Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

Most FEJ jets break apart within the first 25 flights. Some, break apart in as little as just one flight.

basimpsn

My Feedback: (5)

Yes it was very diffcult to see during the Maiden flight. I have to keep banking the wings to see them.. but the next flight I spray paint the tip tanks black and it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNLy2o5d60s

basimpsn

My Feedback: (5)

I'm to be blame for this one crashing..I wish they would go back to building Jet like this T-33 If you could see this Jet in person you would understand what i'm talking about.

Heck the Hamburg Jet video speak for it self.

impulse09

My Feedback: (3)

They couldn't decide on the A or D version so they made a mashup? LOL.

Cool story FEJ.

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Nope, Chrome is a real guy. Cool guy, too!

Éric F14

Hello

i lost my FEJF14 during flight with a wing failure
i made 55 flights
when i saw the inside wing I understand, the building is inadapted
i advised IMAA in France and sent some mails to FEJ WITHOUT answer from him

Eric

greg_xxx

Look! I'm sorry!! I truly am, I have no desire to see ANYONE's pride and joy crash but.......... seriously - and I know this is going to upset a lot of people on here with vested interests - STOP FEEDING THIS MONSTER!!

These arf producers release a few videos of their 'products' flying once or twice and you pile in with both feet without a thought for the underlying structure/engineering that is underlying that flashy, beautifully painted, but ultimately doomed, facade!

Unless you KNOW what's under that 'skin' why in the world would you even contemplate committing it to the air ......blind faith??

Build you own models people and learn a little along the way, or accept the consequences.

paulhat

Nothing wrong with buying ARF's
Plenty of good ones out there.

muzzgail

Consequence you say. What, lots of flying of models now. When I purchase an ARF Jet, I find plenty of proof of how they are constructed usually. You have to want to look past the paint when checking for your supplier. The day of the scratch built aircraft is over and saying otherwise is crazy. The ARF's I have bought lately, are much better than I could construct, are quicker to obtain, usually straight and have better scale features, like rivets and ordnance etc.

Shaun Evans

Hi,

Getting sick and tired. Of hearing about the amazing paint jobs. They're glossy. That's about it. Highly inaccurate in the scale ones and have stuff like "poll handle" with nomenclature in the wrong font half the time. Let's say 'shiny' paint jobs, ok?

Tuggs

True that.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Haha. So true, then again some people consider an awesome paintjob any that they dont have to do. Lol

Erik R

My Feedback: (32)

Shaun,

I've only known you to be an intelligent, honest, long term jet advocate, pro builder, and the go to man for anything yellow.

Thomas,

We all marvel at what you are doing with your Tomcat project. No doubt, an old school innovator and craftsman.

I am puzzled at the vigor you both display, in expressing condescending, demeaning responses to people trying to share their new toys, because they're understandably excited about them.

Lets face it, the experience level on this board ranges from total newbie to Shui, Ali, etc. The newer dudes are the ones coming on excited about their shiny new jets. My thoughts are, a "Good for you, good luck. Here's how to reach me if you need help. " , beats "I'm tired of people calling their stuff nice and scale, when clearly, the nomenclature is the wrong font!". I dunno. These days, my feeling is, this is my hobby. I do it to relax, have fun, and spend time with my friends. I'm over the judgement and politics. Blue skies and tailwinds to all jet buds,


Erik

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Erik,
i am a stickler for details to a fault and very demanding in that i get the most out of my money (which is why i hardly buy an arf anymore). When i see people saying how perfect their new shiny Arf is, but then it has mispelling nomenclature on it, it strikes me as kind of funny. You have a company selling globally and they cant spell (and im definitely not a spelling bee Wizard!) simple English words correctly when they are Copying the words! I mean a "O" looks nothing like a "U".

I dont see how my comment was demeaning to any one person in particular. If they are happy with what they have, great for them!


I really am on my last 2% of nerves with this site. No one can take a joke anymore

SushiHunter

lol.

SushiHunter

Same here, I'm a perfectionist by nature and if I'm spending time and money on this hobby, it's got to be the best.....the very best! Anything less, I look elsewhere.

Erik R

My Feedback: (32)

Thomas,

I get all that. I am in a position of leadership at work, and in this hobby. I have been truly humbled by how devastating criticism is to some people, and empowering words of encouragement are to them. Things that you or I may feel are insignificant. Remember when you were coming up, in this hobby, or as a full scale pilot. Obviously you took pride in your dedication and commitment at first, then later your professionalism and skills. Remember how the words of your instructors,etc cut right to your core,good or bad.

I hope your nerves get better. Blue skies,

Erik

Shaun Evans

Erik,

Likewise, first of all.

To be honest, I'm still quite disgusted at the damage to this facet of the hobby that I think is being done by unscrupulous outfits like this one. This thread is about a crashed jet. This isn't one of those few where someone is just sharing about his jet (and I'm leaving out the recent one where it's pretty obvious that there's some collusion with the manufacturer). When a guy is just sharing about his airplane, I'm reluctant to poo-poo it. This FEJ thing is far more personal, though.

I watched them totally screw some good guys who busted their butts to help them succeed in this market... even to considerable damage to their reputations and pocketbooks. I watched them deliver egregiously sub-par products without the slightest regard for the safety of our people over here or the viability of our hobby. I've watched them do and say anything (including outright lies and character assassination attempts to defend their indefensible practice of selling static models as RC flying model jets.

