Review of Hobbyzone
Aerobird Challenger This is the 2nd radio control plane my family has owned. The first plane we owned was a Hobbyzone Firebird Freedom. To so my review of that plane click (Link to Freedom Review Here). On to the review. We purchased this plane at a local hobby store. When I picked up the plane I was informed that they have extra wings in stock. Aparently the wing is the first to go when problems arise. What is in the box? Hobbyzone has included everything needed for the first flight in the original box. There is a plane, transmitter, battery charger, instructional video, manual, rechargeable NiMh battery pack for the plane and disposable AA batteries for the radio transmitter.  The plane comes mostly assembled. In the amount of time needed to charge the battery the plane can be assembled. All that needs to be done is to put on the landing gear and wing and it it ready to fly. This can be done by a beginner in very little time. As a matter of fact we store this plane in the original box and put the front wheels and wing on at the flying field before every flight. The battery charger is a 12 volt type that plugs into the 12-volt outlet in any car or truck. The video CD plays on DVD players. It is informational for beginners. Note it is also a huge advertisement for the Xport accessories that are available for this and other Hobbyzone planes but worth watching anyway. First Flight This plane was purchased by my son with all his birthday money and the first flight of this plane will be only the second time he has ever flown. He does have experience driving a remote control car and many hours of Xbox and Playstation under his belt. (And yes this does help.) We waited over a week until conditions were right for flying. We went to the local middle school to fly. It was right after a light rain and there was no wind at ground level. Our flying field is two soccer fields side by side. The battery was topped off during the drive to the flying field. This plane is not sold as a beginner plane and my son and I are definitely beginners. When we arrived at the field we double checked the wind. (Very important) Next we put the front wheels on. The wing is held on by seven rubber bands. This holds the wing very securely and still allows for the wing to twist and move instead of break during a crash or bad landing. We also did a quick radio and control check. To do this, after putting the battery in the plane one of us went about 100 yards ahead of the other and just made sure all the controls work.  The first flight went great. My son was very nervous when flying. Unfortunately I forgot the camera and ended up taking a few pictures with my cell phone. Most of the flights were only a few laps followed by a landing in the grass. My son was able to land and take off from the grass once but most of the time the front wheels would catch on the grass and it would flip. We used hand launching and it worked well all but once. One time the plane took a dive immediately after being released. The propeller took a bite out of the wing when this happened. Below is a picture of the small bite taken out of the wing.  My son flew for about 45 minutes then let me try. I also have driven RC cars and played a few hours of Xbox and Playstation. All went well. It was starting to get dark and the battery was starting to get a little weaker. Finally on the 3rd last flight. (You know how it goes. This is the last one after this flight we will go. Then again. Really this time after I land we will leave) I brought the plane in for what looked like a good landing and the front wheels caught on the grass and it flipped. Just like it did many times the same way. This time I broke off one of the tail pieces. See photo below.  In the picture you can see the small gray plastic piece on the top has broke. Time to call it a night. After a trip to the hobby shop they did not have the piece in stock. The part is part of the tail kit. The tail kit costs less than $10. They told me just to use plastic cement and they will order a tail kit to keep in stock. I tried plastic cement and it broke when I was tying on the nylon line for the controls. I gave a little Gorilla glue a try and it has been holding fine. Second Flight Prior to the second flight we purchased the x-port aerial drop module. The Challenger has a x-port. There are a few different modules that can be used with this. The aerial drop module comes with a parachuter and two bombs with streamers. When the x-port button on the transmitter is pressed the motor cuts out while the button is being pressed. It added a whole new dimension of interest to our flying. We are not good enough to be able to hit drop zones with our bombs but we had fun trying. We also taped on on the streamers that were included with the plane. The streamers look cool in the air and also help determine the direction of the plane in the air. Also our second trip to the flying field gave my oldest son his first opportunity to ever fly an RC plane. The three of us all took a turn with the plane with success. The glued control flap held well. Then on his third flight my oldest son tried to test the durability of the Challenger by flying into a tree at about 30 feet up. Note: If you require corrective lenses wear them when you fly planes. It does help with depth perception. The wing took a little damage but nothing serious. A few flights later my youngest decided to retest the durability by flying into a second tree. Again the Challenger stood up well. The wing had to be reset and the trim reset but we were back in the air in a few minutes. After getting home we inspected the plane and the wing did have another chuck missing. I didn't get to fixing the hole in the wing from the first flight. Packing tape here I come. Overall Impression The Challenger is easy for beginners to fly. It does have a Pro-mode which we have not yet tried. The Challenger is very durable. Ours has had some crashes including two tree strikes and the only repairs needed have been a drop of glue and some packing tape will be needed on the wing. The x-port is definitely a gimmick but a fun one. I can see getting another plane with the x-port just to try the aerial combat module. One thing I was not impressed with is the nylon line used for the control flaps. The way this works is there is a rubber band constantly pulling the control flaps back. The nylon line either pulls the control flaps forward or allows the rubber band to pull them back. This does work and seems to be common in some low prices planes. Conclusion We are happy with our purchase and we will probably purchase another x-port enabled plane in order to use the combat module. Jim Kingsley |
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