anyone have this plane? im gunna buy it when they ship it to my hobbyshop

does anyone know how it preforms? is it a good beginner plane?

thanks

To me I just thought that it was a downgraded version of the Firebird Commander and an upgraded version of the Scout. So I guess it is somewhere in between. I haven't bought one so I don't know how it flies but it I kinda like the looks of the Old Firebird Commander better than the 2. But that is just me and my opinion.

Flown it three times now. Flies very well on calm days.

The ACT does work, at least when you are up high. If you did something stupid close to the ground it may not save you. I tried to put it into a spin a few times, but it corrects the direction and slows the motor. ACT seems to work for me, but I am not a newbi to this.

The first time I flew it was in an area about 600 feet in diameter. I had no problems whatsoever. My brother was very impressed with how well it flew. The manual says you need 600ft minimum for space. I agree with the manual. I can see a newbi getting stuck int the trees even at 600 feet. A large sod field would be ideal for this plane. I think a newbi could easily learn on this plane on a large sod field on a calm day.

The second flight was with the wheels on taking off and landing on a runway. No problems whasoever this time either.

I took the plane out today in 20 mph gusts. It flew, but was a bit challenging and one flight was enough. I had hoped to let a couple of friends to fly it, since they had never flown before. That would be the real test of the ACT, but it was too windy for beginners today.

I only wish that the plane had both ACT and a third channel for elevation control, rather than just depending on throttle control only for elevation.

The Firebird Commander does not have elevator, only rudder on v-tail. So it is not good for the beginner to learn to fly.
It never takes off the ground and hand launch is required. For the beginner the hand launch is not easy, this Commander seems to be lacking in much power.
My first plane was a Firebird Commander which disappointed me from the start. When hand launched it dived and the rear propeller ate off the trailing edge of the Wing.
I bought a Magpie and spent almost one month to build, actually due to my insufficient spare time, but it is perfect!
Easy to hand launch and crash endurable!

Just forget the Commander, it's waste of money.

Hobbyzone has a new plane called the Firebird Freedom on the way. 3 channel with ACT. Looks interesting to say the least. I learned on the commander and I have nothing but great things to say about it. I think not having the elevator control has really helped me with my more advanced planes. It really teaches you throttle management.

[link=http://www.hobbyzone.com/rc_planes_hobbyzone_firebird_freedom.htm]Here's a link to the Firebird Freedom[/link]

gul532, it is people like you that make me sick when they bash a compony or a product. It isn't the planes fault you crashed, it is yours. My friend has a Commander and it takes off of the ground with ease. The third channel shouldn't be used much at all. If you use elevator to climb, you will stall. But if you use throttle to climb, you won't stall. Get it? I learned on a Scout and I still have the original plane. I am now upgrading to a Stryker.

Please, don't blame the product. It is silly to look for an excuse when you know it was your fault. Just accept it and learn from it.

I never heard that the Commander is easy to take off grass with throttle only. All hand launched.
Have you flown many kinds of planes in the Reflex XTR Simulation?
Without the elevator up most of the planes cannot rog.
The Magpie with Elevator and Rudder is really excellent for the beginner and even GWS Beaver is far better than Commander.
My Slo-V and the Commander all went to the rubbish bin. Even their parts like servos, ESC and receiver cannot be used to other planes.
What a waste?

I can ROG my commander quite easily. I've done it on grass before but I generally do it on concrete. I don't fly it much anymore but adding the tail wheel from an aerobird challanger really helped. The screws that hold the tail to the boom tends to grab on ROG. The thing ROG's easier than my cub.

I too have an old Firebird Commander, recently moving up to a Stryker.
The firebird has got to be the EASIEST plane to fly in the world.
I took my son and newphew out when i first got it, they were 7 and 8 in age, BOTH of them flew it with no problems at all.
The best thing is if you are spiraling down, let off of both stick and the plane with 9 out of 10 times level out thus saving your ***** from a crash.
Dont get me wrong, I have crashed it before, but it was due to stupidity on my part, not the plane...
The plane did exactly what i told it to do, but when you force flips and dives and spirals on a plane not built for it.......

I went with the wing dragon instead it flies alot better (3ch) and has a faster engine it is also pretty much indestructable ive had it for about a month or less and ive been flying it nearly every day. Ive seen the comander 2 fly and its good but IMO the wing dragon is way better

The Wing Dragon sounds kind of like the ABC. The ABC was my second plane that I had and I flies great. (probably a bit slower than your dragon.)

