Updated the pricing, and came across two new items available for pre-order (you can probably get them in a store already, this is how it normally works):
Air Hogs Twin Thunder Heli - List Price: $64.99
$59.99 at Amazon (free shipping)
$64.99 at Toys R Us
Estes Micro Tiger - List Price: $49.99
$39.99 at Target (pre-order)
See the full price list for everything, these two just caught my eye today.
Thanks for making the Cyber-trip back to Micro plane pilot.com. This review will be a little different from past reviews. This week I plan to review the entire line of Cox Micro Warbirds as a whole, instead of each individual airplane, my reasoning being that having flown the Corsair,the Zero, the Mustang, and the Warhawk from this line of aircraft, and while each airframe does have its own small quirks, all of them have exactly the same electronics, motor and battery . . . and fly well. . . right out of the box.I have not flown the ME-109 or the Thunderbolt, and i don’t believe those models are available anymore. But I will assume they fly just as well as the others.
the R.T.F. version of these models is available from Cox Hobbies for $59.99!!! LOOK FOR THE LINK TO COX HOBBIES ON THE MICRO-PLANE PILOT PRICE LIST!!!! This includes the airplane(completely built ready to fly)and a 72mg. three channel,(Elevator,Rudder and Throttle) radio.You also have a few choices as to which channel you prefer. I have no preferences there.
O.K. Lets get right to the flying !!! THESE ARE NOT TRAINER AIRPLANES!!! BUT. . if you can handle a sporty little .40 low-wing or a speedy Electric, then you gotta fly this 3 channel micro-dogfighter!!. . . . Wanna show off your R/C piloting skills??? This is a GREAT LITTLE PLANE TO FLY! . . . RIGHT IN YOUR FACE, 10 FEET OUT in front of yourself.
Loops are no problem. This plane has enough power even with the small stock brushed motor. I have read posts on the internet about upgrades such as li-po batteries and brushless motors to these little birds but I don’t really feel any are necessary.This is no living room flyer, These planes need some room to turn, a baseball diamond is about the minimum area needed.
This is one of those airplanes you make your own. I flew my Corsair at half throttle for the first few flights to get used to keeping it close. . . small plane. . . small flight area. That will also slightly increase flight times. They will handle a 5 mph wind as long as it is not gusty.
Be careful landing, the fuselage has weak spots. . I flopped one or two(or a few). . landings and split the fuselage right at the leading edge of the wing!! Just be prepared with the 5 minute epoxy or gorilla glue and your back in the air in no time!!
For a retail price of $59.99 this is a Gotta have Micro-Warbird Deal!!!!! .
FLY SMART. . . SPEND SMARTER . . .
I guess this will be the last review in this series due to lack of interest. If anyone was reading these reviews, I hope they enjoyed them and they were informative as well.
Welcome back to the review section of Micro Plane Pilot. This week I will review the Palm-Z by Silverlit. Available for $20.85!! Please refer to our Price guide.I placed my wristwatch in the photo to give it scale. Do not confuse this airplane with the many knockoffs and clones that are sold on internet hobby sites! Air-Hogs sells the Aero-Soar for $30 and Megatech sells the Avion for $34.99. Plantranco sells a line of HIGH END indoor micro-planes, but they are in the $180 to $350 range and not very durable. I don’t recommended them unless you must be the guy with the most expensive airplane at the indoor fun-fly. . . I laugh at that guy as I fly circles around him with my $20 foamie!!
Sometimes the best item in its class isn’t the most expensive. This happens to be the case with respect to the Palm-Z. I have purchased (and returned) 2 Air-Hogs Aero-soar airplanes, both because the flight times were ridiculously short. 45 to 90 seconds on a full charge. That was unacceptable.
Although I have not flown a Megatech Avion, I have not been impressed by other similar products offered by this manufacturer, so I passed on the Avion. It was also priced much higher.
When I read about the Palm-Z on R.C.U. I wanted one right away, but if you read this column regularly, you know that I (try to) . . . . FLY SMART. . . BUY SMARTER. . . .So I did my research . . shopped around, and checked the MICRO PLANE PILOT WEBSITE FOR THE BEST PRICES!!!!!!!
I have nothing but praise for this little wonder. In my opinion this is THE LIVING ROOM FLYER TO OWN!! At least until they come out with a 4 channel indoor micro. The wingspan on the Palm-Z is 8 inches and it weighs only a few grams.The guidance system is a two channel infrared, so it can’t be used in direct sunlight, and range is relatively short, I estimate about 40 feet. . . but you don’t need 1000 yard range, or have much direct sunlight in your living room or in a gym do you?? So no worries there. this is one of the lightest planes I have ever flown and it handles beautifully. . but only IN ZERO WIND CONDITIONS . . INDOORS OR OUT.
