eRC B-25 Apache Princess EPO Twin (OVERSIZE)

Though I had a small servo issue for one of the landing gear doors and missing the extra set of props, Hobby Lobby corrected it after a quick call to them. Their customer service department has improved 10 fold from some not so good past experiences. Thank You Hobby Lobby for standing behind your products. Speaking of Products, this B-25 is one awesome machine anyway you look at it. As one previous customer has stated, Very Easy to hand launched and stable leaving your hand. When the daylight drops down, those wingtip lights really stand out. While assembling the aircraft, I added clear packing tape to the fuselage belly for gear up landings on the grass as it saves the belly paint and styrofoam. (Be sure to chop power completely off before touching down ...or you will lose a blade/break a prop). The there was a drawback if I were to pick one is the small "not to scale" wheels for landing in grassy areas like the field I fly from. Due to the design, you would be hard pressed to install larger wheels. That said........I am very pleased with my purchase. Hopefully Hobby Lobby will continue to bring additional eRC products like the B-25 to the market.

Unbelievable model! Had maiden flight today and was blown away by this models tracking and stability. Hand launching this bird is effortless should you chose to do so. From building to flying, if I had an option of six stars this model would get them. Just plain awesome.

Wow Factor! Right out of the box. First flight, couple clicks of trim and she soars like an eagle. I'm in love with the landing gear! It's plenty sturdy. Not like you'll need it because this bird flys slow enough to land with out flaps. You'll need to keep it under power and steadily back off throttle stick and she'll settle right in. I use my rudder low rate for runway tracking w/tons of expo and limited travel. And that keeps tracking perfect. The counter rotating props pretty much eliminate off tracking because of torque. If I could gripe, it would be 4 minute flight times. But, there is room for a bigger battery. So, I'm still gonna give it a FIVE star rating.

I had a hard time at first, my esc. got too hot and caused an engine failure...Then I needed to learn how to fly a heavy warbird...Hl took real good care of me on replacement parts and the rc groups helped in flying... I had to put the esc. on the outside to get the proper air,, for me..
Now .. I love this bird... I do low passes and get the crowd to give all kind of nice comments.. The landing gear and doors closeing at a slow pace really give this bird a nice touch.
She flys nice and stable... just keep the speed up in tight turns and power on and flair on landing and you will really enjoy this bird...Remember its a war bird and acts like one...

I received the B-25 5 days ago and have it assembled. It looks great and everything works fine. My only problem is that we have a grass flying field and I think it will need to be flown from a paved strip. I think I will have to wait to fly it when I am at a paved runway. I am wondering If anyone has flown the B-25 from a grass strip.

A great model with real value for the money! Looks great flying down the runway on a low bombing mission.

Works as advertised. The retracts are holding up well, the lights are a fun touch.

One issue that should be addressed is the location of the ESC units. They come buried in the engine nacelles behind the firewall, where no cooling air will reach them, especially when the gear is retracted. The labels on the ESCs indicate that they will only reach their full rating with cooling airflow.

My fix was to relocate the ESCs to the firewall, below and behind the motors. I also enlarged the cooling air exits and fully opened up the spaces between the cylinders of the fake vacuform engine.

I also had one bad servo y harness and a very loose bullet connection in the battery to ESC "y" harness.

Without those minor issues, it would deserve a 5 star rating!

I SAW THE ADVERTISING AND WAS IMPRESSED AS WELL AS THE VIDEO! I ORDERED THE PLANE AND IN RECORD SPEED IT WAS AT MY FRONT DOOR, VERY WELL PACKAGED AND BIG. THE QUALITY WAS AMAZING, THE SCALE DETAILS WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE, I OPENED THE INSTRUCTIONS AND STARTED IN ABOUT 4 HOURS LATER THERE SHE WAS A REAL BEAUTY,THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE VERY EASY TO READ AND EVERYTHING WENT TOGETHER JUST LIKE IS SAYS, NO SCRATCHING YOUR HEAD OR GUESS WORK!!! I CHARGED THE BATTERY AND OFF TO THE FIELD, EARLY IN THE MORNING NO WIND AND BRIGHT PREFECT FOR A MADIEN FLIGHT,EXCEPT ONE THING THE GUYS AT THE FIELD ,THEY ALL WANTED TO SEE THE RETRACTS WORK AND THE COUNTER ROTATING PROPS ,I ALMOST RAN DOWN THE BATTERY SHOWING EVERYONE THE PLANE AND ALL THE SCALE DETAILS AND THE LIGHTS WERE A BIG HIT. NOW FOR THE FIRST FLIGHT , GOT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RUNWAY , GOT ON THE POWER EASY AND IN ABOUT 60 FEET WE HAVE LIFT OFF AND SUPER ROLL OUT. LEVEL FLIGHT ONLY TOOK A FEW CLICKS OF AIL.AND ELEV. LIGHTS FLASHING SCALE FLY BYS AND A GRIN ON MY FACE THE SIZE OF A BASKETBALL. NOW CAME TIME FOR THE LANDING, LOWERED THE WHEELS , CUT THE POWER AFTER I GOT LINED UP ON APPROCH AND SHE SUNK IN JUST LIKE JIMMY DOOLITTLE WAS AT THE CONTROLS. WHAT A PLEASURE FLYING THIS PLANE, SCALE RETRACTS,LIGHTS, PROPS, GUNS, WHAT A DEAL!!! I HOPE THAT HOBBY LOBBY CAN PRODUCE MORE MULTI-MOTOR WAR BIRDS LIKE THIS . THIS IS A WINNER!!!

