I purchased a Flyzone Island Wings Beaver recently and I have found a few problems that will surely trip up novice RCers. looking for a trainer that can be used as a float plane later after gaining a little experience. First of all the overall quality is about a 7. The wings are snap on and will be a nightmare to transport as all the light and aileron wires have to be unpluged and the flap pushrods have to be removed from the single flap servo mounted in the fuselage. The sticky back velcro supplied is suppose to be installed to hold the battery in place,however, when the fuselage halves were glued together at the factory glue oozed out of the joint and the velcro can not lie flat and bond properly.
This glue gob is in a place that makes it almost impossible to remove without damaging the fuselage.
As an intermediate builder I can cope with these issues but it is definitely not suitable for a newbie.
I hope this helps aspiring RCers in choosing a suitable trainer.

I have one of these planes and I found it to be one of the easiest flying most enjoyable fomies I have seen . I do however keep fully assembled and only switch back and forth from floats to wheels as ocasions require . It even handles the wind reasonably well .It looks cool on the water in the evening with it lights. The wings are a pain to take on and off .

From the looks of this plane it should be a top notch flyer but you need a van or a pick-up with a cap to transport it. All I have is a Geo Tracker rag top in which I transport my 80+ inch Great PLanes Cub. The wings are easily removeable from the cub.

Cubs are one of my favorite airplanes . They are all fairly easy to transport except for the really big ones .I have two 1/3 scale BUSA Cubs. One on floats and one on wheels .They take some time to set up and you need a pick up to transport them . The little Beaver I can transport all together. I get away with out needing to remove the wings . I think if I needed to take the wings on and off each time I wanted to take it out I would ditch it . I have a pickup truck though ,with a canopy so I can transport it all together so all I need to do is stick a battery in and fly it . I think it would fit in the back seat of a full size 4 door car .. Its the little wire flap hook up that gets me . Stupid little wire and you need to get it in the right spot.One from each side pokin at each other no less . Thats a lousy set up as far as I am concerned. ..Just lucky for me I don't need to take mine apart hardly ever . I do actually have a lot of fun with it . Its great for flying early in the morning because you don't disturb anybody with your noisy engine . I think it flys pretty good for what it is .My buddy has been training his nephew who is catching on quite quickly . Is your Great planes Cub the one with the one piece wing ? The fabric covered ARF ? I have one of those and I have really enjoyed it . Its about 6 years old now . I put a set of Robarts landing gear on mine . That and I made my own struts from streamline tubing . That really made a plane out of it . I just love it now . Thats my first Cub in the air every spring .I have two other 1/5 GP Cubs still in the bones that need covering . I have too many projects on the go .What has happend is I have ran out of room . Way out of room . I am almost happy when I crash one bad enough that it cant be repaired . Not as happy as my wife .

Another pain in the A** is the factory installed windshield fit. A 1/8 inch gap at the top of the windshield. No water is going to splash in here , right? Pretty damn shoddy for a $200 dollar (plus shipping) airplane. There will never be another Flyzone airplane in my hangar. I have purchased several mongral ARFs on ebay with ten times the quality of this crate.
Mine is the early GP 21st century fabric Cub with one piece wing. It just barely fits in my Tracker after I put in a 1x2 wood cross member just above the passenger seat. The wing slides in from the rear and rests on the cross member and the dash. no room to spare.
I usually take two or three planes to the field but I doubt if I will be able to take more than the one if I take the Beaver all assembled.

You are right ,mine has a small gap too . I never noticed it before. I guess you could seal it up if you were worried about it . Mine is never on the water long enough to get wet . It gets airbourne pretty quick . I havent noticed any water inside but then I never take mine apart . You have a really good point . That is something to watch . I think I will seal mine somehow . Have you done anything to your GP Cub ? What do you have in it for a motor . I have a OS fs81..

I would say that they fly like trainers. You're right though, maybe not the best plane to show a beginner what it's like to set up a plane. I like mine. They fly nice and slooooooooooow. I bought it mainly to get practice flying and landing tail draggers.

We don't fly at the lake often but for a short while the guys were going out there to float fly so I built a float plane, flew it once at the lake and it hasn't been on the water sense. I have read reviews on the GP Beaver though and the ones I have seen are pretty nice. I was thinking of getting one just for the lake. Just a lot of money to have around to fly once or twice a year.
I haven't seen the one by Flyzone though so this is a good heads up.
I can say that I really like flying from the water, it adds a new element for me.
I saw an all wood kit for a small float plane from Hobby King and it looked like it could be fun. Cheap but you would have to build it.

Gene you have a great water plane already . The Swoose is a great looking and can be a pretty nice flying plane on floats. I hope yours is still in your possesion . The little beaver converts from wheels to floats fairly quickly . Maybe 10 min's although repeated changes will work the little plastic anchor points loose so that is something you need to be carefull of . Don't over tighten the screws .I actually really like the little plane and would buy another if I lost this one . I won a new one at a club raffel so I sold my used one to my buddy who had crashed his and damaged it beyond repair. It was a great flying little chunk of foam .We both swaped out the Rx that came with the plane for a spektrum 6 chan Rx and use DX8 transmitters .

Ken, there are a couple of short comings with the Swoose, the main thing is we don't fly off water very often so if I just left it dedicated to water use it would just hang in the shop most the time. It's back on wheels now and going flying this week and the change over to floats is a pain in the hinderpoo! It has a YS 110 for power, I plan on changing the engine to a SK 70 or 80?? No reason for that kind of power, I was going for nose weight and the 110 was used. Even the SK is a bit of over kill. If it takes a dunking, it happened, the engine has to be gone through, like opened up and cleaned. I have just fired them up and run them to remove the water before but a good cleaning is really in order.
I spotted a small kit for a little float plane sold through Hobby King, it's a real kit, not an ARF and the price is right for a once in a while plane. It's electric too so it can take a dunking. For the price it can sit around and only get flown once or twice a year.
I also found out we can fly at lake Las Vegas so I would have a smaller location to use it.
I just really like the Beaver that Tower has but the price has kept me away. I have also looked at plans for a bigger Beaver but it would be like the Swoose and not get flown enough. Living in a desert has a few draw backs.
I have the plans for the old hydroplane Miss Thriftway I will be building soon, I hope. Two channel electric, I like hydroplanes too!!

Up till 2 years ago i only flew off of water here ,plenty of big lakes and ponds to fly off of. There are at least 15 AMA club water flyins that i use to attend but i have been building other types of planes now. Some of my sea birdsand keep em dry guys . joe