Hi Everybody,

I just picked up this model from a retailer in Hyderabad. It is manufactured by some Chinese company called HC. My first impression was good, but now I urge everyone to STAY AWAY from it. DON"T TOUCH IT WITH A BARGE POLE!

1. The main landing gear wheels are off centre. The model is going to have a wobbly run up to take off.

2. Tried to assemble the landing gear and found out that the wrong size of screws have been supplied. If you try to force the screw in all the way, the airframe integrity will be compromised. (i.e. The fuselage may crack.)

3. The screws are of soft, pathetic quality. Once they are in, the heads are totally distorted out of shape and they can't be drawn out in future. You are stuck with a fixed (wobbly) landing carriage!

4. Decided not to install the undercarriage and prepare the model for hand launch ( better flying profile!). Tried to dis assemble the nose undercarriage leg. No Go! Used a 1mm hex key to draw out the lug and realised that now I have to cut open the foam and remove the leg from the servo housing (totally sealed and inaccessible). Only other option is to use a Dremel to cut away the leg.

5. Cheap misapplied plastic stickers spoil the aesthetics of the model. I didn't get the camo version, mine is in the Russian AF Aerobatics colors of Red, Blue and White. Perhaps, the camo would have been better.

6. None of the electronics on board the model are accessible. Completely sealed unit, except for the connectors. If anything else goes wrong, we are talking major surgery here!

7. Talking about surgery, the C.A. glue supplied had leaked and coagulated into a lump. I am using epoxy to bond the parts together.

8. Worst offender of all is an extremely cheap plastic Tx which is supplied with the set. It has a rather poor feel to it. My 3 Ch Chinese Helis are equipped with better looking Tx's.

9. The seller has a "damned if I care attitude" and I haven't heard a single word of apology from him since the deal. He promised me that I would get a Camo MiG 29 and then (after receiving my payment) he informed me that he had 2 pieces and both were Red / White / Blue aerobatic colours. Take it or leave it.  He even justified the sale by saying, "Check out the video, it is the same plane flying." Further, when I asked him to check the item before despatch, he said that the manufacturer shipped him completely sealed sets and he had no way of checking what was inside. I, however, got an open box. On being informed about the leakage of glue, he told me to use Anabond instead. No apologies or promises of replacement. He also told me that he would charge shipping on actuals, but he charged me exactly double the amount.

10. All in all, not what I expected to receive after spending Rs. 16,000/-. I should have gone in for something from Art Tech.

Deliberately left out the name of the seller from Hyderabad, as my angst is not against him, but the cheap quality of the product being sold by him. Not entirely his fault, as they say, Caveat Emptor.

Will post some pics after I get this model assembled. Whether she flies or not, is an entirely  different story.

Extremely pissed off with life,

VC

sory to hear but u should had think before purchasing a chinese product, i know it happens , i m also looking for a new rx tx 2.4 .now no to chinese

hello vc sir from which store u have purchased

Sorry dinil, I don't want to publicise the name of the shop here.

politely ask them to refund
if not then post the site

they just earned a bad reputation
this things cant be happening
16000 is not just a small amount

waiting for other members comment

Hey everyone ,
Even i have had bad experiences with this shop . Recently when i was in desprate need of a 6" servo extension , i had contacted him and he told me each piece was for 300 - 350 or something ! I was surprised !
Some time ago i had bought a Nitro Buggy from him , he just did the break-in . Just when i had got it , there was a loose contact with the throttle channel which he repaired by pushing a pin in the receiver to its correct position by his hand ( it was only a temporary fix) .
Now that my gears on that buggy are burn't he's refusing to help , he has asked me to go to captain (my new instructor ) for help even though he had sold me this product as he knew there was no money coming by helping on the buggy.
Its really bad that people who call themselves "Hobbyist's" dont sell good quality products and their careless attitude towards their customers.
Sorry VC bhaiyya to hear about that . Hope it flies .
Happy flying ,
Sahevaan

Sorry VC bhaiya to hear that. But can u plz tell from which shop u bought so that fellow modellers can stay away from it.

