sportrider_fz6

my Dad just bought a skyzone sky pilot. has anyone flew one? if so how well does the plane fly? he got it on sale for $100.00 RTF. we're going to try it out this weekend, I'm just curious on what to expect out of it.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

You might read some of the user comments here at RCU:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/product_gu...fm?kit_id=3492

Hobbico also has a nice video clip available at their website:

http://video1.hobbico.com/gallery/hc...985-deluxe.mpg

It looks like it might be a good choice for fun, relaxing 3-channel flying.

apwachholz

sportrider_fz6 -

Did a little talking one week w/ the crew at a local hobby store and they asked the owner to pull the product from the shelf. They don't recommend it nor try to sell it because i guess it's plagued with issues. From what they were saying it's a really cheapO' knock off of the Hobbyzone stuff (and that's not super great quality either). Also the control surfaces only return to their 'neutral position' because of rubber bands pulling them back into place. [X(] "WHAT!" I said...."...that's not very reliable..". Additionally, they mentioned it's very hard to control and has almost response due to serious lack of power.

That's my two cents from indirect contact. BUT, I'm open to positive experiences. So i'll await your review.....

HEMICUDA

It's like any other Flyzone product, too heavy and underpowered with glitchy electronics!

Hemicuda

sportrider_fz6

the plane was flown today, first flight ended with broken nose gear. the answer was removing the main gear too so it could be a belly lander. the second flight ended with the firewall forward missing from the plane. over all the plane flew good, way better than I thought it would. it can be repaired but it's going to need a new motor,as the shaft on the OEM was badly bent in the crash.

HEMICUDA

sportrider,

You can sometimes bend the shaft fairly straight with a set of pliers. Sorry to here about your mishap,
but like all of us former Flyzone customers, been there done that. Too heavy and underpowered!

Hemicuda

sportrider_fz6

UPDATE: I straightened the shaft on the motor, used foam safe CA and glued the firewall back on, cut some small balsa strips to re attach the nose gear. and we went to the field. just after take off the left wing buckled and the plane pulled a digger. bending the already weakened shaft into a 90 breaking the prop.

not giving up on it, I decided it was time to "fix" it up. I had a 3/16 wooden dowel laying around, and courtesy of an expired multiplex twinstar, I had a permax 400 motor. I used packing tape to secure the dowel about 1/2 behind the leading edge of the wing just before where the wing strut screws in. the motor is a perfect fit in the motor mount, I just had to solder the wires. I stoped by my LHS and picked up a prop adaptor that was a little longer so I could run aftermarket props. I went with a MAS 7x4. after secureing everything and doing a control check it was time to see if the little plane would fly.
It does!!!! it actually flies really well. the climb rate is slow using the stock battery but it is very controllable. I noticed the connectors flyzone uses for the battery are the same as eflight uses for there helicopters. so I thought I'd see if the esc would stand up to a 3s lipo. I put a small strip of velcro inside the battery box so I could secure the lipo pack from my blade cp. I powered up the plane and everything seemed ok so I decided to give it a test flight to see if the lipo made much of a difference. it does, the top speed wasn't really much faster but the climb rate is notacibly different. I think it's probably the weight difference, but with the lipo the plane climbs really well. I managed to pull a few loops and some pretty heavy dives and the plane took it with out any problems. I brought it in for a nice landing on the track. I did three more short flights with it on the same battery each time doing a rolling take off and landing. I'm having dirty thoughts of installing an brushless inrunner just for fun. but as it sits now the plane flys good.

brett65

My Feedback: (18)

The skyfly is not an underpowered overweight dog like you said the others were. It is sometimes hard to get down when there is a light breeze keeping it afloat.