When I was looking for an EPP 3d trainer I called 3dhs, these planes came highly recommended so I gave them a whirl. Below is a review I left for e-foamies.com:


After an unfortunate car melting incident with my beloved e-foamies extra I immediately when looking for my new fix. At that point in time the extras were sold out so I purchased the new Edge instead. Needless to say I could not be more happy.

First impressions were that the fues is identical to the extra, however the wing with its straight wing cord, and smaller tips greatly improves the stiffness of the wing. Building was uneventful as I had previously built an e-foamies bird before. I did learn a couple of things though.

1. I glued wooded tabs on the outside of the fues to screw mount the servos to. This lets you not have to glue the servo's in place should you strip one, and provides just as solid of a mount.
2. Fues stiffening--Although epp is just about perfect for a 3d training adding two 1/8 carbon rods the length of the fues( i placed mine on the bottom pushed to the outboard corners prior to gluing the bottom cover plate on), greatly improves the fues stiffness withut adding much weight. I found the fues stiffness to be helpful when learning manuevers such as rolling harriers.
3. Gear--mount the landing gear through wood blocks as well instead of the foam.
4. Use bigger servo's in the tail. I found on my extra i was constantly stripping tail servo's from tail touches, tail draggs and the...Continue Reading

The 3dhs 55" yak was my first experience getting into a "larger" model. Needless to say I am hooked. The 3dhs yak still maintains the yak tendancies (big ole bucket of air) however she flys better than the 47". This is largley due to the fact that she's an over all bigger and heavier plane, but also because she has the Scott stoops airfoil.

My yak was one of the first to come out in the vibrant "raspberry purple. With the color brought a great thought for a decal scheme.

From original post

"In the year 1927 a Gentlemen by the name of A.S. Yakolev started an Aircraft design company. His designs ranged from mail planes , to world war 2 and jet fighter aircraft, to commercial airliners, to some of the most beautiful aerobatic aircraft we love to model today. Unfortuanetly the world lost Mr. Yakolev in 1989, however his little avaiation company that he started with some fellow engineers and airplane lovers continues to run strong today. In the year 2007 The A.S. Yakolev Design Bureau celebrated its 80th successful year in business.

Upon reading the history of the Yakloev company nothing made more sense than to honor Mr. Yakolev's accomplishments. The color purple is throughout Russian history, seen as a color of royality, honor and strength, it is found amoung the domes of the Kremlin. Fitting then that a royal purple Yak -54 be used to honor Mr. Yakolevs 80 years of accomplishments.

I present the 3dhs 55" Yak-54 in Yakolev...Continue Reading

I said it once when we saw protoype videos "That thing is sick" pretty much sums up how I still feel about the Velox. It is a violent tumbling little machine that is just as comfortable upside down spinning viloently towards earth as it is rocketing to the heavens for a clean loop.


The velox was the first of the 47" inch 3dhs models to have airfoiled tail surfaces, this prompts an intese pitch althority that really makes the velox one in its own. I have never seen air plane on high rates able to tumble end over end and not lose altitude, its simply amazing to watch. With the pitch authority comes rock solid harriers---down low and slow the velox loves it. High speed walls into to hover--the velox loves it, knofe edge double snap back to knife edge--the velox loves it.

This is the 3d airplane you want to simply beat the snot out of to see what she can take.

Take offs and landings are cake walks---much like the Katana--a little bit of speed and she drops right in. Too windy for a traditional approach---harrier her to the ground!

Here is my Velox powered with a torque 2814/820, AB 45 elite esc, 4s hyperion packs, hs65mg servo's, and a Xoar 12X7. Decals are my design created by scottsrc.com. Please note although you may be able to find the graphics at other locations on the net. The original design and artwork is mine and scotts rc's.

My personal favorite, and unfortunately discontinued for better up coming projects. If you able to get you hands on one, do it--she is a dream come true.

The Katana is a Precision/3d Hyprid, and of of the very first releases from 3dhs. Sleek fues with long tail moment, large wing fillets tapering to thin tipped wings make this bird scream speed and grace.

The Katana was designed pre Scotts Stoops, meaning it does not have the Scott Stoops Airfoil which makes the SHP so forgiving. It is however still very capable of what ever you want to trow at it, she'll harrier with some wing rock, she'll hover with a fair ammount of input, she'll flat spin with the best of them, she'll tumble with the best of them.

However where this bird excells is precision!! Never have I ssen an airplane roll so cleanly as does the Katana. Quick, precise and axial. Slow rolls, point rolls, the the ever hard to master rolling circle are where this bird feels at home. Punching clean lines, climbing into perfectly round loops, cuban 8's, split s's, immelmans, and stall turns has never looked so pretty than done with the Katana.

Landing is a breeze, leave a tad of throttle on and she'll lower herself to the ground for a pretty landing and rollout.

Here is my Katana. She is powered with an Eflite power 10, Eflite 40amp esc with dimension engineering BEC, 12X7 Xoar Prop, with a 2" tru turn e-spinner. Decals are my design created by scottsrc.com

The ultimate in "the next step to 3d". So you have 3 or 4 aileron models under your belt , you have played with aerobatics and you feel like broadening you horizons and dabbling in 3d. Take a hard look at the 3dhobbyshop Extra SHP. Designed by Scott Stoops and Ben Fisher to be a very forgiving , and floaty airframe , the shp provides the tools necessary to build 3d confidence.

The best part of the SHP is its versatility. It can easily be flown as a sport model with attitude if one simpy just tones down the throws. She'll fly a precision line with the best of them, and with a simple flip of the high rate switch you will unlock a little 3d monster within.

The model is fantastic for harriering --up high, down low, doesnt matter; the SHP is rock solid with virtually zero wing rock. Rolls are slow and easily managable allowing an very clean 1 stick rolling harrier. Hovers are easy with her locking in solid and being touchy on the throws for quick corrections. Flats spins are a thing of beauty, as well as blenders.

Landing I found to be a bit tricky as she just wants to float and float. Long and shallow glide slopes will reward you with beautiful landings. The SHP carbon gear is like haveing an airplane on springs and will save you in case of a bumpy landing.

Here is my SHP: Same power sysytem as the EF yak, with decals again comeing from scottsrc.com

I have just sold this airframe to make some room on the wall for the SR!

Well with 4000 posts on me now I figured its a good time to start my blog. As in my Sig line I'm a we bit of a 3dhs junkie. So I figured I would write a small review of each of the planes I fly with my opinions of each.

We'll start off with the first plane I pruchase from 3dhs, not a true 3dhs plane but still it started my loyal following to Ben and his business.

Extremeflight Yak 54 47.5"

There are numerous threads about this aircraft. I found it to be above else very scale in appearance, and fun to fly. Yaks as a whole have some different flight charaterisitics, number one thing to remember with a yak is that big ole cowl on the front which makes the plane so attractive, acts a big ole bucket for air. This is good in the fact that it keeps electronics cool, but bad in the fact that you have to prep for it, as it slows the aircraft very quickly in all maneuvers. The EF yak when slowed will drop a wing generally as usual the port wing, its a half way gentle snap, which is recoverable from altitude, but at low it could be dangerous.

Because of the above I found that in order to complete what is normally a 2/3-1/2 power maneuver with a "extra" style aircraft the yak requires 1/2 to 5/8 thottle just to keep a little extra speed on to make the manuevers clean. Remember that cowl also cuts down on your prop efficenty as much of the prop diameter is blocked as well. Once you get used to flying the yak she is very, very fun to fly.

I have found the...Continue Reading