Tony A.

Just received the Camo Green and the Black Lightning Bolt 64mm A-10's this afternoon. Here's a few photos of the Black Lightning Bolt scheme. The Euro 1 Green Camo A-10 in the background is the 55mm A-10 from Banana Hobby.

All the best,
Tony Accurso
Edwards AFB, CA

TheRCFlyer1

Very nice looking! Iwas thinking about getting the green camo version but Ihave not heard good things about Banana Hobby. How was your experience?

Tony A.

Note - Since I have personally experienced issues, I will comment. I don't support bashing or jump on the bandwagon just for the heck of it.

Honestly, Banana Hobby (BH) customer serviceneeds tobe improved, along withtheir shipping department, otherwise the products are good. Pete and his team are working hard butthere are issuesthat need to be addressed. When I have had aproblem with an item, twice now,they usually take care of it within 7 to 10 days.

I have to give the advantage to Nitroplanes on shipping and customer service. Everything I have ordered from Nitroplanes hasarrived in two days via UPS ground. Now, obviously both companies can't control shipping once the item is in the hands of UPS but Nitroplanes gets the item out the same day. If I ordered something late in the day, it's out the next day. Banana Hobby, inthree cases has takenanywhere from 3 to 5 days to get the item out to UPS. They do have a policy that covers this fact.BH should work toexceed that standard.Again, just my experiences during the past two months.

For me, if I'm spendinghundreds ofdollars with a company and the item I've ordered isin stock, it needs to be shipping out immediately! Sometimes, I have been given the impression that Banana Hobby knows that they carry items that other stateside companies don't have, so why worry about customer service. That's the vibethat came acrosswhen I followed up on the status ofan order. As a matter of fact, I was told on one occasion that my order was shipping out that day and in fact it didn't ship for two more days. That's not customer service, it's just not cool! Maybe an isolated incident. Who knows?

Here's a funny story! I actually ordered a plane from Banana Hobbyand a plane from Jet-Tech in China on the same day. The Jet-Tech item arrived at my home first and it had to go through U.S. Customs. Banana Hobby is only 100 mile away from my home. Not good!

Obviously, along answer but just wanted togive you a heads upof what may possibly happen. I hope not! I'm a patient guy but I'mnot a fan of companies that blow smoke and are not customer focused.I heardnegative BHcomments at the local field and onthe web before I even began to deal with BH beginning in Apr 09. I truly hope that positive customer service/shipping changes come soon.


Tony Accurso
Edwards AFB, CA

muzik59

Very nice planes, I personally like the Jolly Roger one, but both area nice looking planes. Anyway Tony where do you fly at? I live in Tustin CA near Disneyland and I believe you/ I'm approximately an 1Hr away?. We should fly someday.

SnSHampton

My Feedback: (1)

i ordered 2 planes from banana hobbies this past friday,they shipped monday and ups has them at my door for this friday the 12th.thats not too bad,I live in louisiana about normal for ups.if they want to improve customer service then they should ditch ups for FedEx.FedEx is way faster cost is about the same ,they are easy on your packages,and they deliver on saturdays!!!

Tony A.

I'm glad to see BH shipped them quick. I haven't been that lucky. Let us know when they arrive! Whatplanes did you get?

Tony

Tony A.

I fly in North Edwards, CAon a newly paved, wide road with basically no traffic in the middle of the desert. My own private runway! When I'm grass landing, I fly on Edwards AFB at the High School Baseball Field which has no fence and no lights around it. Great location. Tustin is roughly 2 hours away. A bit of a stretch but you're welcome anytime, weather permitting. Sometime I go to Apollo XI Field in Balboa Park but Iusually just watch the flying. I've seen too many plane crashes there to feel comfortable with that location. I love my flying spots in the desert. During the 12 years I have been here, I have never had radio interference (72 mHz) or 2.4 gHz and never a mid-air or close call due to a congested flying field. The biggest issue which keep me grounded is high winds, especially this time of year. I flew last weekend but it has been blowing 20+ mph, gusting to 35 mphsince Sunday. Plenty of time for building/painting planes.

Regards,
Tony

SnSHampton

My Feedback: (1)

Iordered the j power cessna and the mig 15.

Tony A.

The J-Power Cessna not only looks nice but sounds cool when it flies by in the video. Good luck with both planes.

