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The Hobbico SkyVista was very appealing as a second plane because it was a pre-built VRTF (Virtually Ready To Fly), a semi-symmetrical low wing, and at a fair price. This is a relatively new plane having come on the market just this spring. This should be everyone's second plane. The day that the SkyVista was received, work started right away. Everything is pre-built and covered. In addition to the recommended pliers and a screwdriver, a hobby knife, epoxy, flat head screwdriver, and socket wrench also are useful. The servo tray has holes which are pre-marked and drilled. The servos are mounted to the tray, receiver and battery are attached to the tray with rubber bands and the finished tray is mounted into the fuselage in the pre-drilled holes. The wings are assembled next. The aileron servo is slipped into the separate wing spar and screwed down. The steel rod slips through the spar and the two wing halves. The instructions say to slide them together and just tape the seam. This was done and after only two (2) flights, the tape split and the wing flexed in the middle. It is recommended that the wings be joined with epoxy and then taped to eliminate the problem. The fuel tank slips into the front of the fuselage and the fuel tubing is fed through the firewall. The stabilizer and rudder slip into place and the bottom two (2) nuts are tightened. There might be a little wiggle in the assembly but they will not go anywhere. The engine mount is pre-installed but the two screws should be checked to ensure that they are tight. These were not tight and this fact was overlooked. It became obvious when the engine wobbled a great deal when started. There are two more holes on the bottom of the mount with no screws and it is recommended that some be installed to further secure the engine mount. The engine cowl is a pain with the engine that was used, an OS .40-SF (as OS .40 LA was used in the instruction). Since the OS does not have a remote needle valve, a hole was drilled in the cowl to accommodate the needle valve. The landing gear goes on without any problems. The pushrods cause some problems if wheel heads are used instead of arms on the servos. The plastic linkages used to keep the pushrod on the servo head will not work on the round one because the rod hits the side when it rotates. This required that Z-bends be used to get them to stay on the wheel. The 'X' or star shaped heads are best for this application. The box says it builds in two hours but it took four to actually complete the assembly. The controls were set at the high rate for more control. The balance was checked and it was found to be nose heavy because of the bigger engine. It required 4 ounces of weight at the back of the servo tray and to get it on target. The day that chosen to test fly the SkyVista was perfect. It was on a clear summer day of 80° with no wind. The engine started right up. The plane was taxied around and it handles better than many trainers that have bigger wheels. This was a grass runway. After a take-off run of about 40-50 feet, it leaped in the air with a little up elevator. It climbed very well up to altitude and only required 2 notches of left aileron for hands of flight. This is where the SkyVista shines. It could do very axial rolls, crisp loops (inside and outside), 4 - point rolls, Cuban 8's, snap rolls, hammer heads, every thing except knife-edge flight. It was really impressive by all of this even though it greatly resembles a trainer. The 10 - ounce tank lasts a good 13-15 minutes. The throttle was idled and a 180 - degree turn was made to prepare for landing. This plane is hard to slow down. It had to be flown around a few times to get slow enough to flare the landing but the result was a perfect 3 - point landing. It was so impressive in the way it handled that it was flown 3 more times. Overall, this is a terrific second airplane and or replacement for a trainer. The OS .40-SF or FX makes a great combination with the SkyVista. It is easy to build and great to fly. |
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