Whats the Best and Worst plane you have ever flown?

[kiwi g]

Best plane for me , my old faithful carl goldberg super chipmunk. . ive had it for years.always performs and will do whatever is asked of it.

Worst plane  , had to be my recently departed flyfly BEA hawk.

Construction was no real hassles, turned out to be expensive to set up.

Takeoff was great ,2 good circuits then blew itself apart mid flight, A secondhand one I brought did the same thing.  I think the underside of the wing came off and caused the wing to break ,ending in a pile of useless pollystyrene.

[Romeo Whisky]

Worst was Wattage Mini-Max - my first and last purchase of a depron model!

 

Best is more difficult as I have had lots of "bests" as I've climbed the learning curve over the past 7 years.  As I presume the purpose of this thread is as a "lesson" for others (worst) or ideas for next model (best), I'll cheat and tell you my best models of past 7 years that are still available.  I only fly electric by the way:-

 

Multiplex EasyStar (cut my teeth on this)

Multiplex Mini-Mag huge fun full house and a powerful motor

Multiplex Gemini

 

(Are you noticing a trend here?  Multiplex make beautifully engineered models).

 

GWS Formosa - (everyone should have one)

Seagull Extra 300 EP - my most-flown model this year - not available now, but replaced by Edge 540 EP which is similar

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Worst model for me must be this Spyder glider from about 1995/6. Not so much a fault of the kit ( I saw others fly well) but because I hadn't a clue about electric flight at the time and just bunged everything together

 

Looking back, the problem was probably the small 6 cell nicad so the model staggered around never gaining height. Westbury ESC (remember those?).

Best would be the SebArt Katana 30, Overlander SU-26, E-flite Pitts, Hangar 9 Spit, Graupner Terry - true love

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin/Moderator on 29/10/2009 09:25:30

[David perry 1]

The best for me must be two best ones actually: the Galaxy FoxJet and clones, simply absolutley superb fun, and the Super 60...ahhhhhh Unbeatable.  I have made dozens of each and love every one.

 

The worst was another Galaxy Models offering, the name of which escapes me now, but it was a sort of Piper Warrior lookalike and it was simply awful!  The model dated from about 1987 ish and is no longer made!

 

david

[Lee Bentley]

Worst ever, the Walkera UFO 5. Supposed to be gyro stabilised  in flight. NOT! contrary to all the hype, you have to control it all the way, take hands off the sticks and it will roll out of control.

 

Best model is my Predator RQ1, slightly under powered with recommended motor but glides really well, stays up for ages without power.

[Allan Bowker]

Best: Hanger9 Pulse 60 (E-Flite Electric 60 motor - 6S 4200 Li-Po)

 

Worst: JP EasyPigeon

[twinstar]

best: PMP MB339

worst: ZAGI

[Simon B]

I've got to revise my best plane now.  It's definitely my E-Flite Mini Pulse.  Love this plane.

[shades]

Well, this is a really interesting thread. As I read through, I don't think the same model was mentioned more than once. So totally useless as a quide to anyone looking for what to buy next. Still great reading though. So, to buck the trend, I also think the Multiplex Blizzard is probably my favourite plane so far, out of the twelve or so I have. You can fly it staggeringly fast or really slowly. It is so versatile.

 

andy

[Delta Whiskey]

Best : Extra 300s - flies as on rails !

Worst: Sapac Wilga - poor quality.

 

But you can't beat flying my Raptor ! (Heli)

[jez]

my best and favorite are mpx gemini(acro master setup) and blizzard (with power setup) , Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat

 

i dont really have a worst , but if i had to choose i was given an f16 (foamy) ducted fan ,which ended up in a polly bag after a frantic uncontrolable flight !! 

[Thomas Barwick]

Best: Parkzone T-28 or E-flite sea fury.

 

Worst: E-do F-4 Phantom.

2 motor burn outs (Quality control issues) and an replacement unit, still will not gain altitiude.

[Chris Card]

My best model was a Fliton AJ Extra (50" span).  Flew like a plane twice it's size, but completely agile and capable as a 3D machine.  Sadly short lived before a technical issue brought it to ground in a vertical dive from 100 feet.  Those planes don't bounce...!

 

Worst plane was an Eflite Ultimate 3D (28" Depron biplane with brushed 380 motor).  What a dog that plane was, didn't want to turn let alone do 3D!

[Bob Everitt]

Agree with Allan Hanger 9 Pulse must be up there with the best, would also put a vote in for the FVK Roco M and the Fillip Sport 600 as superb flying machines.

 

My biggest dissapointment was the MPX Acro Master that I lusted after for ages and when I got it I hated it.

 

However the worst things ever were those Hydroplanes that were made from Depron and were supposed to be able to fly as well as impersonate boats. 

