HobbyKing ™ Le Petit Bi-plane 810mm (PNP)

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

After 50 Flights

Jun 18, 2018

One of my Favorites
https://youtu.be/sH272dwxBc4

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Still alive :)

Feb 16, 2018

I flew more than 100 times this airplane in the past 5 Months and it still looks like new. The work of the covering is awsome. The flying caracteristic is fantastic. I modified only the wheels, because i use bigger 70mm diameter wheels cos i fly from short grass. The 1300mAh 3s Zippy is perfect up to 8 minutes. But do not forget to use glue on the pushrods! The CoG from the manual is perfect, but you have to give a lot of lead to hold it. This beauty will do everything what you can do with a 700g with 2212 brushless and 8x6 prop combo, but this is not a rocket or a Pitts. This is the perfect ticket from the foam to the balsa.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

The best.

Dec 15, 2017

I fly this plane since 3 months. This is the Nr.1 park flyer in my fleet. Fantastic. If you wanna have a perfect park flyer do not hesitate, just buy it. Super!

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Warning

Oct 31, 2017

Warning!!
I have not flown the plane yet but today when I built it I made a horrible discovery.The pushrods to the rudder and elevator was connected with shrink tubes that was not tight enough. If you buy this plane be sure to check that before flying.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Fun plane for intermediate or expert pilots.

Oct 15, 2017

I wouldn't recommend this plane for a beginner just starting out in the hobby. This makes a good 3rd or 4th plane but it does make a good first balsa model that is easy to build. While as a bi plane, Le Petit needs extra weight up from to balance properly. I'm flying with 2 3s 1300mah Nano Tech lipos up front and it fly's very well with an easy10min of flight (1 batt connected). While in mono wing form you only need the weight of 1 battery up front making the plane lighter, less draggy and a bit faster. It slows down nice and has a gentle stall. The plane is very prone to wing-over with the slightest gust of wind. Fast reaction time with the sticks is a plus to fly this plane. Once you get the proper rates dialed in, the plane is really fun to fly. Everyone at the field likes it and even the wife don't mind it being on the kitchen table because its small and cute.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

This is s fantastic little plane

Jul 29, 2017

The flying weight is ~700g. The empty weight of the pnp version was ~500g (with stock motor, servos + my 6ch HK v2 receiver), and there is the Zippy 1300mah 3S 25C LiPo which is extra ~100g. The cog is direct by spar at 45mm and this is very important! I added extra 100g weight in the nose to hold the cog. The result was 7-8 min. happyness. The plane is very friendly, can fly slow or fast. The stock motor has enough power to make loops, rolls, immelmanns. I used bigger 60mm diam. wheels to prevent nose over. I fly from short grass without any problem. I think this is the best plane what i bought from HobbyKing so far. The building was easy and entertainer. The covering is superb, the quality of the plane is very good. The only one enemy of this beauty is the wind, but if you are a pro, just fly it!
I LIKE IT!!!

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

La Petit La Fantistique

Dec 20, 2016

This is a great plane.
It is a fairly easy assembly for a more experienced moleler. The directions have a lot to be desired as pictures are out of sequence with the text. But if you spend time reasoning out the details, and dry fitting a couple of sequences you can get the job done. Pay attention to assembling the elevator and horizontal stabilize. Insert stabilizer first and assemble in the slot provided. Also you will need to have a good knife to make a slot for the rudder at the end of the fuselage. Take time here, fit it out a couple of times to you are satisfied before committing to glue.

Before you do anything make sure you add some CA to all the carbon fiber sections of the control rods for the stabilizer and the rudder. These come loose. I did not do and I had to open the bottom of the plane to get at the rear section of these rods.

Okay flight character is predictably wonderful. I have posted a couple of videos on this guy. It is a real joy to fly, has a awesome presence in the air. Mildly aerobatic, loops barrel rolls, wing overs. Not a good axial roller as the dihedral influence this. The color scheme is easily decrnable in the air.

I increased the wheel size from the 50 mm standard to 75 mm, 20 mm width. This has improved my landing without nosing over. It also improves the visual orientation. Landing a biplane is a bit tricky. You need a bit of speed, once on the ground increase the up elevator to stick the tail to the ground.

