Get the Flying Thingz for Aero Fly Pro. It flies just like
the real thing!
I seen a housefly, I seen a horsefly, I seen a butterfly,
heck I e'den seen a draaaagonfly, but I done seen everything,
when I seen a lawnmower fly!
Dumbo, the original "whatzit" that could fly.
In Dumbo's case flight should have been an impossibility.
How can an elephant...fly? I guess it wasn't too hard otherwise
no story. Take an object, er elephant, now stick some wings
on him, in his case giant ears. Now add some thrust and gravity.
Add a little lift and control to the equation...you have flight.
FLYINGTHINGZ
MAKES NATIONAL TELEVISON!
Once
again FlyingThingZ flyz the airwaves of National television.
In May of 2005 G4 Network (Video Game TV) took a flight
out to PA to visit with FlyingThingz owners Henry
and Spiro.
Now you can watch the video clip on RCU Live! Click
here to watch, or click the big TV to the left.
For other FlyingThingz press releases and related
articles check
out this link from their web site. These guys
have caught the attention of the entire world with
their original and crazy FlyingThingZ!
When
I first got into the RC hobby I took a look at the Sky Cutter,
I thought that was right up my alley, something that should
not fly that can fly. Sounds just like the Dumbo story.
Then I looked into it even further and saw that FlyingThingZ
carries and entire line of products of "thingz"
that should not fly, that do fly. Just like Dumbo, they
designed their airplanes (strange to call these airplanes)
to make the impossible, possible.
I finally got too see one fly at an full scale airshow.
There was a mid day break where all the RC planes came out
to fly. Giant Edge's, Ultimate Biplanes and lots of other
beautiful RC aircraft. But then someone decided to whip
out the Flying Lawnmower and the entire crowd got on their
feet in amazement. No a $6,000 RC 40% Edge really didn't
do anything for them, after all they just got done watching
Kirby Chambliss put on a show of a lifetime. They were more
intrigued by the flying lawnmower much more then the big
40% Edge. I knew right away I had to have one and quick,
it looked like a blast to fly.
As soon as I got home from the Airshow, I called them and
placed my order so I could find out. It wasn't just about
getting the plane to fly, it was about putting the kit together
so I could see what they were thinking in their design.
Well I got it so now you are going to find out what makes
the impossible, possible!
Sky
Cutter .40 V2 with Green Covering Kit $129.99
Wing Span: 24.5" / Chord: 29"
Weight: 5.5 - 6.0 lbs.
Engine: .46-.61 two stroke .45-.72 four stroke
Servos: 70 oz torque
Included with Kit: CNC cut foam, laser cut balsa and
lite-ply, full size plans, step by step photo illustrated
manual, landing gear, screws, bolts, nuts, fittings,
control horns, nose gear and our very own self adhesive,
precut vinyl covering material.
Word to the wise: GET THE COVERING KIT!
Do not order the the Flying Lawnmower without it. I
just can't imagine cutting all the covering by hand
when they give you these beautiful rolls of precut vinyl
which shrinks to heat and ties in so nicely. It's worth
it's weight in gold. I once asked the guys at Flying
Thingz if anyone actually builds this without the covering
and they said that sometimes they order it without,
but most of the time they call back to order it.
Not only is the Sky Cutter a great look and inexpensive
kit, the guys that own the company are the greatest.
Here are a couple of guys, Henry and Spiro, who
are just the coolest guys you'll ever meet. They
were both born and raised in NYC but somehow wound
up living near each other in Northern PA. I mean
what are the odds of two families, both from NYC,
both winding up in PA and both have interests in
making lawnmowers, tanks and witches fly?? What
are the odds of two families from NYC even wanting
to move to move to PA in the first place be?? Well
stranger things have happened I guess. Give 'em
a call sometime, they are very responsive to their
customers and give great technical support.
As soon as I got my flying lawnmower up in the air
I knew I had to become a dealer. These planes fall
right in line with our own (OMP) product line of
planes that are just downright fun to fly. But seeing
that I am now a dealer this will be my first and
last review for FlyingThingZ, but it won't be my
last FlyingThingZ kit, I can assure you that. After
all Halloween is coming, time for the Witch Wilga
Flying Thingz kit. If you have kids and are in the
hobby these planes are a must. Personally I don't
have kids, but my nieces and nephews beg me to fly
the Sky Cutter every time I see them. They always
ask me about it, and ask me if they can have it
when they grow up. Of course they can, that's what
Uncles were made for.
