Avios/Hobby King 1600mm C-130 Hercules

[icepirate3]

Thankfully there's good news. All of the servos are working. Had all of the end points set very low as suggested and am glad I did. Going to start sanding and prepping for primer. There are some pretty large gaps between the engine nacelles and the wing that I will fill in. Going to balance the props and either fix or replace the empenage hinges.

[icepirate3]

I submitted a claim so they are aware. Here is a short video I took that I also sent them. If the fuselage is ok, I will replace all of the hinges so at least I know its solid.

[Hardway]

Just opened the box on my Herc and already have concerns. First, the rudder hinges. The top isn't connected to the rudder and when you turn it left, it hangs up. The right elevator has the same issue. Outer hinge isn't secure and it has about an inch of travel up and down at the tip. I haven't even taken the fuselage out of the box and to be honest I'm not looking forward to what else I might find. I've been anticipating this delivery like a kid on Christmas eve but now I'm pretty bummed and it's only been 5 minutes. Not looking forward to testing the servos but am hopeful that they all work. Going to hold off until tonight for that.

Has anyone else had similar issues with the hinges?

:Straight-Face::Straight-Face::Straight-Face::Straight-Face::(:Not-Talking: Not cool at all......

[EA-6B Geek]

I purchased one last week when that window was open, but it hasn't arrived yet. Sad to hear there are still quality issues. I'll make a report when it gets here.

[icepirate3]

It is a shame. I would have been fine waiting another 6 months if it meant knowing that Avios and HK were making sure that it was actually ready to be shipped to the customer. How are these making it through Q.A.?? I get that these are mass produced and mine may be in the minority but I was not expecting to find issues on 2 out of the o ly 4 parts I unpacked.

This is my first Avios/HK plane. First impressions are very important to me. If there are more problems with the fuselage or servos it's getting sent back. The sad part is all of the custom graphics I'm having made and the fact that I bought a new 12 channel radio just for this plane. Live and learn.

[xviper]

Just opened the box on my Herc and already have concerns. First, the rudder hinges. The top isn't connected to the rudder and when you turn it left, it hangs up. The right elevator has the same issue. Outer hinge isn't secure and it has about an inch of travel up and down at the tip. I haven't even taken the fuselage out of the box and to be honest I'm not looking forward to what else I might find. I've been anticipating this delivery like a kid on Christmas eve but now I'm pretty bummed and it's only been 5 minutes. Not looking forward to testing the servos but am hopeful that they all work. Going to hold off until tonight for that.

Has anyone else had similar issues with the hinges?

I hate seeing these kinds of stories. I would hate it even more if I was the buyer. The rudder that hangs up has been posted before and appears to be not that uncommon. I've also heard about poorly glued hinges. These are the kinds of things that we used to see all the time with Banana Hobby products but today, BH products have come a long way and comparing to this experience, would seem to have become superior.
I am still convinced that the whole "lottery" thing that happened with this plane was a result of a bad first production run and the lottery was the selling of what "good" items they could screen from that run. Perhaps now, they are selling off the next best examples of that run, hence the very short "in stock" status of the product. If they can't get the next production run of this plane up to snuff consistently, they will be in BIG trouble. No matter how desirable the plane is, people simply won't stand for this and news travels far and fast.

[icepirate3]

Just opened the box on my Herc and already have concerns. First, the rudder hinges. The top isn't connected to the rudder and when you turn it left, it hangs up. The right elevator has the same issue. Outer hinge isn't secure and it has about an inch of travel up and down at the tip. I haven't even taken the fuselage out of the box and to be honest I'm not looking forward to what else I might find. I've been anticipating this delivery like a kid on Christmas eve but now I'm pretty bummed and it's only been 5 minutes. Not looking forward to testing the servos but am hopeful that they all work. Going to hold off until tonight for that.

Has anyone else had similar issues with the hinges?

[Woodcock]

That's amazing. Congrats man.

Woody

Hey ND, I actually had both Fat "A", and a Grey one picked our. Had them during the selection, and lost the blue one during the check out. Did get the grey though. I'll just have to wait. W

[NoDirt!]

Oh, and by the way, they sent me a replacement Fat Albert which seems to have 4 good motors. Still have not flown it but it all seems to work :Cool:

[NoDirt!]

From what I've seen the wing landing lights are tied together with the navigation lights inside the wing. The gear door lights are separate though.