I believe that the bar has been lowered to a point where the market itself is significantly damaged. Outfits like this have flooded the market with dangerous junk and have helped 'evolve' the concept of jet modeling to the newest generation of jet guys. It's like a virus that adapts the host environment to make it more comfortable for the new organism. Nowadays, it's harder for legitimate outfits to stay in business, and more people accept this new meme where you send your payment in full (in a way that leaves you no recourse if you're being screwed) and then wait a year to see if they send you everything. When I read the newbies frothing over their shiny jet, in total denial or dismissal about the mountains of evidence that the gamble is worse than it seems... I'm thinking, 'maybe THIS is the jet that comes apart at the wrong time in the wrong place and is the straw that starts the moratorium on jet modeling.' That may sound hyperbolic, but I've built several of these ARFs for people and I stand behind every word.

Erik, you are correct that some of the people who've been on the 'bash FEJ' wagon are just there for the fun of it or for some tribal mentality. I'm not. I take this stuff very seriously, and I love this hobby at the same time. I want everyone to enjoy it, and I don't want one more guy to get suckered by thieves and liars like these.

Erik R

My Feedback: (32)

Shaun,

Thank you for your respectful, well reasoned response. Dantley knows that I have the utmost respect for him, and understand his pain. I have already suffered significant losses this season, through no fault of the airframe manufacturer.

Now that I physically have posession of my F-16 replacement, I will share some thoughts. Based on the credible reports, it is clear that they haven't treated others as well as they treated me. Since I wasn't party to those interactions, I can't speak to them. I have received a new F-16, and elected to have Nir build it. The important bulkheads are plywood, and the wings and stabs are the strongest I've seen from an arf scale jet company. Servos are all direct drive, as in no linkages.

Wanting to minimize my cash risk, I had JR repair the servos from the first, 8711's all around, and I bought a used P-200 to power it. I promise you I will fly it like a fighter. Look at my F-18 maiden vid in a different thread. Nir did a 10 out of 10 job building my F-16.

If it fails, I will post it here immediately. Otherwise, I won't say a word til the 100th flight. Aside from FEJ, I've just felt a harsh vindictiveness in the jet community lately. My heart says we're all brothers, and need to back each other up, and look out for one another. Too many facets taking pleasure in others misfortune, or just being overly judgemental.

I still remember being scared to send you 1100 for a Starfire before 9/11. That was my first internet jet buying experience. As then, you've turned out to be one of the good guys. Blue skies,

Erik

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

The only encouraging words we can give someone is by keeping these companies who continually show a Lack of QC on their toes by keeping threads like this active and on the "front page news". If they can't take the time to make sure spelling of the nomenclature is correct or the thrust reverser clamshells are glued onto the correct nacelle so the Paint lines line up (FEJ's G5), then what makes anyone think they actually care enough to ensure the most important parts of the model you can't see are done properly? Past experiences like Dantleys and numerous others definitely doesn't look good, hopefully for you, your new F16 will prove to be a good model and last many flights.

Otherwise, i dont have much else to add since Shaun said it pretty well. There are very few things i post negatively about here, 1. F14's being done wrong (and mines not perfect either), 2. FEJ stuff (ive seen enough in person to know not to deal with them) 3. Products that fail. Over the past 3 months i have had a LOT of negative issues with many products and well regarded suppliers in this hobby, never once did i make a post about those suplliers or products as we all have off days (and most of the issues were not making stated delivery times).

I believe its time for me to do like so many others and begin to post less and less.

Hinckley Bill

My Feedback: (569)

Dang it Erik.......now why couldn't you have that bad boy ready to go when I was out in the PA area on a regular basis.....

Bill

WarCowboy

Holly smokes! Not to revive the dead here, but I had to reply after reading most of this 87 page topic.
I can't believe the things I read on here and some of the manufacturer/ business associates business practice standards! Wow
The entire thing is ridiculous as I read it. The fact the poor guy lost his rig was hard enough to look at, but once it was pretty much determined a structural failure nothing came of it. I know model manufacturers cannot guaranty a persons flying, and in no way responsible for that much, but when one has documented proof of such failures as this one and other testimonials that concur from said product/s, it is shameful at best. I recall marcpamjose coming off harshly at best, but in the end I think he was right in this instance. As a person who buys certain things from certain Asian countries/China etc.. for obvious price reasons, the one thing I have learned over the years is when it come to a guitar, stay American. In other words, anything that requires precision craftsmanship as in this case "a turbine jet", unfortunately cannot be the exception. Shame on these guys for not at least replacing the chassis that cost this man a small fortune alone.

afterburner

My Feedback: (18)

In the immortal words of John McClane

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WarCowboy

Haha, I hear ya

kenlaur

I used to fly RC aircraft years ago and recently got into RC quad copters and found that the quality of most anything out of China is poor.

I recently had a brand new Walkera QRX350Pro crash after a motor shut down in flight.

Everything was stock and batteries fully charged.

Just plain poor manufacturing and no customer service.

When I was reading Marks comments early in this thread I agreed with him 100%.

Beware of anything from China ... PLEASE !!!!!