--Thanks Henry and Spiro for producing these
great kits!!!
Kit
contents and covering
Foam
parts
Foam
core wing
Laser
cut parts
Plans
Fuselage
Fuselage
Fuselage
Fuselage
Well
this is my very first kit, I've built a bunch of ARF's but
this seemed to be the easiest kit to start with out there
and I was right. This kit more or less builds likes an ARF
then kit. There really is not a lot of building to do, just
the servo housing and handle for the main wood parts and just
piece together for foam parts after you cover them. You can
see the contents of the kit are just a bit more then most
ARF's. Heck even the covering requires no ironing and no cutting!
As
you can see in the photos the kit is complete. All CNC cut
foam and everything you need including the wheels with hardware
and custom cut control horns.
The first part of the kit is to build the servo tray, not
a lot to it if you've ever built a kit. If you've never built
a kit before it will take you about 2-3 hours at most. It's
pretty straight forward as you can see from the pics, nothing
tricky, just a box and a couple servo trays. All the parts
are laser cut and just sort of snap together.
Fuselage
Fuselage
Fuselage
lid
Fuselage
complete
Fuselage
covering
Fuselage
covering
Fuselage
covering
Landing
gear supports
Looking
good!
After
the servo housing/motor mount tray is built the next step
is to build the lid. Only takes a few minutes just to add
the pieces that lock into the main housing. The tray lid
is real nice. It comes off with one single screw and gives
you full access to everything to view for safety checks.
Covering the tray is simple, just look for the pieces that
fit, place them on, over lap them, then add some heat to
tighten everything up. You really don't have to be that
perfect when applying the vinyl, it shrinks real nice and
tightens up like a drum.
The
next step is to glue together the main gear blocks. Pretty
easy, just glue some laser cut pieces together with 10 min
epoxy. The main gear supports have holes already pre-cut
for the landing gear wire to pop in nice and easy. Putting
the tray on the fuse, starting to look like something!
Foam
core wing
Wing
with gear mount
Wing
covered
Wing
with fuselage
Inside
fuselage
Wing
sides
Control
surfaces
Looks
like something
Control
surfaces attached
The
manual says to use a router to create the slots in the fuse
for the main gear blocks. I just used a hobby knife and took
my time to make the shape in the foam contour to the shape
of the gear blocks. It was very simple and only took me a
few minutes. Covering the main wing was real easy, just look
for the biggest pieces. Just be careful not to keep the vinyl
flat and not to gather up and stick to itself on the inside.
Again you just apply, everything is pre cut to fit. After
it's attached just
add some heat and it will tighten up like a snare drum. Each
piece must overlap another piece on every part of the mower
so that's how it all ties in and locks together. Again and
I will stress, GET THE COVERING, you will not regret it.
The fuse sides are pre cut coroplast. Once again just find
the pieces that fit and cover. Before you cover it you should
sand the part of the coroplast that will meet the foam with
rough sand paper. You can do this before or after you cover
it because you must remove the covering that butts up against
the fuse. The coroplast is also attached with a with a few
dowels which hold the dummy wheels on as you'll see in the
following pictures.
The control surface a simple, just cover them and counter
sink the control horns, nothing too tricky there. To attach
you can do it a couple ways, with CA hinges or tape. The manual
recommends using fabric packaging tape which I used. Again,
nothing to tricky, just attach.
Dummy
motor
Dummy
wheels
Install
dowels
Make
marks for wheels
Almost
done
All
vinyl graphics included
Handle
Handle
The
next few steps are the dummy wheels and dummy motor. The dummy
motor is easy, just cover and counter sink a couple small
dowels in four spots then glue it together. The wheels you
must prep to attach to the fuse before you cover them. There
are a couple laser cut parts you add on the wheels to support
the dowels that counter sink through the coroplast and into
the fuse. The back dummy wheels have a floating type design
with rubber band that can push up in the back for harrier
landings. This way they won't drag. This is rather clever
idea.
After that's all done it's time for the main handle. Pretty
easy, 2 side pieces and 2 horizontal supports. Also a couple
pieces of tri-stock to lock them in. Make sure you keep your
angles as per the plans as this handle will give a significant
amount of lift. If you add the area of the horizontal handles
you'd probably come up with that of a 90-120 size plane or
maybe even larger, so it's pretty important they they are
right on the money.
