FLIGHTMASTER R/C AIRPLANE
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Flightmaster R/C Airplane, retail $119.95 (www.ginnys.com...)
Manufactured by Estes (www.estesrockets.com)
Last updated 08-03-09




This product requires one to have a motor vehicle to charge (this juicy little tidbit was ***NOT*** shown on the website); and I do not own or have access to a vehicle, so I cannot complete this evaluation.
I *MAY* be able to cobble up something with the lab PSU or a wall-wart, but no guarantees as to the timeline.
(Note:): I found a wall-wart of the correct voltage and polarity that fits the charger, so "the show can go on" so to speak.

This is a large R/C (radio controlled) airplane. It has two motors (not just one like many other R/C aircraft), and is steered by varying the power to each motor, not with an adjustable horizontal stabiliser like single-engine R/C airplanes have.

(Update 01-16-09): The following is from an email sent by a pilot; this person knows more about aircraft than I do.

I read a few of your RC aircraft reviews, and you have a pretty serious misconception stated at least twice in discussions of models with 2 motors: In full-sized aircraft or in RC, the horizontal stabilizer is NOT primarily involved in turning the aircraft. It does have a secondary role in turning, which I'll return to later. I have dabbled in RC aircraft a couple of times in my life (I'm essentially your age) and I also have a private pilot's license for full-sized aircraft, although I have not exercised that privilege since moving out of Colorado.

The first part of your misconception seems to be that the horizontal stabilizer controls horizontal movement. Not so.

There are three rotational movements: yaw, pitch and roll. Yaw is the horizontal displacement of the nose and tail about the vertical axis. Pitch is vertical displacement about a horizontal axis roughly aligned with the wing, and roll is vertical displacement of the wing tips about a horizontal axis roughly aligned with the propeller shaft.

The fixed horizontal stabilizers (the little wings usually at the back of the aircraft that stick out horizontally) and movable elevator attached to them (or the "stabilator" or "all-flying stabilizer" in the case of a single piece which moves in its entirety) control PITCH. Although this points the nose up or down, and so generally increases or decreases lift, it really controls airspeed: nose-up leads to slower airspeed and nose-down leads to higher airspeed. The aircraft's "state of trim," which depends more or less on the position of the elevator or stabilator, tends to maintain a constant airspeed, although the varying airflow with changing engine power off the propeller does affect trim speed somewhat. POWER translates into climb or descent: at a constant airspeed, more power means climb and less power means decent, and at a constant power more speed means descent and less speed means climb (until you reach the "region of reverse command," when induced drag increases so much that lower speed means MORE power is needed to maintain level flight, or in the most extreme case: when the wing stalls and a small decrease in speed leads to a loss of lift and RAPID descent). This is a common-sense situation: it takes more power to go uphill at a constant speed than downhill, whether in an airplane, car, bicycle or scooter. The lack of a solid hill doesn't really matter.

So, you probably really meant that the VERTICAL stabilizer (the fin sticking up at the back of the fuselage), which affects yaw, controls turning. This is also wrong, although not completely in the case of some RC aircraft. However, unlike in a surface vehicle, YAW, although it does slew the nose sideways, does not turn the aircraft in the sense of causing it to travel in a circular horizontal course. That is actually the result of ROLL, or banking. Rolling into a modest bank angle causes the lift vector of the wing to point sideways as well as up. The sideways force becomes a centripetal force that moves the aircraft in a horizontal circle. The only centripetal force provided by yaw directly is the vector of the engine's thrust resulting from the yaw angle, and except for military jets, the engine's thrust is WAY less than the force of the wing's lift, and is not enough to turn the airplane through a decent arc. (Other exceptions exist in 3D aerobatics, but I'm ignoring that.)

