Great review, looks like an excellent plane. I wish they would sell something like a Plug-n-Play version with out that Tx battery and charger... I have heard good things about the MM. Im glad HL started making this one instead of the Skymaster...

i love when reviews come out!

Great review! Nice in-flight pics.

this is definitely much better than the previous version they had. the motors are a great match for the model. i'd recommend keeping some power on for landing. all of my landings were with power off and well, it becomes a handful keeping it flying before it touches down. in my case, i missed my runway (track field, long straight of the oval) and would bounce into the grass center field. eventually ripped out my nose gear. it was still fun to fly after that, too! i made it a little tail heavy so it would balance on the main gear and tail booms. full throttle with up elevator (to keep the nose up) and it would leave terra firma with authority! i recommend it this one.

Excellent review Ronnie!! As always your pics. are second to none and Wendell did a great job of showing the planes capabilites in the video.

Tim

I wonder how this plane would do with some floats on it?

i'd imagine it would do well with floats, actually. it has plenty of power to ROG and, maybe after a longer run, could ROW.

Originally Posted by edge5foamy

I wonder how this plane would do with some floats on it?

That could be fun..

Glad to see the new version flies better than the original, brushed 400 and NiMH. It was a dog, anything other than full power would cause a loss in altitude and airspeed. Be careful of the wing connections, the plastic clips that hold the outer wing on do not hold well (at least not on the original). I had to add servo mounting screw to keep the wings from falling off. Another thing to remember to make all your landings perfect, as repairing the foam can be difficult. It tends to crumble into sand sized pieces. Gorilla Glue works wonders! Yes, I've got experience in this field thanks to the under-powered problems of the original.

Thanks guys, glad you liked the review!

Ronnie

Ronnie, your review was very informative and entertaining. Thanks for taking
the time to do such a super job.

Dawnron1... happy to see you finally received it and enjoyed the flight... she is fun... and her size is a head turner... fixing mine after the hard landing... got a little side tracked with my A-10. Another good lipo is the EVO 3s 2500 lite lipo for a little longer flight.... great review!!

What is the flight time on this?

Very helpful review Dawnron1. I picked up the earlier Skymaster a few months ago during the HL close-out sale and I've put it away until my flying skills get up to speed. Because of all of the negatives about the inadequate power of the brushed motor system for this somewhat overweight model, my plan has been to go brushless (with Lipos) from the start. I've been assuming I would shoot for 300 watts total, so about 15a per motor with 3S. You didn't mention any static power measurements, but I see you used ESCs rated at 18a, so I'm guessing that 300+/- watts is where you are with your plane. If you have any further insight on this topic I'm all ears! Thanks.

Thanks Jim and ATIS!

thrashaero,

I'd estimate 8-12 minutes, depending on throttle usage. After about 7-8 minutes of 3/4 to full-power climbs, loops, rolls etc we never hit LVC, but decided to land just to be safe.

Thanks e-Rod! The included 18amp ESC's seemed to be ideal as these motors couldn't be pulling mure that 14-15 amps, and I'd guess your at around 280-300 watts combined power. More than enough, anyway!

Ronnie