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HOBBYZONE® CHAMP RTF R/C AIRPLANE

HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane, retail $89.99 (www.amazon.com...)
Manufactured by HobbyZone® (www.hobbyzone.com)
Last updated 10-22-14

This isn't a flashlight, household lamp, Christmas light set, or other thing that glows,but what the hey. I have only evaluated remote controlled (RC) toys several times before, so please bear with me here.

I love things that fly; that's why I took the bate (I've seen the HobbyZone® Champ on YourTube quite a few times over the years) and also why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" on my website.

This is a very small, lightweight, easy-to-fly remote controlled airplane. It is designed exclusively to be flown outdoors.

SIZE

This toy is remarkably easy to use for an R/C airplane...here's how to make it fly:

As with any rechargeable product, charge it first (see directly below), and then you can pretend to fly a dragonfly (well, that's what the kitty cat would think it is if it were designed to be flown indoors - fly it outdoors in a fairly large space relatively free of obstructions like trees or utility poles - a public park or large unused parking lot are good places to start here.

1: Be certain the battery in the airplane is fully charged first, then install it into the plane's battery bay (see below).

2: On the remote control, slide the switch at the center toward the left of the remote; a red LED will come on.

3: Place the airplane on a smooth surface (a paved parking lot is a good place to start here).

4: Push the left hand stick on the controller forward; the airplane's motor should now rapidly throttle up. Be certain your fingers are away from the propeller at this point.

Congratulations, you are now a pilot!!!

For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.

The battery that powers the HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane itself is rechargeable; however the batteries in the remote will need to be changed from time to time.

To do this, unclip and remove the battery door, very gently place it on the ground, and kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy to eat and strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Remove the four used AA cells from the compartment, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Insert four new AA cells into the compartment, orienting each cell according to the (+) and (-) legends embossed into the bottom of each chamber.

Finally, place the battery door back on, and snap it into place.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery door into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?

Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.

To charge the flight battery, install four AA cells in the mobile (field) charger first (this procedure is identical to the one for installing batteries in the Tx). Insert the flight battery into the charging bay by orienting it so that its terminals face down and the Velcro side faces inward toward the charger, and push straight down on it until you can feel and hear it snap into place.

A red LED on the charger will now come on. When this light turns off, your flight battery is fully charged. Remove the battery by pulling straight up on it -- do not attempt to remove it by tilting it forward; this will not work and could very well damage the battery and/or the charger.

Fully charging the HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane's battery should give you ~10-12 minutes of flying time.

According to the instructional materials furnished with the product, you should wait 15 to 20 minutes before recharging the battery after you've run it down in order to allow it to cool.

To install the flight battery in your Champ, plug it into that connector that you see on the underside of the Champ's fuselage (this word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it; the word is pronounced "

), and secure it in the battery bay using the attached Velcro strip.

This RC airplane is meant to be used as a toy in a dry area outdoors, not a flashlight meant to be thrashed, trashed, and abused. So I won't try to drown it in the toliet tank, bash it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a carport in effort to try and expose the bare Metalmarineangemon - er - the bare Metaltrailmon - um that's not it either...the bare Metalsusanoomon...er...uh...wait a sec here...THE BARE METAL (guess I've been watching too much Digimon again!

- now I'm just making {vulgar term for feces} up!!!), let my mother's big dog's ghost, her kitties, my kitty or my sister's kitty cat piddle (uranate) on it, hose it down with my mother's gun, run over it with a 450lb Quickie Pulse 6 motorised wheelchair, stomp on it, use a medium ball peen hammer in order to bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoñata, drop it down the top of Mt. Erupto (now I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piñata" too much again

- candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout (located at Piñata Central {aka. "Party Central"}), with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; the cannoñata (also located at Piñata Central) is only used to shoot piñatas to piñata parties away from picturesque Piñata Island, and Mt. Erupto is an active volcano on Piñata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analyses, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. Therefore, this section of the Champ's web page will seem a bit more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

The maximum range of the remote control to the HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane R/C Airplane is 300 feet (91 meters).
The remote control uses radio waves; not infrared radiation like R/C aircraft designed specifically to be flown indoors.