After that's all done you attach the handle to the fuse and
put the rest together and add the radio gear and final vinyl
pieces like the dummy motor pull handle, side logo and wheels.
This kit took me about 3 days or 20 some hours to complete.
I believe that if I got another one I would probably be able
to put the ARF together in 15 or less. Yes, it's that easy.
It was fun to build I just hope it's fun to fly. We'll see!
I've
flown lots of planes in every size and shape. When
your about to maiden a RC plane that has long wings,
vertical stabs, horizontal stabs and so forth you
think, "it looks like a plane, it should fly
like a plane, no worries". But I was more nervous
getting ready to fly this then just about any other
plane I've ever maidened. The reason why, was simple,
it was missing a few things that traditional airplanes
don't have. But I've seen them fly before and it's
looks like it should fly, so lets find out.
Got
lined up on the runway and ready to go. Full throttle
and she's off. It took a little bit more speed to
get off the ground then I thought, but once it got
up it was a sight to see. At first it caught me off
guard as you can instantly feel the handle give it
a high center of gravity. But it flew real nice, a
couple of clicks here and there and it's flying straight
and level.
First couple flights I just put it through some stall
maneuvers so I could find out if it had any bad habits
and it really did not. It wasn't flying like a trainer,
totally different and hard to explain, you just have
to find out for yourself. I can just say that it's
fun to fly.
After
those first few flights it was time to flip it around.
The control surfaces are huge and I've got them maxxed
out on high rates now. High speed snaps were just
fun, it's snaps very axial, does not whip out the
tail like other planes I'm used to flying, totally
different and fun. You can really tell that the handle
on the mower gives it that extra aerobatic ability.
Now I watched in the videos how the plane will do
a real lomcevak. That's basically where the plane
will stop in mid air and flip over at near zero speed
and travel on the same path it was heading with up
elevator and throttle control. Most people think that
a lomcevak is a any crazy move that involves a snap.
But a true lomcevak is a really nice and slow graceful
maneuver and the mower does them perfect.
The
next move I wanted to try that I saw in the videos
and was told it can do is harriers. Due to the large
flat wing and thick airfoil and the handle that acts
like a counter balance the mower is supposed to do
some of the nicest harriers. Well it does and it's
a lot of fun. The plane handles better in harrier
then about 50% or more of some of the 3D fun fly planes
I'm used to flying. Overall, it's just fun to fly,
You can't really explain it in words as it's just
different and that's what I like.
Well I'm not going to bore you any longer with reading
how it flies, just watch how it flies, that's what
really shows you that the mower is more fun to fly
then to look at. It's easy to fly, not a trainer,
but certainly flies much better then you would expect
a lawnmower to fly.
The
FlyingThingZ Sky Cutter is a great kit. It was designed
to be assembled in the shortest amount of time. Unlike
some other kits, it's not just a bunch of sticks and
plans. There is hardly anything to actually cut maybe
some tri-stock for the handles and balsa sheet on
the bottom of the servo tray. Other then that it's
pretty simple and more or less a put together then
a build. It's a great first kit in a nut shell.
Now if you have children or like to entertain crowds
then this plane is truly for you. You will get more
attention with this plane then a 40% Edge or even
a jet. It will put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces.
As
far as it's flying, again hard to explain. It's flies
real nice, nothing to tricky but very different. You
can really feel that it does not have traditional
wings, but it's still really fun to fly and not scary.
So if you buy one and fly it, have no fear it will
fly no matter what your mind is telling you.
Also the FlyingThingZ Skycutter is available for AeroFly
Pro Deluxe so you can give it a try if you own the
sim and really see how it flies and especially harriers!
This is an independent written review and does
not reflect the opinions or viewpoints of RCUniverse.com
and FlyingThingZ. RCUniverse.com and FlyingThingZ is
not affiliated with, or sponsored by the John Deere
Corporation. John Deere® and its accompanying logo
are registered trademarks of John Deere Corporation.
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The comments, observations and conclusions made in this review are solely with respect to the particular item the editor reviewed and may not apply generally to similar products by the manufacturer. We cannot be responsible for any manufacturer defects in workmanship or other deficiencies in products like the one featured in the review.
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