Hobbyking Foamie Hurricane

[David Davis]

Well I maidened mine last week and it proved to be too twitchy for me and I crashed it breaking a propeller blade; the weather wasn't to brilliant either. I have since sent for some three-blade props from Giant Shark and have programmed in 50% expo on elevator and aileron, a first for me.

I'll let you know how I get on whenever the weather is suitable for flying again.

[David Davis]

Flew mine today. Made a complete horlicks of the landing. Mine needs more nose-weight but it impressed the electric cognoscenti at the club!

[David Davis]

Anyone else flown their's yet?

[Masher]

Received mine this morning (had to wait 'till my birthday!). About 40 minutes to build to instructions, no real issues all fitted quite well then about 10 mins to fit radio! C of G spot on with 1300mAH Lipo, everything works.

Will be a bit before I fly it though because I will need some help to avoid instant crash.

Plain white box - not very inspiring but excitement builds nicely as the components (only a few) are taken out.

Nice details and colour

Then..................

U/C feels a bit flimsy - as does the prop. I've already knocked the antenna off before I got it outside! But fits nicely inside.

Hope it flys!

[G-YRUS]

I have one which flew for the 1st time just before Xmas which made the lighting very seasonal but joking aside it was way too twitchy but balanced from the box as stated at 60mm back from l/e. However check your balance with wheels up and down. Personally I would go for a little less than 60mm and there is room for a bit of lead with HKs recommended battery. Even a slightly larger battery. The canopy fixing is useless and I made a hook and loop system using the slot for the wing bolts to glue a wire loop up through and one on the canopy and a band between. I wonder if the canopy ejection problem is also due to a pressure build up in the fuselage as it is all sealed very tightly so I made a hole from the small pc stowage out through above the oil cooler moulding so it does not show. The last item was the undercarriage doors which I think made my undercarriage hang up (well one anyway). They are pretty flimsy and only spot glued to the wire leg and I think mine came lose and pressed back into the well due to air flow. I have cured that with a bit of balsa between the door and leg, reinforced with skinning cloth and epoxy. She now looks wonderfull and I am just waiting for that good day to do another test. I am afraid the small weight gain is essential incase I get a purist criticising. Hope this may be of help to someone. I now have the Peashooter which looks even prettier. Although a little larger would have been great.

[Masher]

Good info G-YRUS

I was pleased that the C of G was correct but perhaps I will move it forward a bit as you suggest. I agree the canopy magnets are useless, I was just going to use rubber bands for now.

Think I'll wait until you've been out agin before I risk it, I'm not experienced enough for twitchy planes!

[Simon B]

The reviews on the Hobbyking site were pretty, erm, mixed. Shame, as it looks nice.

[David Davis]

Somehow I couldn't manage to find more than one review of the Hurricane on the Hobby King website; I'll concede that I do not have particularly good computer skills.

From what people have posted on this forum however, it appears that the model is tail heavy with a 1300 3S LiPo despite the model balancing in the recommended position, also, there are no recommended control throws in the booklet. On my first flight I found that the model was too twitchy for me. Having programmed in 40% expo on elevator and aileron it was much better; mine still needs lead in the nose though.

I do not have a problem with the canopy magnets. I removed the cellotape from mine to ensure a better magnetic contact.

[Masher]

David

I could only find 1 review also.It would be good if you could advise on throws you set and how much lead or how much you moved the C of G? Any help would be appreciated

I've taken the cellotape off but still very weak - I've got some better ones to replace them with

Thanks

[Simon B]

Sorry it's comments in the discussion thread below the listing.

[David Davis]

Masher

I left the throws as supplied by Hobby King and simply used expo to make the control less sensitive around the neutral position.

I haven't tried it with lead added to the nose yet but will probably start with about an ounce.

I have also posted a review on the Hobby King UK website.

Edited By David Davis on 16/01/2013 10:41:33

[Masher]

Well I maidened mine today and wish I hadn't bothered!

Had 4x10 minute flights with the foam WOT 4 which were great fun and each one was used to stretch my envelope a bit and make sure I was happy.

Everything going so well I thought I'll give the Hurricane a go. The site I use is almost bowling green quality - a field where they cut lawn turf from which is recently mown. However, I still can't take off without nosing in so had to chuck it up. The launch was Ok but the plane was all over the place even with reduced rates (perhaps too low?) - found it very hard to turn right and changing the throtle had dramatic effects. Thought this is no fun so got it down. Ironically, I landed in a muck heap and had to take shoes & socks off to recover from the slurry! This meant there was no damage, even the weak prop survived, but the plane was covered in $$$$$$.

I'm sure this is all down to my inexperience but not sure I even want to pursue this one - it doesn't even look that good in the air

[wayne drinkwater]

I have added a fair bit of church roof to the nose and it has calmed it down nicely

[David Davis]

Masher, I'm a pretty indifferent pilot and also own a foamy WOT 4 which I am able to fly well enough if not with great precision. I have however, flown low wing models before.

