Time for another build thread!
The Hobby King SunBird, a blatant ripoff of the Bird of Time, but smaller. And that works great for me, as the original BoT is too large for my local field. I've wanted to build this plane for a while now, but other planes keep getting in the way including building a pair of the Hobby King Red Swans - one is stock and the other which is almost done is a lightweight version just waiting for the covering to arrive. The build thread for Red Swan #2 is HERE.
The SunBird:
An example of the Bird of Time:
So I've had the SunBird sitting here for a few months, and now that the weather is usually bad I'm catching up on all of the stuff that has been on hold. General maintenance on a few planes is done, repairs is accomplished on others, so time to build!
To start, I'm going into this build with my eyes wide open. I've built a couple HK balsa kits already and know what to expect: crappy instructions, lack of information on the process, substandard laser-cutting quality, and a plethora of other questions. It's like assembling a car motor based on blog posts by a drunk providing instructions in gibberish.
But that feeling of accomplishment once it's done is addicting! Hell, anybody can assemble an ARF kit, and building a high-quality kit isn't as hard as most would imagine, but these HK kits have their own appeal.
Starting things off, I laid out all the parts to inspect for damage. None visible at all, a good way to begin (and unlike a true HK kit). The quality of the laser cutting was typical and many parts will need tracing with a #11 blade to get the parts loose. Compared to the Red Swan kits the person who did the laser programming did a good job. The areas you need to cut to get the pieces out makes a lot more sense, which is hard to explain unless you build both kits. But take my word for it, this isn't done too bad. I'm not too sure about the wood selection as some of the pieces seem pretty hard/heavy.
As mentioned, the instructions for these kits isn't the best. Actually the instructions suck, which is being kind. Parts aren't labeled and the instructions really don't show how the parts all go together. Typical. There is currently what appears to be a good and comprehensive instruction manual by a fellow builder uploaded on the HK website - hopefully it's accurate as I plan to follow it. It doesn't cover the wing but hopefully will eventually.
As with the Red Swan builds I start the build by cutting all parts out whether I need them or not. Granted this could lead to losing parts but I'll take that chance. Considering the instructions don't help the build process I want to be able to pick any part quickly to test-fit things.
As time permits I'll update this build log to hopefully help others planning to try this kit. I'm sure I'll make mistakes along the way, but that's life.
The Hobby King SunBird, a blatant ripoff of the Bird of Time, but smaller. And that works great for me, as the original BoT is too large for my local field. I've wanted to build this plane for a while now, but other planes keep getting in the way including building a pair of the Hobby King Red Swans - one is stock and the other which is almost done is a lightweight version just waiting for the covering to arrive. The build thread for Red Swan #2 is HERE.
The SunBird:
An example of the Bird of Time:
So I've had the SunBird sitting here for a few months, and now that the weather is usually bad I'm catching up on all of the stuff that has been on hold. General maintenance on a few planes is done, repairs is accomplished on others, so time to build!
To start, I'm going into this build with my eyes wide open. I've built a couple HK balsa kits already and know what to expect: crappy instructions, lack of information on the process, substandard laser-cutting quality, and a plethora of other questions. It's like assembling a car motor based on blog posts by a drunk providing instructions in gibberish.
But that feeling of accomplishment once it's done is addicting! Hell, anybody can assemble an ARF kit, and building a high-quality kit isn't as hard as most would imagine, but these HK kits have their own appeal.
Starting things off, I laid out all the parts to inspect for damage. None visible at all, a good way to begin (and unlike a true HK kit). The quality of the laser cutting was typical and many parts will need tracing with a #11 blade to get the parts loose. Compared to the Red Swan kits the person who did the laser programming did a good job. The areas you need to cut to get the pieces out makes a lot more sense, which is hard to explain unless you build both kits. But take my word for it, this isn't done too bad. I'm not too sure about the wood selection as some of the pieces seem pretty hard/heavy.
As mentioned, the instructions for these kits isn't the best. Actually the instructions suck, which is being kind. Parts aren't labeled and the instructions really don't show how the parts all go together. Typical. There is currently what appears to be a good and comprehensive instruction manual by a fellow builder uploaded on the HK website - hopefully it's accurate as I plan to follow it. It doesn't cover the wing but hopefully will eventually.
As with the Red Swan builds I start the build by cutting all parts out whether I need them or not. Granted this could lead to losing parts but I'll take that chance. Considering the instructions don't help the build process I want to be able to pick any part quickly to test-fit things.
As time permits I'll update this build log to hopefully help others planning to try this kit. I'm sure I'll make mistakes along the way, but that's life.
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