RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

John

My recent investigation revels that you purchased the turbine before you started your thread.
I stand corrected if above statement is wrong and look forward to hearing your honest reply.

Regards

Ben

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

This statement is regarding those who are wondering about the FunSonic Turbines.

Robart Mfg. does not want to stir up things we are just going to state the facts about the FunSonic Turbine we distribute in North America.

First of all I want to introduce myself. My name is Eric Karl and I am the Sales Manager for Robart Mfg. I have been with Robart Mfg. for the last 4 ½ years and also worked for Robart Mfg. for 4 years 12 years ago and I have worked as store manager for a couple of Hobby Shops for 5 years. I have been flying R/C Airplanes for the last 17 years.

There are several people that have questions regarding price and reliability of the FunSonic Turbine engine.

Price:
The FunSonic FS52AS Turbine is a 12 lb. thrust turbine. The reason on the higher price is because it is a different design in which it is 52mm in diameter rather than the PST, Wren, FTE, which are 54mm and uses some common parts from Wren. FunSonic is a newly designed turbine engine. The FS52AS is smaller in diameter @ 3.2” and the weight of the turbine is 1 ½ pounds which is lighter than most out there. The FS52AS sell for $2,495.00 and Robart Mfg. has put the turbine on Sale for $2,295.00. We did this about 2 months ago.

Reliability:
The FunSonic Turbine has been very reliable. I personally have flown a converted ducted fan Nick Ziroli F9F Panther that weights 23 lbs. this summer and have put just about 80 flights on this aircraft and about 16 hrs. on the turbine, until we ingested the propane line that broke loose in the aircraft for some unknown reason in Texas at Bomber Field. I had a backup turbine with me and replaced the turbine and flew the aircraft another 19 times and about another 4 hrs. on the backup turbine. We were flying 5 FunSonic turbines this year, One in an PCM Models AV8R (Sold), Nick Ziroli F9F Panther, Avonds F-104 (crashed) & F-8 Crusader II (Prototype #1 crashed electronic) built and flown by Sean Cassidy from Champaign, IL, and an F-8 Crusader II (Prototype 2) built and flown by Dave Murray from Elgin, IL. The only problem we have had is with the turbine on the AV8R is the starter motor went bad after we sold the aircraft and the customer sent back the turbine and we replace the front housing and starter motor and sent it back to the customer within two days, by UPS Next Day Air.

The Company FunSonic is a fairly new company and every turbine manufacturer goes through growing pains and they to have their problems with there turbines.

As far as Robart Mfg. we have done a lot of testing with FunSonic, and if we didn’t think that FunSonic was a reputable company we would have not gotten into the turbine business. We are not out here trying to compete with the big Turbine Companies out there we just want to sell some small turbines to the people that want a another choice in their turbine selection. Robart Mfg. is marketing this turbine to the modelers that have old ducted fan models and want to convert them to a turbine.

If you have any questions you may contact me at Robart at 630-584-7616.

Eric Karl

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

Thanks Eric

I for one, just assumed that it was another Wren clone. Guess that's what I get for making assumptions.

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

i will second what eric said, i was also at bomber flying jets, i pitted right across from eric and he flew the crap out of that panther. sure seemed like a reliable little turbine to me and i sure havent seen any evidence of the customer being the test bed for funsonic. now that my nose is brown, eric, what is my discount:D:D:D. barry

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

Ben,

You're a good guy, but I think you've missed the boat on this one. A long list of pissed off people does not, in any way that I can think of, mean that you're doing your job properly. That is--unless your job is to piss people off. I think it's clear that you over-reacted on this one. People would respect it if you were to simply admit it, rather than taking this cavalier attitude and pretending like you're confident that you were right. As stated by so many others so far, a discussion on relative price v. performance is quite germaine to this discussion. By the way, some people actually consider it RUDE to delete a gentleman's post when the gentleman wasn't flaming, lying or name-calling.

My opinion only....

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

Well since all this seems to be my fault i quess i will chime in.
I have been in R/C for 30pluse years mainley flying competion pattern, some of the early ducted fan stuff which always seemed under powered to me. and for the last 4plus flying 3d-heli's.
So i know about r/c related items and how to make them work.
However i know ZERO about turbines that is why you will see a lot of my questions floating around here , Because i figured i could get some good info.
Ben as far as having already owned one that does not excuse you from deleting a post that might have helped a newbie. Be it me or someone else viewing the post.
I thought the funsonic was the only one of its kind out there but i was wrong.
A good friend of mine bought this set-up and decided he would like to go with a larger jet and offered to sell it and i bought it from him, but not after putting up some questions on the list.
What eric said about his service on the customer with the returned funsonic is true and he has been very helpful getting us thru some issues and not all being turbine related.
I will keep everybody posted on how this turbine does if there is any interest .
at this point i am not sorry i bought it just sorry that good info might get deleted because of reasons that i find questionable.
Lets put this to bed.
Sorry for any problems i might have caused
JOHN

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

geez who would ever want to be a moderator after this.

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

I would also like to thank Eric Karl from Robart... He has been helpful and very nice. I had originally bought a Funsonic and before using it decided to go with a different jet (Bobcat) so I talked to John (Heli4me) about buying it. Although he had commited himself for the purchase of this plane and Funsonic turbine he didn't actually buy it from me until late this afternoon (10/28/04). Both of us were very interested in getting feedback from others about both the AV8R and the Funsonic turbine. Everyone that has either had one or has seen them fly has given back great reports about its reliability and its performance. I am sure now that John owns it he will be flying it and giving everyone accurate reports on how it is doing. Eric Karl flew this plane using the Funsonic at the OMJ for us to see. Both the plane and the turbine did very well. I hope from this post that no one thinks less of not only this turbine or of the moderators. This is a great hobby with great people involved in it that I am happy to be a part of...Everytime I ask for any kind of help, I am given more than I had hoped so I want to thank all of you that have helped me and all of those that will help me in the future. I am new to turbines but not to radio control as I fly all kinds of planes including pattern and I fly 3-D helis and I race rc cars (gas and electric and nitro) and now I am into turbines also. So, as you can see I am hooked on radio control and every where I go I find good rc people that are always more than ready to help....Thanks again..... Don

RE: FunSonic Turbines
 

Has anyone out there tried a Funsonic in the AV8R's big brother the DV8R?