In fact, in a really well-designed airplane, the rudder is hardly needed to turn, and in RC aircraft, low performance planes with 2 channel control have rudder and elevator, but high performance 2 channel planes have aileron and elevator control. (Assumes either glider or constant-power engine/motor. Read as "3-channel" if you want a throttle control, too.) Low-performance models use yaw-roll coupling to let the rudder CAUSE the roll needed to turn the plane, usually via excess dihedral in the wing, but ideally, roll is controlled directly by ailerons. The problem is that ailerons cause roll by increasing lift on one wing, which raises that wing but also induces drag (lift is not free of cost) and slows it down. The wing going up needs to go faster, not slower, to go around the outside of the turn, so this causes "adverse yaw:" the plane tends to turn the opposite of the intended direction, at least while the roll is occurring (the effect becomes less, but not zero, while maintaining a constant bank angle). The rudder is primarily needed to provide a yaw force to offset this adverse yaw and lead to a "coordinated turn" in which there are no net yaw forces, also described as lack of slip or skid. (Deliberate slip is a another use of the rudder to increase drag on the aircraft, and skid can cause the fun/dangerous spin or snap-roll when combined with stall. Brief rolling motions with proper rudder use leads to a "Dutch roll" in which the heading of the airplane doesn't change while the wings rock back and forth. Look them all up if desired!) Older airplanes had lots of adverse yaw, and needed active footwork on the rudder control pedals to make a nice turn or good Dutch rolls, but more recent and more clever designs can make almost-coordinated turns with your feet off the rudder pedals, at least at average airspeed.

There IS an important roll of the horizontal stabilizer in turning: If you want to turn and simultaneously maintain constant altitude, you need to pull back on the stick (pitch the nose up) to increase lift, since as you roll the lift vector would otherwise be the same force. With part of the force directed horizontally, the aircraft would begin to descend unless lift increased, so total lift must increase by either more power (and more airspeed) or more pitch (and slightly reduced airspeed). The latter is usually chosen, so to turn an airplane properly, you use aileron to roll and simulanteously rudder to control adverse yaw, then as the bank angle increases, back stick to increase lift and maintain constant altitude. It's all much easier when you are in the aircraft and can FEEL the results vs. an RC model or flight simulator program, except the consequences of mistakes are worse.

It has a durable Styrofoam™ body and wings; it is repairable with tape and household glue if you have a boo-boo with it (if you crash hard enough to cause breakage).


Size of product w/hand to show scale SIZE



This airplane will require substantial assembly before you can fly it; please refer to the instructional material furnished with the airplane to see how to do this; the procedure is a bit complex and I don't feel much like writing a book right now.

You will need to install 8 AA cells and attach the antenna to the controller before you can begin using the airplane.
After you install it them, pull up on the antenna to extend it.

To install the antenna:
  • Screw the antenna clockwise into the top of the controller until it stops turning. Do not overtighten.
If there is a noticeable wind blowing, attach the red ribbon to the end of the antenna so you can guage its speed & direction. Do not fly the airplane if the wind speed is over 5 MPH (8KPH) - the ribbon will noticeably deflect (be blown toward one side) if this is the case.

1: Install the flight battery into the airplane first (see below).

2: On the remote control, slide the switch in the center toward the left; a red LED and a green LED will come on. Extend the antenna if you have not already done so.

3: Place the airplane on a hard, level surface (with a lot of room; such as a baseball park's infield), facing away from you. Push the left hand stick on the controller up (toward the front). The airplane's propellers should now rapidly spin up, your airplane should accelerate on the ground and then lift off!!! Congratulations, you're now a pilot!!!

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

THIS PART IS IMPORTANT!!! Turn the remote control off and remove the flight battery from the airplane when finished using them.
Same switch on the remote as before, but slide it to the right this time. And you ***MUST*** remove the flight battery from the airplane even if you only used it for a minute or two; the airplane does not have a power switch, so it will continue to discharge the battery pack even when you aren't flying!!!



The battery in the airplane itself is rechargeable and is not designed to be changed (it does need to be removed for charging & whenever you aren't actually flying it, and it can indeed be changed if it poops out - but I'll get to that a bit later); however the batteries in the remote will need to be changed from time to time.

To do this, slide the battery door off & remove it, 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 for their insect tummies and subsequently strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

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

Insert eight new AA cells into the compartment, orienting each cell so its flat-end (-) negative faces a spring for it in each chamber.

Finally, place the battery door back on.
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 battery in the airplane, follow these steps:

1: Remove the four rubber bands that hold the main wing (with the motors & propellers on it) on the fuselage (plane's body).

2: Lift the wing away; the motors will be connected to the wiring harness - you may leave them plugged in.

3: Remove the battery pack from the fuselage (body), lifting it straight out using the tab marked "PULL" on the battery pack itself.

4: Unplug the battery pack, and carefully set the airplane & wings aside.

