HiBoy or not

[gary davies-jones]

Hi folks inkit world.
I have got my hands on a complete and unstarted HiBoy. Box is a bit (very) dusty and has a couple of small tears but intact. The contents however are pristine and most still bagged.
The question is.....is it worth building as a training tool for our air cadets, OR, would it be better to sell it to a collector/vintage flyer and put the money towards a modern airframe?
The answer to that question begs two more at least
1. Which modern airframe?
2. How much is the HiBoy worth? It is the four channel version. I'm told it came with or without ailerons?

Any answers or advice will be received with much appreciation.
Gary.

PS sorry for the typos trying to do this on the smartphone....hmmmm.Should have gone to specsavers first

[David Gilder]

Gary,

I would say BUILD IT!!!

Its a great plane and perfect as a trainer! You could even build 2 wings for it, 1 with ailerons and 1 without.

That way the students could start without ailerons and when competent without, can move onto wing with them!!

Dont forget, If you build it, to do a build blog on here for people to see and read!!

Dave

Edited By David Gilder on 03/05/2012 13:25:22

[Ben B]

It's worth whatever anyone will pay for it But personally I love the old Hiboy. Heavy and needs a good engine but robust and taught me to fly. Glad to see it's the 4 channel, I always found the rudder on the 4 channel weak (though the 3 chan might have had more dihedral).

I'd build it and use it. Okay, you might be able to sell it for 40-50 and get an ARTF but a built up ARTF will crumple in an "arrival" that the HiBoy would shrug off as if it hadn't happened.

[Lee Smalley]

i learned on a hiboy and whilst it was a bit heavy it was a tough old bird and took my knocks and kept fighting, i remember her with fond effection, i recommend that you build her and fly her, if you sell her you would be lucky to get 50 quid

[Oldbaldfella]

Plane I learnt on. Build it!

Do the 4 channel (much easier to fly than 3 imho) , bung a minimum of a 40 in it and fly it!!!!!

Great plane and very tough compared to a ARTF.

[kc]

Yes, build 4 channel

Before you start draw around every component onto a sheet of paper (lining or even wallpaper)so that you can make a new part in the event of a crash. Note the material and thickness on each part.Include the wing tip & root profile if it's the foam version.
Especially important as this is an obsolete (but very useful) kit with unobtainable spares and no paper plan available.

[Ben B]

Wish they resurrect it

classic retro IMHO!

[David Davis]

Don't build it. It's too fast and too heavy for most beginners though youngsters may be able to adapt to it.

A modern Alpha 40, Irvine Tutor or Boomerang are much better; being larger and lighter they will fly more slowly and give beginners more thinking time.

All those people who learned to fly on one learned despite the Hi-Boy not because of it.

But I'll say this much for it, "If you can fly one of these, you can fly anything!"

[Alan Cantwell]

must agree, the MK1 hiboy was a beast, only made better by the caldecraft primary, and the MFA Yamamoto, (the plastic pig one) the MK2 hiboy was a lot better, which one is yours?

did anyone build the precendent turbo? with the tailplane slot cut at the wrong angle?

[gary davies-jones]

Allen mate,
How do we tell if its a mk1 or a mk2. Ours has foam core wings if that helps?

Gary

[Alan Cantwell]

I think the box should be titled HI BOY 11 its a more streamiled version of the hi boy 1, looks a tad cessna ish, but its that long ago, memory fades

[gary davies-jones]

Thanks Alan (sorry cant spell),

I'll have to get the box down from the atic, but I think it does look a bit Cessna 172 like, come to that any generic Cessna really.

Thanks again

Gary

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I learnt on a Hi Boy as well - we should start the "Hi-boy old boys" club!

I loved it - but then I suppose nostalga takes over! I don't remember it being as bad as others have said, but I suppose at the time I had nothing else to compare it with! Its certainly tough - I never did manage to destroy mine! Sold it - I regret that a bit. Not that I suppose I'd fly it much now - but it would have been nice to still have it around!

BEB

[Lee Smalley]

The hi boy flew ok yes it was a bit heavier than today's artf trainers but it was a damn sight tougher, in those days artfs were no around and the hi boy gave you a chance to build something that could fly. The other trainers that were around we're a damn sight lot harder to build than the hi boy, the chart mascot was a nightmare compared ! my hi boy was great and was tough and actually looked like a plane, yes compared to today's artf offerings she is not the best, but she would cope with higher winds which lets face it we get lots of here in the uk!!

[David Davis]

Still can't agree with the prevailing rose-tinted nostalgic views about the flying qualities of the Hi Boy. Like most of the foam- veneered, plywood fuselaged models of the Seventies they were much heavier than their all built-up predecessors like the Super 60, or dare I say it, the Telemaster. Consequently their wing loading was very high and they flew too quickly, especially for older beginners. Sure they were tough and would fly in a wind but does a beginner learn much when the model is constantly being blown about? Sure they were quicker and easier to build than the traditional type but you learned something very valuable with an all built up trainer which would stay with you for the rest of your modelling life?

Two stories about the Hi-Boy.

1. A retired man joined our club several years ago. He later went on to serve on the committee and once we got to know him, well let's just say that we found out that he was extremely cautious when it came to spending money! He turned up with not one but two Hi-Boys which he'd bought second-hand. After the usual checks he was taken up by one of our instructors; his radio did not have a buddy-box socket so it was a question of handing the transmitter to the traineeand hoping for the best. He lost control of the model and it crashed into his instructor's car, a Volvo Estate. The spinner punched a hole through the rear panel of the car. Aren't Volvos supposed to be stronger than most cars? The state of the Hi-Boy was not recorded. In the end he saw sense and bought a (second-hand) Ripmax Nova.

