F-117

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 8:13 pm

Beeavision wrote: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.

If you get a chance, please post comparison pics of the B-2 against some of your other aircraft. I'm about 98% ready to buy it, but would like to see some more pics.
Thanks!

YT · Post by YT » Wed Feb 17, 2010 8:46 pm

Thanks guys, maybe I will roll the dice on Banana Hobby.

Beeavision · Post by **Beeavision** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:27 pm

CW4USARMY wrote:If you get a chance, please post comparison pics of the B-2 against some of your other aircraft. I'm about 98% ready to buy it, but would like to see some more pics.
Thanks!

I'll see what I can do but for now here's a link to BH site with pictures. The last couple of pics are of Pete holding the B-2 in his hands. If I'm not mistaken according to Pete he is about 5'4" tall. The aircraft comes with decals as you can see in the photos but if you prefer a more realistic approach I would leave them off. Without the decals the B-2 looks quite aggressive.

http://www.bananahobby.com/1890.html

Others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixY1f3BBRXg (Check out the f-35 @ 5:53 & an overview of all the aircraft @ 6:58.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG5VK8l9nfg

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:51 am

Beeavision wrote:
CW4USARMY wrote:If you get a chance, please post comparison pics of the B-2 against some of your other aircraft. I'm about 98% ready to buy it, but would like to see some more pics.
Thanks!
I'll see what I can do but for now here's a link to BH site with pictures. The last couple of pics are of Pete holding the B-2 in his hands. If I'm not mistaken according to Pete he is about 5'4" tall. The aircraft comes with decals as you can see in the photos but if you prefer a more realistic approach I would leave them off. Without the decals the B-2 looks quite aggressive.

http://www.bananahobby.com/1890.html

Others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixY1f3BBRXg (Check out the f-35 @ 5:53 & an overview of all the aircraft @ 6:58.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG5VK8l9nfg

Thanks, I have seen banana hobby pics but was hoping to see some side by side comparison to some 1:18 aircraft. Still curious as to overall size in relation to 1:18.

Post by **aferguson** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:22 am

if you have the 21c avenger, it will be about 9 inches less than twice the span of the Avenger, so you can imagine it probably. It will also be 9 inches shorter than the BBI F-18 and about 20 inches shorter than your F117.

Small by comparison.

sdcc73 · Post by **sdcc73** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 7:49 pm

Can you give us a picture + measurement of the bomb bay?

Or, can you fit a 1:18 scale figure (with working parachute) in the bomb bay?

I'd like to know if this can drop a para-trooper (versus dropping the bombs it comes with) while flying this RC jet high in the sky.

YT · Post by YT » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:20 am

I received mine from Banana Hobby yesterday without incident and in a reasonable time frame. I would like to put a gloss coat on before I apply the decals to avoid silvering. I don't know the first thing about this foam, will this be OK? I would put down Future floor polish with an airbrush, then decals the another coat of Future then a flat coat, probably Model Masters lacquer.

Post by **aferguson** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:40 am

if the decals are like the ones that came with mine, you won't have to worry about silvering at all. EXCEPT for the decals that go on the tail. For some reason they were of a lesser quality and silvered a bit. But the others were perfect. Not even a hint of silvering, despite the very flat black surface they were applied to. Mine is a year old, so i don't know if the current decals are the same quality, though i imagine they are.

ALSO, DO NOT use any kind of decal solution like micro set. It will react with the decals and create a white residue. I was able to clean mine off, somehow, but after i learned the hard way i just applied them with water and they went on perfectly.

Testors gloss cote should be fine on the foam, as i use dullcote and other testors spray paints, but test it first on the inside of a foam piece to see if it eats the foam or not.

YT · Post by YT » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:36 am

Thanks aferguson, I was hoping you would respond since you seem to be most knowledgeable about these planes.

Post by **aferguson** » Sun May 02, 2010 2:56 pm

hey, CW4USARMY, did you ever get the B-2? If so, are you happy with it?

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Mon May 03, 2010 3:20 pm

Hey Aferg,

Nope, havent made the commitment yet. Still debating on whether or not to get the b-2, or the B-25 Apche Princess from HobbyLobby. B-25 is more 1/18-ish so may probably buy it soon, but still trying to figure out where to display it. Im guessing hang it from the ceiling of the man cave but would rather look at it from the top and side views

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 03, 2010 4:31 pm

the apache princess b-25 is not that close to 1/18 scale. It's more like 1/15 or a bit bigger even.

You want the FSK B-25. It's about 1/17. You can buy either glass nose or gun nose variants.

Best place to buy them is direct from the source, most probably:

http://www.fsk-warbirds.eu/nabidka?lang=en

You can also get the FSK Ju-88 there as well. It's about 15.5, if you're not too fussy on scale.

mountian-man · Post by **mountian-man** » Mon May 03, 2010 5:59 pm

Why does it say 1:13th scale on that FSK B-25? Also, does this have that styro-texture...? Doesn't look like it from the pictures!