I just test flew the B-25. I had previously written a build review, and today was the first opportunity to fly it. Naturally I showed up at the field at the same time as a 10 to 12 mph direct crosswind.
I had moved the nose wheel steering pushrod into the hole that once housed the clevis for the rudder and moved both clevises to the outer holes in the servo output arm. This proved to be just about perfect as taxiing was just right and rudder control seemed adequate.
After some taxi tests I pushed the throttles up to full power. Steering was solid and the thrust enabled a smooth rotation in about 70 feet.
The gear retraction was a sight to behold and the model flew very controllable and easily. I didn't feel that the elevator movement was great enough at the suggested settings so decided to land to add more throw.
The crosswind was reasonably dealt with -but I left some power on until just at flare both for the crosswind and the elevator feel.
All went well-but I was glad I left some power on.
I increased the elevator travel to 120% on my JR transmitter reduced the expo to 20% and took off again - that felt much better and after getting comfortable, did a few rolls and loops--smooth flyer !! after a few passes with gear retraction right in front I made a final landing in what was now a very strong x-wind--plenty of control -but just as in any twin -carry a little power until the flare.
All in all--a very nice model and the tip lights and sequencing doors are great features

Phil

Just got this a few days ago, taking it out of the box I was impressed with the quality and care in packaging, the plane is very well constructed and has some really nice details, went together good, the only thing so far is that I put the radio system in and everything was working great, motors spooled up great, while I was adjusting a few things with the battery still connected the two speed controllers began smoking and burning, would have been a crash and burn had it been up in the air when this happened, I unplugged the battery and the controllers were fried, I contacted hobby lobby and they are sending two more controllers when they get them in stock, no problems with customer service at all, very refreshing to not have to argue and fight about replacements, not sure what happened but battery is rated at 11.1 volts speed controllers are 8 to 10 volts, 25amps, hope tech support can help out, hope to get it in the air soon.

I love this plane, have since I was little and now to own a rc version is great.This is a very nice model, well thought out and just beautiful in the air as as well on the ground. It definitely is a head turner and the sound of those twin engines going by is something to see. The retracts work perfect, the fit and build of this plane are second to none. I am glad I was one of the lucky few to receive one out of the first batch.
The wiring is a little time consuming but just go slow. The battery works great and the motors have a lot of power. The only problem I had was mine was missing the connectors for the rudder and the bolts for the tail, but Rachel is sending me those when they become available.

I am very happy to have this plane in my hanger. A++ Hobby Lobby..

The B-25 looks really great and is packaged really well. Having said that I did have four major problems with assembly. First the nose gear steering set screw was loose and would not tighten. I had to use a bigger screws to get it to hold. Second the push rods for the elevators kept hitting the push rods for the rudders. I had to bend the ends of the elevator push rods up to clear the rudder push rods. Third, I had a small two inch crack in the nose piece. I taped it from the inside and it seems to hold OK. Fourth, I had to trim the gear doors to get them to close without hitting the cowlings. I look forward to flying it now that I have the bugs worked out. I probably have on of the first ones out and I expect quality to improve. It looks great.

This is a really fun little plane. I had a great time assembling her. Radio stuff was totally wrong but easy to figure out. The throttle servo needed reversed and it took a few minutes to figure it out. The door sequencers are great fun and the retracts are sturdy.

Flight characteristics are very similar to my Top Flite B-25. Try to yank her around and she will tip stall. Rolls nice. Tip stalls and spins down with an attempt to loop. She doesn't glide. Keep power to land.

I got in to flights then on the third flight my right engine speed control fried in a puff of smoke prior to lift off. Called Customer Service today. They are so nice its hard to get mad. They set me up with a couple ESC due in a couple weeks. Two other Hobby Lobby B-25s showed at the field this weekend. Both crashed on their maidens. Both yawed into uncontrollable spins. I don't know why for sure as they were both total losses.

Four stars for the plane minus one for the loss of the ESC. Customer service at Hobby Lobby is great so I almost want to add back the other star.