My second flight with the Hurricane lasted at least ten minutes but I was fighting it for much of the time. The cognoscenti came to the conclusion that the model was tail heavy. I agree with them! I made a complete mess of the landing, or should I say arrival, snapping off the starboard undercarriage leg in the retract unit, damaging the oil cooler and wrecking both sets of undercarriage doors. Having removed the retract unit, I found that the leg is retained by two socket headed grub screws, and having unscrewed them I was able to remove the broken bit of the leg. I've made up another leg out of piano wire but haven't fitted it yet.

I was pleased to find out that I had no problems with orientation with such a small model finished in a camouflage finish but then I have been blessed with excellent eyesight.

Wayne, could you give us some idea as to how much church roof you've fitted to your model?

[wayne drinkwater]

Exactly 3/4 of an ounce or 21gms, I use the self adhesive alloy wheel balance weights from the tyre fitting workshop next to where i work

Hope that helps Wayne

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[David Davis]

Posted by Masher on 02/03/2013 16:51:07:

This meant there was no damage, even the weak prop survived, but the plane was covered in $$$$$$.

I once found a ten dollar bill on the grass outside my house but you were very lucky to find your model covered in dollars!

[Masher]

Nice one David! I wish I'd photographed it now, the plane was in a state but so was I - I had to just put my socks back on over the top of the dollars, drive home quick then hose myself and the model down and the water was freezing - still more experience under the belt. The fertiliser is used on an industrial scale on this field so could be anything in the slurry - just wait to see who goes first, me or the plane.

[Carl Muff]

hi was would if anyone had tried a bigger battery i,ve got a 2200 one that fits just needs a little of the canopy removing but think the extra weight would help it as everyone seems to be adding nose weight

[Carl Muff]

well it already and got the weather for it maiden ,taking spare pants

[Tony Read 2]

Good luck! Dial in low rates, make sure the prop is well and truly on and check the COG and you are good to go.

Let us know how you get on.

[Carl Muff]

all went well change prop and spinner and used a 1600 battery which just fitted

[Craig Kane]

Ordered mine on Tuesday, arrived Thursday. Great value at £73.

No chance of flying today due to horrendous weather so thought I'd build it up. Very easy to put together but found a few wee niggles as I went along:

The foam has a brittle feel to it and the paint finish is very easily damaged. The slightest brush of the wingtip meant that half the paint came off.

The rudder has to be attached and whilst the hinges are installed on the rudder, there are points marked out on the fuselage for attachment. Not too difficult to fit but a little tricky to align.

The control rod for the rudder was routed through the wrong hole on the fuselage. This was easy to move but resulted in the rudder binding slightly when moved to the left (yet to test fly so I'll see if it causes issue).

Following on from the reports of props coming off, I have carried out lots of motor runs across all speeds and plenty of "slams" (idle to full power). So far, the prop is still attached, although I dd buy a spare prop & spinner just in case.

The space in the fuselage looks cavernous but once all the gear is installed, the cockpit cover doesn't fit too well. To overcome this, I trimmed away the cockpit floor and removed some of the foam ridges to create a flat floor. I can now fit up to a 3s 2200 pack with ease.

Hopefully the ability to carry a bigger battery will remove the need to carry extra ballast as some have reported although I did find a lump of extra weight already installed behind the firewall. I'm wondering if this is an improvement that HK have added due to feedback?

The nav lights do look a bit out of place but they're OK and should help orientation.

Retracts work fine - nice smooth action and no sequencing issues.

Really looking forward to getting it in the air.

[David Davis]

I'll be very interested in finding out how you got on with it.

[Craig Kane]

I've had a few flights with my Hurricane now and it is still very sluggish. It doesn't seem to like anything less than full throttle and it will bleed airspeed dangerously in anything more than a gentle turn. It is still very tail heavy and required a lot of adjustment t the control surfaces. I'm still running the stock setup with a 3s 1300mah pack. I've tried putting a 2200mah pack in but it made the plane handle even worse than before. In an atempt to improve the flight I've added 20g of ballast to the nose. The supplied props are very brittle and I've gone through 4 already (anything other than a perfect landing breaks them) so I'm thinking of changing the prop to a 2 blade in an attempt to improve performance. Has anyone tried this already and if so, can you advise on the prop you went for? The plane looks fantastic in the air. It's just (currently) not an enjoyable model to fly.

[Craig Kane]

Update on my progress with this model:

I've replaced the original motor with a Turnigy D2836/9 950KV, keeping the original prop. The shaft on this motor is 4mm which meant that the original prop adaptor didn't fit so I had to drill out the hole on both the spinner and the prop hub to accept the larger diameter shaft that came with the new motor.

This setup delivered 242W at 24A pk which proved too much for the supplied 20A speed controller so this was replaced with a spare I had lying around.

 

Flight testing showed a huge increase in performance with more than enough power to get airborne. I can now actually throttle back to 1/2 power and still maintain flight. The model is still a little tail heavy but that's due to the construction and I can live with it. Flight time on a Kypom 3s 1300mah 25C is in the region of 6 mins (which leaves me with 20% left in the battery).

 

I've had a lot of hassle with this model and although I wouldn't buy another, I'm happy that I've managed to get it to a position where I can get flying it at last.

Edited By Craig Kane on 06/04/2014 13:38:05