Hi guys,

I am thinking about getting a large hawk (around 1/4.5- 1/4.75 scale) and have been looking at the skymaster one and the hawk from fly eagle. Can anyone provide some comparative feedback?

I am interested in comparisons on the gear, construction including paint quality, presence in the air, hinging and fuel systems, and of course flight performance.

Thanks in advance.

Craig.

How about a Curtiss F11C-2 Goshawk!!

I only have experience with the Skymaster and CARF Hawks. Both are great quality, although the CARF is capable of being flown like a Flash. The Skymaster Hawk has higher scale fidelity and the landing gear are the bidness.

I have owned Skymaster Large, Skygate/Comp Arf, and Tomahawk and only seen the FEJ in person. The Skygate and Tomahawk are larger than wht you are looking for, but my SM was very nice and flew great. The SM is very popular these days. Nice kit, nice gear, very scale and will fly on a P120 and up. My only complaint was the cockpit was made out of the cheapest plastic on the planet and didnt wear well. I remember thinking I wish ithe jet was a bit more rigid too.
I see the FEJ Hawk on the web all the time and they look great. some amazing paint jobs they put out and I would just begin to start liking it, then I will see it in person and its a little off, scale wise, and seems a bit toyish. they made alot of their scale parts oversized and thick. exaggerated blocky looking parts. the gear and wheels are too small. I cant stand those servos boxes you have to build either. I think the price on the FEJ has just about caught up with SM too.
Cant go wrong with a Hawk!
Scott

Hi i am on my third FEJ large Hawk not that i have broken any but people just want to buy them,i just can not live with out one,with the new full composite constuction and every thing is in the package that you need it is good value for money,down side is just a little work on things like the aeiral on top of the model which is far to thick and you would have a very nice model.No problems with retracks or air rams all three of mine have all worked perfectly and fly great on a good 160/9minute flights are normal with fuel left for a go round,upload for pics not working will try later regards Keith

Tanks hold 5 LTRS approx

craig
i have the large skymaster hawk 100 great flying plane in the aussie color scheme.
the build instructions from skymaster are not great but you can get great build instructions
and suplementary h/ware from BVM costlybut worth it. can't comment on the other
models. you can't beat the look of a hawk in the air
ken
kmrcjets
kingtech turbines australia

Hi Scott,

What did you mean about wishing the SM Hawk was more rigid? Do you mean fit of wing to fuse? Hinges for flying surfaces?

I have the urge to try a Hawk myself but I keep wondering why I should bother with my Ultra Bandit which is great fun to fly.

Thanks
Dave

Dave, I've seriously considered selling my Ultra Bandit because of the SM Hawk. Everytime I bring both of them out my UB doesn't get flown.

My feedback on the rigidness is that the fiberglass is "soft" in areas, which for me means being extra careful when handling it. I don't think it'll break, but it can be pressed in quite a bit.

Check out the last few seconds of this video and you can see my UB, which was parked all day.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a218S6amgbc&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

What is the fuel tank capacity on each model? Thanks for the info guys...great feedback, keep it coming.

Dave,
Exactly what Dantley said about rigid. Fuse could use a layer of foam stiffner IMO. When you put in stand to put together or take apart the stand would compress fuse a bit.
Just have to be careful. Might be good to add some reinforcement there.
Great flyer. I would venture to say probably one of SM best sellers. Look at all the Horizon guys flying them. If you fly one you will be hooked!
Nothing beats a Hawk!
Scott

I added carbon fiber cloth to the softness areas. Much better now. I also had to do this to my CARF Hawk.

Hi Craig,

SkyMaster is a Hawk ,FEJ is something that looks like a Hawk.

For the ones that pay attention to the detail and have seen photos of the full scale,
they can easily notice the fat ,out offscale ,air intakes of the FEJ hawk,the wrong nose and canopy lines.

SkyMaster is better by far specially when it comes to compare the cocpit details or the landing gear quality that will standup easily to hard landings.
But looks or ugliness its a personal thing i guess and some don't bother.

Also dont know there progress in there pipe failures http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_89.../anchor/tm.htm
Nothing to worry about for the SkyMaster pipe tho.

Plus the SkyMaster bellmouths have changed and now all are per jetcats design and standards http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10...m.htm#10698000

Entire building page is here http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_94...%2Chawk/tm.htm

I havent fly the FEJ one but here is a maiden flight i did for a customer on the Large SkyMaster Hawk... p160sx is plenty ...

my2c

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU9xxm6BnNo[/youtube]

Hi,

Im an FEJ Hawk100 owner , and there are few things i'd like to share about this model.

First of all, customer service is not the best specially when it comes to product delivery....I have to say, Skymasters and Feibao are both very good in terms of fulfilling their promise.

For the price, surely does not show the quality one would expect from models one will see from Airshows or displays.

Good paint job, i requested a custom painted scheme....but takes time before they can really figure out what a customer wanted.

I was expecting more details on the model itself...but nah, i soon forgot about it. I just want to assemble and fly the thing.

