MAX Flight F5K 1.5m

When I unboxed the Max Flight, the effort that had gone into designing and manufacturing it was very evident. It exudes quality. I chose this model as unlike most other manufacturers, it was designed with excellent regard to installing and accessing the servos. Given how light the airframe is, the general construction of the model is a lot more robust that I expected.

After planning the build, my first task was to do a small bit of fettling to the servo holes, which are pre prepared for KstX08. I just needed to ensure that wires would not be pinched and to create a bit more room for the control horns. Tool needed, decent diamond coated files. The servos fit into the frames using very small screws, fortunately I had a suitable 0.7mm drill bit.

I decided to use 0.7mm bowden wire to connect to the rudder and elevator as I want to be able to remove them for holiday transportation and this would be more durable and easier to handle than the supplied cord. This meant using different control horns. Rudder was the same pcb type but as I am a bit paranoid about elevator controls, I decided to fit a small brass MP Jet fitting, tiny but very robust and hidden by the rudder. The only difficulty I found with the R/E build was that it was very difficult to thread a wire or cord through both the front and rear "eyelets" for the rudder. Solved by removing the one in the servo bay.

I particularly wanted a 2 piece wing for transportation. I think that there are also storage and "hanger rash" benefits. Wing servo horns were easily installed by slitting the aileron skin in the premarked position, working some glue in and sliding the horns into place. Before fitting the horns, you need to suitably open out the holes for the control wires. The only problem I had was that after mounting the servos in their bays, I found that the supplied connection rods were each about 5mm too short. Not a problem as I just made a couple more but I could have avoided having to had I ignored the fitting template, fitted the servo and control rod and used that to check the positioning of the aileron control horns before fitting them. Guess I forgot the maxim "measure twice, cut once".

All in all, an easy build with the absence of instructions not proving to be a problem. Although the information is on the Hyperflight website, it wouldn't hurt for the model to come with a sheet detailing the recommended cog and control throws.

I would also suggest that people fit the cnc motor mount from Hyperflight as this significantly strengthens the nose as well as being easy to fit.

Overall weight excluding 2s lipo is 270g, so around 300g rtf.

Needless to say the quality of model is outstanding. Build of went well, a little fidly to get flap pushrods running smoothly , a little bending is advised . used the kst xo6 v6 servos plus plastic frames for the ailerons, cn 6x4 prop with Ldarc xt 1806 motor esc tallon 15a on 3s 300mah and altis nano, Auw 314g. Im familiar with f5k, got the fury and nrj, very happy with nrj, and the mf5k also has a narrow cord wing, will penetrate well in windy conditions and fly well in fair weather, still got to maiden. The plane is worth every penny. The 4 servo is ideal for f5k comp. with auw 270g rtf. The 6 servo just makes your landings easyer . Usual exellent Hyperflight sales and shipping. Thanks Neil