5: Plug the smaller plug on one end of the "siggeret" lighter plug into the receptacle for it on the side of the charging box, and plug the larger end into the female "siggeret" lighter receptacle in your automobile.

6: Plug the battery pack into the short cord on the charging box.

7: A light on the charging box should now be glowing red. If it stays green, the battery pack is not plugged in properly. If the light does not come on at all, you may need to insert the ignition key in your vehicle and set it to either the "ON" or "ACC" position.

8: After 20 to 30 minutes, the light on the charging box should change from red to orange. At this point, unplug the battery pack from the charging box, unplug the "siggeret" lighter plug, remove the ignition key from your automobile if necessary, and perform steps 1 through 4 in reverse order - placing the wing on and fastening the rubber bands instead of lifting away/removing them.


This powered model airplane is designed to be used as a toy in a dry area outdoors, not as a flashlight meant to be carried around, 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 patio, let my housemate's citty kats go to the litterbox on it, run over it with a 450lb Celebrity 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 (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), 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 analysis, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be ***SIGNIFICANTLY*** more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

One thing I found rather inconvenient was that the airplane's battery must be physically removed from the plane *every time* it needs to be recharged - in fact, it must be removed from the airplane whenever you aren't flying!!! This entails removing the four bands that hold the main wings & motors onto the fuselage (the airplane's body), tipping back the wings, removing the battery from its compartment, and unplugging it from the wiring harness inside the airplane. In fact, there is a rather stern warning in the furnished instructional materials advising you to not charge the battery while the battery is inside the airplane, as it poses a fire hazard.
Reinstalling the freshly-charged battery simply means reversing the above steps.

The range of the remote control is 750 feet.

There is a long, thin black wire coming from the back of the airplane (it actually comes out near the center of the fuselage (the airplane's body) but it is taped so that it hangs free at the back of the fuselage); ***DO NOT*** pull, cut, or otherwise remove it!!!
This is the airplane's antenna, and it is absolutely necessary for the wire to be intact for the airplane to maintain contact with the remote control!!!



This is the controller you use to fly the airplane with.



And this shows the airplane in the basket of my electric wheelchair.
As you can see, it is very large, but it should stay put during my trip to the park.



The airplane came with stickers; this photograph shows it almost fully-decorated.
I say "almost" because there are two long, skinny black rectangles I have not figured out yet.



Another angle of the airplane, showing the stickers that represent windows, etc.



Photograph of its battery pack.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the red LED in the remote control.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow-green LED in the remote control.
USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the cute and loveable big airplane lifting off, flying, & then crashing.
This clip is approximately 3.2 megabytes (3,311,332 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than ten minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Flight number one", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'' (this was, of course, the plane's maiden flight), you can hear the airplane's motors throttle up, you can see it accelerate on the ground & then lift off, then you can see & hear it crash because there was insufficient room here in which to execute a turn.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the cute and loveable big airplane lifting
off & flying in a sports area which I believe was designed for sprinting.
This clip is approximately 8.8 megabytes (8,933,850 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than thirty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Flight number one", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', you can hear the airplane's motors throttle up, you can see it accelerate on the ground & then lift off, then you can see it fly around for a surprisingly long time given the conditions (windy + inexperienced pilot).
My sister shot the movie clip, as I needed both hands with which to manipulate the remote control.



Screen dump (yes, it's really called that!) of the above video clip, showing the airplane shortly after liftoff.



Another screen dump of the above video clip, showing the airplane flying.


There will *NOT* be a picture of the Flightmaster in a toliet because it flies so well!!!



This is the part of the college I (successfully) performed the latest flight in.
It is a running track at one of the local college campuses.



Aerial view of Riverview Park, where I'll make all flights of this airplane after 08-01-08.






And here are two photographs of the park I made my 07-29-08 flights in.
The first one is the paved area I can take off from.
The second shows the wide open, treeless space I can fly in after liftoff.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the airplane lifting off the ground, banking right, and crashing offscreen.
This flight was made late on the morning of 06-18-09.

This clip is approximately 2.9115 megabytes (2,968,754 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fourteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Flight number twenty one", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane accelerating on the ground, taking off, banking to the right, and then crashing offscreen.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the airplane lifting off the ground, buzzing around for a short time, and crashing.
This flight was made late on the morning of 06-18-09.