In general this is one of my favorite planes. People love seeing it in the air. A real reward. Thanks Hobbyking!

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Maiden Today Le Petit is Fantastique!

Nov 24, 2016

Flys fantastic. Wonderful presence in the air. Can be floaty (1/4 the) but also very zippy (3/4 thr) and mildly acrobatic.

I used the recommended throws (great angle gauges in the kit). I like to maiden without expo and decide what is necessary. Added 10% on rudder and ailerons, and 20% on elevator after the first flight.

Flew at 1/4 throttle most of the time on a 1000 mAh battery. At five minutes (exactly) 11.9 v on the battery from 12.6 v. I am adding more time to the timer.

https://youtu.be/OIG0Falb4w0

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Le Fantastic - Le Petit

Nov 23, 2016

I received this yesterday and was able to put it together in a couple of hours. There are some problems with the manual, but if you have built plans before it should be obvious what you need to do.

The one item that is not detailed is how to fit the rudder tab into the back of the fuselage. Careful inspection will show that there is a gap at the end of the fuselage which needs to be opened up with a hobby knife to except this tab. Glue it in and you are ready to go.

The other difficulty is with the length of the pushrods for the rudder and elevator. You will need to spend some time screwing in the clevises or shortening the length of the push rods. I chose the route of the screwing in the clevises.

The battery compartment is ample but there is no good way to hold the battery in place. I will probably opt to put packing material in this area.

The CG seems very good even per the manual, and from experience, with a 1000 mA hour compact battery. There may be a need to add a little nose weight, but I feel that it is sufficient as it stands.

I want to put tundra tires on this model. But unfortunately the dimensions of the wheels are not given in the review or in the specifications. For those of you who want to scale up the wheels, the current wheel dimension is 50 mm diameter by 20 mm width.

Also I will decorate it with some stars and bars ( The color scheme lens itself to looking like a P 17), so the width of the wing is approximately 150 mm. A decal in the 100 to 130 mm range would look appropriate.

There is a place to neatly push your RX and secure in the cockpit right under where the dash would be. I am using a spectrum 610 6 channel receiver.

The model looks exceptional. There is nothing like the look of a balsa model with the monocote covering. A few wrinkles here and there that can easily be ironed out. But that is not a complaint. It is just a beautiful looking model.

I will post a video of the assembly.

The maiden flight will have to wait as it is a bit windy right now. And I expect to post a video of the maiden.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Le Fantastic - Le Petit

Nov 23, 2016

I received this yesterday and was able to put it together in a couple of hours. There are some problems with the manual, but if you have built plans before it should be obvious what you need to do.

The one item that is not detailed is how to fit the rudder tab into the back of the fuselage. Careful inspection will show that there is a gap at the end of the fuselage which needs to be opened up with a hobby knife to except this tab. Glue it in and you are ready to go.

The other difficulty is with the length of the pushrods for the rudder and elevator. You will need to spend some time screwing in the clevises or shortening the length of the push rods. I chose the route of the screwing in the clevises.

The battery compartment is ample but there is no good way to hold the battery in place. I will probably opt to put packing material in this area.

The CG seems very good even per the manual, and from experience, with a 1000 mA hour compact battery. There may be a need to add a little nose weight, but I feel that it is sufficient as it stands.

I want to put tundra tires on this model. But unfortunately the dimensions of the wheels are not given in the review or in the specifications. For those of you who want to scale up the wheels, the current wheel dimension is 50 mm diameter by 20 mm width.

Also I will decorate it with some stars and bars ( The color scheme lens itself to looking like a P 17), so the width of the wing is approximately 150 mm. A decal in the 100 to 130 mm range would look appropriate.

There is a place to neatly push your RX and secure in the cockpit right under where the dash would be. I am using a spectrum 610 6 channel receiver.

The model looks exceptional. There is nothing like the look of a balsa model with the monocote covering. A few wrinkles here and there that can easily be ironed out. But that is not a complaint. It is just a beautiful looking model.

I will post a video of the assembly.

The maiden flight will have to wait as it is a bit windy right now. And I expect to post a video of the maiden.