The HobbyZone® Champ trainer is also equipped with the advantage of the Spektrum™ 2.4GHz DSM2® transmitter: the Champ radio system uses the same Spektrum 2.4GHz DSM2 technology that is trusted by experienced RC pilots all around the world. With DSM2 technology you will enjoy complete freedom from signal interference whenever you fly. And after you teach yourself to fly, you can use the Champ transmitter to fly some of the ParkZone® and Blade® ultra micro aircraft equipped with Bind-N-Fly® technology. Visit bindnfly.com to see which ones.

The body of the HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane is made of a very lightweight foam (known by most people as Styrofoam®), so it can withstand crashes that a heavier aircraft might be damaged or even destroyed in.

This product is recommended for children of 8 years of age or older; younger children can injure themselves on moving parts or by swallowing something they should not (like an AA cell or one of the spare pieces of Velcro).

The airplane's motor will continue to operate for ~2.50 seconds after contact is lost with the remote control - but it *WILL* stop after this time has elapsed.

If the wings on the airplane become damaged (such as if you graze a tree or something), repairs may rather easily be performed with nothing more than a bit of transparent household tape and/or Styrofoam-safe glue.

Photograph of its remote control.

Photo of the little red light inside the airplane's fuselage.

Spectrographic analysis of the red "binded" LED in the Champ's fuselage.

Spectrographic analysis of the red "binded" LED in the Champ's fuselage; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 625nm and 635nm to pinpoint emission peak wavelength, which is 628.340nm.

The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/46/champ.txt

USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.

Maiden "flights" of my HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane.

"Flights" took place behind the Sears in Federal Way WA. USA on 06-03-14 (or, "2014 03 Jun." or even, "June 03, Twenty Stick-Pile-of-Crossed-Busted-Sticks if you prefer).

The last crash ended up busting off the Champ's port (left) main wing.
I cradled the poor injured Champ's lifeless, broken body...er...uh...LIFELESS, BROKEN FUSELAGE as I carried it back to the basket in my electric wheelchair for the ride home, at which time I repaired it with packing tape and Styrofoam-safe glue.

Weather conditions at flight time were cloudy, temperature of 56°F (13.3°C), and winds out of the SSW at 6mph (5.20kts, 9.66kph).

This video is 10.7854818927 megabytes (10,996,648 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fifty four minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Flights of my HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane.

Flights took place behind the Sears in Federal Way WA. USA on 06-07-14 (or, "2014 07 Jun." or even, "June 07, Twenty Stick-Pile-of-Crossed-Busted-Sticks if you prefer).

Weather conditions at flight time were clear, temperature of 59°F (15°C), and winds out of the NW at 2mph (1.73kts, 3.22kph).

The final flight ended when the Champ crashed into my scooter, causing the rudder linkage ass'y to become broken. The starboard (right) main wing also became broken -- but not as a result of a crash. It was at the store while I was reaching in to the reach-in cooler for a carton of milk for Christ sakes!!! The cooler door closed on my scooter's basket (where the Champ and two other R/C airplanes were being carried to & from the day's flights) and bent the Champ's wing; when I attempted to hold the door open and back up slowly, the Champ got caught in the door as it closed, snapping the wing off and depositing the poor injured thing on the floor.

The rudder linkage was rather handily repaired (the control horn simply popped off & out of position) shortly after I published this video on YourTube.

This video is 19.2112168319 megabytes (19,662,727 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than ninety six minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Attempted aerial videography with my HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane.

"Flights" took place in the parking lot of the now-defunct Red Apple Grocery (directly across the street from Carl's Quick-E-Mart) in Shelton WA. USA on the morning of 09-19-14 (or, "2014 19 Sep." or even, "September 19, Twenty Stick-Pile-of-Crossed-Busted-Sticks if you prefer).