This clip is approximately 3.6987 megabytes (3,762,486 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than eighteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Flight number twenty four", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane accelerating on the ground, taking off, buzzing around for a short time, and crashing.

Before shooting both of these videos, the main wing fell out of the basket of my electric wheelchair just before entering the baseball field, was ran over by my front wheel, and subsequently became broken in two. I made an "on the spot" repair with some mailing tape and attempted the flights anyway. I'll attempt a more thorough repair here at home and then attempt to fly it again in the near-future.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the airplane lifting off the ground and crashing shortly thereafter.
This flight attempt was made early on the afternoon of 06-24-09.

This clip is approximately 3.87770 megabytes (3,963,000 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than ninteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector two point eight" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number twenty eight", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off the ground and crashing shortly thereafter.



This is a screen dump (yes, it's really called that) from the above video taken just before liftoff.

The repairs I made were not sufficient; I need something to stiffen the joint - half a dozen toothpicks ought to do the trick here.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the airplane failing to lift off the ground.
This flight attempt was made late on the morning of 06-27-09.

This clip is approximately 4.21076 megabytes (4,274,630 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty two minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector three point one" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number thirty one", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane failing to lift off the ground.

I believe that the reason behind this failure to lift off is that the front landing gear are too long; this causes the tail of the airplane to drag, which in turn prohibits the airplane from achieving sufficient speed for takeoff.

I'll try shorter front landing gear and attempt another flight in the near-future.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the airplane being hand-launched and rather quickly crashing.
This flight attempt was made late on the morning of 06-28-09.

This clip is approximately 2.69430 megabytes (2,734,056 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twelve and a half minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector three point four" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number thirty four", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane being hand-launched, banking to the right, and rather quickly crashing.



This is a screen dump from the above video.


WMP video (.avi extension) showing the airplane lifting off on its own and buzzing around in a baseball park.
This flight was made late on the morning of 07-10-09.

This clip is approximately 4.69989 megabytes (4,782,260 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty three minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector two point two" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number twenty two", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off by itself, buzzing around in a baseball park for awhile, then coming in for a landing. The takeoff and landing are visible, but little of the remainder of the flight is. And the landing was a bit rougher than I was trying for, but the airplane landed on its wheels and stayed that way all the way to the end.

That clicking sound you might hear during the flight is the right-hand stick on the remote being engaged & disengaged to help steer the airplane within the confines of the ballfield.




Video clip on YourTube showing the airplane (once again!) lifting off on its own, buzzing around in a baseball park, and crashing into a fence.
This flight was made late on the morning of 07-13-09.

This clip is approximately 11.58265 megabytes (11,693,874 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fifty seven minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector four point nine" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number forty nine", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off by itself, buzzing around in a baseball park for awhile (~45 seconds of actual "in-the-air" time!), then crashing into a chain link fence because it was a bit too windy. Two of the four rubber bands came off at impact and one of them was subsequently lost, but I have spares and rubber bands are inexpensive & common anyway, so as they say, "no harm, no foul".


This is a screen dump from the above video.




Video clip on YourTube showing the airplane (once again!) lifting off on its own, buzzing around in a baseball park, and crashing into the ground - this was done deliberately so that the airplane would not crash head-on into something harder.
This flight was made late on the morning of 07-15-09.

This clip is approximately 5.71280 megabytes (5,742,544 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty eight minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector six point eight" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number sixty eight", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off by itself, buzzing around in a baseball park for awhile, and crashing into the ground - this was done deliberately so that the airplane would not crash head-on into something harder.



This is a screen dump from the above video.




Video clip on YourTube showing the airplane (once again!) lifting off on its own, buzzing around in a baseball park, and flying low offscreen.
This flight was made late on the morning of 07-17-09.

This clip is approximately 5.19998 megabytes (5,245,848 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty one minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector seven point two" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number seventy two", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off on its own, buzzing around in a baseball park, and flying low offscreen.



This is a screen dump from the above video.




Video clip on YourTube showing the airplane (yet one more time!!!) lifting off on its own, buzzing around in a baseball park for quite a long time (~30 seconds) before a gust of wind blew it *HARD* onto the packed dirt infield and causing the wing to suffer extensive damage. This flight was made late on the morning of 07-18-09.
Note that I called it a "flight" and not a "flight attempt" - it flew quite well actually right up until the deadly crash.

