Greg Covey

We had an opportunity to test fly the Hawk this weekend in some pretty harsh conditions. The cold winds gusted from 15-25mph but didn't seem to phase the Hawk on either a 5s or 6s LiPo pack. This plane is an impressive flyer and can easily be hand-launched. I look forward to flying it in more favorable conditions next summer.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/FlyFlyBAeHawk.wmv]FlyFly BAe Hawk Flight Video[/link] (13meg)

Greg Covey

I remade the video using better brightness adjustments below. I also received a reply from the FlyFly designer, called Ricky, confirming the symmetrical rotor and blade chord. An excerpt from his reply is below with some spelling corrections. While the FlyFly rotor does work fine, as shown in the video, it can be replaced with a more efficient [link=http://www.ejf.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=82_79&products_id=538]Midi Fan 90mm Rotor[/link], if desired for $37, until the newer FlyFly rotors become available.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/FlyFlyBAeHawk2.wmv]FlyFly BAe Hawk Flight Video (Light Adjusted)[/link] (21.5meg)

Greg Covey

We have had plenty of fun flying my BAe Hawk this summer. The only modification I made was to replace the horizontal stabilizer connections to the fuselage with a single piece of 1/8" music wire that runs through a 5/32" brass tube mounted through the fuselage. This single wire enhancement really stiffened up the stabs and makes the Hawk fly very stable at high speeds. The great flying performance can be seen in my new video below.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/FlyFlyBAeHawk4.wmv]FlyFly BAe Hawk Summer Flight Video[/link] (9meg)

flying photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring

Willit Run 353

I hear these kits are quite bad on the quality side.

but I am looking for a large EDF (around this size) is there any other planes i should look at

Greg Covey

I'm not sure what you mean about poor quality unless you have unrealistic expectations for "cooler" foam. It dents easily unless you coat it with a finishing epoxy. There are some shortcomings in the box packaging design for shipping and parts of the design may require some upgrades. The FlyFly models are unique foam designs that are fun to add your experience into. If you don't have any EDF experience, I would recommend sticking with the smaller foam models. Even the smaller fiberglass models require some experience and are more difficult to fly than the larger foam models.

The next "step up" for an equal size would be the fiberglass fuselage models with sheeted wings from a company in China (which I forgot the name of). They are distributed in the U.S. from places like [link=http://easytigermodels.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15&zenid=e3b1ed230a49cda05276d2f617ec1a11]Easy Tiger - Tigerline 101mm[/link]. I'll be starting a build thread on their F-86 soon.

Another one of these models is distributed via Nitro Models as the Predator UCAV. You can see my build thread [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8294238/tm.htm]here[/link].

There is also another build thread on this forum for the X-29 also at Easy Tiger Models.

Good luck!