Raven Review

I recognized the quality of this kit as soon as I opened the box. The pieces fit so well, that the airframe came out straighter than any other foam kit I have ever built. I used medium CA on most of the interlocking parts, but for the motor mount and wing spar I used Gorilla Glue (epoxy would work fine). The new G-Force wing design is simply awesome. I don't think I'll ever go back to building a flat wing foamy again. The G-Force wing is much stronger and gives a sturdy feel to the entire plane. I used a dremel with a router bit to round the wing's LE, and then I smoothed it out with sand paper. The pockets for the aileron servos are so deep, there is no way they could ever come loose in a crash, much less during flight. The tail servos were setup close to the controls, which required some 6 inch extensions, but made the plane balance out extremely well overall. I used a hot glue gun to secure all the servos, and velcro to secure my battery and receiver. I used CA hinges on all controls. The optional landing gear looks great, especially with the included wheel pants. Now, for the fun stuff - how the Raven flies! I had seen a video of this plane online, and expected a lot out of this bird - I wasn't disappointed. In fact, this plane is so precise when it flies, that you won't believe you're flying a piece of foam! The G-Force wing deserves a lot of credit for this. The real beauty of the Raven is that it flies precision maneuvers just as well as it flies 3D - and it does both better than any other plane I have ever flown. The Raven can fly continuous knife edge loops as small or as large as you want. As a matter of fact, the other day I did 3 knife edge loops of 40 foot diameter about 5 feet above the ground. On the third loop, I tried to get fancy and hit the ground hard - wing first. The plane tumbled until it looked like a pile of trash. It broke the tip of the wing off, part of the aileron, and snapped the fuselage completely in half between the tail and the wing. The plane was in 4 separate pieces. That night I took some Gorilla Glue and pieced it back together. The next day it flew just as good as it did before! Try that with balsa wood! This plane's design makes all the other tricks easier, too - hovering, harriers, torque rolls, snap rolls, tail slides, rolling harriers, parachutes, elevators, blenders, or whatever you can think up. One trick I haven't learned yet is a waterfall, but I'm sure its not the plane's fault. I've only been flying this plane for 2 weeks, and its already made me a much better pilot.