This clip is approximately 9.95645 megabytes (10,005,690 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fifty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector seven point four" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number seventy four", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off on its own,buzzing around in a baseball park for quite a long time before a gust of wind blew it *HARD* onto the packed dirt infield.

Prior to this flight, I had replaced both propellers and gave it just a little more vertical elevator. The flight was going ***EXTEREMELY WELL*** until the crash.


This is a screen dump from the above video.




Video clip on YourTube showing the airplane (yet one more time!!!) lifting off on its own, buzzing around in a baseball park for awhile, then eventally flying out of the baseball park, crashing *HARD* onto asphalt, and causing the wing to suffer extensive damage. This flight was made late on the morning of 07-22-09.
Note that I called it a "flight" and not a "flight attempt" - it flew quite well actually right up until the deadly crash.

This clip is approximately 5.503453 megabytes (5,582,502 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty eight minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Entering sector fourteen point four" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number one hundred forty four", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the
coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the airplane lifting off on its own,buzzing around in a baseball park for awhile, then eventally flying out of the baseball park, crashing *HARD* onto asphalt, and causing the wing to become broken - the repairs I had recently made were what failed; this was not a new breakage. But this does indeed look repairable, so all is really not lost here.



This is a screen dump from the above video showing the airplane flying.











TEST NOTES:
Test unit was purchased on the Ginnys website on 08-28-07, and was received on 09-07-07.
I could not afford the entire $119.95 cost at once, so I purchased it using Ginny's "Pick 'N Charge" (sp?) program for payments of $20.00 per month.

Product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.

Although it does not say this on the website, you must have a motor vehicle to charge the airplane's battery, and I do not own or have access to one...so this evaluation could not be completed. As a result, the new (but still dreadful) '''' icon will appear next to its listings on this website.
There is a possibility that I can cobble something up with a wall wart or the laboratory PSU, but no guarantees as to a timeline.


UPDATE: 09-08-07
I found a wall wart that fits & works with the charger!!!
So I'll be able to finish this evaluation after all!!!


UPDATE: 09-10-07
I was going to go to a baseball park yesterday (my sister was going to drive me) to attempt one or more flights, but I wasn't feeling all that hot so I never left the house - ie. the flight was cancelled.
Figure the flight will take place within the next week anyway.


UPDATE: 09-11-07
Added two photographs showing the airplane more-or-less decorated according to the package, using the included sticker set.


UPDATE: 09-12-07
Learned that "ROG" stands for Rise Off Ground.
This airplane has landing gear (wheels), and is specifically designed to take off from & land on a hard surface, rather than having to be thrown.


UPDATE: 09-13-07
Made a slight change to the instructions for charging the flight battery; just changed the order of two items and changed the reassembly text to match.


UPDATE: 09-15-07
I broke one of the wings before we even got the car moving for today's trip to go fly it; it had unknowingly become tangled in my seat belt and snapped as I started to buckle up - however this was a very quick & easy fix with a single piece of transparent packaging tape. The repair did not appear to affect the flight at all - this will not figure into how I feel about this product.


UPDATE: 07-29-08
I plan on taking the Flightmaster out for a flight within the next couple of days in the park right across the street from my new location; since I know it can take off and fly, I'll fly this before attempting to fly the other two R/C aircraft that are designed to take off from the ground.


UPDATE: 07-29-08
Same-day update.
I had a successful test flight in the park across the street a little while ago.
I had a rather hard landing which broke two of the four rubber bands. But rubber bands are inexpensive & common, so as they say, "no harm, no foul".


UPDATE: 09-12-08
I plan on making a flight on 09-15-08 - this is my birthday and the one year anniversary of its maiden flight...that is, if I can find the flight battery and charger assembly for it in time.


UPDATE: 09-15-08
I found the charger & battery late on the evening of 09-12-08; today's flight is indeed "ON".
If I do make a flight today (it's highly probable -- but *NOT* guaranteed if it's too windy), I'll update this web page tomorrow morning.


UPDATE: 09-16-08
Yesterday's flight was successful; though the airplane now has a broken wing. I believe the breakage occurred during a "touch-n-go" maneuver; the break actually became total at landing.
This should be a rather easy repair with nothing more than some household tape.