Tony

muzik59

Hey I too, fly at Apollo Xl Field in Balboa (Burbank and Balboa off the 405 Freeway right?). Oh man,. So 2hrs hu?. I work all over California so, when I work in your area (on a weekend right?) I'll PMyou. Imade a video on youtube check it out .............muzik59...is my user name. I dont know how to take you straight to the link but just look for me as muzik59. Kool talk to ya later.

Tony A.

Gomez

Ilike this video from you! Awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSUhNqaCJGM&feature=fvw

Tony

SnSHampton

My Feedback: (1)

thats a sweet video!!!!

muzik59

Thanx...

Tony A.

Ifound this video on You Tube. The video should be called:
"The New A-10 shouldn't be flown during a Hurricane!"

I don't know what this guy was thinking? Attempting a Maiden Flight with the New 64mm A-10 in 20-25 mph winds! Bad! The winds are much higher above ground, not to mention turbulent due to the surrounding hills.
THIS GUY IS VERY LUCKY IT WASN'T DESTROYED!

By the way, a foam jet will be touchy when you fly it during a hurricane! You'll know why I wrote this after you hear it repeated in the video.
An important fact - Notice the RC Flying Field is empty, for a reason!

One thing I learned years ago, the hard way: "Patience will save you a lot of money in this hobby!"

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZbSjpQmyxI

Tony

muzik59

Yep, Thats why I've not flown for approximately two (2) weeks. I've been making some last touches on my planes and just desperate to fly again but to much wind lately. I'm not good at flying in those conditions.

bumbles

hey tony i purchased a black lightning it will be here on the 19th , have you flown yours yet?? any info would be cool , yea bh has a 3 day prossesing deal i agree with you , it is a lot of money for a foamy but it sure looks good with retracts .. not to bash but nitro is not much better i ve been waiting on missing parts to my ultimate since christmas they just refuse to send them or even answer my email . and remember if it says esky its junk. i cant wait to fly this bird ,being a gws fan i hope it flies as good as my beefed f15

Tony A.

Bumbles - We have had steady winds between 15 -25 mph, gusting to 35 mph for almost two weeks here in the High Desert. Needless to say, I have been detailing mine for over a week. I'll wait for a calm day to conduct the Maiden Flight. Here's the thread on RC Groups that's been much more extensive on feedback for this 64mm A-10. Most of us started posting feedback beginning on page 7 of the thread.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031167

Good luck,
Tony

matoran629

Looks very nice, I was goingto get one, but, as a first time jet guy, would the A-10 be a good choice? I fly heavy metal warbirds, but I'm not sure if I could handle it.

fpaulin

i have had a good experience with banana hobby as far as shipping and pricing goes but as for this A-10 the flight times are very short,great flying and handling plane but very short flights like 3 and half mins has anyone else have any flight times to share or what have you done to get longer flights

jeteffx

My Feedback: (2)

Well I have mine, took long enough to get to Texas. Right off the get go the right retract servo quit after about 5 up/down sequences. Then the motors will run for about a minute then quit, I have to re set the throttle to idle before they will spool up again. I'm going to call on Monday to check about a re-fund or credit for another jet............Perry

Tony A.

Yeah...the retract issues have been well documented on the thread below at RC Groups. I personally had the left retract servo die and Pete from Banana Hobby is sending another one. With throttle management, the average flight time should be around two & a half minutes on a full charge.

Check out the thread for all the feedback on this plane.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031167

Regards,
Tony

jeteffx

My Feedback: (2)

Well I have tried calling numerous times, no answer, or busy. I also emailed them, no answer. What a bunch of crap!!!. It appears they are hiding, I don't understand if this company expects to put R/C planes and such on the market, they should have adequate staffing to take calls and resolve issues.............., I will try some more,
Perry

Tony A.

Perry,

Yeah....I usually go through the on-line chat or wait 20 minutes on the phone. I've yet to get a response via email. They are a relatively small company, so, I just wait but eventually, they take care of my issues. I've had a few. If you don't mind me asking, what is wrong with your A-10?

Good luck,
Tony

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

suggestion to all , I feel stronly that BH is the US importer for Jettech - so if you want the same planes but less expence , you might as well take your chances dealing direct with Rockey from Jet tech .
The planes , the changes ect from jet-tech all show up on BH website and Pete will say " yes after monhs of testing ect ect ect I have " lol , I see the planes first on the jet tech site then BH weeks later .

I posted this on rc groups , then someone from BH reported me as being a suppier trying to sell planes lol , I sell candy and have for 25 years !!!
Funny who watced the threads -from certain companys

theradioflyer

Thanks for the heads up LDM. +1 on a trusted source of info