HOBBICO AVISTAR AND SUPERSTAR REVIEW
Brad Karjama
This was the first RC airplane that I managed to get flying (I had bought a
Carl Goldberg Eagle 63 in the past, but failed to complete it).
I bought the Hobbico Avistar ARF when it was first released a few years ago.
It was being sold at a local hobby show at a special introductory price of
$100 Canadian (which is about $65 US these days -- sheesh! Terrible exchange
rate).
The plane was very easy to assemble (especially compared to a full blown kit
like the 63). It took me around 20 hours to make it flight ready.
During assembly, the only problem that I encountered was with the
engine-mount. On the outside of the box, it recommends that you use an OS 40
FP engine or a Super Tigre 40. I owned an OS 40 FP, so I figured that
everything would be okay. The problem was that when I mounted the engine to
the engine-mount, the muffler would not clear the side of the fuselage.
Rather than cut a hole in the fuselage, I mounted the engine-mount upside
down, which resulted in the engine-mount rails sitting about 5/16 inch
higher than usual. The bottom side of the engine mount was not completely
flat and needed to be ground down before I could mount the engine.
Having said all this, I noticed that the new Hobbico kits use an entirely
new engine mount, so you probably won't encounter this same problem.
There is ample room up front for larger than .40 sized engines. If you want
to put a .46 or even an (oddball sized) .50 up there, I'm sure that it would
fit.
FLYING:
Keep in mind that I had never flown an RC airplane before, but I have about
20 hours of flight time in full-sized aircraft. For the first couple of
flights, I removed the landing gears and had my brother hand launch the
plane. Landing was achieved by shutting off the engine and letting it settle
into very tall grass. This landing method actually worked quite well and
resulted in minimal damage.
The airplane has a relatively thin, semi-symmetrical airfoil. At attitude, I
found the airplane fairly easy to control. No major problems. The engine
developed a decent amount of power. It wouldn't go vertical for very long,
but you could easily do loops and rolls.
The problems began when I attached the landing gear. Takeoff was easy. Gun
the engine, work the nosewheel, and it would lift off in a matter of feet.
But the higher flight speeds associated with the semi-symmetrical airfoil
made it very difficult to land. I found myself constantly cart-wheeling and
nosing over the airplane. It got beat up pretty bad, and the firewall became
weakened. Despite my patchwork fix-ups, the firewall eventually failed in
flight, which is what caused the plane to plunged down from an altitude of
200 feet.
(see pictures in nntp://alt.binaries.radio.control.models)
You can't see it in the pictures, but the O.S. .40 FP engine actually broke
away from the mount. This probably saved a lot of stress on the engine. I
immediately opened up the engine and cleaned out the dirt that had managed
to work its way into the carb. The prop and spinner were trashed, but
amazingly the engine still runs great!
I went to a local hobby store and told them about my ordeal. After talking
to me for a while, the owner of the store confided in me that I had made a
big mistake by buying an Avistar. The plane is really meant to be a '2nd
airplane', and it designed as an introductory aerobatic machine.
Instead, he convinced me to buy a Hobbico Superstar, which is almost exactly
the same as the Avistar, except that the wing is has more dihedral, is very
thick, flat bottomed, and has more surface area. I was promised that the
Superstar would land at a much slower speed than the Avistar.
I'm about three hours away from completing the Superstar. Assembly was very,
very similar to the Avistar. The major difference is that the engine mount
is completely different; the engine is actually clamped into place, instead
of being bolted. No drilling required! Great idea. The only thing wrong with
the kit is that the elevator has a slight warp in it, which I'm trying to
fix by wetting the wood and then putting heavy books on it to make it flat.
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry <lam...@earthlink.net>
To: Brad <br...@xspace.com>
Date: Saturday, August 22, 1998 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: Oops! Trashed Airplane
>Hey how did that kit fly and assemble before your hard impact with the
>ground?? I was looking at that exact one.. what engine did you run?? is
>the engine savable??
>
>Larry
John M. Badley
and found the Avistar to be one of the better ARF airplanes out there - at
least from the initial setup and company support standpoint.
John Badley
Tim Green wrote in message <5fqE1.95$Fm.47...@news.en.com>...
>I fly the Avistar, built a couple of months ago - A joy to fly - no
problems
>to report.
>
>Tim Green
>
>Brad Karjama wrote in message <6rse8o$r89$1...@supernews.com>...