All in all, I'd still call this a successful flight!


UPDATE: 09-16-08
No, you aren't seeing things.
Yes, a same-day update.
I conducted repairs to the airplane's wing - looks like things are "good to go" now, as they say.


UPDATE: 10-11-08
I took the Flightmaster out for a little junket on Thursday morning; and although it appeared to have some minor difficulty in lifting off (it took three attempts), once it was airborne, I had the best & longest flight I've ever had out of an R/C aircraft of *ANY* type!!!

It flew for many minutes, reaching an altitude of several hundred feet, eventually flying beyond the range of its remote control and gracefully gliding toward me until it was back within range. It then flew out of range again; this time it gently crashed into grass and apparently "endoed" (flipped over); cracking its vertical stabiliser (tail wing) - as before though, nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of household tape.

It took me a couple of minutes to actually *FIND* the silly thing - it was clear over at the other end of the park, upside-down in the grass approximately 100 feet behind the farthest soccer goal.

When I got home, I wasted no time in conducting the minor repair.


UPDATE: 06-25-09
This is the repair I made to the main wings on 06-23-09 following having accidentally run over them on 06-18-09.



I was going to take it to the baseball park yesterday for a post-repair test flight, but we had one of our kitty cats euthanised and his remains creamated yesterday; and the weather is supposed to suck until 06-26-09, so that's when the flight is planned.


This is the kitty cat we had "put to sleep" yesterday.


UPDATE: 06-25-09
No, you're not seeing things.
Yes, a same-day update.
I decided to make the test flight anyway.
The plane lifts off the ground, but the repaired spot on the wing is still too weak. Reinforcing the joint with a half a dozen toothpicks ought to do the trick here.

The front landing gear also fell off the fuselage (this word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it ) on the way home; however, I should be able to use the front landing gear from another broken R/C airplane to replace it.


UPDATE: 06-26-09
I found that the front landing gear from this airplane ( I have a spare fuselage) fits the slot in the fuselage (pronounced "" ) of the Flightmaster; here's a photograph showing this:



It's a match made in H-E-Double-Bendy-Straws , but it *DOES* work.
These landing gear are a bit on the long side, but it will serve to give the airplane more lift which *SHOULD* greatly assist takeoff - assuming of course that the motors have enough {vulgar pluralised slang term for male testicles; suffixed onto the words "basket", "foot", and "base" - or added as a seperate word after the words "cricket", "croquet", or "bowling"} to allow the Flightmaster to actually *LIFT OFF* and fly.

I'm also in the process of re-repairing the wings with the toothpicks to increase structural integrity at the break site; it shouldn't be too long now before I (we all) know how that works.


UPDATE: 06-28-09
I made another failed flight attempt late yesterday morning (please see video clip above). The wings appeared to hold together reasonably well; I believe that the reason behind this failure to lift off is that the front landing gear from this airplane (that I used for the last repair) are too long; this causes the tail of the Flightmaster to drag, which in turn prohibits the airplane from achieving sufficient speed for takeoff.

I'll try shorter front landing gear (one from this airplane - I have spare landing gear for it so I did not have to disembowel the poor innocent defenseless helpless thing for its wheels) and attempt another flight maybe today (weather permitting) or tomorrow.


UPDATE: 06-29-09
I made another failed flight attempt late yesterday morning (please see video clip above). Even with the shorter front landing gear, the airplane failed to lift off on its own. Hand-launching it resulted in the airplane following a mainly ballistic trajectory and subsequently crashing.

I have emailed the manufacturer to see if they have spare front landing gear & a main wing assembly before I consign the Flightmaster to the garbage can like I already have with this airplane and am about to with this one as well.


UPDATE: 07-02-09
I have a replacement Flightmaster ROG on the way, so this original can go in the garbage can and the new one will soon be making beautiful flights - I hope anyway.
I'll be keeping the battery, charger, center landing gear, propellers, and remote control of this one before I dispose of its dead, broken body---er...uh...dead, broken fuselage.


UPDATE: 07-05-09

This is a photograph showing the Flightmaster's lifeless, broken body --- er --- uh --- lifeless, broken fuselage (and the poor thing's busted wings) in the wheelie bin (outdoor wheeled garbage can) just to offer up some proof that I really did dispose of it.


