Parkzone Habu EDF BNF:

Awe, the thrill of the jet age!  Super fast, nice and sleek, this bird looks like it's breaking the sound barrier just sitting on the shelf!  Parkzone out did itself with the design of this airframe.  Building is a breeze and very enjoyable. 

The instructions are very straight forward and the only complaint I have is the picture shows using silver screws, when you really need to use the black screws.  Not such a big deal, and it only took a minute or so to figure out.  Overall, the bolt together building is really neat.

The first flight went off without any problems.  Jacques did give me a wimpy hand launch, which made for a tension moment, but the Habu pulled itself into the air without much fuss.  After a couple of clicks of trim, the plane flew like it was on rails.  It tracks very nicely at high speeds and has a great slow speed feel to it.

As is my preference, I flew it without the landing gear.  So the airframe was very clean.  I can't say for sure, but it seems as fast as a Stryker?  It's a bigger model, so it's really hard to tell.  It did wind out well though and I felt very confident with it even for a first flight.  I did get one low pass a little too low (see the pics, and yes that's at high speed), I'm not usually that confident with a new plane.

The only bummer of the day, and it's minor, is after reading some forums I decided to put some tape on the forward edge of the canopy to ensure that it did not blow off in flight.  I will be getting additional magnets to install in the canopy and fuselage, but I used the tape this time (in a rush) and it peeled off the paint.

I'd suggest this plane to anyone with plenty of aileron experience (and some fast plane stick time).  It's a great first jet, very confidence inspiring and great slow speed flight characteristics. 

Review Update:

Got a chance to fly the Habu off a cement runway.  Was really surprised how easy it is to convert and add the landing gear!  Maybe 10 minutes and the belly lander had tricycle gear installed (with stearable nose wheel).  The gear did slow the plane down a little, which is to be expected.  But, take-offs and landings are very enjoyable, as the flight handling of the Habu is awesome.

I also added some black vinyl in front of the canopy, to hide the flakey paint.  It was a quick, easy fix.

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