New Dynam Super Detail 4 Ch Piper J3 Cub Review (4 min 45 sec)

Link to buy: http://www.nitroplanes.com/60a-dy894...w-rtf-24g.html

The new Dynam Piper J3 Cub is ready to fly (RTF) with all electronics pre-installed, including the 4CH Transmitter and Receiver, Charger and Batteries. It is made of EPO material so it is highly durable. Everyone can fly this plane, even in windy conditions. Made for 3D aerobatic flight and crash resistance, this plane will impress flyers in all skill levels. Equipped with the tinted clear plastic canopy and landing gear, tail landing gear , and removeable battery cover. It is made for skilled users but also easy to learn for beginners.

Features:


Perfect for all levels: Beginners, Middle-level users, or Experienced Pilots
RTF: Ready to Fly right out of the box (Everything included and 90% assembled)
Easy to construct with pre-installed electronics (motors, servos and speed controllers)
Beautiful design and great details: Resembles a real plane
Factory-finished with stunning appearances
3D Aerobatic Performance
Construction: Lightweight, strong, and crash resistant
Easy take off: effortlessly depart from the ground or your hand
30 amp Brushless Electronic Speed Control
Strong wing designed for smooth airflow providing exceptional stability, and great ease to control and fly even in wind conditions
Full function 4 Channel compatible transmitter with mixing: Aileron control, Elevator control, Rudder, and Throttle.
Durable pre-colored foam fuselage, wings, and tail
Battery: High Quality Rechargeable 11.1V 2200mah Li-Polymer Battery for 20 minutes flight time (Upgradeable optional battery for even longer flight time).
90 Minutes auto peak detection charger

Specifications:
Wing Spawn: 1245mm
Total Length: 850mm
Fly Weight: 1000g
Wing Area: 43.9dm2
Wing Load: 26g/dm2
Motor: Brushless ,kv1100
Battery: 11.1V 2200mAh 25C Li-Poly
Charger: 2~3 Cells Li-Po balance charger
Transmitter: 4 CH 2.4ghz
Servo: 9g high-speed (4 PCS)
ESC: 30A

Package Contents
Dynam piper j3 cub Remote Control Plane Brushless A22 Motor ESC RTF
4CH Transmitter
Receiver, Brushless and ESC
Power Adapter
LiPo Battery Balance Charger
11.1V 2200mAh Li-Po Rechargeable Battery
Brushless Motor Propellers and Landing Gear
English User Manual

I purchased this New Dynam Super Detail 4 Ch Piper J3 Cub 1245mm from nitroplanes.com a few days ago. Built the kit last night. Have not flown it yet.

I don't have many good things to say about the kit, but I will say that nitroplanes shipped the kit fast. The kit and box did not have any major visible damage on arrival.

This was my first RC plane build. I've been building plastic models and RC cars for awhile so I know my way around complex instructions, small parts and modeling tools. I purchased the Piper because I've read it's a good starter plane. I also wanted something I could build quickly and get in the air fast. The Dynam piper video preview http://www.nitroplanes.com/60a-dy894...w-rtf-24g.html on nitroplanes made it look promising. It flew well and I liked the scale so I said what the hell. I pulled the trigger on this kit before a more formal review of a production kit had been posted. As I have yet to find a review of this kit, here is my own.

Opening the box, the fuselage and a few loose parts were wrapped in bubble wrap with a few pieces of tape. The bright orange/yellow wings, tail and landing gear were sitting unprotected between thin pieces of cardboard. The transmitter and battery/charger were separately boxed inside the main box. There were also a few plastic bags full of random screws, springs and the cheap epoxy I've heard bad things about. The packaging was just barely passable, nothing above and beyond.

I flipped through the directions and things started to go down hill. Small photos and laughably vague instructions in Engrish lowered my excitement level. I'm not sure how much Chinese to English translators are going for these days but they must be too expensive for Dynam to afford.

