Hobby King Dr.1

CeramicGod

Junior Member
I'm a WWI plane fanatic. I ordered a Hobby King Dr.1 (and 100 grams of sticky lead weights as well - Thanks Joshx2!).

It arrives Friday, I'll let everyone know how it goes!
 

CeramicGod

Junior Member
Well, I hate to say it but this plane is too much trouble than it's worth.

The review JoshX2 put up was fair, and did cover a number of the issues. If you fly it more than a few times, however, the issues get worse.

The paint doesn't just flake off, it peels off in giant strips. I've flown this thing for 3 days now and it looks like a red and white splotch camoflauge job, easily 25% of the paint is missing at this point.

No instructions. At all. Maybe they're online or something, but you're left to figure it out. It's not that difficult, but there's some issues here and there - like the landing gear portion.

The rudder hinge is extraordinarily weak. It already started breaking off, I've fixed it with a "tape hinge".

Once you're done adding 85+grams of weight to the firewall to stabilize the CG, the plane feels sluggish...underpowered. Of course, without the CG being right, you'll just be crashing anyways.

It's possible to take ground take off but it hates it. The thing tends to suddenly want to roll and you'd better recover quick. Hand launches are way better.

However....this same issue comes up on landing. Get a few inches off the ground and suddenly, crash, roll, flip. If you recall the Flitetest video, Josh had multiple attempts to land before getting 1 right and that was on concrete. If you're landing on anything but a pristine surface, expect to ground loop more than ever land. Which, of course, then results in damage. You'll be repairing this thing more than flying it.

I'm bummed. I love, love, love WWI planes. I really want to add more WWI planes to my collection but the choices are pretty slim, and the Baron's plane is quintissential.

The Hobby King DR.1, in my opinion, is good for only one thing - seeing how long you can keep it together before you give up.

The Parkzone Se5a, on the other hand, is the other extreme - it flies like a dream, durable, great power to weight, great control rates...just awesome. I hope we get more Parkzone WWI warbirds.
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Awww to bad you didn't get what you expected. Though I didn't like how it performed in the FT episode...
 

sukhoi69

Member
The Dr 1 is known for doing that no matter the brand. LHS owner has the Great Planes one and says it does the same thing 9 out of ten times. I have been thinking of buying the HK one also but can't quite do it lol.
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
The Dr 1 is known for doing that no matter the brand. LHS owner has the Great Planes one and says it does the same thing 9 out of ten times. I have been thinking of buying the HK one also but can't quite do it lol.

How did the real plane perform?
 

sukhoi69

Member
How did the real plane perform?

Very much the same as did the BF 109. Both nosed over a lot on landing. The BF did it because of position of the landing gear they lost heaps of planes and pilots because of it. The DR 1 is the worst because the nose is so short and all the weight is concentrated right at the nose. All WWI birds are prone to this some more than others. Am surprised with the Parkzone SE5A how well it lands I was expecting nose overs. Years ago when I was still learning I had a Great Planes SE5A and it would nose over all the time as did a Pitts Special I had. Bipes just take a certain way of landing then nice. With practice you can get good with it. The SE5A I just let it glide in really slow with a little up elevator no throttle and just as it touches down give a little stab of throttle it is all about the flare with bipes. They are a challenge to land for sure.
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Very much the same as did the BF 109. Both nosed over a lot on landing. The BF did it because of position of the landing gear they lost heaps of planes and pilots because of it. The DR 1 is the worst because the nose is so short and all the weight is concentrated right at the nose. All WWI birds are prone to this some more than others. Am surprised with the Parkzone SE5A how well it lands I was expecting nose overs. Years ago when I was still learning I had a Great Planes SE5A and it would nose over all the time as did a Pitts Special I had. Bipes just take a certain way of landing then nice. With practice you can get good with it. The SE5A I just let it glide in really slow with a little up elevator no throttle and just as it touches down give a little stab of throttle it is all about the flare with bipes. They are a challenge to land for sure.

Then why is a failed plane so iconic?
 

bicyclemonkey

Flying Derp
Mentor
My balsa Great Planes Fokker D.VII noses over every time I land. I too, am surprised that I've seen no nose-over videos of the PZ SE5a. With scale bipes (or most tail draggers), you need to keep a little up elevator when it touches down and a tiny bit of throttle to keep air moving over the elevator...if the tail goes over the center line, it'll probably nose over.
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin


It took them a while from their teaser about the review to the actual review. I couldn't wait, so I made my own...


 

sukhoi69

Member
Then why is a failed plane so iconic?

Because don't forget flying was still being born then. If not for the war planes wouldn't have advanced as quickly as they did. Not to mention the speed they had to design and build planes. Is why so many different planes came out then, test was done in battle. Even the SE5A had lots of problems and was not liked by pilots at the start. Pilots on both sides modded and changed their personal planes to make them reliable and better. Including parts from each side from downed planes. Amazing how in such a short time over WWI and WWII they went from Bi Planes to early jets.
 

bicyclemonkey

Flying Derp
Mentor
yeah, the DR.1 flew crazy good. It wasn't the fastest plane because it had a bunch of drag due to the three main wings but could out maneuver anything and also out climb because it had so much life..again, due to the three main wings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Dr.I

This episode of Dogfights from the History Channel about the first dogfighters has an awesome scene with a Dr. 1. It's worth the watch.

 
Last edited:

sukhoi69

Member
Taken from Google. Like I said if you get a handle on them they are ok if not they can be a pain to fly. Same for thr real thing by the sounds of it.
The Fokker Dr 1 was a successful plane in World War One. It was known as one of the best dogfighters of the war. The Fokker Dr 1 was a terrible plane in the hand of an inexperienced pilot but with an experienced pilot it was an almost unstoppable dogfighter. One pilot that made the Fokker Dr 1 very successful was 'Rictofen, Manfred Albrecht, Rittmeister Freiherr von' or commonly known as the 'Red Baron'. He had 80 confirmed victories, which made him the most successful pilot in World War 1. He was also the leader of the Flying Circus or Jasta 11, (a squadron during World War One that shot down more than 300 allied planes). He was killed in his Fokker Dr 1 whilst chasing a novice pilot fairly low to the ground by a single shot in the heart by either a Canadian Pilot, Australian machine gunners or by ground troops. The Red Baron said the Fokker Dr 1 "Climbed like a monkey and manoeuvred like the devil. The Red Baron was awarded the Blue Max, which is the common name for Prussia's highest military honour. Some people today believe that the Red Baron made the Fokker Dr 1 more famous than it deserved
 

bicyclemonkey

Flying Derp
Mentor
The Fokker Dr 1 was a successful plane in World War One. It was known as one of the best dogfighters of the war. The Fokker Dr 1 was a terrible plane in the hand of an inexperienced pilot but with an experienced pilot it was an almost unstoppable dogfighter.
The same can be said of the Camel.