Gul532, everyplane that I have owned/flown I have seen ROG. FB Scout, FB Commander, WMF, ABC, ABX, J-3 Cub, and the Stryker can even ROG if you are brave enough to install landing gear on it. All planes can ROG, it is just that some can do it better than others.

Did you say that you are not ROGing on a sim? Dude, that is because it is a SIMULATOR. Not the real thing.

I just "built" an FC2 out of replacement parts. Just happened to have the transmitter from my original FC which I learned to fly on...but lost when the wind came up.

It seems that the tail boom might be slightly misaligned. Wants to turn left like you wouldn't believe. Nothing I've done seems to help, including eyeballing another 2 and setting the tail based on that out-of-the-box version. Forced the V-tail back into a more neutral position which helped somewhat. The tailfeathers are set at maximum "anti-porpoise" and it still wants to make like "Flipper" in the air. I don't have the wing shim and neither does the hobby shop. Steering? Almost none. I had one successful flight with it after turning off the anti-crash, and even that was kind of shaky. I also fly a modified ParkZone J-3 Cub and stock ParkZone P-51D and both go right where I point them. That Cub is quite possibly the greatest offering in model aircraft.

Horizon Hobby, God bless 'em, have offered to replace it. I'll be packing up my current plane and shipping it to the good folks in Champaign ASAP.

For anyone considering one of these: Buy it. I'm basing that recommendation based on my first plane, on the kind of punishment this new plane has shrugged off and the absolutely peerless customer service Horizon provides. As far as ROG is concerned, no problem on the abandoned turf farm I fly at. The ground around the edges of the field is hard packed and she was rolling straight and true...until she lifted off.

Hi Lucky,

If you aren't good at trimming and stuff, it is better to buy a factory built bird. The factory has laser arrays to check the alignment of the tail.

If it wants to turn left... generally, you will want to grasp the V-tail and try to force the Front edge of the V-tail to go left, while the Aft edge is forced right. This has the effect of right rudder. With a little practice, it is not at all difficult.

I figured you already checked to see if the wing was on straight, and the fuse/tail boom is straight (Should be if it is not heavily crashed.)

The Commander 2 should have pretty strong steering.... Which hole are you in on the tail? I am at home, and don't remember the factory setting.

The tail has a steeper V than the Commander.

David

Hi, Dave. Thanks for getting back to me.

I noticed that the tail was, in fact, different than the Commander and so I used the proper replacement. The tail was a bit skewed when I installed it, but I thought that might be a result of the boom being rotated a few degrees out of phase. I never had to replace the tail on my first plane, but I thought this would be a reasonably simple undertaking.

I'm trying to picture your suggestion for making it fly straight, so please bear with me for the next few sentences.

Condensed version of the problem is: Toss plane with throttle at full, plane begins a left turn as soon as the thrust from my initial throw wears off. Little to no right turn capability; turning left makes problem worse. The tail is set per instructions, but it still wants to porpoise and acts extremely nose-heavy. The gap between the bottom of the tail and the top of the boom appear straight front to rear.

I'm on the lowermost hole, but I noticed that I have one control line looped over the top of the spool while the other is looped over the bottom. Mentioned that to the tech, but he didn't think that would make a difference since the throw on both surfaces appears the same, at least when the plane is on the ground. It's taken a few reasonably hard "thuds" through all this. I remember the original plane having nice, crisp steering on that setting.

So...if I'm facing the rear of the plane, are you saying that I should raise the front of the left V and lower the rear of the right V by hand? I hope that makes sense.

Hi,

When the plane is viewed from the TOP, please follow my instructions.

If it wants to turn left... generally, you will want to grasp the V-tail and try to force the Front edge of the V-tail to go left, while the Aft edge is forced right. This has the effect of right rudder. With a little practice, it is not at all difficult.

If the plane does not climb, please follow the instructions on page 24 of the manual:
Adjusting the Climb Rate
http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo...orPrinting.pdf


Have Fun,
David

If you are still having problems with trimming it is certainly worth doubling up the elevon rubber-band. This puts more tension on the fishing lines and makes the controls a lot more sensitive. You will find that after doubling up the band that the plane will need re-trimming, this is because the slack is being taken out of the lines.

Thanks to both of you. Shipping the poor little thing back to Horizon will be $27..and I'm cheap. I'll give that a try. In fact, I have the plane with me. It's in the car, but I'll grab it and take a look at it from the top. Cool! Hope this works...

Hope you get it working.... Take a copy of the Instruction Manual with you too!

Have Fun,
David

Well, the tail didn't seem to want to come around and I didn't want to force it. I'll try it one last time tomorrow and I'll let you know how things go. Thanks again!