled the booms to the wing. A dozen or so aggressive flights later, the wing suffered a structural faliure at the leading edge/ front spar. Fortunately the pilot was able to get the jet back and land. I'll have to cut away the lower sheeting to see how bad is the damage.

These are great planes but I wouldn't push them that hard.

Regards,

Jim

STKNRUD

I agree...they are a bit like a 747 on 737 frame. I know of at least one other that had the wing skin come off the leading edge...the outcome was MUCH worse. Some recommend putting some tape along the length of the leading edge as the wind gets under the seam of the covering and it takes the balsa with it when it peels back (conjecture). I also had problems with the spar tubes coming lose. If you can transport with booms attached and stab in place (takes an 18-wheeler), it makes the setup at the field a LOT easier and eliminates a lot of the "play" between spar and spar tubes. I used packaging tape wrapped around the spars to hold them tight.

james love

My Feedback: (2)

I've build four ' no proplems at all. All have been good flying airplanes also.

James Love

dav.ie

My Feedback: (1)

Did a paint on one for a client recently. To be honest, I thought the hardware was rubish for the price of the kit. The wing mounting blocks were, in my oppinion, cut from the most sub standard "hard" wood I have ever seen with splits in them. The "epoxy" glue used for the formers was some throw back to the early days of epoxy technology and the "shrinkages" of the formers to glass mouldings were terrible. The booms looked like the rib cages of poorly feed race horses. But the thing that got me most, as it does with a lot of stuff out there, was the wing fit to the fuselage. The gaps were interesting to say the least. Why can't manufactures get this simple thing right. There is no point moulding a fuselage and cnc cutting wing ribs, if both wing profiles dont match. My bigest gripe on the hardware were those furry mylar hinges. I stopped using that tack on forty size trainers. Naturally I replaced that junk with proper quality hinges for the client.

Nearing £1,000 for a kit like this with these basic issues, makes me wonder yet again, what we are doing buying such junk and in turn saying it is ok to have this substandard level of model becoming the new standard for what the average modeller thinks is great.

Now in the end, the model looks good in size, shape and I'm sure it will fly well given the wing area and all that, but I would ask yet again, for bosses to make the decission to do the job right or drop their prices to reflect the cr@p they are selling. If they don't want to include good fittings, don't put them in the box.

Knock

My Feedback: (2)

I have already glassed the wing center section and the horizontal tail /elev.......waiting for cloth from Matney models for the wings .I plan to use a p-120.....Has anybody had the CA hinges fail ?
I am using 3/4 oz . I am thinking glue everything except wings together . I think the mark ones went together good......they seem to have dowels at leading edge of the wing and screws at trailing edge........mine has six scerws that secure the wing center section......some bugs on the switch over .

dav.ie

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, on a fair few models over some time and that is why I replace them with proper hinges. It only cost a few dollars to change them, so why risk a fortune on heresay. Mylar hinges will fail as bending plastic will fracture and that is a fact. Hinges are supposed to be just that . . . HINGES, and not pices of plastic sheet.

furloughed ual

My Feedback: (31)

I think u just answered your own question about the CA hinges...if u are at all worried about them failing (and since u asked the question, you are).....replace them....I would never use them in a jet. I built 2 Boomer XL's and tossed the hinges....

In regards to Dave.ie 's post above, the real issue here is that some see modern ARF's as total crap, and some see them as the best thing since sliced bread....guys who grew up building form plans/kits usually see all the flaws in a ARF....then there are the other 95% of the current generation of modlers who have never seen a kit, let alone built one, and have no idea what is a good design and one that has an obviously fatal design flaw built in, as many AFR's do today (read the forums and all the jets (from all mfr's) that are mysteriously "falling out of the sky"). The ARF has brought about a change in the hobby. I do appreciate the time savings of having a mostly completed ariframe, knowing that I will rebuild a vast majority of it ( spent in excess of 250 hrs on one ARF PRO version to make it airworthy) mechanically to get it up to my standards and reliability where everything works, every time....fuel and fly....with no issues. Takes a good bit of time to do this. Some have the skill set, other's do not. Not good, not bad, it just is.

That being said, the XL is a good flying lightly loaded jet that is a fun plane to fly. Certaintly not a CARF Lighting with a P-200, but it never was meant to be. You'll enjoy the XL...

Knock

My Feedback: (2)

Right then no CA hinges.....what about the plastic servo mounts.......I see that two plywood servo mounts are included in the kit....I assume these are for elevator servos.....to address heat issues...exhaust from eng .I realize that the kit is what it is.....slower grass flyer good trainer.......not really high stress machine . I do think that it worth while to build as robust as practcal .

dav.ie

My Feedback: (1)

furloughed ual

Very well put.  Case in point, ARTF's are supposed to be just that, but as you say, and as I have found, to make "some" of the examples out there "airworthy" the owner has to do a lot of work to get it to be safe and reliable.  I say "some" as not all are bad for sure, but I can never work out why in heck do "some" ARTF suppliers select substandard fittings just to "save" a few pennies.  It's both pointless and dangerous to boot.  But the other side of the coin is that the sales of their product goes up as the unknowing tend to just buy the same rubbish again and again.  Beats me why this happens.