Climbing and descending are controlled by throttle, the rudder controls both lefts and rights and they are as tight or sweeping as your area requires.The rudder is a magnetic actuator so you get full deflection every time you hit rudder. In order to make wider turns, just pulse the rudder. Flight times are in the 6 to 8 minute range. Who could ask for more?? The motor is a mid-fuselage top mounted pusher so you can’t damage the propeller in a hard landing. I have hit everything in my living room, lamps, windows, furniture, the cat. . . and have not damaged either plane or living room yet. Its kinda like throwing a feather against the wall . . . . ya know??
If you check in the forums you will find a few threads devoted to the Palm-Z. Many posts describe modifying the plane for better flight performance. I chose to leave it alone except to add a tiny bit of nose ballast. I coated the nose of the plane with thin epoxy, the epoxy added strength and the little bit of weight needed to bring the c.g forward a fraction. I also removed the spring on the throttle stick inside the transmitter. I’m more comfortable flying without the throttle stick pushing back at me constantly.
I am happy to recommend the Silverlit Palm-Z biplane!!! Go online, spend the $25 or so (shipping included) and start flying in your living room or front yard real soon!!!
Be sure to check back here next week for a review on the Cox Micro-Warbirds Line. Please feel free to leave me a comment, all are welcome.
And as always,. . . . FLY SMART. . . . SPEND SMARTER. . . .
I usually have a few rules about buying new airplanes or any hobby related items,
1)FLY SMART. . . . BUY SMARTER!!!!!!
2) Do the research on the product.
3) No impulse buying.
4)Check the internet forums, you can get a wealth of information on the item you intend to buy if you just invest a few minutes!!!
On this occasion I threw the rules out the window, and plunked down $40 bucks for the Air hogs gyro havoc. I had never seen this airplane/auto-gyrocopter contraption before, and having always been fascinated by auto-gyros,( I loved the James Bond auto gyro called little Nellie) I wanted to be flying this sweet looking bird a.s.a.p.!!!
BIG FREEKIN MISTAKE!!!!!!!! HUGE WASTE OF HARD EARNED CASH!!!!!
When buying a new airplane, I will always take it home, open it up and inspect the contents, especially when purchasing the item from Toys-r-us, Target or Walmart. I also inspect the box in the store, making sure it hasn’t been opened, and had parts removed, OR WORSE. . . been flown, crashed and returned.(both have happened to me). I have never had this happen at my local hobby shop.
After familiarizing myself with the airplane and charging it, I took a evening ride to the local aircraft flight test center (schoolyard) and attempted a few test hops. The winds were calm to 3 m.p.h. and it was about dusk.
I spooled up the rotor blades as the instructions explained, by waving the airplane in an up and down motion, throttled up to 3/4 power and hand launched it straight out in front, stubby wings level. The result was a hard descending left turn, or as we call it it the hobby, A LAWN DART. No amount of twisting or tweeking could compensate for the diving turn, so I decided not to throw it into the ground over and over and so i flew another airplane that evening.
That night i did my research. . . . i went online, and in 10 minutes had found a thread on r.c.u. or wattflier. It must have had like 300 posts and they all seemed to agree that moving the thrustline on one of the motors would more than fix the problem. O.K. I decided to try that fix. Big Fat Mistake!!!!! It took about 10 minutes to do the modification and the stubby little bugger was ready to go again. . . . or so i thought. And now that i had modified the stupid thing, it couldn’t be returned to the store for a refund. Like it or not I was stuck with it.
After a few nights of windy conditions, i finally got a break and the wind died down. Back to the schoolyard, and after about four attempts with the same result, left hand death dive. . . I again decided that the plane would be better off if i didn’t continue trying to launch it in this condition. Nose First Into the cement was all it would do. And it wasn’t going to take to many more of those!!
I returned to the internet and after reading most of the threads I have concluded that if after over something like 300 posts nobody ever really got this thing to fly well enough to post a 2 minute video, then this plane wasn’t worth trying to re-engineer. there are a few posts on the threads by folks who claim their Gyro-Havoc flies well, but it seems that nobody can post a video of a sustained flight. So I’ll believe it when i see it with my own 2 eyes.
I did find one short vid of a gyro-hawk in a gym somewhere, but it wasn’t really flying, it was real squirrely and never really under control. It seemed that the pilot was always fighting to keep it from hitting the floor for the most part. And that “flight” lasted 40 seconds at most.
While I’m not an expert, I do have 20 years of experience flying, building and repairing r/c airplanes of all types, from large warbirds to aero aces!!! I even have a witch on a broom that flies really well. . that thing is 12 lbs and has a 5 foot wingspan!!! What I’m saying is. . . this airplane should have flown much better out of the box, and while I have no problem trimming a bird out or adjusting a c.g. now and then, Consumers should not have to waste their precious flying time re-designing a poorly designed and constructed product so it will perform as the manufacturer advertises!!!!
DO YOURSELF AND YOUR WALLET A FAVOR AND PASS ON THE AIR-HOGS GYRO-HAVOC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week I will review the SILVERLIT PALM Z!! So remember to check back here real soon.
Any and all comments are welcome.
REMEMBER. . . . . FLY SMART. . . . SPEND SMARTER .