Next I pulled out the pre-assembled landing gear and spun one of the wheels. The wheel fell off and rolled on the ground. I picked up the wheel and studied the wheel and the hub that holds it onto the axle. The industrial design quality was very poor for such a fundamental part of the plane. Part of the wheel hub had broken off and was stuck inside the wheel itself. I don't believe even a mint condition set of wheels and hubs for this kit would function properly. I tried to press the wheel back on the axle and one of the landing gear cross beams cracked and broke away from the axle. Cracked is the wrong word, crumbled is more accurate. All the yellow plastic in this kit is extremely brittle and "chalky". This did not matter much though because all the piper cross beam suspension on this kit is just for show. Non functional static and brittle cheap plastic. If you watch the end of the nitroplanes video closely, you can see they had exact same broken landing gear crossbeam problem described above. Just to keep things symmetrical, I broke the other crossbeam on purpose then used tie down straps to permanently keep them both in place.

The box had been open for about 5 minutes and I was fairly sure I would not be able to complete the kit. Without functioning wheels, how do I take off and land the plane? With my excitement level turning to anger, I focused on fixing the wheels to get them set and spinning. I debated just returning the kit but decided to find a way to scratch build a fix.

The wheel hub is basically a short tube that caps the wheel onto the axle. I opened a few ballpoint pens laying around and luckily found a plastic ink tube with the exact same dimensions and thickness to the wheel hub. The plastic used in the ballpoint pen was of higher quality than the plastic used in the Dynam kit. I put the wheel back on the axle and glued the ballpoint pen replacement onto the axle. With some trimmer lube the wheel spun perfectly and attached securely. I then did the same thing to the non broken wheel. It took about two hours to finally get the landing gear wheels properly working.

Next I glued the two foam wings together per the instructions and hooked up the aileron servos to the control board. I will say the servo and wiring quality seemed pretty good. The transmitter is also not bad for the price. I plugged in the lipo battery to get some juice going for later servo trimming. The battery and charger also seemed ok for the price.

Next I had to attach the wings to the fuselage. The wings attach with two very small screws for the size of the plane. It was quite hard to line up the screws through the wings and into the screw housings in the fuselage. This took 10 - 15 tries before I got both screws to properly line up and screw in. I also feel the fit and tightness of the screws was poor as this was probably the most important joint on the aircraft and also, the only joint holding the wings on. Because of this, I used two part epoxy to glue the wings onto the fuselage, removing any chance of ever taking the wings off again. If the screws had been a higher gauge and gripped the fuselage better, I would not have glued the wings down. Frustrating. My apartment is small and I really can't afford to have the fully assembled plane laying around.

At this point I considered the Dynam kit a $150.00 throwaway lesson and crash course into rc planes. With my expectations adjusted to zero, I continued on with the build.

Next I combined the foam rudder and stabilizer. A fairly good fit. The foam parts of this kit are molded well but the paint chips off very easily. I seated the tail into the fuselage with more two part epoxy, again, a nice fit.

I moved onto installing the landing gear to the fuselage. I got the landing gear screwed into the fuselage when I realized I had to screw the wing braces into the same holes as the landing gear. Thanks vague Engrish instructions. While removing one of the screws, the screw head broke off with very minimal torque. The screw was now stuck deep in the cheap yellow fuselage plastic with no conceivable way of removing it. Again, I thought this was probably it and the plane would never fly. I found a way to gouge through the plastic enough to get a grip on the screw with my Leatherman pliers. This was the only time I was happy the plastic was so brittle. I replaced the "weakest screw in history" with a bigger than provided screw and felt good about it.

At this point I was getting tired. This ready to fly plane build was going into it's 4th hour. I moved onto the rear landing gear. Very small cheap spongy wheel that hooks into the foam rudder with springs and is supposed to be steerable with the rudder control. I plugged in the lipo and turned the transmitter on. I found that the rear weight of the plane was being transferred into the foam rudder through the rear landing gear movement. This almost caused the rudder to rip off. I will not be flying this plane with the rear wheel connected to the rudder.

The plane does look decent from a distance and I can't complain about the engine, propeller, servos, transmitter or foam pieces. The main problems with this kit are the horrible yellow plastics used on critical parts, cheap undersized screws with less then favorable install points and vague instructions. If you want a $150.00 frustrating and throwaway crash course into RC planes, I guess this is the kit for you. If you want something fun to build, and want to own and fly a quality product, STAY AWAY! Pay the few extra bucks for something better.

I was thinking about this as my first plane (have some heli experience).

After having it a few months would you still recommend something else?

