SPAD XIII Balsa 865mm (ARF)

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Customer Rated

Apr 20, 2014

Sehr schlechte Qualitt!
Kleiner Auszug aus der Mngelliste:
Fehlende Bauanleitung, fehlende Aufnahmen fr die Streben, Motortrger nicht mittig,
zugeharztes Gewinde Fahrwerkaufnahme. Bin mal gespannt, wasmich noch alles so an berraschungen erwartet. Bin bereits kurz davor, das Ding in die Tonne zu befrdern. War definitiv mein letzter Bausatz vom HK. Es bewahrheitet sich wieder mal: "Nichts ist so kurzwie die Freude ber einen geringen Preis"

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Certified Buyer Rated

Feb 13, 2014

Fiquei surpreso ao receber, um timo kit. Veio bem embalado e tudo em perfeito estado. O kit muito bem acabado, bem completo e com muitos detalhes em escala. Ainda irei montar e pretendo instalar o Gun Effect LED Unit e mais o Gun Effect Sound Unit.

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Customer Rated

Sep 26, 2013

I'm giving the SPAD XIII by Electrifly low marks because 1) the instructions are hard to find 2) the instructions that I did find do not show the airplane that I have e.g. the tail stabilizer assembly is completely different between the instructions and the model 3) MANY parts are missing e.g. the motor standoff tubes, multiple washers 4) the instructions call for 4-40 machine screws (missing) but the blind nuts are not 4-40, they're some metric size. Many more discrepancies in the instructions (from Electrifly wewbsite) and the model plus multiple key components.

I'm trying to get the missing parts from Great Planes / Electrifly / HobbtKing but so far - ZIP, ZERO, NADA

I also am finding that the parts do not fit well e.g. the tail assembly has a 1/8 inch gap between the vertical stab and the fuselage top.

I was really excited to get this model, but my enthusiasm is at a LOW.

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Customer Rated

Jun 08, 2013

Hi all,
I got mine some weeks ago and got it to fly meanwhile.
I am very happy with overall quality, especially the covering work is great.
Little annoyance is the missing pieces mentioned by others also. The landing gear accounts for about 10pcnt of model weight, mainly due to full-rubber tires. I recommend fixing landing gear using nylon screws instead of metal screws. This will save You some bottom wing repair ;)
It is worth a note that You better choose a motor with front mount option, otherwise montage is tricky. I used a back mount motor (2830 1300kv, with app. 300W) with a 10x4" turnigy wood propeller an a 3s 2200mAh battery.
Starts fine from ground (even with non-golf-yard-grass). Can be flown slow as well as quite fast, nice sound. Regular acrobatics can be done with this setup. Does not like gusty wind at all. To land on grass You have to almost slow it down to no speed to prevent nose-over.
On our flying field landing is really a challenge. Also, here in northern Germany there is hardly a day with sufficiently low wind conditions, so I will try flight stabilization on occasion.
For me, I am sorry to say, this is not my favorite model, though it looks great...

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Customer Rated

Feb 23, 2013

Hi all,
Just finished putting this model together (not for novice). Its a long build and made longer by missing parts. Twelve upper wing strut mounts are required not the eight as supplied also the push rods are too tight in the snakes and were replaced with 1mm wire. I had a problem with the aileron wire (broken wire under insulation at one solder joint. It's heavy and I'm sure will require a lot of speed on landing. The heavy wheels are to get the cg correct and save adding noseweight. Have yet to fly but by feel this is not for lax flyers but for experienced on the ball able to fly on power, flyers. Wings are a bit warped and will try to correct with heat gun. It looks great now, will see how it looks after maiden.
John

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Customer Rated

Nov 12, 2012

Au dpart il me manquait quelques pices dans le kit pour pouvoir monter les haubants. Les roues sont remplacer il sont beaucoup trop lourdes. Les commandes sont refaire, les servos forcent. Le stab est mal cal il faut trimer fortement cabrer pour voler peu prs droit. Je dconseille cet avion.

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Certified Buyer Rated

Oct 09, 2012

Got it as a freebe. Payd shipping though. Sold it to my friend who is balsa and old style fan. He hanget it on sealing and not going to fly it. Maybe one day... Yea the price looks high so wait when this comes a freebe again and buy 150$ of stuff to get it 0 price.

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Customer Rated

Sep 25, 2012

First off this is a lovely looking plane when you finally finish building it!! However the build itself was long and complicated by the instructions being completely different in parts from the kit. Add to that missing parts (strut mounts, some screws, etc.) all easily replaced/made but still a nuisance and the build which should have been easy, ended up a nightmare.
As for how it flies, mixed feelings, I may have just been unlucky and got a bad one (wing angle wrong maybe), but on its maiden flight it needed far too much throttle to hold height/speed and after finally getting lined up for an emergency landing and throttling back to bring it in, it suffered a vicious stall and dived in from 10 meters up or so (now sat in the shed in pieces).
So in short in my opinion - beautiful as a static display plane, but be careful when trying to fly - would be interested to know if mine was just unlucky or whether there's some flaw in the design.
P.S. Found it balanced spot on with a 3s - 2000ma battery, 30 amp esc, 9 by 6 prop and 1200kv motor.
Might buy a replacement if someone can confirm they got one that flew well, as its so nice looking and the balsa frame is so nicely made...

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Customer Rated

Sep 11, 2012

Quite a good kit, however missing four of the strut connectors used to connect the bottom and top wings. As usual, good luck getting the missing pieces sent out to you as you have to be able to photograph everything the moment you get it, which is not always possible when the manual differs somewhat from the HK plane.

Recommend buyers carefully count the number of top and bottom struts upon opening the packet and contact customers support asap. Alternatively, if it's too late like in my situation invest in a GPMA3104 kit off eBay to make up for the missing parts.

Unfortunately blights an otherwise good plane kit.

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Customer Rated

Aug 04, 2012

This morning the maiden Fly! i was very scared about the weight, with lipo 3s 1300mha battery about 860grams.
Before the fly some aborted takeoff, cause poor stering action in ground, tail wheel is missing like the real SPAD, and a dismounted wheel ... then full throttle and finally the take off.
On fly the model is very manoeuvrable, only little trimming like other models.
For the succesive fly i must remeber to place a bit back the battery for better balancing.
In complessive a very good model, i'm remained very surprise and satisfied.