Landing gears are very strong, strong enough for Grass runways....BUT, the springs on those struts were probably built from THIN wires. The Airplane weight flattens the struts down to the other end.

CG balancing this FEJ hawk was easy...very minimum movement of components.

Setting up those push pull Control horns for the Flaps were not that easy for me.

I flew mine with a P200sx onboard.

If Im going for a Second 1:4.5 scale HAWK ...... I will go Skymasters this time. For a start, i got a 1:5.5 from SM custom painted.

Goodluck !
Juan

Hi Craig:

Just jump in to mention one thing, for future Hawk model landing gear, it will be air pressure struts, no more springs anymore. You can adjust struts what ever strong you want by pumping air in.

also, light system will be available too.


PS: <font color="#00265e" size="2">DelGatoGrande</font>, you did it again. Have you seen any negative word I said about SM model at public forum?

Thanks
James

Hi James

im not insulting anyone or making negative propaganda .

Im talking as a modeller my self,to other modellers looking for feedback.

Actually the feedback i give in here
can be always crosschecked with photos or with the links i provide.So this are facts not just feedback.

When i can not excuse a comment i dont make one.For example i did not comment the flying abilities of this model because i have never flown one.

Im here in this forum the last 8 years first as a modeller and then as a dealer.

I dont see this members as wallets or a target group .But as my kind of people with the same hobby.Nothing personal.

So you are welcome to comment SkyMaster any time,any day. We promise to take it onboard and improve are products.

Best Regards
George

But you still are a SM dealer! The FEJ Hawk is a great airframe for sure. Have built 6 now and flown all but one for others. Started building and flying them almost 3 years ago when they first came out. From day one they were fantastic, even before the Honeycomb construction.

I have one on the bench right now and I see so much in the way of quality and clean layups. It's a great airframe to put together. So many of these are in the air now with well over 100 flights on the airframes. You cannot beat the Stab setup either as far as robust in design and strength.

I don't know about the overseas markets as far as customer service but here in the US, it is absolutely wonderful.

Best of luck on your Hawk selection.

Rex

DITTO DITTO same after sales in UK,second to none.

Hi

I am really happy with my SM kit. I have painted the plane and made an opening canopy and have seen both planes from SM and FEJ in detail and flying.

If I would buy another Hawk this size, would be SM mainly for the detail in frame, landing gear and cockpit.

Someone posted about fuel capacity and this really concerns me for a P160 use. It holds arround 3 liters capacity with only 1 tank. Clearly short for a 160

I already asked them for another tank but not available

FEJ uses 3 tanks with arround 5lt

Bottom line, whatever you choose, you'll have some fun for sure.

Regards

Nuno

We are using two (2) extra Dubro tanks in our Skymaster Hawks in order to get more autonomy. Don't have pictures with me right now, but for sure I can take some over the weekend. Three (3) of them flying at our club right now and they are great. I'm expecting to maiden mine this coming Saturday.

Here is how it looks (without the weathering and all the details from details 4 scale and decals from tailormadedecals)

Gonzalo, where are you putting the extra tanks and what's the capacity?

I am using the stock fuel set-up in my SM Hawk with a EvoJet 160vx (uses more fuel than equivalent JetCat) and I get 7 min flights with reserve.

yes we run also a p160sx with the single stock fuel tank and we get 7min of flight with lot of reserve.No problem.

Dont use more tanks. There is a reason for the single one there.Its close to the C.G. so the jet has the same tendencies from takeoff to landing.

With more tanks further forward the jet will get heavier and harder to rotate and take off,and will change tendencies while you burn fuel and become more tail heavy.

There is no reason for extra tanks IMHO . just land on 7 min refuel and takeoff!


my 2c

Where do you get the 3 litres volume of the SM large Hawk kevlar tank? I checked mine with water when assembling my plane a few years back - it was almost exactly 3.7 litres...don't think it has shrunk on the way either - 8mins timer with Booster 160+ and always plenty of fuel left when landing. Have they changed the tank at some point? BR, Janne

I don't plan to add any more tanks, just curious on where Gonzalo was putting them.

Hello Craig,

I have had the Skymaster large Hawk 100 which I have dressed out to mimick the 120D demonstrator with all the external details.
Very stable, very predictable and easily flown with the Simjet 3000 on board at 30lbs max thrust. The jet has garnered much recognition at every outing and is favoribly enjoyed when on display, both air and static.
I would agrree that some structual improvement would be prudent to stiffen up soft belly and aft fuselage areas. However, this is again easily completed by the owner.
Frank

The earlier Big Hawk models have different fuel tanks. Maybe yours is an early one and those were bigger

The mod was made, to allow to install turbine in a forward position and avoid adding too much nose weight

Compare the one in my previosly pic and the ones I have attached from another plane: Maybe Del Gato is an early one as well, if you fly 7min. Can you or Anton can make a comment why was this mod made, but I don't feel comfortable with only one of these tanks using a P160.

Last pic shows a New fuel tank and intake mod with a second fuel tank that SM says it is not available (don't seem to affect CG that much. Seems the better setup, but where to find this tank??????

Regards

Nuno