I'll add more to this later but here is my first impression. I have only flown and gotten very good at my Hobbyzone Champ and maybe 5 flights with a Micro T-28 in the last 4-6 weeks.

I have the Brushless motor upgrade. Very LOUD motor. High pitched sounds almost like its a jet in the air. Has a real presence. I will look into a quiter motor in the future , this one is a bit much. Sounds cool but will get old I am certain.

Mine was RTF and I got it for $135 shipped from the US. Readymaderc was great and shipped it the day I paid.

I didnt really mod the plane at all. I did add a good amount of epoxy around the horns etc. I also used a couple plastic hooks and a rubber band to make the wings detatchable. Was pretty easy to setup depite terrible directions. The transmitter was already binded. Controls are actually quite good IMO for an RTF plane like this. Large but very solid and work very well. Quality of the foam seems fantastic. Very durable and has a lot of weight as a whole. Pretty sure its a couple pounds if not more. With wings folded I can easily fit it in my GTO trunk which is TINY. Only takes a min or two to put the wings on and be ready to fly.

Took it to a large empty field. Wind was gusting to a solid 15 MPH. Luckily I checked the controls, the radio defaulted to everything being backwards !! This plane is BIG . 54 inch wingspan and I am used to 18 inch. Firts toss I should have tossed harder but got airborne. Some of the trims needed to be adjusted too. Was nosing down and had a slight turn. Its hard to describe. The plane felt so big and slow when taking off. Once it got going it was racing all over the sky. I flew it 75-100% throttle for 3 batteries Even the 2200 lipo upgrade over the stock 1300/1500 battery died within about 10 minutes of flying. First charge so maybe it will get better over time. To me the plane felt like it needed atleast 75% throttle just to keep it stable in turns etc eithout making huge lazy turns.

This plane takes up some airspace ! I would only recomend this plane to someone who plans on flying at a large field and not just a small soccer field I mean LARGE.

It really had my adreneline pumping. A lot more then when I take off from a 200 foot cliff in my hang glider if that makes any sense Hell I remeber even my champ did that to me at first, now I toss it around likes its part of my body. I have been catching it almost 100% of the time I recently started catching it while siting in a lawn chair at my parents house

I started pulling steeper and steeper wingovers. Then started doing big slow loops. Worked my way into double and triple loops. It looped a lot better then I thought it would. Plane felt predictable and again very very stable even in this 5-15 MPH gusting wind. It just didnt get tossed around at all. Again I am used to micros so that probably explains part of it. It still felt pretty unresponsive/sluggish to me on the controls. I beleive it to be the plane not the controls however. It is just so big.

Honestly I wanted a full sized T-28 but couldnt swing the $300 admission right now. I also like the idea of being able to soar this plane. Will most likely skip the Micro T-28 and get a full sized T-28 in the future as my next plane. Champ will always be flown its just too fun and can literally be flown anywhere.

All in all I am happy with the plane. It seems like little bit of a handfull right now but I am sure I will feel very differently after a little more stick time. In fact I was just starting to get comfortable at the end but no more batteries. Have a new 2200 I just charged so I will get atleast 30-40 mins even at 75-100% throttle now

Sounds like a success.

I bet the noise you are hearing has nothing to do with your motor--every pusher prop plane I have seen is loud by nature. Something to do with disturbed air rather than clean air hitting the prop....

Also, just because you master RC flight, doesn't mean you are ready to fly full sized airplanes.

Congrats on successful flights. Happy flying.

-Steve

Originally Posted by Griffin

Sounds like a success.

I bet the noise you are hearing has nothing to do with your motor--every pusher prop plane I have seen is loud by nature. Something to do with disturbed air rather than clean air hitting the prop....

Also, just because you master RC flight, doesn't mean you are ready to fly full sized airplanes.

Congrats on successful flights. Happy flying.

-Steve

Thanks FYI have flown hang gliders for 20 years, co piloted several planes including a Piper Cub, a Citation (Jet) and several sailplanes.. oh and a couple ultralites

<<<I bet the noise you are hearing has nothing to do with your motor--every pusher prop plane I have seen is loud by nature<<<

the noise is caused by the prop being near to the trailing edge or fusalage...move the moter further away and it gewts quieter..

urs

If you've co-piloted a CJ, then the next logical step would be an electric ducted fan jet.

