Merlin kit?

[David R. Parker]

I am entirely new to this sport, having never flown RC. My dealer has suggested a plane called the Merlin as a good place to start. The kit supposedly has everything needed to fly. What experience do you good folks have with this kit? TIA, David

[jimwalker]

A friend of mine bought that rig and it looked really good to me. It went together easily enough and he took it to the flying field the next day.

He said it was easy enough to fly, (he's a total beginner), but it seemed very underpowered. It's hard to say if it is underpowered for all locations. We're at 3500 feet above sea level here in New Mexico and all stock electrics are underpowered at this altitude.

The other thing we had against the Merlin was that the radio gear is not transferable and is fairly heavy. I assume that you'll want to go on to other more challenging planes in the future. If so, it would be a better investment to buy a Hitec 3 or 4 FM with a feather flight pack and buy a seperate airplane kit to install the gear into.

Much of this is debateable and depends on your future goals and how much you plan on spending.

Hope this helps....

[Clu]

My Father just gave me one for my birthday.

Went together quickly, and is very easy to fly. My Dad flew it first (he's got years of experience with r/c airplanes), he liked the handing. I haven't flown before, but I have some experience with the hobby. I have flown it several times, it’s great for a newbie like me.

Some tips:
Lose the 'cockpit', the plane flies much better without that big plastic scoop hanging off the bottom of it.

Reinforce the joint between the motor/gearbox unit and the Carbon-fiber fuselage. It will work loose on you during flight. I used 5-min epoxy, but that split apart after a couple of flights as well.

Tie down the motor wires to motor itself and the fuselage. This provides some stress relief if the motor/gearbox unit separates from the fuselage. We wrapped a loop of nylon strap around the motor/gearbox to secure the wires to the motor assembly. Then, another loop around the fuselage just behind the motor/gearbox assembly to secure the wires to the plane.

Finally, get a couple of extra batteries.

Hope this helps!