Sorry to hear about the dud goods.


If it is who I think it is - he is famous for overcharging.


Don't worry it will fly.

What size aircraft ?  Rs 16000 should have got you something substantial.

Do a thorough range check before flying.

She is big alright. 36 inch length. Flying her is furthest from my mind now. I just want to finish the construction.

From what we know, there are hardly any LHS in Hyderabad, so its obvious its 'Who' - he has been accused for similar fraud of sending wrong item unapologetically already in the past and he seems unrepentant till date.

I would urge not to put such Goons in the category of LHS, as the 'L' factor brings so much of sentiments.

VC, if you come up with the picture and any mail transcripts, its better to put him under the light, unless you don't want to spoil your relation with him in the hope that he might send you a replacement.

Its been talked about before, please put forward the right reputation of such so called LHS, so that other avoid them and go for other  reputed LHS in the country instead.

Most of the times its the matter of choice (particular model not avoidable at reliable LHSes) that we are lured to buy from shady shop and fall in the trap. hope things change fast.

For 16K, I saw a HUGE, I mean HUGE - as long and wide as a double queen Bed, Sukhoi ARF with RCDhamaka - it was an ALL Balsa and build was real good!! The problem is they sell more than they can procure 

QuoteVC, if you come up with the picture and any mail transcripts, its better to put him under the light, unless you don't want to spoil your relation with him in the hope that he might send you a replacement.

Ujjwaana, you have a wicked sense of humour!

Quote from: VC on June 02, 2010, 01:36:16 PM
Ujjwaana, you have a wicked sense of humour!

Ofcourse!!  The 'Dark' one ...

Hi Everybody,

I need your help BIG TIME on this. So just be patient, read on and tell me what to do.

The dilemma is with the undercarriage of the MiG 29 and here are some facts.

1. I want to fly it without the down undercarriage, it results in a better flight profile. I may have to permanently remove the nose wheel in order to do so (use a dremel to shear off the leg). The only other option is to cut away a section of the body of the aircraft to reach the servo attached to the nose wheel leg. What are the problems associated with hand launching a model of this type?

2. What reinforcement will I have provide the underfuselage / belly to prevent scrapes while landing?

3. My preferences and aesthetic beauty aside, would you advise me to keep the landing gear on? Remember that the main wheels are off centre and the aircraft will wobble while taking off.

4. The screws that are used to attach the locking plates to the main undercarriage are of extremely poor quality and cannot be removed once they are in. What I mean to say is that if I decide to keep the undercarriage for now and try to remove it later, it will cause bigger problems.

In the last 2 photographs, I have airbrushed the landing gear away to show what it will look like in flight.

Please advise asap, as I need to start building this baby right away.

Regards,

VC

Pic 1 - Off centre main wheels.
Pic 2 - Even if I remove the hex screw, the landing gear leg cannot be removed.
Pic 3 - The only way that I can get to the servo to remove the leg is to cut away along the gear     
          bay doors. Either that, or I cut away the leg completely without damaging the fuselage.

OOPSS!! 16K for a Foamie !! Was that a fully loaded RTF ?

The belly landing and hand launching depends on the stall speed of your plane. Usually the foamies have a high Thrust:Weight ratio thus people easily put 75% throttle and hand launch (my flying wing Estratos get airborne in 3-4 meters). Similarly, one can cut the throttle, slow the plane to stall speed and just put nose up to drop on to ground.

All in all it all depends on the weight of your plane. Since you want to keep the profile of the plane intact, adding a landing 'Keel' is also out of question.

So, how about reinforcing the Intake Ducts ? They can provide decently high platform to land and there is good room to reinforce it internally without changing the exteriors of plane.

Thought about Landing Retracts ? the servo ones come moderately cheap($12 a pair) , but adds the weight of the servos. As a personal preference, I like more planes with landing gear - they complete the scale effect, better than a plane sitting on its belly like a Crock!!

