Product Reviews

I can remember my first experience with an Addiction a few years ago. My buddy Jim Champion brought his out to the field to wring it out. Truthfully, when he told me he was bringing an Addiction for us to fly, I wasn’t very excited. I had only seen the Addiction in the magazine and thought it resembled a “pregnant profile.” Seeing it first hand and getting my hands on the transmitter taught me real quick that the Addiction was no porker! The original Addiction looks fierce and flies awesomely. I came away that day thinking that the only thing better than the Addiction would be a bigger one! Enter the Addiction X! The Addition X, like all other Precision Aerobatics products, is performance- tested and ready to rock!

I was excited about the chance to review the Great Planes Yak-55M. The market seems saturated with “popular aerobatic planes” so it’s nice to see a new kid on the block! This is one IMAA and IMAC legal aerobat that I knew would stand out at the field. The Yak-55M has great lines, with a large cowl and long sleek fuselage to keep proportions balanced. The huge rounded rudder looks right at home on the cylindrical fuselage. The real Yak-55M was designed with a relatively short wing span to better rolling maneuvers. This plane begs to be 3D! After reviewing the Great Planes Pitts Model 12 for Fly RC magazine last year, I knew I was in for a real treat and my hunch was correct!

For the weekend of March 3-6, 2011, Florida Jets, an event for RC jet aircraft of all types and sizes, was held at "Paradise Field" located at the Lakeland Airport in Lakeland, Florida. The field features an 800 x 70 foot runway of Bermuda Sod that is fairly well manicured.

Designed in 1934 by Larry Brown and christened Miss Los Angeles, the Brown B-2 was designed around the 300hp, supercharged, 544-cubicinch Menasco Super Buccaneer engine and was the second in a series of three similar racers. The B-2 had a top speed of 270 mph and landed at 60 mph. Miss Los Angeles was a small airplane, with a wingspan of 19 feet, 3/4 inch and an overall length of 19 feet 10 inches. Gross weight was 1,299 lb. with a fuel capacity of 30 gallons. The fuselage was designed as a tight wrap-around fit for the engine and pilot, and featured a quick release upper cockpit section to aid the pilot in the event of bail out.

ParkZone has created several foamie warbirds in ultra micro sizes, and its latest is a BNF (bind and fly) 1/32 scale de Havilland Mosquito Mk VI. This neat little warbird is ParkZone's first twin-engine venture, and it works very well. The counterrotating 3-blade propellers are driven by 8.5mm coreless brushless motors, and the 1S 250mAh 3.7V 20C LiPo battery provides plenty of power to fly the model around for 12 minutes with throttle management.

FlyRC Issue 78 May 2010 $6.99 FLY RC PRODUCT REVIEW by Thayer Syme RELATED REVIEW: JR X9303 Radio System JR’s NEW X9503 Updating An Old Favorite THE OLD GAURD The JR 9303 line has been a cornerstone of …

I don't know about you, but I am always onthe lookout for a new tool that will make mylife easier and let me get a job done faster.Don't get me wrong, I love building, but withall of life's distractions chipping away at myhobby time, I try to work as efficiently as possible.Consequently, I was thrilled when I saw aprototype of Du-Bro's new no. 480 E/Z Benderlast October. This production-quality tool willclearly speed up the pesky task of bendingpushrod ends and "I was soon to find” many other shapes from small-diameter wire.

There is a homecoming of sorts that occurs each June in the plains of Central Illinois. Hosted by the Team Horizon manager, Peter Goldsmith, Missie Anderson and the wonderful staff at Horizon Hobby, the JR Aero Tow has arguably become the premier large scale soaring event in America. 2010 was no exception with just under 70 pilots flying a collection of over 300 models over four days while a very healthy crowd of spectators enjoyed the action.

Saito has concentrated its design and manufacturing efforts for many years on four stroke model engines and it has paid off. It have established a worldwide reputation for lightweight, totally reliable and powerful engines. From the small .30 cu. in. single, to the large 450 radial, it produces a wide range of displacements with many cylinder configurations. The 1.80 single is one of the largest, single-cylinder four strokes available and has developed a following in the giant scale crowd for its power and handling. With the release of the FG-30, the 1.80 is converted for gasoline. This is certainly more economical and with the integrated spark ignition, it becomes very docile and more user-friendly. The FG-30 follows the traditional Saito practice of a one piece head/cylinder and shares other Saito characteristics as we will see, along with a few innovative modifications necessary for running a gasoline/oil mix.

According to Webster’s, a Jackal is a smart-looking, fast-moving, smoothoperating, agile and intelligent mammal capable of extraordinary feats far beyond what you might expect from something its size. After four of us took turns flying the subject of this review, all of us now realize what Mike McConville had in mind when he designed this bird and named it the Jackal.

The Elektro Junior S is entirely constructed of injection-molded Graupner Solidpor foam. The kit includes the airframe, the Graupner Compact 345Z brushless motor, a Cam folding prop, spinner, all necessary hardware, carbon-fiber fuselage stiffener and wing spar, and photoillustrated directions with German captions. There was a small English section towards the back of the manual without photos. To be quite honest, the build was so straight forward all that is required are a few photos.

The P-47D Thunderbolt, known as the mighty Jug, first flew on May 6, 1941, with Lowry P. Brabham as its test pilot. During WWII, it was the most feared ground-attack aircraft the Army Air Force had at its disposal, as it shot up and bombed countless enemy tanks, locomotives, troop concentrations, airfields, etc., throughout France and Germany, and in the South Pacific.

For those who have been in the hobby for a while, the name “Cox” is no stranger. Many of us first started into the hobby with a Cox plastic control line model, and many RCers have used the venerable Cox .049 in various forms to power small aircraft, gliders or even helicopters. I started into the world of model airplanes with a Cox Blue Angels RTF model in 1977. Having sold millions of engines, it was hard to find anyone involved in this hobby who hadn’t at one time ran a Cox engine. Back in the early 1990s, the status of Cox engines started to decline as various product disappeared off the hobby shop shelves, as well as many of the accessories needed to keep these engines running and tuned up.