Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

Anyone now anything about this plane? I just bought one on ebay. does it diassemble like most trainers? are the wings joined in the center or are they two halves?
I think it is a AWARF model. I am just trying to figure out how small of a box it can be shipped in. . I wanted to get it flying to train my dad on. He has a nexstar that he has never taken out of the box. I figured with a small investment like this I could afford to let him crash it up before he breaks out the nexstar. If I do have to cut the wings in half to ship it is it a big deal to put them back together? I have never done this before and dont know if its going to be worth it. If anyone knows anything about this plane I would appreciate it.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40
 

Are you sure it is a FLIGHTstar....I haven't heard of that but I have heard of a SUPERstar, mainly because I have that plane (the Superstar)

Anyways.....about the wings......(I'm talking about my Superstar here)......With this, you have a tube that goes in one wing, and into the other, and then you put like a nylon or metal strap over it and tighten it down, to keep the wings together.......

Now, unles the person that you have bought this plane has epoxyed the wings together, it is VERY easy for the wings to be taken apart, and put back together too!!.....all you (or the person from ebay) have to do is untighten the bolts, take off the clevaces for the ailerons, and carefully pull apart the wing halves.....

Then, but put them back together, slide the two wings together (with the tube in one wing) and "bolt" them together with the strap, and put back the servo control connectors on the ailerons...........

Hope this Helps........!!!

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40
 

Okay, the guy tried to take the wing apart and this is what happened. Is this wing repairable? how much would it cost? would any other hobbico trainer wing work with this plane?
The guy is going to let me back out if I want. give me some feedback quick please I need to let him know right away, thanks

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 Help quick
 

Now, since i have seen that the FLIGHTstar is a real plane, then I'm sure that you could easily use the wings of a Superstar for this plane.......See if you can wait to get some more opinions from other people........They might can help too.....How soon is soon that you need to tell him your decision.....??

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 Help quick
 

Well I called him back he said he would ship it for free if I still want it. I felt terrible that he went through all of this and broke the wing so I told him I would still take it. I guess I wont get killed to bad on this deal. I am still wondering if a superstar/avistar or some other trainer wing would work though. if not maybe some one who has a good wing and needs a fuselage will buy it from me. I am still looking for some opinions and costs on whether to fly this or just start over. I will take it to the LHS and see if someone thinks it can be fixed. I know there will have to be some reinforcement work done. structurally I dont think its going to work. any other advise?? Thanks.

The Flightstar is an older discontinued Hobbico kit.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 Help quick
 

See, I was wondering about this...never seen it, so now that I know it's a discontinued kit, I now know.....

Well, I'm sure that he can take off some $$ and just ship everything but the wings.....I'm sure that this and the superstars wings are about the same and you could just use the Superstar wing....

Hey, BTW, change the thread title to need more opinions, because I think you should get some more help on this......

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

Ahh the ol' FlightStar40 :) heh (points to avatar...) ;) The FS40 is a great plane. Aside from myself, numerous folks from the nearby clubs that have had the occasion to fly it have commented on how much more stable and nicer flying it is than the newer crop of trainers. Mine still goes out now and then on its tenth year of flying with me. I have put it into trees, power poles, shrubs, cartwheeled it and generally crashed it in various ways more times than I have fingers, and yes I still have ten haha. It is still mostly original covering, sticky back non heat shrinkable film. The covering does maintain a nice shine though and will polish up well with "pledge". You can still get a few of the parts for it as some match the newer trainers also. I wore out the original .40 I had on it and now it carries a Thunder Tiger .46 leaned over with the right cheek off to dress up the lines a bit and get the exhaust down away from the covering. The shelf paper type covering comes up along the edge once fuel gets to it. A good trick that will save alot of grief is to seal the seams with clear nail polish afore fuel gets at the adhesive. Guys at the field call mine the "sport trainer" now with the .46 on it lol. It does do quite well, inverted, kinda hovers and torque rolls, more so than one might expect with that huge wing. Set it up a hair tailheavy cg and it floats down like a butterfly to touch the mains. As for the current state of the wing etc. Sure that can be repaired. Make a template from one of the exposed ribs and get a piece of aircraft plywood to make a new joiner.
If you do not get the assembly book with it I can scan and email you a copy of mine to help with the parts cutouts and repairs. You will have a real diamond in the rough once you put that plane in service :)

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

Wow there still some out there ???????

Actually im putting one together for someone, and would like too know what the CG should be?
As per Hobbico instructions anyway.

And for the wing that guy broke ?
Lets just say this one when I got it was glued together wrong :(
Anyway I had to crack the wing in half and then reglue it. It's not that hard if you have a flat surface. Just dont forget too fiberglass the center section for some EXTRA support.
This wing came out just fine.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

I recently put my trainer back in the air after 3 years of flying 3d. I put a Saito 72 on my Superstar 40. Throttle management is very real with this setup, but it is a blast.

The FS40 looks just like the SS40 and the recommended CG is 3-5/8" from LE for the SS40.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

wow..old forum but ive got this plane...i thought this plane was done..i guess people still have them

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

am i the last person ever to have this? i have pics in my gallery

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

I have a Brightstar, was my first low wing plane and the low wing version of the Flightstar.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

oops old post.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

really? i never heard about the brightstar. does is fly good?

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

Sure does, don't know why it was ever discontinued.

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

reviving a very old thread, but I purchased this actual FlightStar 40 off Northriver21 many years ago, welp today it was in the
air, still surviving. still flying!!!! I was actually doing a search on web to see what came up on this plane , when I re-saw this thread in the google search, I knew it was the actual plane pictured lol, ) I was like holy crap... not sure how many Hobbico Flightstars are still around now, can't be too many left flying , I think it was discontinued in 1991?

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

I managed to pick one of these up on Craigslist last year, and it has been a blast to fly with an older 40FP engine on it. That flat bottom wing allows it to just float and makes for a very nice slow flyer or sunday easy flying plane. I need to redo some of the monokote on it as it went through a tree last summer during a combat contest with very minor scratches on it. i can't wait to get this plane back in the air again, but I am thinking of putting a 46 size engine and putting floats on it. Should be a great float plane........ If there are any more out there, that would be pretty kewl to see flying again.......

RE: Hobbico flightstar 40 need more opinions
 

That's cool!! , glad to hear of another FlightStar survivor, I'm guessing due to it's age, this was a very early ARF trainer for Hobbico, if not their first trainer ARF , followed by the Avistar, HobbiStar-mkII & SuperStar? then finally the Nexstar (did I miss any lol). Also the low wing Brightstar and Gen 1 Twinstar were early also... I believe many of these early Hobbico Planes had that peel and stick covering on them... Of them all, the Brightstar is the rarer of them, I've Only seen one of these in person years ago..


I think the word star itself has been used a tad too many times also for R/C planes, don't forget the Sig Midstar/ Fourstar series
The Midwest AeroStar, etc, I'm sure there's many more lol ;)

Really old post, but I saw this and got a huge smile on my face. I am a senior Aerospace Major leading a bunch of freshman in a project after we found one of these in storage. I am planning on having them convert it to electric and write up a full report on it!
If anyone is still around I would love to hear more about the aircraft and any tips on reskinning it or making replacement components.