STKNRUD

Very good points. Cardash is a modler...designer, builder and flyer. So I have to believe that it is just very difficult to control the mfg process and QC. I have owned a couple of his jets and like them. I didn't buy them because of the price and I suspect that there are a lot like me. I think that is why we get so upset because we would gladly have paid more for a little higher quality. Maybe those that buy them because they are less expensive aren't looking for the quality and don't care.

George

dav.ie

My Feedback: (1)

HI George,

Quality control is not an issue on the XL as ithas House of China QC stamps all over it on each and every part. SO it must be good, however the fittings do not. . .

However, for me, personally, I would not be to happy to part with the money for one givenI have seen one in the flesh and that is a real shame as I do like the look of the XL and am looking for a big sport jet right now to have a a sunday flyer, but fornow anyway, I'll keep looking at other options out there.

STKNRUD

I got an Elan and put a P120 in it. It is, for me, the perfect Sunday flyer...large but not too large and stress free. And with the P120, outstanding performance. But it also has some quality issues. My XL was just too big and took half of each Sunday to put together.

George

BaldEagel

If only most ARF manufactures would offer there wares at a lower price with no hardware, at least then we could use what we prefer without having to bin a lot of supplied sub-standard fittings, not only that I would also mean I would not have to carry around two sets of tools, one metric and another set in Imperial.

Mike

Tom Antlfinger

My Feedback: (24)

Just a bit of history for you guys who have been in the jet hobby for less than 5years.

Alan Cardash did offer a kit that would satisfy all you guys that are p**sing about the BXL....it was the original Boomerang, an all balsa built-up model,that required a skilled balsa kit builder to assemble straight, much like a Carden 40% Extra. Lots of balsa bits and less than ideal instructions. I still have mine. It was at least a 100hr build job, then glass it and paint it......another 50 hrs. It had fixed gear and was bigger than the XL by about 10%, just big enough not to fit into my Town and Country MiniVan with booms on. It was initially introduced to USA at FJ in Bunnell, FL, I think it was 2003 with a then unknown but up and coming hot stick from the U.K. name of Ali Machinchy........everyone took notice.

But everyone complained it was too hard to build, so sales were slow. So that's when Alan went to the purpose-built BXL. My buddy and I got 2 of the first BXL that were container shipped to USA. That was somewhere late 04 or early 05. We both are still flying ours, mine with an old Rhino and the other with a P-120 originally. With 8-10 hour workdays, a BXL can be box-opened on Friday and flown on Sunday.

Ours were built stock, with original hardware and cyano hinges......zero problems on all the Boomer line built locally, at least 8-10 of them, IF and only IF installed correctly.

From the start, it became obvious that the BXL could use a little touching up with Hysol here and there and of course, you must seal the leading edges and gear wells with tape. I use Flite Metal, but any strong tape will work. As ours is a grass field, we always beef up the gear blocks with some 3mm C/F plate...

All told, my kit with an old P-120 followed by a Rhino later, set me back less than $3500 complete and has provided about 250 uneventful flights. My buddy, between an Elan and BXL has more than 600 flights without any major structural problem. Little cracks here and there, but I have those on my $15,000 BVM F-100. I did recover the center section with Ultracote a couple of years ago. No real need to glass and paint IMO. With temp changes, break out the heat iron with a sock on it and tighten the wing and stab covering in about 20 minutes.

So in today's world of unemployment, loss of home equity cash cow, and overall tightening of the belt, all of Cardash's line makes sense to me, even though I am a BVM freak thru and thru with an almost complete collection of his models. The BXL is for relaxed flying and training turbine newbies...and it fits in my Town and Country Minivan with booms and stab on and wing tubes in place(I did have to shorten the main spar about 3/4")........5 minutes to assemble at the field...

Props to Alan and Patricia, and Ali for his test and demo flying of all the Boomers

PaulD

My Feedback: (39)

Just received a B Torus and the hardware supplied is excellent. All sullivan stuff. Also came with the 125 oz (1 gallon) tank as well. Other than a few glue joints that needs some additional but generally a nice kit.

PaulD

bigbri

My Feedback: (287)

purchased a sprint last winter.i know have over 200 flights on her....she went together smoothly. i used the stock hinges and most of the stock hdwr except the pushrods (changed that to 4/40 personal preference) I fly the snot out of that machine. it is powered with a p-80 SE...byfar the most fun i have ever had in this hobby....patricia had always been there if i needed a part or two due to my "showing off" I will NEVER be without a Boomerang jet in my hanger!

FILE IFR

Ya think?
In one weekend you burned 14 gallons of kero! Knock it off Bri, you're causing a kero shortage here in the Northeast!

kj990

I had a nightmare building mine (elan) and wished I had gone for something 'better' and came very close to making a bonfire out of it.

It flies like I could never have imagined! As if on rails with a gyro on every axis, it's fantastic.

I take back every thing I said/swore about during my build, stick with it it's well worth it.

cavandish

C. A .hinges are as good as the people that fit them. Like any hinge, correctly fitted they are perfect in a turbine model.

The small problems mentioned on here are well worth working through in order to end up with a great model, like most Arfs, some common sense is required during assembly.

After many flights, I flew my Xl into the deck, I ordered another the same day, I have heard several Xls owners comment that if they were to loose theirs, that they would go straight out and by another.