Boy! Amen on the comment about the Chinglish language instruction manual. It is hard enough to figure out what the instructions are actually trying to say, but on top of that they sent the Instruction manual for the RTF version of the plane and I have the ARF kit which requires much more assembly. Has anyone seen a version of the ARF manual for this kit online anywhere as a PDF or instructional video??? There is nothing in the RTF manual about where to mount the RX or wiring the RX to the servos??? This type of sketchy language use would make it difficult for a newcomer to figure out how to use a pair of Chopsticks??

Phil

Originally Posted by Philscho

Boy! Amen on the comment about the Chinglish language instruction manual. It is hard enough to figure out what the instructions are actually trying to say, but on top of that they sent the Instruction manual for the RTF version of the plane and I have the ARF kit which requires much more assembly. Has anyone seen a version of the ARF manual for this kit online anywhere as a PDF or instructional video??? There is nothing in the RTF manual about where to mount the RX or wiring the RX to the servos??? This type of sketchy language use would make it difficult for a newcomer to figure out how to use a pair of Chopsticks??

Phil

The ARF and the RTF are the same except one comes with a TX and Rx and one without, so both uses the same manual. The first plane I bought from NP was a RTF. I replaced the rx and tx with my own and built the plane. The next plane I bought was a ARF which came just like my ARF except no tx and rx.

You can mount the rx anywhere you like. There are no designated area to mount it. Once you build your first plane, you will become more familiar with process. My first plane build took about 4 hrs and that was RTF Cessna.

Wiring he Rx is dependent on the rx and tx. Rudder goes into the rud ch, ele into ele ch and so forth

Hey thanks for the info. I cobbled together info from the internet and multiple readings of the manual. Through trial and error I got it put together and functioning correctly. All in all it is a very cool looking scale J3. I can keep it looking that way until I actually try to fly it. Again thanks for the info.

Felipe

Ok man. Glad to know you got everything working

not trying to belittle you but this was the easiest plane i've ever put together but i've put together quite a few. Still haven't flown it but it took about 20 mintues put together. Agree the landing gear is horrible but i did change out the stock wheel for some 2 3/4" du bro wheels to simulate tundra tires.

mine died today....... i'm a cheap ass and was using a hobby king orange rx and it browned out and did a nose dive. It was really a fun plane in wind, you could make it pretty much hover in front of you and with the tundra tires i put on touch in goes were really fun

Originally Posted by c91x

not trying to belittle you but this was the easiest plane i've ever put together but i've put together quite a few. Still haven't flown it but it took about 20 mintues put together. Agree the landing gear is horrible but i did change out the stock wheel for some 2 3/4" du bro wheels to simulate tundra tires.

How did you attach your dubro wheels? I have some dubros but they're too wide for the bent wire axles. They'd look great on there plus the small factory wheels don't spin hardly at all.

Originally Posted by c91x

not trying to belittle you but this was the easiest plane i've ever put together but i've put together quite a few. Still haven't flown it but it took about 20 mintues put together. Agree the landing gear is horrible but i did change out the stock wheel for some 2 3/4" du bro wheels to simulate tundra tires.

I want to change out the cheap foam wheels with DuBro Rubber Wheels too. I have not tried to replace them yet. I wanted to find out if you just pop off the Cub Hubs or is there more to it than that. Please let me know.

Thanx

~D~

I am so sad that I took a chance on a non HH / Parkzone aircraft .
I had never before purchased a yellow piper cub that is three different shades of yellow .
I can live with somewhat close enough between the cowel and the fuselage , but the horrible plastic non-yellow cockpit / windows casting extending so much into the fuselage area , that contrast so badly with the fuselage is beyond belief .
Nitroplanes photos and flying video sure are not what you receive when you order this Dynam Piper J3 Cub 1245mm wingspan .
Its so dishearting to receive a product like this is .
There were a couple more Dynam aircraft that I was thinking about ordering , but not now , no way , fool me once this much , and thats it for me .

Back to trying with this plane , and after years of flying and about 34 planes experience, this was the first one that the ESC would not work , I tried many times reading the manual and what not but no go , so after a couple of hours , removed the ESC and put in a EFlite ESC , you know , the ones you install , power up and it works . And getting the two small screws that hold the wing on installed , OMG what a headache that is . Oh yes broke the landing gear plastic wrestling with the wheels and wheel retainers , of course I expect the wheels to actually roll .
Why I have not taken this major problem outside and stomped it , ok , I am to old to do that , I will try to fly it , who knows maybe it will be a good flyer ?
I can not belive that I bought this ,but the price baited me in .