On the other lights -the flashing dorsal and cargo-, I switched the connectors on their little control board (flashing to dorsal, dorsal to cargo, on both ends) and now the cargo light works still and the dorsal light will go off when I hit the throttle kill switch.

I like it because it shows when the motors are live or "killed"
The dorsal light does still go off at about 60 percent throttle. Kind of silly they couldn't get that to work but I suppose I won't see it much from the ground.

[icepirate3]

I was thinking about using the Freewing light controller on mine if possible so that the landing lights are only on when the gear is down. Seems like a waste of juice to have them on constantly. It gets here tomorrow and am looking forward to digging into it.

[Atesvn]

I may be one of the few that was able to land one of these models that actually had no issues at all. From what I read on the other forum it got me curious. Since I did not have a radio with as many channels they said this plane needed. I choose to totally gut the wiring boxes and just rewire the whole plane with simple Y's and a reverser for the inboard flaps. It is totally functional on just my 6ch radio minus the rear door which I just disconnected with the servo left in place and I secured it closed with a hidden magnet should I feel the need to use it again. I also used a GT light control box for some of the mounted lights already installed instead of their set-up. Although it was a pain to redo I'm more confident on the way it operates now. I'm running a 7ch lemon w/stab mounted upside down with the wiring running on the top of the fuselage. Also after seeing the unfortunate crashes on the other forum and how the fuselage just crumples I decided to reinforce the fuselage with 3/8 wood dowels that I epoxied in. Then removed the extra weights in the tail as I found with my dowel mods for strength and added weight now upfront iit was still within CG using 3000 4S Hobbystar battery. Haven't been able to maidened her yet, but looking forward to soon.

[xviper]

By "class", I'm talking similar "ball park" size, 4 engines, trike gear, heavy lifter, military. If you're talking "class" in terms of quality, form, function, components and execution, they are nothing close. Before I left that RCG thread, I never saw any "candid" and honest postings about the plane. Your post here is the most candid I've seen. I guess for some reason, people over there are too afraid to be that honest, preferring to be "diplomatic" instead or is it just the HK fanbois exerting their brand loyalty by blowing sunshine up everybody's posteriors?

[RRHandy]

I think they already know that. Their B-24 is in a similar class of foamie as the HK C-30 and they know they can sell it for much more. Unlike HobbyKing, I believe that MRC don't take their customer base for being stupid and idiots that can be fooled. We don't stand for being treated with disdain on public forums and we generally are bright enough to be able to compare specs on what goes into a product. Where the HobbyKing customer mostly know what they are getting for the money and "settle", the Flightline customer mostly know what they are getting for the money and "accept".

The price point would be the same but the quality would out of this world, I got one in the lottery and the flaps are something to be had, as others have said on RCG that the servos don't have the torque to move the flaps and the paint is so sticky that I had to sand the leading edge of the outer to make them work and the inners are worthless, I just unplugged the flaps altogether and will fly it without them.

I don't think that it is in the same class as the B-24 for the detail is not the same, the landing light stay on after the doors close the flaps as stated don't work properly, the cargo door is nice but the struts are in the wrong place and i could go on but I would just be regurgitating what others have stated.

This is my first new HK plane, I bought a B-17 used and I like the planes but I know better and will suffer till the pros come out with the goods if you catch the slight.

Ron.

[xviper]

Me too, but don't let MRC know that!

Woody

I think they already know that. Their B-24 is in a similar class of foamie as the HK C-30 and they know they can sell it for much more. Unlike HobbyKing, I believe that MRC don't take their customer base for being stupid and idiots that can be fooled. We don't stand for being treated with disdain on public forums and we generally are bright enough to be able to compare specs on what goes into a product. Where the HobbyKing customer mostly know what they are getting for the money and "settle", the Flightline customer mostly know what they are getting for the money and "accept".

[rifleman_btx]

Agreed on all counts!

[Woodcock]

Agreed! I’d pay more than the HK one for Flightline.

Me too, but don't let MRC know that!

Woody

[xviper]

Sure wish we had a Flightline C-130. Sure wish I had one of those..... That woulda sure made me a happy camper. One can wish I suppose. Wowas Me. : (

Woody

Agreed! I’d pay more than the HK one for Flightline.

[Woodcock]

Sure wish we had a Flightline C-130. Sure wish I had one of those..... That woulda sure made me a happy camper. One can wish I suppose. Wowas Me. : (

Woody

[rifleman_btx]

You and I both, itll be a few months before i even consider this plane as an option. Once we get more evidence on the equipment and longterm build quality.