Durafly Curtiss P-40N Warhawk 1100mm (PNF)

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Good value for price

Oct 26, 2017

This is not a beginner aircraft !
I already flown on F4U corsair, FW190A and this one is more difficult to fly (especially for take off and landing).
The plane is beautifuly finish and have nice fly performance. In 4s it's better for me. I also recommend to fly with 2800mAh battery, the 2200mAh is not enough...
The landing gear are really fragile.... I modify them by mounting a 4mm oleo structure. For that point I put 4 stars on quality.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Great value

Jul 16, 2017

Nice quality plane for the $$$. Finish is great, Landing retact sys is ok, shame you can not dial back the speed. one of mine is not perfectly true alignment but has not caused any issue yet. The Decals are nice, but a pain to install and they don't stay stuck. overall for what you pay you get a nice plane.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

plane sucks and so does shipping costs

May 28, 2017

So far no luck with this plane. Balanced it and went out to fly. Take off resulted in hard pull to the left. got under control and it began to climb at a high rate then stalled to left again. Could not recover. Drill a tree. Put it back together and order a new fuselage. What a joke. The shipping to Alaska cost almost as much as the fuse. Two weeks to get to Alaska and the rudder was almost completely lose from the Tail. Will have to hinge it on. Flew again today and had two successfull take offs. The third a disaster. Pulled to left and cart wheeled into the ground. Will now have to use new fuse after I fix rudder. Not pleased with the plane and more than anything not happy with the shipping costs. Will not be buying anything else from Hobbyking. I can order from Motion rc and have things faster and a 1/4 or less on shipping. Good bye Hobbyking

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

good but some flaws

May 25, 2017

On opening the box I was very impressed. The plane looks terrific, and what a bargain! Very scale like, with flaps and electric retracts! On closer inspection the wing had a couple of small dings, but I figured I could live with that. It took a close inspection to find them.

Assembly went pretty smoothly, but at first I thought half the screws for the control horns were missing. There were only two per horn. I double checked the instructions, and they show only two screws per horn. Why supply horns with four holes if you are only going to put two screws in them? I found a pack of 2mm screws and put them in the empty holes. Probably not necessary, they seemed pretty solid with only two screws, but I had the screws and I'm a bit of a stickler for stuff like that. I don't like empty holes.

Plugged everything in for set up, and flicked the retracts up and down a few times. Who wouldn't? They worked an absolute treat. Then, one of them jammed. It just stopped working. It was up and would not come down. Didn't move at all. Didn't make any buzzing noise or anything. Zilch. Great, I have to buy another retract for it, I thought. I knew from the many posts on the net and experience of friends that Hobbyking's warranty service is rubbish, but that will have to be the subject of another rant at another time. So I jiggled wires (maybe it's just a loose plug) fiddled around, nothing. Then the other one jammed as well. Half way up this time. But at least it tried to move when I flicked the switch. Clutching at straws, I thought it might just be sticking a bit, so sprayed the general area with WD40. Incredibly, it started working properly again. Just on the off chance, I sprayed the other one with WD40 as well. A miracle occurred. It started working again. Panic over.

Next thing I had to do was change the plug on the ESC. My batteries all have Deans plugs. It was too fiddly to do it with the ESC in the plane, so with a bit of fiddling I pulled it out through the front. It isn't "mounted" in any way, it just hangs loose behind the motor. A bit odd, but okay I guess. I did notice that the wires on the motor are extremely stiff though, obviously the cheapest wire available. With the new plug firmly soldered on the ESC I attempted to get the ESC back into its spot, with the motor wires plugged in of course. During this process the plug on one of the motor wires fell off! So, out with the ESC again, and resolder the plug back onto the motor wire. I don't know what kind of solder they use but it took a lot of heat to melt it. I gave the other two plugs a good pull to see if they would come off too, but they seemed firm. Got the ESC back in and everything was looking rosy. Fitted the receiver in the recommended place without too much drama. Plugged everything in and bolted the wings on. Adjusted throws (too easy with a Taranis) and set everything up the way I like it.

Next was the decals. I've never been a huge fan of decals, but the Warhawk looked a bit bare without them, so I thought, what the heck, I'll do the American one with the skull on the nose. Great that there is a choice of decals, and no doubt some of them will find their way onto some of my other planes. But odd that the single most popular nose art on the P40, the shark's teeth, was not one of the options. If it had been there I would definitely have done it. It's by far the best looking P40 nose art imho. Prepare to spend a bit of time on this, it's a painstaking, frustrating process. If you're the least bit OCD you will hate it. Suffice to say I got there in the end, and the decals do make the plane look really good. I only put the big ones on, the small ones are far too hard to get on (who can put on a decal that's 2mm x 3mm?) and anyway you can't see them unless you get up really close.

Of course all the testing and setting up I did for the radio was done without the prop attached. I've got too many scars (and a finger that won't fold all the way) to ever do anything like that with the prop on. So, last job, on with the prop, tighten up the bold nice and tight, and... the shaft broke. The prop adaptor appears to be made out of the cheapest metal available. Well, it looks like metal, maybe it's just grey plastic. But it snapped pretty easily. Now I have to buy another one, again it's not worth hassling with Hobbyking's non existent after sales service to try and get a free one. I'd rather pay the $6.41 and just have it sent to me. Next time I will tighten it up so it's just firm, and hope that the prop stays on.