Hey everyone.
Earlier today I was looking through FTs social media accounts in search for the missing monday episode and found a link to a sale offer for theWeekende EHawkeye from Hitec.
I happened to grab the plane on a whim during a trade show some time last spring and I'd like to share a few observations on it.
My experiences with the plane were kind of mixed bag which is not really the planes fault.
The box mislead me to believe the plane had ailerons and would run on a 3s 450 LiPo. I had some 3s 500s lying around (close enough), so this was my main incentive to buy this plane instead of the Zipper which was on offerr as well. It also looked to be a little tamer of a setup compared to the Zipper and I wanted something small and robust to carry around in the trunk of my car.
Back home, unpacking the plane and putting it together was a breeze, only... no ailerons.
Hold on, let me check the package.... Yes, package shows ailerons, plane doesn't have any.
Oh well, at least it looks like it balances nicely with the 3s 500. Let me check the manual for the exact COG... There it is. right where it's at with my 3s in there.
Wait, is that a 2s 450 in that picture?... Yes, package states 3s, instructions say 2s.
Now I didn't have any 2s 450 or round about that, but since it balanced so well I figured what the hell, let's try a short flight and see if anything gets hot.
Tried a short 2 minute flight and boy was it a blast to throw around, didn't even miss the ailerons. Got it back on the ground and checked for overheating. The motor and ESC were a little warm, but not too bad, so I checked my lipo which was still at 80% and figured I'd get another 5 minutes of flight out of it.
So, off I go, thinking to myself "best impulse purchase ever" as i realize this thing even manages barrel rolls on rudder input only... which was when, with a sad little sound, the motor died.
Ok, so that put a damper on things. Maybe that 3s really was too much and it melted the motor... Nope. the it was the plastic (!) bell of the motor that had worked itself loose from the shaft due to the mechanical stress of the higher rpms.
Now I gotta say Multiplex (the german distibutor for Hitec) were pretty cool about it and replaced the motor for me, warning me not to exceed 2s in a nicely worded letter (carefully avoiding to answer why it had said 3s on the packaging then or why it balanced so well with the 3s 500, but hey, i got a new motor...)
So I went and borrowed a s 2s 500 from a frieend at set about to balance the plane again... not possible without cramming a lot of extra weight in. Then I remembered that pait of old 2s 850s I had lying around. charged em, all good, balances ok, so off we go. Not half as much fun as on 3s, but still flyable. Barrel rolls need a whole lot of height now to gain speed but there you have it, it's a 2s.
5 minutes in I did a safety landing to check the battery and had n't even dented the capacity. "Hey, this thing is good for 20 to 30 minutes of flight then..." Not really, because 5 when I took another break some7-10 minutes later so my friend could have a go in his 600 heli (which I'm still kinda scared of) I noticed the motor and ESC were too hot to handle (not broken this time, though, luckily).
I still take it out from time to time to fly, but I make very sure to to overheat the motor. It's a nice flyer, but having to baby a plane like that because you might break the motor saps the fun a little bit, not to mention that ti doesn't soar all that well. Maybe it's the weight of the batteries. Maybe It'll behave better if I were to run across a 2s 500 pack compact enough to put it upright into the nose section so I can get the cg right without the extra weight of the 800 mAh pack.
So what's my verdict? It's a fun little flyer that is easily dismantled to fit into the box it came from. There's a few flaws to it, though, the biggest of which is that it just doesn't do what it says on the box. The motor is a weak point and it's certainly not a veery good glider the way I ended up setting it up. That said, though I believe even a beginner could fly this plane if they happen to have someone experienced around to set it up for them.
The offer mentioned in the FT Twitter today would certainly go a long way to making the plane worth its money. I'd be more reluctant to recommend it at the full price, because a beginner would probably have a hard time setting it up and for somebody more experieced there's lots and lots of planes in the price range out there to take into consideration.
Earlier today I was looking through FTs social media accounts in search for the missing monday episode and found a link to a sale offer for theWeekende EHawkeye from Hitec.
I happened to grab the plane on a whim during a trade show some time last spring and I'd like to share a few observations on it.
My experiences with the plane were kind of mixed bag which is not really the planes fault.
The box mislead me to believe the plane had ailerons and would run on a 3s 450 LiPo. I had some 3s 500s lying around (close enough), so this was my main incentive to buy this plane instead of the Zipper which was on offerr as well. It also looked to be a little tamer of a setup compared to the Zipper and I wanted something small and robust to carry around in the trunk of my car.
Back home, unpacking the plane and putting it together was a breeze, only... no ailerons.
Hold on, let me check the package.... Yes, package shows ailerons, plane doesn't have any.
Oh well, at least it looks like it balances nicely with the 3s 500. Let me check the manual for the exact COG... There it is. right where it's at with my 3s in there.
Wait, is that a 2s 450 in that picture?... Yes, package states 3s, instructions say 2s.
Now I didn't have any 2s 450 or round about that, but since it balanced so well I figured what the hell, let's try a short flight and see if anything gets hot.
Tried a short 2 minute flight and boy was it a blast to throw around, didn't even miss the ailerons. Got it back on the ground and checked for overheating. The motor and ESC were a little warm, but not too bad, so I checked my lipo which was still at 80% and figured I'd get another 5 minutes of flight out of it.
So, off I go, thinking to myself "best impulse purchase ever" as i realize this thing even manages barrel rolls on rudder input only... which was when, with a sad little sound, the motor died.
Ok, so that put a damper on things. Maybe that 3s really was too much and it melted the motor... Nope. the it was the plastic (!) bell of the motor that had worked itself loose from the shaft due to the mechanical stress of the higher rpms.
Now I gotta say Multiplex (the german distibutor for Hitec) were pretty cool about it and replaced the motor for me, warning me not to exceed 2s in a nicely worded letter (carefully avoiding to answer why it had said 3s on the packaging then or why it balanced so well with the 3s 500, but hey, i got a new motor...)
So I went and borrowed a s 2s 500 from a frieend at set about to balance the plane again... not possible without cramming a lot of extra weight in. Then I remembered that pait of old 2s 850s I had lying around. charged em, all good, balances ok, so off we go. Not half as much fun as on 3s, but still flyable. Barrel rolls need a whole lot of height now to gain speed but there you have it, it's a 2s.
5 minutes in I did a safety landing to check the battery and had n't even dented the capacity. "Hey, this thing is good for 20 to 30 minutes of flight then..." Not really, because 5 when I took another break some7-10 minutes later so my friend could have a go in his 600 heli (which I'm still kinda scared of) I noticed the motor and ESC were too hot to handle (not broken this time, though, luckily).
I still take it out from time to time to fly, but I make very sure to to overheat the motor. It's a nice flyer, but having to baby a plane like that because you might break the motor saps the fun a little bit, not to mention that ti doesn't soar all that well. Maybe it's the weight of the batteries. Maybe It'll behave better if I were to run across a 2s 500 pack compact enough to put it upright into the nose section so I can get the cg right without the extra weight of the 800 mAh pack.
So what's my verdict? It's a fun little flyer that is easily dismantled to fit into the box it came from. There's a few flaws to it, though, the biggest of which is that it just doesn't do what it says on the box. The motor is a weak point and it's certainly not a veery good glider the way I ended up setting it up. That said, though I believe even a beginner could fly this plane if they happen to have someone experienced around to set it up for them.
The offer mentioned in the FT Twitter today would certainly go a long way to making the plane worth its money. I'd be more reluctant to recommend it at the full price, because a beginner would probably have a hard time setting it up and for somebody more experieced there's lots and lots of planes in the price range out there to take into consideration.
