F-117

[CW4USARMY]

Received the R/C F-117 and put it together. Here's links to a few pics. Its rainy like crazy right now so cant get good lighting in the pics but this gives you an idea of size. You wouldnt believe this is styrofoam. I was thinking it looked a little big for 1:18 but after looking at real pictures and size comparisons to personnel and other aircraft, its just about dead on.
Thanks to Aferg for pointing me toward some of the R/C offerings

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bc ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/p7 ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Qz ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Of ... directlink

[CW4USARMY]

BTW, My F-14 is sitting on a box because I'm waiting for my stand from Pizzaguy and am too scared to put it on its landing gear

[fightin]

wow, the Nighthawk is looking good. Does it have nice details?

[YT]

Agreed, I would love some more details about this. Mind if i ask about cost also?

[CW4USARMY]

It was only 106.00 as a kit from Toysonics.com. It is the 70mm kit version without all the RC stuff. It goes together faitly easily without all ofthe servos and such. Nice looking aircraft. Still waiting for glue to dry to put on canopy hinges. As far as detail goes, it looks really good since it is an F-117 and the real one doesnt have much on the outside and is black. I think it would look more toyish if it was any other type of aircraft requiring paint and stuff. Will try and take better close up pictures when the sun finally decides to shine over here.

[aferguson]

looks pretty sweet. I'm definitely going to replace the smaller one i've got. Mine is around 1/20 and definitely looks too small, very noticable with the pilot in the cockpit. I like the looks of that one much more.

Were the decals of high quality with virtually no silvering? The ones i had for the smaller one were. I suspect it's the same actual sheet of decals, as they were really too big for my plane.

Did it come with any kind of mesh covering for the engine intakes? The smaller one didn't and i couldn't figure out a good way of making them.

[aeo178]

thats nice. how much was she? Id like to have one.

[grunt1]

wow, that looks like it came right off the line from BBI or 21C.

[CW4USARMY]

looks pretty sweet. I'm definitely going to replace the smaller one i've got. Mine is around 1/20 and definitely looks too small, very noticable with the pilot in the cockpit. I like the looks of that one much more.

Were the decals of high quality with virtually no silvering? The ones i had for the smaller one were. I suspect it's the same actual sheet of decals, as they were really too big for my plane.

Did it come with any kind of mesh covering for the engine intakes? The smaller one didn't and i couldn't figure out a good way of making them.

No mesh, but good point, hadn't thought of that so will try and come up with something. Not sure what silvering is but they are a slightly shiny if thats what it is. Overall it looks really good for what it is. Even up close you cant tell its foam. Now Ive got to think about what to use for mesh .......

[CW4USARMY]

thats nice. how much was she? Id like to have one.

106 plus shipping, and they had a 5.00 coupon when I ordered so right at 100.00.

[aeo178]

Wow good price. Were did your purchase it at?

[c44588]

Sweet....cant believe the 117 is retired. Awesome aircraft!

Good luck flying that beast!!!! If its anything like the real thing, its almost impossible to tell if its going or coming!

[gliderdwm]

Nice F-117. It is sold out at Toysonics. Possibly they will get some more in.
This still looks small for 1/18. The F-117 Is actually longer than the F-14 in reality.

[CW4USARMY]

Nice F-117. It is sold out at Toysonics. Possibly they will get some more in.
This still looks small for 1/18. The F-117 Is actually longer than the F-14 in reality.

Its actually longer than the JSI F-14. Its the angle of pic that gives the optical illusion, plus limited lighting. Will try and get better pics posted soon.

[aferguson]

it's definitely big enough. 1/16.9 scale by my calculations. But you're right, the F-117 is a deceptively large aircraft and i think it looks just great It's actually closer to 1/18 than the bbi f-16 seen in the pics. I find with aircraft it's much tougher to notice small scale discrepencies than it is with tanks or cars.

[popeye357]

Damn...that looks really good next to the others....I have to fight temptation though:)

[USCGSARdog]

That is quite cool... gotta get one of those.

That is one evil looking thing.

-Rob

[parrish333]

Wow - very awesome! I'm really tempted to get that beautiful bird. It's too bad toysonics is sold out, but banana hobby seems to have the same model? :

http://www.bananahobby.com/1889.html

I love that it has the working bombs/bomb bay!

