Joy F5J 2.5m

Like a lot of us I’d love a 4m carbon ship, but the price jumps exponentially at that sort of size, and for most sport flyers (like me) it’s hard to justify.

That’s why this 2.5m Joy appealed to me, and a lovely thing it is too. A lot of the assembly work is done for you, and these things are beautifully manufactured, I’ve got the smiley face design and it’s flawless. Everything goes together so well, and the wiring harness is pre-installed and everything marked on the carbon layup for things like servo horns and the cuts for the wing servo rods. The servo boxes are cleanly finished and you really can’t mess up the channel to the servo horn unless you’re very ham fisted!

As ever with a precision wing like this one, you need some high precision servos to do it justice and to ensure you get reliable and consistent camber and other wing positions, so don’t skimp on those if you can help it.

All up weight for mine was 690g, but I went for a gearbox motor. The two fuse hatches allow for flexible rc positioning and access, but tape them on before flight just in case.

Flight wise, I’m finding it really rewarding, it will float quite readily if that’s your style, but is also happy screaming around making you smile at the sound of it.

Delivery from Neil was as ever brilliant, well boxed and arrived in perfect condition. The box has got a second life at my daughter’s primary school as part of a giraffe sculpture, the cardboard is very strong! :-D

Great quality, easy to build and super lightweight. Even with a regular layup I ended up on 660g AUW. Super fast delivery as always! Thanks!

Over the past year, I've learnt so much about thermal flying, so I'm already planning for more during 2023. Although I won't be competing, I've come to the conclusion that's it's worth paying the extra for performance. I went for the Joy F5J as a stepping stone towards full size F5J in the future. Beautiful construction and design. And the smiley faces look great in real life! And I love the dazzling yellow, light layup I chose. Not built yet, but aiming for 2023..... Great service from Neil who uses very strong boxes for safe delivery.

This is an amazing sports model that fits into the trunk of the car, floats really well, is easy to fly and is built with high quality standards using spread tow carbon fibers for the wing and tails. The manufacturer has added a lot of lovely details, like the snap-on canopy and servo hatch. The construction is light and sufficiently strong for the intended purpose. On my model, the carbon fabric of the top skin did not fully reach down to the hingeline (there is a molded in hinge-gap). The manufacturer was responsive and said they did not think this would be an issue. I have added locally E6000 adhesive to bridge that gap and prevent the bottom wing skin from de-laminating near the flap and servo horns. This is a small issue, and can be easily fixed to improve longevity of the airframe. Overall, this is a very fair deal for the aircraft, and the overall quality and joy of having one is high.