UPDATE: 07-09-09
The ETA of the replacement Flightmaster ROG is 07-10-09 or 07-11-09.


UPDATE: 07-10-09
The replacement arrived yesterday afternoon, I'll be making flights with it later on this morning.


UPDATE: 07-11-09
I made flights with it late yesterday morning; needless to say, it flew very well (see video clip above).

The flight battery procedure is now different...instead of placing the battery in a compartment under the wings, it now fits (via friction fit) into a special compartment made just for it on the underside of the fuselage (this word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would say it ), as the following photograph shows:


See?
It is no longer necessary to remove the wings in order to access and/or charge the flight battery!!!



And this is a photograph of the replacement which flies so well.
The two small pieces of white and red tape between each wing and the red center structure are simply "insurance" so that the wings did not unexpectedly come off in mid-air or fall apart during transport from my home to the flying area and back home again in my electric wheelchair.


UPDATE: 07-16-09
I made some more flights yesterday morning; I flew the Flightmaster just for the H-E-Double-Bendy-Straws of it.
Needless to say, it performed quite admirably.


UPDATE: 07-20-09
I made some more flights yesterday morning; I flew the Flightmaster just for the H-E-Double-Bendy-Straws of it.
Needless to say, it performed quite admirably - that is, until a gust of wind blew it *HARD* onto the packed dirt infield and caused the wing to suffer extensive damage.


Here's a photograph of the poor injured thing's wing.

I attempted to repair it with white glue and mailing tape; we'll all know soon enough how the repairs went...if they do not go swimmingly, my contact at Estes-Cox will be hearing from me about purchasing a replacement wing assembly - this airplane is just too good to throw in the dustbin (garbage can).


UPDATE: 07-21-09
Here are the repairs I made to the wing, using white glue and mailing tape (the tape reads "FRAGILE" in red lettering; I do not have any transparent, colorless tape at my disposal):


Upper surface.



Underside.

I flew it yesterday morning to test the repairs; while it was really too windy to fly, I did take note after I returned home that the repairs, while apparently successful, were actually a bit incomplete. The engine nacelle on the part that was broken hangs just a bit down in relation to the other - and the wing/nacelle interface has a noticeable gap where a gap really doesn't belong. Looks repairable to me, so it looks like another test flight is in the cards for me in the very near future.


UPDATE: 08-03-09
I went to fly it late Saturday morning (08-01-09), and never even taxiied it...I heard a loud, somewhat obnoxious sound when I tested the motors just prior to launch...this is why:



Note the broken propeller.
I saw it upon inspection during the prelaunch motor test, so I aborted the flight, disassembled it, packed it back up for transport, and flew my P-38 Lightning R/C "Park Flyer" Airplane instead. I brought that along just to be absolutely, positively, 100% certain that I'd have something in the air and not waste the trip.

But I have two spare propellers, so "no harm no foul" as they say.

I later found the broken blade on the garage floor (when I went to unplug my electric wheelchair from the charger), so the propeller must have become busted while I was tying the parts (the fuselage and wings) into the rear basket for transport to the baseball park so that I could assemble & fly it.





PROS:
Flies quite well - better than expected actually!


CONS:
Charger requires that you have access to a motor vehicle with a +12 volt female "siggeret" lighter receptacle
Battery must be removed from airplane every time it requires charging (whenever you're not flying actually!) - this entails removal of wing bands & main {front} wings (See 07-11-09 update above - this has been fixed!!! )
Landing gear can come off during crashes or rough landings


    MANUFACTURER: Estes
    PRODUCT TYPE: Radio controlled airplane
    LAMP TYPE: N/A
    No. OF LAMPS: N/A
    BEAM TYPE: N/A
    SWITCH TYPE: None
    CASE MATERIAL: Styrofoam
    BEZEL: N/A
    BATTERY: (Remote) 8xAA cells, (Plane) 7.2V 650mAh NiMH battery pack
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Very light splatter-resistance at maximum
    SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
    ACCESSORIES: Battery for plane, car battery charger, cigerette lighter cord, sticker set for plane, transmitter ribbon
    SIZE: 25.5" L x 31.5" W x 9.0" H
    WARRANTY: 90 days

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Because this product is not intended to emit
    light, the standard "star" rating will not be used.






Flightmaster R/C Airplane * www.ginnys.com...






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