I recieved this kit as a x-mas gift this year. So far i have built the fuse and the tail surfaces. This kit is increadably enginered and has laser cut parts for super fast assembly. so far i am very pleased with it. Has any one ever flown or built one of these. If so what do they fly like and how do you like it?

I have built 3 HERR kits thus far, one of which was the AQUA STAR. I have not flown it, but it was a very nice little project. I made the wing tip floats bolt on. I also did quite a bit of extra lightening because I have thought about glassing it. The other planes that I have built flew great. I think you will love this plane. You may want to go with a NORVEL 074 if you want to fly off water.

Good Luck

IF YOU DECIDE YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS KIT, i MIGHT BE WILLING TO BUY IT FROM YOU!

Thx im really looking forward to flying it!

I built an Aqua Star a few years ago. Set it up with a Speed 400 and 7 500AR cells. The plane flew quite well but would not ROW. I built it without the spray rails that they recommend to make it easier to take off from water.

I flew mine down by the sea during the summer holidays. I just rinsed out the receiver, speed-controller and everything else after flying and amazingly everything worked fine for two years even though there was visible corrosion on the electronic parts.

The Aqua Star flies very nicely and the build quality is very good.
I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with yours. :-)

Alright Thanks guys!

You might want to check this thread:
Aquastar thread]

tpstorey did you increase the lenght of your chine rails? because the plans don't show them that long, does this help?

Yes! I used cardboard and tape to experiment and what you see is the final, best-working, version. The chines run from the noseblock all the way to the step. More info in the thread.

I would not recommend hand launching it at all, you will be sorry.
I put a thunder tiger .07 on mine. I fly it off of the ice and it fly's very nice. With the .07 at full power(when not fully broken in) there is only enough power to do a stall. Nice slow flyer.
I put in a 600 ma battery and I use small servos. I have not flown it off of water yet. You could make a cradle that you could use as landing gear, and rest the plane on it to take off from a cement runway. As you lift of the landing gear would stay on the ground.

Have fun

Cool idea with the cradle. Has any one used the norvel motors? i wanted to know if one of the .064 or .071 would be a good choice?

I would recommend the thunder tiger .07.
Mine is broken in now and it runs great. I found that if you use the larger prop recommended for the .07 that the prop is too large and will hit the fuselage. I use a smaller prop.

I've built 3 of these. 2 with the Norvel .061 and the last with a .074. The .074 is a good match. I built without the chine rail mods. Hand launching is not a problem. The more you keep it out of the water the better off you'll be.

How is it in the water?

Mine is great in the water. Steers around without any problem in anything up to light chop.

Like with all small birds lighter is better. I use all micro stuff in mine and old style Norvel Big Mig .061 for power. AUW is 18.3 ounces. 25% to 30% nitro fuel.

Right now I have a Cox gray 6x3 but I don't think it's the best prop. Still trying different ones.

Hand launch is no problem, though it's more fun to ROW, ROS (snow) or ROWG (wet grass).

Check the 1/2A section for more on tips for this size bird and small engines.

So how is the ROW is it pretty good?

I built one for a freind 2 years ago. ame 061, 3 hs-81. flew great, hand launched great. we set it in the grass, and it would take right off of it. We had a little problem r.o.w. without chines. bent some out of an aluminum can and servo taped them on, and r.o.w. worked then! everything about kit fine EXCEPT- thin canopy plastic wrinkled in the sun!!! would recommend buying k+s sheet and making your own, or just sheet and cover w/ black. hope this helps.

Flies great with the Norvel .061....plenty of power. No problems with hand launching. Cute plane.

you might want to hit this article. When several of our clubmembers could not get theirs to ROW, I srated asking questions.


http://jcasey02.home.gate.net/aquastar.html


Good Luck,
Jim

Super article Jim.

I would like to see them come out with a 20 size Aquastar.

I replaced mine with 1/64th ply and painted it black to match the decals. 1/64th ply bends well one way and not well the other, so keep this in mind when putting on the pattern.