Time and weather finally stopped conspiring against me; it only took a month and a half for me to finally maiden my rebuilt
E-flite UMX F-16 with its custom
Callie Graphics decals.
Yesterday was that day along with another resurrected model, my 980mm
FMS Ki-61 high speed foamie. That was a case of "dumb thumbs" which could have been a lot worse. I was landing with the sun in my eyes, I let the speed drop too low and I stalled it in. All I needed were the fuselage, a spinner, the simulated pitot tube and removal and straightening of the landing struts. Other damage to the wing was cosmetic and easily repaired, so I really lucked out. I already had a prop and holy mother of speed, I missed flying that bird! It sat for a long, long time before I finally started the repairs a bit at a time.
I did some homework regarding the F-16. Others have written that it likes a lot of runway before liftoff and such was the case. Tracking was laser straight and when it lifted off, was it ever a thing of beauty.
As is the case with other UMX models I've flown which feature Horizon's excellent AS3X stabilization, the F-16 went exactly where it was pointed. It's also the fastest UMX I've ever flown; that little EDF gets really small really quickly!
Naturally, I couldn't resist getting a picture of the F-16 next to a Boomerang turbine in Thunderbirds livery!
Next project: The crash damaged
HobbyKing DC-3 I reviewed for this site is being repaired and redone as
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