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Mon May 03, 2010 6:55 pm

aferguson wrote:the apache princess b-25 is not that close to 1/18 scale. It's more like 1/15 or a bit bigger even.

You want the FSK B-25. It's about 1/17. You can buy either glass nose or gun nose variants.

Best place to buy them is direct from the source, most probably:

http://www.fsk-warbirds.eu/nabidka?lang=en

You can also get the FSK Ju-88 there as well. It's about 15.5, if you're not too fussy on scale.

It looks like the Hobby Lobby apache princess...exactly, right donw to paint job, I wonder if they were made by the same chinese factory?

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 03, 2010 7:54 pm

FSK planes are made in the Czech repuplic....i don't know where the apache princess is made. Hobby Lobby is just a retailer, they don't make any planes.

All FSK planes say 1/13 scale but only the fighters are. The twins are usually smaller; the B-25 is 1/17 scale.

There is a very slight foam texture, more of a bit of a roughness to the surface than anything, very slight.

FSK is planning a Lancaster for later this year, which will be about 1/17 and a P-61 hopefully for next year, which will hopefully be close to 1/17 as well, fingers crossed. They're also talking about doing a Mistel combo and a Wellington bomber. Much potential lies ahead with them.

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 03, 2010 8:04 pm

you're talking about this one right?

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/b25_apache_princess.htm

it's not as big as i thought, but still bigger than the FSK one. The FSK is closer to scale and quite probably better in quality....although i have to admit i know nothing about this one, quality wise.

The FSK will be cheaper too.....about $200 shipped.

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Thu May 06, 2010 4:58 am

Yep, thats the one. The FSK and this one are exactly alike. Im wondering if hobby lobby had them built by the same folks as FSK. Take a look at paint schemes and surface. exactly the same (even the tail number). what's the odds? There are some good youtube videos of the hobby lobby B-25 and it looks great and is practically complete out of the box.

Post by **aferguson** » Thu May 06, 2010 8:40 am

they're not exactly the same....they have the same markings. The one in the link i posted is bigger by about 15% and it's about 50% more in price.

Get the FSK one, it's a lot closer to 1/18 scale and will save you at least $100.

I doubt FSK had anything to do with the larger one, it's probably just a chinese rip off copy of the FSK version that's been enlarged; happens all the time with r/c planes.

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Thu May 06, 2010 7:56 pm

214.00 shipped from FSK! Will be on the water (or air) soon. Hope it is as good as it looks.

Thanks for the info Aferg!

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:37 pm

aferguson wrote:the apache princess b-25 is not that close to 1/18 scale. It's more like 1/15 or a bit bigger even.

You want the FSK B-25. It's about 1/17. You can buy either glass nose or gun nose variants.

Best place to buy them is direct from the source, most probably:

http://www.fsk-warbirds.eu/nabidka?lang=en

You can also get the FSK Ju-88 there as well. It's about 15.5, if you're not too fussy on scale.

Hey Aferg,
I should have asked you this a couple of weeks ago but have you ever oredered from FSK? I would get replies back to my emails fairly quickly until I ordered the B-25 and sent paypal payment. Now I dont get anything from them

Wonder if paypal helps get my money back if it is not an ebay transaction.

Post by **aferguson** » Fri May 14, 2010 6:17 pm

no i've never ordered from them but i don't think you have anything to worry about. They are a very up and up company. I know they are in the process of relocating at the moment so that may be the reason you're not getting a response.

You should be covered by Paypal, as long as it was indicated that you purchased goods (as opposed to a service).

I wouldn't worry.

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Sat May 15, 2010 7:15 am

aferguson wrote:no i've never ordered from them but i don't think you have anything to worry about. They are a very up and up company. I know they are in the process of relocating at the moment so that may be the reason you're not getting a response.

You should be covered by Paypal, as long as it was indicated that you purchased goods (as opposed to a service).

I wouldn't worry.

Thanks for the reassurance. Looking forward to adding the B-25 to the collection, hope they come through.

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Wed May 19, 2010 5:03 am

Hey aferg, maybe you (or anybody) can try emailing fsk to see if they will respond to you. I still haven't received any replies from them after sending money.

Post by **aferguson** » Wed May 19, 2010 5:46 am

why don't you go to their site and place another order....you don't have to pay, they just send you an email with payment details.

See if they email you for that or not and if they do, ask them why they won't respond to your other enquiries.

I'll put in an equirey with the FSK rep on the rcgroups forum.

CW4USARMY · Post by **CW4USARMY** » Wed May 19, 2010 7:42 pm

aferguson wrote:why don't you go to their site and place another order....you don't have to pay, they just send you an email with payment details.

See if they email you for that or not and if they do, ask them why they won't respond to your other enquiries.

I'll put in an equirey with the FSK rep on the rcgroups forum.

OK, tried that. We'll see what happens next.