I guess today it is supposed to start feeling like summer (or at least spring) again here in Colorado. As such, I have updated the Micro R/C Airplane and Helicopter Price Index. I am planning on updating it more frequently. And if there are new planes out there that need to be added, leave a comment and I’ll get it taken care of.
As promised this week i am reviewing the Parkzone Citabria(airbatic spelled backwards) I guess the designers at Champion Aircraft Co. had a sense of humor. Over the last couple of years i have become aware of Parkzone products and for the most part, have been very satisfied with their offerings.
The list price for this bird is $199.00 but as shown on this site(GREAT JOB CHESTER!) it can be purchased for almost half that, $114.00 And it is well worth that amount.
Make sure not to damage the original packaging when opening it because it will make an excellent storage case for your airplane later!!!
My first impression of this little gem was the craftsmanship. This is a well thought out airplane. The guidance system is a state of the art- 2.4 gig spread spectrum radio and receiver, so range is not an issue as with cheaper models. I have not had a single glitch or sputter and don’t expect any in the future.
I charged the included LI-PO battery on the included charger and installed batteries in the included radio(DID I TELL YOU ALMOST EVERYTHING WAS INCLUDED?? LOL)
One piece of advise for all of you. . . Don’t use the INCLUDED AA sized batteries in your charger or transmitter, use them on something else. Use ONLY high quality batteries in the charger and radio.
Many Micro Ready to fly airplanes can and do fly right out of the box, but to truly say they fly well. . . . that’s another story. this is definitely not the case with the Citabria. I checked the C.G. and it was right about where i thought it should be. So off to the field!!
My first flight took place on a fairly calm morning, maybe 2 mph to 5 mph winds. I spooled up the throttle. and I hand launched it with a smooth toss, straight and level out in front of me, and I prepared to trim this little zipper out. . . . To my surprise no trim was needed at all. She flew level at half throttle, climbed at full throttle and was like a purring little kitten to fly overall. The turns were smooth and she had no bad tendencies that i could see. After about 4 minutes of getting to know each other, I decided it was time to wring it out a little!!! I did figure 8’s both left and right, loops are straight over the top and with a little dive to gain airspeed, no problem at all. I have read on R.C.U. and other forums that some people feel this plane is underpowered, I disagree. it flies like a Citabria should fly. this is not a fighter jet, don’t expect it to fly like one. After about 9 minutes i could feel the motor losing r.p.m.’s so i pointed my new favorite airplane back into the wind and landed at way less than walking speed. Almost a zero-airspeed touchdown. Throttle response is very good, as a matter of fact the entire radio is hobby Quality, not a toy. I highly recommend this airplane for anyone who has ever wanted a calm day or indoor flier. Although not a living room flier, if you have an area the size of a tennis court or basketball court that’s all the room you need!! Additional LI-PO batteries are available for about $8 each so i bought another one. Also the battery will fit the Parkzone Cessna , Ember and Vapor. . . . All of which I
plan to liberate from the hobby shop as soon as $$$$ become available!!
I will review each of them for you faithful readers!!. . . I hope SOMEBODY READS ‘EM. Next week I’ll review the Airhogs Gyro-Havoc!!
As always feel free to leave your comments!!!When you imagine flying your micro-plane, parkflyer or whatever it is you see in your r/c flying daydreams, do you see your self helplessly trying to trim a micro-heli that won’t ever fly without over-rotating in either direction for long enough to really be able to FLY the damb thing? then the freakin battery dies again, after like 2 minutes? OR. . . . . . do you smoothly throttle up and fly your intended path all around the room, turning left or right at will, . . . . effortlessly gaining and losing altitude to just barely skim over all obstacles with grace, skill and ease? enjoying the long flight times that a quality battery will give you for many, many charges and a stable heli that performs exactly as promised in the ads and videos? HUH? HUH? HUH?
Although they are packaged the same, and look like the same item, knockoffs are rarely a bargain, and rarely fly as well as the genuine article.
I have been flying r/c for about 20 years. i started with a tower hobbies trainer and a tower .40 glo engine. that got me thru my initial training and got me a signature on the back of my club membership card. i have flown a 29lb giant ugly stick with an 8 foot wingspan, and i have flown the airs hogs aero-ace bipe . i love them both!!!
Buy an original, not a cheap knock-off and you will enjoy your hobby much more.I have made the mistake of buying a cheap item instead of a quality item. it’s usually not the bargain you hope for. Not to say that there are not great bargains out there . . . You have to do the research. . Impulse buys are a bad thing, but snatching up a bargain is a great feeling!!! i hope to be a great help to all of you in this regard. I hope to be able to point you to quality items that are priced reasonably!!!! and i will be honest if they are not. I am not supplied with free samples from ANY MANUFACTURER!! What i review, I have purchased with MY MONEY. . . So you will know if it is a piece of garbage or if it’s worth your valuable time and $$$$ Next week i will review the PARKZONE MICRO-CITABRIA. So watch for that post ok?? i hope you guys will continue to read my reviews on the Micro-Plane Pilot site. Any and all comments are welcome. And until next time, fly smart, spend smarter!!!!
