ORIGINAL: JUMPSTREET66
I just built the Falcon 25. It was to say the least a nightmare. The wings do not line up to the fuselage,the servo compartment is very small and you have to attach the wings from inside and a laundry list of others including a limited instruction manual(Pictures!). The landing gear needs to be beefed up,the included hardware is definately junk,do not use anything but the steel parts. And if you do complete it ,get someone to trim it , because YOU WILL have your hands full. It will upon lift off, try to torque right or left right out of the gate. I shot straight up and got alot of altitude !
I also electrofied mine, you can take a look at my gallery. Good Luck !
Hmmm...
I used all of the provided hardware w/o problems. It's worked just fine. I've only added a bit of expoxy to strengthen the gear area...
Lining up the wings is up to you. I had no problems with this. They should be epoxied in place after sanding the contact surfaces smooth and planar.
The fuselage compartment is not "very small". I'm able to throw 3800mAh 14.8v battery packs in there w/o problems, so fitting the servos is certainly not a problem.
There's a whole thread on the Bobcat .50 that applies to this plane.
The "torque" you experienced was NOT torque but a rather a wing stall. The plane actually tracks very straight. It is related to the "I shot straight up" comment...
The "I Shot Straight Up".... is the result of the wrong angle of attack ( covered in the bobcat thread ) because the plane's "stance" is wrong.
The plane needs a positive AOA with the nose slightly up or high. You need to adjust the gear to attain this. Once done it takes off very nicely.
All of this also applies both to the Falcon/Bobcat's bigger cousins and also to the Kingcats, etc....
As usual the manual is indeed horrendous, as you said, but if you are attempting to assemble one of these pusher jet planes, you should be a fairly experienced and advanced flyer and ARF builder, so this should not be an issue.
The Falcon/Bobcat's are somewhat "advanced" planes, in spite of their looks, which novices are advised to stay away from.
If you know what you are doing, the little Falcon/Bobcat is a fun little rocket...
Mine draws about 800watts @ 50 amps off a 3800mAh 14.8v battery. I'm using an NP "Monster .25" motor ( excellent motor by the way... ) pushing an 8x6 APC standard prop, reversed... I get 10-14 minutes of high speed flight.
Landings require a spoileron setup with compensating elevator trim. I've covered this in the Bobcat thread.
With the spoileron settings, the Falcon/Bobcat comes in at a very "Jet like" attitude... landing nose high and decellerating quickly due to the extra drag. It's quite impressive to see it land just like a full boat Kingcat...