After reading litterally hundreds of posts about the Omei I snared one off E-bay for $76. As recommended, I reinforced the wing top and bottom at the joint with 2 inch wide glass strips. Glued a thick piece of yardstick into the bottom of the fuse to stiffen it and mount everything to. Came out very nice - a very attractive electric sailplane. (Yes, I applied the magic good luck oriental stickers as well!) Fitted it with an MP Jet 28/20-7, Jeti 40 ESC, CBP 2100 mAH, NiMh (12 oz). First flight was impressive - whoever recommended the 28/20-7 was accurate. Near vertical climb out. Did a couple of rolls (anemic -need to adjust throws) a few loops and came in for a landing. Well, I misjudged the length of glide and although got it on the grass nice and level it skidded into a PVC sprinkler pipe, dinging the leading edge of the wing. Not too bad though. Said a few nice things and seeing no other damage, I taped the LE and flew twice more. By the time I landed on the third flight (quite smoothly) I had cracks in the fuse at the LE and TE of the wing. The cracks near the TE threatened to break the fuse in half. Wow, this thing is an egg shell! Okay, we have the technology - glassed the sides of the fuse under the wing, all around the TE area and as well as I could on the LE area. Flew once more at a relatively small park and had to make four approaches to get it down (lands fast) but did so smoothly. Now I'm thinking, "LiPo's, yeah, that's the ticket" $125 later I have a 3 cell 3100 mAH pack weighing in at 6 oz. More power, less weight and a noticeable improvement in performance. Third flight of the day, I do a few rolls, a loop or two and bank into the wind to come back to the field. Something doesn't look right - more aileron - going straight down - up elevator! - plane disappears. To end a long story, found the fuse lawn darted in the mud, one wing half 20 yards away, the other about 40. It appears the top of the wing failed in compression OUTSIDE the fiberglass reinforced area. The bottom glass then parted neatly just outside the joiner ribs. I'm sure I'll get flamed for saying this, but I would never recommend this plane. Balsa seems really weak. Mind you, I never did ANY high speed dives with this plane and other than the one sprinkler head encounter, never had a rough landing. Put a lot of work into this and the reward is an airframe in pieces and a destroyed, $100 ESC, after a total of seven flights.

Okay, now I have all these great leftovers (minus the ESC) and I figure I'll buy a quality sailplane this time. The three I'm looking at are the Lift Off XS ($259), the Nike 2 ($220) and the Bandit ($179). Any comments on any of these or any other recommendations? What do I want? Well, I want it all of course - fast plane that doesn't disintegrate and if it can slow down that would be nice too. I'll experiment with Spoilerons next time. Two piece wing would be nice for travel.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Bill

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=267930
Bill, read that thread, excellent on how to beef up the Omei 2000........Im surprized by the acrobatic and G-loads that yours lasted as long as it did.

Gliders with long wing spans have incredable loads to deal with, loops and rolls must be done carefully.......If you want to do acrobatics, you might consider building one with reinforced carbon spars.........Many great articles in BUILDERS WORK SHOP....

in repply to Steve51

As noted in my post I did read that thread before ever buying or building the Omei. It is considered a "warmliner", but even that may be stretching it. The reinforcements I made were based on recommendations from that thread. Many people seem to be doing more extreme things with this plane than I was and with heavier battery packs. I figured if I kept the battery weight down it would be okay. FWIW, I'm not the first one to have failure of the wing outside the reinforced joiner area. Seems to be fairly common. Some have suggested that the wing dowel is too short. Others that the balsa is to blame. For whatever reason the plane is inadequate for anything more than gentle flying, yet it has an airfoil that is designed more for speed than slow flight. Next plane of this type will be a true hotliner capable of speed in excess of 120 mph. My time is more valuable than saving a few bucks on the airframe.

Bill

Stay away from the Bandit and look at the Filip E or Filip RG from NSP.

me and my friend's omei still survive, mine is lightly powered by a 400 sized gear bl motor,it can do most of the aerobatics. My friend's has been heavily loaded with 10gp3300 and have had many bad landings, his wings is very strong.and now he also powered the omei by 400 geared bl as mine. he said much better now.
we boht think it cannot be too heavy loaded. i don't think it is particularily weak in structure. i have bought a used fantasy 2m and found the tail is really much weaker than most of china made planes. need lot of fibreglassing to made it flyable and it is more expensive than the omei,the arc kit cost 159 usd when new.
hope you get a better plane this time.
JS

If you're looking for a fairly hot "warm-liner" have a look at the Filip 600 Sport.

Sorry to hear about your initial Omei experience, Bill. Your's is another testamonial as to why the top of the Omei wing needs reinforcement before using the model for loops and rolls.

Concerning your request for advice for a replacement, take a look at what Soholingo and Andy W. are doing with the Great Planes Siren. The current issue of Tower Hobbies' sale flyer has the Siren on sale for $150 before the $20 flyer discount. The Siren's fuse is all carbon fiber. The wing is one piece built-up balsa with carbon fiber reinforcement. The experts seem to like it. Your MP-Jet motor and battery will work with it.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll take a look at the Siren, but my impression is that it is not a true hotliner. Leaning toward the Nike 2 from NE Sailplanes. Anyone tried it?

Thanks,
Bill

I am enjoying my Omei. I have reinforced and repaired the fuselage. I consider it my "learner." When it is trashed, I hope I am ready to move on.

Regards to all