This information is intended for those individuals who are contemplating purchasing this model. I am in the process of assembling this aircraft and have found numerous things that may present a problem. They may appear as minor discrepancies but regardless of this the problems exist.

1. The engine mount supplied is not designed as a universal mount. It
is engineered for an OS .91 4 cycle engine.

2. The carbon fiber landing gear is too rigid.

3. The wheel pants that I received in the kit would not alinge properly to
landing gear.

4. The tires supplied are not practical.


I paid $279.00 for this model and already I feel that the ARF is overpriced.

I agree with you Flycatch, this one is just not up to WM standards, of which I've built a bunch. Here are the problems I've had so far:

-hole for horizontal stab way too big
-formers not aligned, lots of gaps between them and fuse
-holes for trihorns not drilled completely through
-holes for wing tube not drilled
-manual steps not in order
-manual description of motor mount does not match parts that are included
-nice aluminum backed spinner, but aluminum for the screws too soft AND not long enough.
-predrilled holes in canopy do not match up with the reinforcement blocks on canopy bottom
-"cloth" on CA hinges come off when inserted
-Y pushrod for elevator not stiff enough and can cause an aileron effect
-sponge tires not stiff enough, tailwheel flat spots, mains bend, if you leave plane on the ground
-WM method of attaching pull-pull ends on servo arm not positive, will fall out especially if you put in ackerman
-after two flights, the carbon gear is already starting to have surface cracks. Landings were not hard at all, in fact I was amazed I did so well on a new plane.

I'm sure I've forgotten a few other things, and I'll probably have more as I fly the thing. This plane is not like any of my other WM models stuff, I'm both disappointed and surprized. One can take care of most of the problems, but having to spend more time to "fix" things and figuring things out, than the actual build itself kinda sucks.

I have to agree. Me and a buddy both purchased this airplane. My friend started building his first (lucky for me). We where both so shocked at the quality and value of the World Models airplanes that we figured this would be great. He followed the directions, which tell you to epoxy in the horizontal stab by making it square with the vertial stab and the nose of the plane. But, after he put the wings on, there was almost 5 degrees of difference between the horiontal stab and the wings. It turns out the whole airframe is twisted. I know, with most other kits I would have ignored the directions and got everything lined up first. But, we have been spoiled too much. And for $280, I think we should be spoiled. I quadurple checked mine before gluing. And while its not perfect, Its pretty damn close. My other biggest gripe the the motor mount.

Additional info;

I sent the defective gear and spinner back to Airborne Models, who exchanged both without question! Very good customer support. Will report on the replacement gear, plan on flying the Velox again this weekend.

In the meantime, two other things I noticed while I put the replacement gear on. The servo trays in the fuselage are probably too flexible for extreme speed/throws, I found the outer servos screws on both the rudder and elevator half undone. Additionally, when I checked the aileron servos, found that the foward ply mount had come loose on both sides.

Oh well, hope the thing doesn't come apart in the air.

Frank

Guys ... this is the first run for this model ... also WM was slacking in the QC department on this baby. The plane is so fragile too.

But , for those of u who've flown this baby, how does it actually fly? does it in any way compare to the extra? If yes, then how are the stall characteristics? does it do harriers or waterfalls?

Here we go again ... Ok ... the plane flies nice from what I have seen my friend flying it. Use a larger prop and landings can almost be Harrier like. I am sure it will do Harriers and Waterfalls easily.

I have one of these planes and have flown it several times. It flies very nice with a TT 91 4 stroke on it. It is easier to land than my VF extra. It flies about the same as the extra but stalls at a slower airspeed and when it stalls it just mushes straight forward. I like flying it and it performs IMAC style aerobatics very good. I would like to suggest some mods that need to be done before flying it. I removed the landing gear plate and made a new one out of 1/2 inch ply. Then reinstalled it and epoxied triangal stock on the front and rear of the plate. After about 50 flights I have not had any problems. This is a weak area that needs to be beefed up. A fellow club member has abouit 100 flights on his and has had to fix the gear plate 5 times as the stiff carbon gear do not flex much and transmit alot of load to the airframe. Throw the stock engine mount away and get the GP large mount and you won't have any problems with that. I also sheeted the bottom of the fuse under the servo tray with 1/6 ply to add strength to this area. I used 2 servo's on the elevators and made a new servo tray for them. The stock elevator pushrod setup sucks it flexes too much. I also used a sullivan tail wheel assembly. I too think that this plane is overpriced and is not up to the quality of the other world models planes that I have had. I bought this plane to replace the Vectorflight 66 inch extra that I lost to a bad rx battery. If I had it to do over again I would get another VF plane. IMO it is a lot better built plane and a lot less expensive to purchase. They fly very similar to each other.

Rick

Just as an update to my earlier comments, the new replacement landing gear I got, cracks just as easily, the spinner still has the gap. Oh well...

I had to remove part of the covering off the wing. Found that all of the shear webs have only been glued at the ends, so the centers are floating!

Sad saga continues, after about 20 flights, started getting excessive vibration from the engine, found that the countersunk aluminum pieces on the motor mount had broken.

That's too bad considering that WM usually makes a great kit. I almost bought the Velox the last time I was in Hong Kong at my old LHS. I balked when I saw the huge box. Now I am thankful I didn't buy it. Instead I bought a 140DZ for my Yak54. Of course that was 3 times the price of the Velox.

Once again, I would buy any WM kit... but the Velox has garnered very average or negative reviews... sad given that it's a pretty plane.

Update on my velox. I have around 200 flights on it and it is flying great. I have had no problems with this plane since I started flying it. I had to do some mods to it to get it up to my standards but once done I have had no problems. I fly IMAC style aerobatics with this plane and it does great with a strong TT 91 4 stroke on it. The gear plate has held up really good as I have not had any problems with it. My friend has had to repair his several times as it has come out on him even in very gental landings. This is a big problem and needs to be fixed from the start. I also used dual elevator servo's with carbon composite golden rods. This fixes all of the slop in the elevator setup. As I said in an earlier post do yourself a favor and throw the engine mount away and get the Great Planes large moung and you wont have any problems with it. This plane has been a great flier and I love world models but I would pass on this one if I had it to do over again. It is not up to the excellent world models standards that the other planes I have from them are.

Rick

I've built 4 t-34's, 2 40 sized Mustangs, 1 Corsair, and my Velox. Addtionally, I've helped friends build 5 Mach II's, a couple of Ramblers, a 60 sized Mustang, and a couple of their Super Sport 40s. Generally speaking, they do a good job, on the simpler planes, T-34, Mach II's and Super Sports, while the more complex ones seem to be hit or miss. The Mustangs and Rambler were OK, while the Corsair just a little better than the Velox. I'm just talking build quality here, and of course my opinion.