2. I was walking down a street in the Monkmoor district of Shrewsbury one evening when I noticed the wing of a model Spitfire in the window of a terraced house. I knocked on the door, introduced myself and asked whether the occupier might like to join our club. He said that he was giving up aeromodelling and wanted to sell all of his stuff. I bought the Spitfire and a Hi-Boy with an OS 40 and a Futaba radio for a song. I sold the Spitfire to a club colleague for a good profit. I flew the Hi-Boy once to prove that it worked and sold it one weekend at the Exeter Club auction for over £120, complete with the radio, when visiting friends down there one weekend. (Said end-of-season auctions are now a much-missed part of my year!) As the bidding reached a £100, a local expert turned to me and said, "They don't fly very well do they?" I agreed.

So that's the only good thing I've got to say about the Hi-Boy, I made a killing on the one I owned!

Oh and the glass fibre fuselaged Yamamoto was even worse! I know, I tried to learn on one!

[Myron Beaumont]

David

I second your opinions entirely .Both the Hi boy and Yamamoto were like flying bricks .I never owned either but helped club members get theirs off the ground and back again .It was in fairly windy Cornwall mind you .That was at the time my main favourite was my Crescent Bullet .Talk about chalk and cheese .Yes ,I know -not the same category -but at least the Bullet went where YOU pointed it .

Myron YO13 ex TR19 dept

[Allan Bowker]

hehe - I learnt to fly on a Hi-Boy too!

I can only say what has already been said, she's heavy and will need a minimum of a .40 but the advantage is she is a tough old bird and will outlast many ARTF's of today. An ideal club trainer I would say. I flown that plane in all weathers, summer sun, spring rain, heavy winter wind, the lot!

In fact, I still have mine from 21 years ago, I really should get her back in the air for old times sake.

[Ben B]

I've still got my Hiboy. I last flew it about 18 months ago. Each to their own but I like it. More responsive than some trainers I've tried which means for me I could get out of trouble quicker. I first flew mine on a 35FP and then upgraded to a 40GP (magnum copy of the 40FP).

[David Davis]

I'll say one more thing in favour of the Hi-Boy, the money I got from selling mine went towards a Laser V Twin!

Mind you if there's so much warm feeling towards these "flying bricks" why don't you adopt them for next year's mass build? You know, "2013 Mass Hi-Boy Build!" I'm sure SLEC would knock out a few kits if there was sufficient demand....but you can count me out.

[gary davies-jones]

Diametrically opposed opinions then. Seems there is no middle ground.
From what people are saying though it sounds like its a flying tank. Great in one respect, however we want to teach the cadets the land not just arrive without damage. Perhaps we could use it as a follow on trainer before we move on to the spacewalker donted to us along with a lovely unbuilt Edge 540 ARTF.
Any suggestion for a bullit proof slow flying airframe?

[David Davis]

The only problem with the ARTFs IMHO is that the forward fuselage sides are not joined together by balsawood sheet or perhaps even better, block. As a result if you land in long grass, or as I did in a potato crop because the engine had run out of fuel, ( we were enjoying ourselves too much at the time,) the fuselage will unpeel like a banana! Put some sheet or block under the engine, fuel proof it and cover it in film and the nose of the a/c will be considerably strengthened. I particulalrly like the Alpha 40, Irvine Tutor and Boomerang because they have semi symmetrical wing sections which allows them to fly in a breeze.

If you're going the electric route, I like the Multiplex Mentor. It's made of foam but it's tough.

If you want to build a model I'd recommend the Flair Piper Cub which is available with the option of a foam wing so might not take too long to build. Another option is the Chris Foss Unowot but some might consider it to be a bit slippery for a trainer and a more traditional model is the SIG LT 40 which has a built-up wing. However, the Flair Cub cost £114 and the LT 40 £125 when I last looked and you could almost get two ARTFs for that price.

Just my two pennorth..

[Lee Smalley]

Look just because oldies that certain people teach can not learn on the hi boy does not make it crap, some found it easy to learn on others did not I had one lad learn on a super 60 his second plane was a heavier model that he piled in trying to fly it like a super 60, diff planes suit diff people, at least you could build a hi boy in a short space of time and did not require a degree in carpentry to do so, the damn thing slotted together and gave the new to build and flying pilot a real chance to build something and fly it in the same year and there would be a very good chance it would not be built like a bannana, slag it off all you like I was able to build o e and get her up in the air quickly before I lost the will to live, she looked like a plane flew well enough for me to learn on and took some pretty big whacks that would have totalled a super 60..... So there ( lee blows virtual raspberry)

[Alan Cantwell]

Lee, it flew, yes, but it was a lump,  hence the MK11 that was a differant animal altogether, did you glass the centre section? it was designed to be supported by the 2 braces, but i saw more than one fold up, it has its place in history, it taught loads, but a mascot would have taught them quicker

Edited By Alan Cantwell on 05/05/2012 22:33:56

[David Davis]

I'll say this for the Hi-Boy. All of the posters who have written in its favour are better fliers than me!

Maybe there's something Darwinian going on...

[gary davies-jones]

Just blown the dust off the box......Its a series2 if that changes anything.

Gary