Today the $170 Raven clone we were talking about the other day arrived. Here are some quick impressions after unpacking it.
First, it's BIG. The wingspan is 60" (152 cm), which is about 15% bigger than the real Raven RQ-11 (130cm). Here you can see it head to head with a stock EasyStar.
The build quality seems pretty good. It's all balsa/ply, with no fiberglass or plastic. The tail boom is an aluminum tube. None of it seems very sturdy, however--this is nothing like the real Raven, which is made of carbon fiber and kevlar and designed to crash land.
However, the model comes with NO instructions, and I really have no idea how the wing is supposed to attach to the body, or where the CG is supposed to be, to say nothing of where the rudder and elevator servos are supposed to go, since the interior of the body is totally empty. There are hatches in the wing for the aileron servos, but no mounting rails.
The tail boom just slides into a hole in the body. I guess you're supposed to drill screw holes or something. No clues given.
The motor mount. No information given on suggested motor or prop.
Here's the inside of the body. Basically, this is an empty vessel. You'll have to do a lot of work creating a plywood interior framework for electronics and such.
It comes with a small bag of generic hardware, including some joke foam wheels and mounting brackets for landing gear that it doesn't have. This is almost certainly a hardware pack intended for another plane. There seems to be no connection to the Raven, although the control horns and fabric hinges could certainly be used on this model. Perplexing...
Bottom line: I really don't think this is the plane for me. Even with instructions, this is going to take many hours to get ready to fly. It's going to be hard to transport, with its large size and one-piece wing, and I'm worried about how it will handle hard landings. The tail boom mount looks fragile to me, and I really can't see how the wing mount can be anything but a fracture waiting to happen.
I think this might work as a very large display model for shows, but I can't really see it holding up to much real flying.
And without instructions, I wouldn't even try making it. For a $170 model, I'd expect more polish. In short, based on what I've seen so far, I can't recommend this.
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I'm still a little unsure of paying for the Raven wanna-be, but I do like the one Hooks was touting off about :). I lists for a little more than $35.00 USD after conversion, which is very do'able.
"Hooks"
I also like this plan, which does have video of it flying. It converts to little more than $50.00 USD.
Here's an attempt at linking to video:
Hmmmm...
For anyone who is still interested in giving this semi-ARF kit a try, it can be purchased for half the price through TaoBao – China’s equivalent of EBay. You will need a webpage translator (Google Chrome web browser comes with one built-in).
You can read about TaoBao here and here. You will need an agent to purchase your desired items for you – most charge 10% of the purchase price for the service.
One TaoBao store (similar to EBay merchant stores) that sells the Raven clone also sells some of the other airframes listed on the Turkish FPV site.
I’ve done some quick currency conversions using Google for the same airframe listed at the store:
Airframe: 500 RMB => 73.25 US dollars
EMS Shipping: 40 RMB => 5.86 US dollars
10% Agent Fee: 7.91 US dollars (assuming they include shipping when they calculate the cost)
Total = 87.02 US dollars
Looks a bit more reasonably priced.
Matthew, I think you could get a lot more anwers if you asked instead of just writting crazy accusations.
Another thing... Chris took one for the team and spent $170 + shipping to evaluate the plane... if you don't like the eval you could buy it yourself :D
Could you not go for the great favourite of dowels and rubber bands Chris?? They will have that shock absorbing property.
--@bGatti: This was not made or designed in Turkey. It was designed and made in China. It just happens to be sold by a Turkish website. And this is not just an example of a plane that's a little rough around the edges and needs to be flown to test: THERE IS NO WAY TO ATTACH THE WING. If someone can show me how to either fly the plane without a wing, or how to create a mounting assembly for the wing, I'd be happy to hear it.
--@Matthew M. No, we are not developing our own airframe. I was rough on the plane because it's expensive and unflyable.
I too wish this airframe in my hand being tested but i can't afford one with unknown quality @ 170$ + shipping where i need that money for more important components for my UV project. The assessment was for out of the box so far where the said airframe lacks few things that would have made it excellent platform, no doubt about it. It would probably cost 5-10$ more to make it dream machine but that effort/ability will not be in every ones reach & therefore needs to be done from factory :-)). I sincerely hope that who ever designed this takes the review/discussion in positive note, corrects/adds it and releases it for every one of us to enjoy this beautiful airframe.
And no, I doubt they have any airframes in works them selves.
From what I heard & seen, Jordi is running full steam on production/design of electronics projects( offered at diystore)+ attending college and i guess is barely able to wake up in morning :-) , i haven't seen him flying or talking about it much, the only airframe seen around him looks like easystar
Chris also looks like some one more happy to take off the self good product and have enough time to play with it. i doubt both of then will ever have time/energy to build from scratch airframe project.
Yes, both servos are in the tail fin. The deep stall autoland gives the operator the ability to "drop" into a tree surrounded LZ or land precisely on a roof or in a boat.
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