One question though: is there room for a pilot in the cockpit? Or maybe a better question - is there a cockpit to speak of or is it just a big empty space where r/c stuff is designed to go?

Thanks for bringing it to our attention!

[CW4USARMY]

It has a cockpit canopy that swings open, but you'd have to doa little digging in the foam to make room for the pilot. Its setup to house some electronics. I cant see the link but I know banana hobby has it, just make sure it is the 70 mm version. Im thinking of getting the B-2 next since this turned out so nice.

OK, link worked. Yes thats it. Good price too.

[aferguson]

i put a pilot torso in mine. Just took the legs off.

Opening canopy is nice....mine didn't have that, just glued it on.

Yes there are 2 different sizes available. Make sure you get the 70mm fan version. The other is about 15% smaller...it's a fair bit cheaper but the bigger one is much better. And always get the airframe only option, unless you plan to fly it, because they're the cheapest.

Be patient......these things go in and out of stock a lot. They'll be around for a long time to come.

[YT]

Does anybody know anywhere else to buy these? I did some searching and it doesn't appear that Banana hobby has the best reputation.

[Beeavision]

Well after reading this thread I couldn't resist and went ahead and bought both the F-117 and the B-2. I just happen to purchase both of them through Banana Hobby since they were the only retailer selling the B-2 aside from currently having both in stock. And as YT mentioned Banana Hobby is not quite the best place to buy from apparently. They have been listed numerous times with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and their customer service is not too good either. That said they did however report last month that they were currently underway in improving their services to insure past mistakes on their end don't ever happen again. I've even watched their you tube videos where Pete (the owner of BH) gives one on one reviews on each product they sell especially on the F-117, B-2, and SR-71.

As for me well I guess I was pretty lucky since I received both of these jets through the mail in remarkable condition. Even the boxes they came in were in great shape. No parts were missing and the manuals on both were very informative with step by step photos all in which were in color. I bought both of these without the motors/servos, batteries, and controllers since I'm only interested in hanging them up for display. The only two issues I had with Banana Hobby was first of all they never responded to my e-mail I sent them regarding the tracking number for my order. I never did call them though so I can't really comment on that. The other was due to their delay in getting my order out their door. It was almost two weeks later before they had finally shipped them out. Now to be honest during my purchase apparently Banana Hobby was going through phone upgrades to their building that apparently resulted in them closing up shop for 14 days. So maybe the delay in the shipping was a direct cause of this....I don't know. But there you have it.

Product review:

Both aircraft are made from the same high density foam mentioned on their site. So for those who hang them from the ceiling like I do won't need to worry about the weight factor. Each one weighs in just under 3 lbs. So hanging them is a breeze. Despite that the only concern I found was having enough space to display them. They are both bigger then the f-14 JSI produced for us last year. And to give you and idea of how big they are the B-2 for example has a wing span of over 5' long. By scale it falls between 1:32 and 1:33. Though you would think it was 1:18 just by looking at its overall immense size. Where as the F-117 is somewhere at 1:17 as mention earlier in a previous post on this thread. As for the material they used for constructing these two amazing jets you would think they were made of solid plastic just by looking at them even while up close but until you hold one in your hands then it becomes quite clear due to the weight factor that its made of high density styrene foam. Which is basically air filled plastic. To give you a general idea of how durable they are well the foam they used doesn't puncture or scratch easy when handling them properly but if dropped from several feet (lets say higher then 6-8 feet for example) could result in some minor damage if the surface they land on is hard like concrete. And this all depends on what part of the aircraft hits first of course. They are also both very true to their individual scale except of course the landing gears which after all these are RC aircraft where dealing with.

[Beeavision]

Here's a link to the manufacture behind these aircraft....

http://www.lxhm.us/en/index.asp

http://lxhm.en.alibaba.com/

[Beeavision]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWrMk_J9gsk

from:

http://www.xtremehobby.com.au/

[CW4USARMY]

Does anybody know anywhere else to buy these? I did some searching and it doesn't appear that Banana hobby has the best reputation.

Toysonics.com is where I purchased mine for 106.00. They are out of stock but you can get on a waitlist.

hope that helps,

Andy