Well smacked it into the ground at a good speed trying to get too fancy. Not a single scratch !! WOW ! Very well built plane. Getting a little more used to it. I found it did fly and turn just fine at maybe third throttle. Just slow compared to its size. I think most of this has to do with me being used to my micro plane. At full throttle it flies incredibly fast !

Flew my micro today and it was wierd feeling for a little while.

The noise is just prop noise from the tip vortices. Whenever you turn a little prop at high speed you will hear that. As long as the prop is balanced, it's not a problem.

THe thing is really noisy on the ground too though. I know other Sky Surfer owners upgrade the motor to one that is supposed to be a lot quieter. This one is a upgrade from a berushed version youd think they would put a decent one in.

Oh I'm sure it fine - it's just the way props sound at that size. You're limited on the size of the prop, so you have to run a small one, and to get any power out of it you have to spin it up to 25000-30000rpm. If you combine this with a large airplane with lots of lift and drag, then you also run the risk of stalling the prop, which makes the noise louder.

Post a video if you're not sure, but I think it's fine. Haven't you heard the Strykers? This isn't noise, that's her song

Stryker RED - 95mph (5 min 8 sec)

Originally Posted by dllhg

THe thing is really noisy on the ground too though. I know other Sky Surfer owners upgrade the motor to one that is supposed to be a lot quieter. This one is a upgrade from a berushed version youd think they would put a decent one in.

Chuck the stock prop, it's garbage overall. way to thin at the outer edges and i've had two actually split in mid air. Go with a 6 x4 or a 5x5 apc. You will get more thrust, and it's a touch less noisy, but not much. Like someone else said, it's just what to expect with a small high rpm motor. I'm on my 4th Bixler/Hawk Sky/ Sky Surfer. I would say these are the absolute best bang for your buck. So many things you can do with these. And I did not find that you need really big fields to get these off or on the ground. I think you will find they are pretty good in tighter spaces once you fly it some more. You can always program in some flaperons or even mod for flaps.

Enjoy the plane!

Originally Posted by jasmine2501

Oh I'm sure it fine - it's just the way props sound at that size. You're limited on the size of the prop, so you have to run a small one, and to get any power out of it you have to spin it up to 25000-30000rpm. If you combine this with a large airplane with lots of lift and drag, then you also run the risk of stalling the prop, which makes the noise louder.

Post a video if you're not sure, but I think it's fine. Haven't you heard the Strykers? This isn't noise, that's her song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCct8WZF41s

Oh yes, I LOVE that song. I'll have to get mine up here as well. Man does that hand toss and prop noise make me smile !

Think I'll get a new prop, mine got a little crack while on the ground anyway. VEry thin for sure. After flying it more yesterday I guess it isnt really that loud unless you are at 75-100% throttle. Definetly able to keep it in a much smaller space but to me it just feels like it wants a big space to really fly/enjoy the plane. I did a lot of tosses into the wind an imediate turn downwind to see how fast I could land it .. Got pretty quick and was able to land it right next to me most times. Usually at my feet. Since this glides so much its a little harder to predict the glide when there is wind gusting. Need to play with the threottle more I guess instead of dead stick like I have been doing. Couple times I did give it even tiny amounts I would overshoot. My little micro I always give it lots of throttle when landing in winds like this. Still havent gotten the nerve to catch this scuker yet. Its so big and intimidating. Looks very doable and once I am comfortable on the controls I'll start trying it. Plane is getting scratched up badly on the bottom already. Think I need to put tape on the bottom.

Starting to really love this plane after a week of flying it !

Fast plane even with a good 10-15 MPH wind. Just cuts right through the wind. Glides very well too. Cut the power at 100 feet and glide it for a good 3-4 minutes down.

I also finally started catching it on landings. Was intimidating at first but after a few it was no big deal. Did at least 20-30 catches yesterday at the park. Started timing them to see how fast I could launch it and catch it. Fastest so far was 15 seconds. Think I can go to 10 with more practice.


Over all VERY happy with this purchase.

Is the Sky Surfer from Readymaderc Epo foam? The site says Epp but I see the Bixler is Epo. Now I'm thinking the Readymaderc is a typo.

Not sure. I know they are all the same foam whoever you get it from. Very durable foam.