Weather conditions at flight time were cloudy, temperature of 59°F (15°C), and winds generally calm with gusts out of the SSW to 5mph (4.325kts, 8.05kph).

The video is extremely "choppy" because the video camera I used appears to be defective.

This video is 54.6887342692 megabytes (54,820,864 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than two hundred seventy three minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Attempted flights of my HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane.

Flights took place in the parking lot of the now-defunct Red Apple Grocery (just across the street from the Quick-E-Mart) in Shelton WA. USA on the morning of in Shelton WA. USA on the morning of 09-20-14 (or, "2014 20 Sep." or even, "September 20, Twenty Stick-Pile-of-Crossed-Busted-Sticks if you prefer).

Weather conditions at flight time (for the main part of the video) were mostly sunny, temperature of 59°F (15°C), and winds generally calm with gusts from the ESE at 1mph (0.865kts, 1.610kph).

After these flights, I noted that the rudder was defaulting to the left, so I attempted to move the connecting rod from the servo inside the plane's fuselage to a different hole on the control horn, and the entire vertical fin & rear wheel ass'y came off in my hand and the connecting rod fell out of the fuselage...looks like a not-so-minor repair will be necessary before I can attempt to fly the Champ again.

This video is 2.17954258903153 gigabytes (2,264,452,156 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than ten thousand eight hundred ninety five (!!!) minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
This video is definitely ***NOT*** dial-up friendly!!!

TEST NOTES:
Test unit was ordered on Amazon.com on 05-22-14, and was received at 6:54pm PDT on 06-02-14.

UPDATE: 06-13-14
The control arm for the rudder has become broken; this studly little yellow airplane can no longer be steered and is therefore unflyable -- though I am attempting a repair.

The repair was conducted shortly after I typed this update; though it is not known how long it will last.

I had to take a razor-type box cutter and seperate the upper and lower portions of the plane's fuselage, attempt to reconnect the control arm to the servo mechanism, and reattach the two halves of the fuselage. Static testing was accomplished successfully; however, only a true flight will tell if the repair was truly successful.

UPDATE: 09-23-14
After flights I made on 09-20-14, I noted that the rudder was defaulting to the left, so I attempted to move the connecting rod from the servo inside the plane's fuselage to a different hole on the control horn, and the entire vertical fin & rear wheel ass'y came off in my hand and the connecting rod fell out of the fuselage...looks like a not-so-minor repair will be necessary before I can attempt to fly the Champ again.

As a result, the dreadful, " Failed or was destroyed during/after testing

" has been appended to its listings on this website to denote that the product has failed or has become destroyed.

UPDATE: 10-22-14
Damage was a bit more extensive than I originally asessed, but I found the special styrofoam-safe adhesive on the evening of 10-19-14, and successfully conducted repairs & static testing. Looks like the Champ is flightworthy once again.

PROS:
Easy as pie to fly -- just accelerator, elevator, and left & right
Long flight time per battery charge
Flight battery easily charges in the field from a portable charger

NEUTRAL:

CONS:
Lightweight construction makes you *THINK* that it is highly crash breakage-resistant, but it is not!
Motor does not instantaneously stop -- there is a time delay of ~2.5 seconds if the signal from the Tx is lost, but it does stop. That's what lobbed ½ a remote from its rating

HobbyZone®

R/C airplane

N/A

None

Styrofoam & plastic

N/A

4xAA cells (remote) 4x AA cells (field charger), 3.7 volt 150mAh Li-Poly rechargeable (airplane itself)

Unknown/unable to measure

MICTURITION

Very light splatter-resistance at maximum

¡¡¡EL DIABLO USANDO UN PAÑAL CARGADO EN SERIO, NO!!!

8x AA cells, flight battery, mobile charger, three pieces of Velcro for the flight battery

517mm Wingspan x 365mm L

38g (1.30 oz) incl. battery

China

Unknown/not stated

HobbyZone® Champ RTF R/C Airplane * www.amazon.com...

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