Quote from: ujjwaana on June 02, 2010, 01:27:07 PM
From what we know, there are hardly any LHS in Hyderabad, so its obvious its 'Who' - he has been accused for similar fraud of sending wrong item unapologetically already in the past and he seems unrepentant till date.
I would urge not to put such Goons in the category of LHS, as the 'L' factor brings so much of sentiments.

I'm looking for a BL motor for my heli, but surely not from him.

Fully loaded - That depends on what you mean by 'loaded'. RTF - it was supposed to be, only if I can get the damn screws to go in!

After being reasonably confident about my scratch building abilities, it is ironical that I have failed to assemble 7 pre fabricated parts using screws and glue!

Cheers!

VC

keep the uc on for the first few test flights.

if the off centre wheels bother you (I don't think its that big a deal) what you can
do is chuck them in your dremel and true them up using sandpaper

you are going to find it a "handful" to - handlaunch

VC,
Do you mean the landing gears are mounted offcentre on the fuse or is it something else.
If all the three legs are slightly offset on the fuse but all three still in symettry and the nose leg is still in centre of the main ones you do not have much of a problem other than getting used to the looks and the sit of the model. It would still do a take off run and landing roll.
Or do you mean that the wheels are not concentric? If that is the case replace the wheels if you want to. Or try a few runs with the same wheels and see how it behaves. Again if the hubs are concentric use a piece of hard foam mounted in a drill and sand it to a tire (might as well make multiple ones as you would eat them up fast) and then fit them over the hubs.
In case you decide to hand launch you have to have a very good P/W ratio as I am sure the model would require sufficient spped to be airborne.
In case of ground launch reinforce the intake ducts bottom and use a bungee cord for catapult launch and best would be to take off and land from nice grass (if you have access to one for flying) 

Dear VC,

I would strongly recommend not to fly without the landing gears. The reasons, intake for the twin EDF are below and will firstly get damaged on landing due to impact even in soft grass. second the EDF will suck up dirt, gravel in cemented and even in clean tarmac surface and in grass, even if you completely cut the throttle due to the run down of the fan, which will damage the fan and the brushless.

As landing gears will always be required, I would recomend not to bother with the landing gear getting permenently getting fixed. Fix it securely permenant.

Don't bother too much about the off center wheels, foam wheels are soft and can take lot of undulations on the ground, off center wheels should not make much of difference. As such hard run up is going to be not more than 4 - 5 meters and then wings starts supporting the the plane.

Though 16 K is too much for a foamy, good luck with your flying and eagerly awaiting your vedios of flying.

Cheers

Sandy

Sandy is finally back!

Slight mistake on the price it was Rs. 13999/- + Rs. 999 for the courier = Rs.14998/-  

Reminds me of the good old Bata shoe prices!

Quote from: flyingboxcar on June 03, 2010, 09:27:56 PM
In case of ground launch reinforce the intake ducts bottom and use a bungee cord for catapult launch and best would be to take off and land from nice grass (if you have access to one for flying) 

Low cost catapult bungee- about 5 mtrs of cycle valve tube + 10 mtrs of strong thread( use one like with the cobbler). Fix a hard wood post ( about 2feet High from grd). Tie the valve tube to the post and join the thread to the other end. NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND- WILL BREAK UR MODEL. fix a curtain ring at the thread end. Glue a Tow hook on ur model with depth reenforcement. Before launch stretch the catapult with ur fingers and not the model hooked up. engage the hook just before launch. Initial launch with small stretch. Advantage- initial climb on raw potential energy, at Top of Climb start ur motor- save lots of  batt power to fly more......happy landings

prabhat

great post above !!!

Even better than cycle valve tube, but slightly costly (but much potential energy) is surgical tubing

Thanks everybody, I have decided to keep the undercarriage on. However, Foamy can you please post some pics of the catapult contraption that you are talking about. It will be appreciated by all. It seems interesting to say the least.

Cheers!

VC