HobbyKing® Specter Electric Sailplane Composite 1800mm (ARF)

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Terrible quality

Nov 05, 2016

This is the worst plane I've ever bought. 9g servos don't fit, the wrong manual was included (manual of a 1140mm Butter Fly, are you kidding me?), the whole fuselage and both wings were terribly twisted and bent on arrival. The lock mechanism of the canopy is only a weak wire, the canopy actually doesnt fit at all. Nearly nothing fits out of the box. Many holes are filled with epoxy. You need some drills, hot air gun, glue to make this flyable.
This could be such a beautiful glider - but the quality is so terrible. I bought this on sale for about 50$ and I got very disappointed. It doesn't fly well - I can't enjoy flying.

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Customer Rated

Feb 18, 2016

, .

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Customer Rated

Jun 23, 2015

Nicely double boxed, as always.
Bad things: The canopy does not fit and needs to be widened. Standard servos don't fit, neither fuselage nor wings. But with a bit of effort this can be overcome.The "manual" is a drawing from a different plane, a "Butter Fly". No help from there. As there is no manual I could not really use the front wing arresters, which is just as well, as my own simpler design works just fine. The D-box balsa doesn't line up with the ribs and there is a small step in the air-foil. There is no suggestion how to mount the tail. So building it needs a bit of experience.The left wing had a little twist.
The good things: She is easily balanced. She flies very well, in thermals and in strong wind. The 1.8m wing span fits nicely in my car. The overall finish is quite pretty. All considered, the Specter is a good plane to have. I would buy it again, though the price is a bit on the high side.

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Customer Rated

May 25, 2015

Tail was warped and HK should really do something with QC. There was also some other issues with poor glueing. Now about the good side. After some modifications it is nice model. It is cheap but flies smooth, some trimming and it was gliding perfectly and i was enjoying flying.

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Customer Rated

Apr 16, 2015

Le fuselage est tordu, des servos 9g ne rentrent pas, la position des servos d'aile est trop arrire et le servo dpasse sur l'extrados, les ficelles pour tirer les fils de servos sont colls dans la structure, il manque les trous pour sortir les fiches servo des ailes,les commandes de profondeur forcent parce que pas en face les sorties. Le couple moteur n'est pas assez coll.
Bref, un modle compltement loup !
Pour de l'ARF, il y a vraiment beaucoup de travail pour arriver obtenir un modle convenable.
Si j'avais su, je ne l'aurai pas achet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-( :-( 0/20

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Customer Rated

May 09, 2014

in addtition to my foirst review: The 28-30 NTM did not fit, the only brushless motors which will fit are the 28 mm inrunners, which is a bit pitty because they all have relatively high kVs and you have to use small folding propops with low efficiency. Also the installing of the two servo's in the body is not so easy because there is not enough space above the servo mount in the body. Even the HTX 500 servo's do not fit very well, servo horns are touching the wings, so I will remove completely the original servo mount and glue in my own one with different position.

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Customer Rated

Apr 27, 2014

Perfect combination with the Turnigy 2217 20turn 860kv 22A Outrunner and a 11"x6" folding prop: Draws 18amps and delivers 75deg climbing angle . I tried to use HXT900 Servos but the airfoil is too slim. Using a 25 amps ESC saves weight. In combination with 1600mAh 20-30C I achieved an overall weight of 740g. I modified the tail so that it is removable now with a balsa triangular support on the angle top and a 4mm Nylon screw.
Fuse con: My tail was not really straight, I heated carefully with a heat gun and corrected. This operation is definitely not suitable for beginners!

Flight characteristics are really top: Airplane seems to stick in the sky, very recommenable. Wide speed range with decreasing aileron efficiency @ high speed. Starting is just opening your fingers and release. Climbs to 400ft take 15 sec. Flaperon programming on your radio is necessary due to very flat gliding angle.

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Customer Rated

Apr 07, 2014

Great flyier in fast and slow speeds. Wonderful for termics, worth the effort to have it built considering the other colleagues comments above. It is not for builders beginners...

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Customer Rated

Apr 04, 2014

Received mine last week, quality of fuselage is pretty good, a little bit heavy weight, quality of painting is 5 crowns, the front end of the wings are not fitting to the fuselage, I had to use the dremel. Covering of wings is ok, the electric iron made it good completely. The 30 mm spinner does not fit, 32mm will fit. For wings I used a corona DS-239 MG wing servo.

My setup: NTM 28-30 750 kV, 1300 3S, 30a ESC , 2 HTX 900 for tail. 12x6 folding prop. Doesnt go vertical but light weight setup for thermal search.

Overall a glider worth the money, some minor weak points, some building experience necessary, some hardware parts are not very sophisticated but ok.

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Customer Rated

Mar 18, 2014

felizmente todas as dificuldades da montagem deste modelo valeram a pena, o voo simplesmente maravilhoso, melhor do que o deamon, com o motor 28 47 decola com um quarto de motor, recomendo 100pcnt mais um detalhe, construa o profundor de forma a ser removivel, vale a pena mais esse esforo.fortunately all the difficulties of fitting this model were worth the flight is just wonderful, better than the daemon with the motor 28 47 takes off with a quarter of a motor, I recommend 100pcnt more detail, build the elevator in order to be removable, worth more that effort.