Basscor
New member
In the recent cyber deals over at HobbyKing, I saw this plane and thought that for $90 I had to have it. Now that I have it, I figured I should do a review here since I didn't see very many of them and none were very thorough. So without further ado...
Specs from HobbyKing:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__66863__HobbyKing_Avro_Lancaster_V2_Thumper_MKIII_4_Engine_Bomber_EPO_1320mm_PNF_US_Warehouse_.html
Wingspan: 1320mm
Length: 900mm
Flying Weight: 1160g
Motors: 4 x 2627 Brushless Outrunner 1500kv
ESC: 15A x 4
Servos: 4 x 9g
Props: 6x4 Three Blade Counter Rotating
Battery called for is a 1800~2200 mAh 3s lipo
Unboxing and initial impressions
As you can see it comes in standard HobbyKing plain white box. I was a little disappointed about this as I was expecting a nicer detailed and decorated box something like Horizon does with their planes. Not a big deal especially considering the price, but it would have been nice to have.
Openning up the box we are presented with the wings and vacuum formed canopy sections. From my point of view it looks like they could use a little more packaging as the inboard motor on the left wing was broken off and was dangling by the motor wires. Not sure if this would have been due to FedEx or because of the packaging. I would lean towards the packaging because it seems a little sparse in the top wing section compartment. It could also be a design flaw, more on that later.
The paint job is excellent and the foam seems very tough. All of the ESCs, motors, servos, and retracts are all installed in the wings and are labeled, ready to plug in to a receiver. Hopefully nothing will be broken or go wrong as this will make it hard to access the parts to replace or repair.
Other folks have mentioned that the retract mount is not very secure and even a slightly rough landing will break it out. I plan on adding some epoxy to beef it up during the build.
A couple of pictures of the broken motor section. It broke fairly clean along a seam, so this also could be an issue with the design of this model.
The canopy sections are all individually packaged and then stapled together.
Canopy sections laid out.
Underneath the wing sections is another divider and then there is the fuselage, props, and tail sections. Again it seems like HobbyKing is skimping out on the packaging, however nothing was damaged in this part of the package.
Tail sections layed out. The rudders are not functional beyond being a vertical stabilizer, so I will be adding motor differential to give me some yaw control.
Fiberglass wing spars and a QC check card, nicely included and so I would assume that the wing wasn't broken before shipment.
More parts; The ones on the right are canopy related parts, but I'm not sure what the ones on the left are for and there isn't any notes about them in the manual. Perhaps you are supposed to cut them off the center hub as they kind of look like little bombs? They are probably left over in the molds from the V1 version where the bomb bay was functional.
Propeller set, and they are in fact counter-rotating. Not historically accurate, but it should help with handling in this model since it doesn't have rudders. One bummer point is that all of the nuts are normal, and so 2 will be more likely to loosen, loctite will be the order of the day. I will be adding some yellow paint to the tips to give them some more character.
Contents of the small parts box, which has the control rods, horns, Y-servo connectors, spinners, gun barrels, battery connector, and a strip of Velcro.
Side bottom pic of the fuselage, again a nice paint and decal job. There are little windows also installed in various places. It does have a steerable tailwheel.
Top view of fuselage.
Internal view of the bomb bay. The bay is non-functional and is used to access the internals and battery. It is nicely hindged and held closed by magnets and includes a battery strap. There does seem to be points molded in where horns may have been in the V1 and so it might be made into a functional bomb bay in the future.
First impressions are pretty good overlooking the busted motor mount. The paint is nice and it should be a very nice looking model once put together. The things I would have liked to see on it are flaps and the gear doors. The bummer is that they don't even have the option to install the gear doors afterward yourself since they don't have them in their catalog any more.
Build log and flight impressions to follow.
Specs from HobbyKing:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__66863__HobbyKing_Avro_Lancaster_V2_Thumper_MKIII_4_Engine_Bomber_EPO_1320mm_PNF_US_Warehouse_.html
Wingspan: 1320mm
Length: 900mm
Flying Weight: 1160g
Motors: 4 x 2627 Brushless Outrunner 1500kv
ESC: 15A x 4
Servos: 4 x 9g
Props: 6x4 Three Blade Counter Rotating
Battery called for is a 1800~2200 mAh 3s lipo
Unboxing and initial impressions
As you can see it comes in standard HobbyKing plain white box. I was a little disappointed about this as I was expecting a nicer detailed and decorated box something like Horizon does with their planes. Not a big deal especially considering the price, but it would have been nice to have.
Openning up the box we are presented with the wings and vacuum formed canopy sections. From my point of view it looks like they could use a little more packaging as the inboard motor on the left wing was broken off and was dangling by the motor wires. Not sure if this would have been due to FedEx or because of the packaging. I would lean towards the packaging because it seems a little sparse in the top wing section compartment. It could also be a design flaw, more on that later.
The paint job is excellent and the foam seems very tough. All of the ESCs, motors, servos, and retracts are all installed in the wings and are labeled, ready to plug in to a receiver. Hopefully nothing will be broken or go wrong as this will make it hard to access the parts to replace or repair.
Other folks have mentioned that the retract mount is not very secure and even a slightly rough landing will break it out. I plan on adding some epoxy to beef it up during the build.
A couple of pictures of the broken motor section. It broke fairly clean along a seam, so this also could be an issue with the design of this model.
The canopy sections are all individually packaged and then stapled together.
Canopy sections laid out.
Underneath the wing sections is another divider and then there is the fuselage, props, and tail sections. Again it seems like HobbyKing is skimping out on the packaging, however nothing was damaged in this part of the package.
Tail sections layed out. The rudders are not functional beyond being a vertical stabilizer, so I will be adding motor differential to give me some yaw control.
Fiberglass wing spars and a QC check card, nicely included and so I would assume that the wing wasn't broken before shipment.
More parts; The ones on the right are canopy related parts, but I'm not sure what the ones on the left are for and there isn't any notes about them in the manual. Perhaps you are supposed to cut them off the center hub as they kind of look like little bombs? They are probably left over in the molds from the V1 version where the bomb bay was functional.
Propeller set, and they are in fact counter-rotating. Not historically accurate, but it should help with handling in this model since it doesn't have rudders. One bummer point is that all of the nuts are normal, and so 2 will be more likely to loosen, loctite will be the order of the day. I will be adding some yellow paint to the tips to give them some more character.
Contents of the small parts box, which has the control rods, horns, Y-servo connectors, spinners, gun barrels, battery connector, and a strip of Velcro.
Side bottom pic of the fuselage, again a nice paint and decal job. There are little windows also installed in various places. It does have a steerable tailwheel.
Top view of fuselage.
Internal view of the bomb bay. The bay is non-functional and is used to access the internals and battery. It is nicely hindged and held closed by magnets and includes a battery strap. There does seem to be points molded in where horns may have been in the V1 and so it might be made into a functional bomb bay in the future.
First impressions are pretty good overlooking the busted motor mount. The paint is nice and it should be a very nice looking model once put together. The things I would have liked to see on it are flaps and the gear doors. The bummer is that they don't even have the option to install the gear doors afterward yourself since they don't have them in their catalog any more.
Build log and flight impressions to follow.