[Spud]

Posted by David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 29/10/2009 09:24:22:

Worst model for me must be this Spyder glider from about 1995/6. Not so much a fault of the kit ( I saw others fly well) but because I hadn't a clue about electric flight at the time and just bunged everything together

 

Looking back, the problem was probably the small 6 cell nicad so the model staggered around never gaining height. Westbury ESC (remember those?).

Best would be the SebArt Katana 30, Overlander SU-26, E-flite Pitts, Hangar 9 Spit, Graupner Terry - true love

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin/Moderator on 29/10/2009 09:25:30

 David - your problem was probably the gearbox on that MFA unit - it never lined up properly  - my Syder used to do 8 minutes on a 6 -cell 900 NiCad! And I thermalled one for 26 mins once in Norman Park Bromley.

 

Best for me:

Graupner Race-rat  + 10 cells + neodym motor

 

Worst for me:

Middle-Phase with "sports" aileron wing....

 

 

 

 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Probably right Spud - it always sounded horribly agricultural and put me off gearboxes for life - thank goodness for brushless eh? 

[Solid Snake]

Seems that Multiplex keeps cropping up as a maker of good models.  

[Vecchio Austriaco]

Slow flyer:

Worst Giles 202 by Thunder Tiger - underpowered, breaks easy, instructions not too clear Best: Shark 800 biplane VA-models -  easy to fly, extremly acrobatic, doesn't fall apart on the first rough landing 

 

Glider:

Worst Discus cs CM pro quality of fuselage, angel between wing and tail wrong.

Best Roitelet Acro (don't remember the company - had it 25 years ago)

 

Sports/acro:

Worst Yak 54 Model Expert material quality (motor castle broke during maiden flight (you will not believe it - after my repair the motor castle broke again) stalls quite easy and rather nasty

Best Sukhoi 29 30E Sebart. Good build quality flies very precise

 

VA 

 

 

 

[Flanker .]

Yeah this has been done before by MEEE HERE .

 

No worries,  Best. Phoenix YAK 54 by a long way, flies like a dream on rails. (Unless you put it into a low level fully stalled spin in a gale near a stone wall ! )

 

                        Worst. The Inwood Improver. I two before I realized that the terrible things that were happening were the fault of the plane not the pilot moving on from his trainer!

 

Go well, great xmas, can't wait for new year, Flanker

[Lee Bentley]

Hey VA,

 

I also have the Model Expert  YAK 54, this happens to be one of my favourite planes to fly. Only problem I had, it did not like 'Ryanair landings' strenghened UC mount, fitted a 950kv motor and moved recommended CG back a tad and it flys almost hands off.

Edited By Lee Bentley on 26/12/2009 09:49:56

[Vecchio Austriaco]

Hi Lee,

 

are you sure we speak about the same model? I know there are minimum 3 versions under this brand. Mine is the smallest - if you go into the "ARTF Survey" and look at MEX YAK 54 1160mm  you can see the beauty and read about the trouble I had during maiden flight. 

 

I stil fly it ( at the moment it is under repair, respraying the canopy for the 3rd time), it looks good, and as long as it is fast enough and nothing brakes off in the air it flies also... 

 

The uc mount I changed as well as I rebuilt the first 40 cm of the fuselage after a nice crash.

 

VA 

[Lee Bentley]

Hi VA,

 

Mines the 1200mm version about the same as the Extremeflight model, came from a shop in Austria, I also have a Predator also by model expert. Same aircraft are also badged as Nitro Models and RC System depending on the distributor, Mine came with motor included.

 

Lee

[Chris Channon]

The best, if you mean the nicest to fly, a very well built Magnatilla from Flair,

 

The worst, has to be the Precedent Bi-Fly 40, looked lovely, but was a pain to fly, it would not, no matter what you did , turn right.

 

The best ARTF, has to be the Great Planes Stearman, everything fits as it should, no " fettling " needed at all, a real delight to build,

 

The worst ARTF, the JP Cub, nothing fits, the glazing needs major work to fit, the very thin plastic cowl does not fit, the wing if fitted as per instructions, will snap in two when screwed down, a really poor aeroplane BUT, it 's flying when everything is sorted, is superb !!

 

Regards as always

 

Chris.

[Andy Butler]

Since coming back to the hobby I ahve only flown a Uno Wot and my Puppeteer has yet to have it's maiden.

Best model:

From years ago, sloping in Gloucesershire I had an Aladdin - can't recall the make but it was a 9 or 10 foot wingspan, weighed a ton and flew really well. You could 'park' it into wind and it would stay there all day. Managed to loop it once too.

Worst;

A thing called a Pedro. Flew like a brick.