AS the Absolute WORST foamy I have every put together

I flew a friends and really enjoyed it... so I put it on my Christmas list...
I was cursed by actually receiving it!.
After two days of trying to re-engineer every piece of plastic and carbon...it is in the garbage!!

I have built MANY foamies... both from kits and from scratch.

The Reflection is the most poorly over-engineered "thing" I have ever dealt with...

very few of the plastic pieces fit...and if they do......they will break... they are too brittle...
as mentioned... I have built MANY foamies...
but do to the accolades of the GP series... I figured I would follow their directions... Whoops... directions are wrong, they don't match the pictures... more re-engineering for me.

the hinges sounded really neat...

never mind, they all broke, back to the trusted blenderm!

ever one of the "control horns" had to be drilled out for the "Z-bend" clevis... none of the carbon fit without LOTS of sanding (they should include a warning....sanding carbon is bad for your health.....)

very few of the foam pieces fit without re-cutting.....

the only thing good to come out of this "kit" is the extended arms for the Hs-55 servo.....

other than that.....

for me... this was the worst experience I have had with an RC airplane....
and I have had a few....
but I won't mention them here!

so...
my rant over....
my gift in the garbage...
I move on to my shockflyer
my Nikitas animal.... and other foamies....where the designer had a FREAKIN clue!!


do NOT be sucked in by the hype..
DO NOT get a flat out...

while it may fly OK... it sure don't build well...

Good Night, and good luck

Was just giving this some thought.... I remember my buddies Reflection...


then I remembered......it took him three before he had a good one....because he had nothing but problems building his...




(yes, he is an EXCELLENT builder!)

When built correctly, the Reflection is one of the best kitted planes out there. It takes some advanced modeling skills, and isnt the easiest plane to construct....but WOW what a plane once its built. Superb flying plane.

You cant rush the flatouts. Many people that have built shockies and other planes think that the flatout should go together as fast as the other kits. Simply not true. The Flatouts do take longer to build because there is more stuff to assemble, and you have to fit every part. But it can be worth it in the end.

I have to admit though....if I was to build another one...The Z-bends and thin carbon pushrods are going bye bye. Ill stick with the Ikarus Shockflyer control horns and rods. They are adjustable, and you dont destroy the linkage if you have to take it off. Thats my biggest gripe about the Flatout stuff is the linkages arent adjustable. If you want to change something later...your just SOL.

appreciate what your saying...I had flown one and it did fly well..

I can only assume that mine was a lemon..

I DO have advanced building skills... my problem was kit quality...
nothing fit, every piece of plastic broke due to brittle plastic, defeating the purpose of 3 quarters of the "extra goodies"

there were threads regarding the plastic, they suggestion was to use a hairdryer to install the hinges.. Umm..I thought the idea behind the hinges was to release in the event of a doink and thne be snapped back on...
ooops, forgot to bring my hairdryer to the field.....

If you read the instructions beforehand, you might not have had the trouble. First of all, you're supposed to carefully open the control horns with an Xacto knife around the edges. GP would have probably done it, but this way, (IF YOU'RE CAREFUL) there won't be any slop.

Also, you're supposed to be careful with the hinges. I don't know why they're supposed to pop off, as the ones on my Turmoil didn't come off in a big crash. This is a true builders ARF. Don't confuse it with throwing some tape and glue in a box and shaking out an airplane.


Sincerely,
Woops

Why are they called ARFs? More like ARBs, Almost Ready to Build! I have nearly trashed my Red Bull, fixed it for the last time today, next crack up it will go in the trash. I have several foamies an my Flatout is the only one which has ever needed repaired.[:'(]

Mine went together really well, It does take a while and I just figure things like reaming control horns and sanding pushrods are part of it.
It's a shame you didn't finish it. It has been my favorite by far, and I've flown several. Its been the only one that I could hover an entire 1000mah pack out of, or do rolling harrier circles 6" off the ground consistently. And it is the most durable of all the Flatouts.
Brian