HobbyKing EPO Seaplane - 1090mm (PNF)

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Certified Buyer Rated

Feb 14, 2015

same time!



Seaplane - 1090mm (PNF) very good look

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Customer Rated

Jan 30, 2014

Very Nice plane. i have over 100 planes, many of these are seaplanes, and my New A5 from Hobbyking is going to be my favorite :-)
easy setup, and flies nicely :-)

for the price and easy to fly plus funfactor... i give it 5 stars :-)

regards Kjetil
www.modellfly.no

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Customer Rated

Dec 16, 2013

Model arrived well packed from the UK warehouse. Some concern as the fuse is a bit twisted, wing and tail don't line up, have seen another 2 examples and they were the same. Flew on land first with lipo in tunnel under wing to get C of G right, model very prone to fishtailing. Moved battery to nose and added tail weight, much more stable, tho' tends to drop the nose in a turn. Power marginal for water take offs, if it gets stuck in its own wash then it is not going anywhere. Tried a different prop, but the 3-blade supplied was the best. There were 2 in my kit, but have ruined one so need another, but can't see any here. Best way to take off is to hold model at shore until full revs, then let it go. Still tends to drop a wing, but it does get airborne if you drag it off. Landings are easy as long as you watch for nose dropping in the turns, taxies well unless it gets weeds caught between the rudder and the hull. Maybe not a beginners model, needs you to keep an eye on it when flying, but so far no damage, apart from trying to handlaunch it myself on land, and it seems to have aerobatic potential. But maybe bigger is better in this case. And those markings! HK, why not supply them as a sheet so the builder can decide which to choose? Last time I was out with it tried a keyring camera stuck on the wing, and worked ok.

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Customer Rated

Aug 14, 2013

OK, 1st flights today, needed some trimming but not as bad as i thought as fuse is a bit twisted. Too much aileron so will reduce for next flights, all flights were made from our strip no chance to try it off water yet. Wondering how the spare 'windscreen' fits on the model as there do no seem to be instructions anywhere for this kit.

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Certified Buyer Rated

Aug 04, 2013

Very interesting model, can be run from the water and the solid surface. Quite durable aircraft.

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Customer Rated

Jul 19, 2013

The HK A5 is an amazing little seaplane...had it out at the field last friday and was able to do a side by side comparison and flight test with the horizon hobby ikon A5 seaplane
results are as follows
HK setup
epo A5 from hobbyking stock PNP with orange RX 7ch no sat RX
Batt Zippy compact 3s 1500 35c

Horizon Hobby A5 setup....stock power system PNP version
Batt 3s 2200 35....E flight pack Spectrum & 6 chan RX

the first thing to remember is the icon was not designed to be an aerobatic airplane.
all icons i have flown share the same flight characteristics....tip stall to the left when lift is lost
and the slight wag at high speed....will get your attention at first but that's about it....the main difference other than the price is the size the HK A5 is smaller and lighter....a real plus if she goes in....trust me...weight usually means more damage with arf foamies....in my experience...the HK A5 is rugged and will not be benched easily....i have witnessed this little gem hit the water like an Olympic diver and come out on top with little more than a 1/2 teaspoon of water in the fuse....i was amazed.....the aileron servo savers as i like to call them work great....the gentleman with the Horizon A5 has already replaced 2 aileron servos and was having the jitters on the left servo the day we flew....i recommended he purchase the HK A5 if for nothing else than the servo savers du

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Customer Rated

Jun 27, 2013

Just received mine, arrived ok no damage, but no instructions! How do the ply plates fit in the wing? Tempted to just glue wing on.

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Customer Rated

May 02, 2013

Good overall quality, but this plane cannot fly "scale", it impossible to set a good GC for both take off and flying.

With a GC a little backward take off is quite easy but it stall at slow speed and even at half speed.

GC frontward: take off is very difficult and fly is ok at high speed and you'll have to land it half throttle.

Definitly not for beginners.

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Customer Rated

Apr 25, 2013

Wanted a more advanced airplane for my 7 years old son.
we ordered the plane on the nice looks and the ability to take off & land on water.

Arrived fast en well packed.
did a check and noticed
- the motor was broken (probably magnets came lose)
- Elevatorrod wasn't connected
- side floaters were not equally shaped (missing a piece of foam on one floater so plane could float)

contacted Support, answer was that the motor could be replaced, floaters could be sanded to equal size and me assembling the plane made things difficult.
Well the plane arrived assembled.... (PNF), who is going to give me a new motor? i need bouyance to take off from water and sanding the side floater will degrease floatingcapability ... (not really rocketscience to understand..)

Fixed the motor (included a nice 40A turnigy plush ESC), sanded the floater so no watercapabilities and attached the landinggear.
First flight: tricky on the elevator, had to add a lott of expo. flight was unstable (yawed from left to right and back). At the landing, nose gear bended so needed to be removed.
At third flight (yawing remained) the plane crashed do to a sudden roll in the approach and as far i could conclude 1 aileronservo died on me ...
Advice : don't buy this plane, maybe as a kit and put good electronics in it, keep it light as possible.

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Customer Rated

Feb 05, 2013

Spent a little time putting this great looking plane together. Making sure everything ship shape, did find an aileron servo not glued in well so reglued in. To get the CG I stuck the battery in crossways under wing and put velcro band over ply bracing and it holds the battery up.

First launch (hand launch) flew well and needed very little trimming.

It tends to have a nasty, fast wing drop on stall so have to stay on the ball. But has a nice ground effect flare for landing.

The full size ICON plane has a little different wing shape which is to help airflow on ailerons in a stall.

All in all, enjoying the plane, getting about 12mins flying on a 1300 lipo.