Jaime

I got my B-25 from Hobby-Lobby through the local hobby shop. The plane is easy to assemble except for the wiring. It comes with FIVE ready made "Y" harnesses! They are color coded and the Rx end has the channel number on it. Nice touch except....I don't know what radio they are using, but 3 of the 6 channels were marked WRONG! On top of that, the "Y" harness for the lights was bad. I called Hobby Lobby for a replacement and was told to inform the store where I bought it and they would in turn contact H-L for a replacement.
So you have all these wires coming into the fuse from each wing half, plus 3 more (elevator, rudder, & nose gear retract) in the fuse. You have to access this "bag of snakes" wiring through a 2" square hatch. The Rx is in there too! What made this difficult was the wrong channel identifications on the "Y" harnesses. When I finally got everything working all I could is stuff everything through the hatch into the hollow area below. I will definitely have to perform a range check.
I had to change some of the linkages for the Ailerons, elevator (originally only using 50% of servo throw), and the rudder, originally used 125% servo throw but still not enough rudder. The rudders use 2 bell cranks on each side of the fuse but the rudder throw is only 1/4". The linkage is tight and there doesn't seem to be any lost motion. By using as much of the servo throw as possible you improve the centering of the control surface.
One of there landing gear legs was off....it wasn't perpendicular to the wing. First I removed the 4 screws thinking I had to shim the gear mount. It became apparent that I couldn't do that so I "adjusted" the gear leg with a pair of pliers. It was easy to fix but makes me wonder if the gear will bend easily on a bad landing.
The twin motors have plenty of power and it should have no trouble at the field. If only it had a bomb bay...............
Overall I am pleased with this model. If I had known the harnesses were mis-marked It would have been a simple task to check them before the wings were glued in place and would have made the assembly more enjoyable.
I am looking forward to the maiden flight.
(Edit from Hobby Lobby Staff - The Y harnesses are not marked incorrectly. They are labeled correctly using a Hitec/Futaba numbering system.)

WELL THE DESIGN AND ENGINEERING STAFF AT HOBBY LOBBY DESERVE A LOT OF CREDIT FOR THIS NEW PLANE THAT THEY CAME OUT WITH. I GOT IN ON ONE OF THE FIRST ORDERS AND JUST FINISHED PUTTING IT TOGETHER AND FLYING IT. IT WENT TOGETHER JUST FINE EXCEPT FOR A FEW LITTLE PROBLEMS. I WENT VERY SLOWLY AND READ THE MANUEL TWICE BEFORE STARTING.THE WIREING SYSTEM IS MARKED REALLY GOOD BUT THE NUMBERS DON'T MATCH THE DX61 NOR THE NUMBERS ON A CHINESSE RECEIVER THAT I HAD. ANYHOW TO SAVE YOU SOME TRIAL AND ERROR, #1 IS AIL,2 IS ELE,3 IS TRO,4 IS RUD,5 IS GEAR, AND 7 IS YOUR LIGHTS WHICH I PUT IN AUX.NEXT I HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE COWLS,THEY NEED TO BE A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE MOTORS SO THE GEAR DOORS CAN OPEN WITHOUT HITTING THEM. JUST BE AWARE OF THAT AND ALSO ON FINISHING UP, IF THE GUN BARRELS ON THE TURRET STICK OUT OVER THE CANOPY TOO MUCH THAN YOU CAN'T CLOSE IT. I CUT A LITTLE OFF THE BARRELS SO AS TO HAVE CLEARANCE.ON A FINAL NOTE,THE RUDDER AND ELEVATOR CONNECTORS WERE WAY OFF WHAN I CENTERED EVERYTHING. I TURNED THE RUDDER CONNCTORS IN AS WELL AS THE ELEVATOR CONNECTORS SO JUST CHECK IT OUT BEFORE YOU SNAP THEM ON.ALSO LOCK THEM WITH FUEL LINE HOSE.SO AFTER 3 HOURS AND THOSE MINOR PROBLEMS I RAN IT UP BUT FORGOT TO CHECK THE MOTOR ROTATION AND HAD TO REVERSE THE STARBOARD MOTOR AS THEY WERE BOTH GOING COUNTERCLOCKWISE AND THE STARBOARD HAS TO GO CLOCKWISE. THE BALANCE FELT OK WITH THE STOCK BATTERY IN FAVORING THE REAR OF THE COMPARTMENT.ANYHOW I GOT TWO FLIGHTS IN BEFORE THE WIND CAME UP.BASICALLY THE PLANE FLEW LIKE THE VIDEO SHOWS. I TOOK OFF VERY SLOWLY TO SEE HOW IT TRACKED AND GAVE IT THE POWER SECOUNDS LATTER AND UP IT WENT. JUST MINOR TRIM ADJUSTMENT AND I WAS GOOD TO GO.ON LANDING THE PLANE SEEMS TO LIKE A LITTLE POWER AND IT DOES SETTLE DOWN SOFTLY.THE PLANE DID'NT SHOW ANY BAD TENDENCIES, BUT I ONLY GOT TWO FLIGHTS IN SO I DID'NT DO MUCH AND I'M STILL NOT SURE ON THE BATTERY TIME YET. DID A THREE MINUTE AND A FOUR WITH THE TIMER SET ON THE DX61. WILL KEEP INCREASING THE TIME TO SEE WHAT I CAN GET.WITH ALL THE SERVOS AND LIGHTS I'M NOT SURE WHAT A GOOD FLIGHT TIME WILL BE. ANYHOW I'M VERY HAPPY TO HAVE SUCH AN ADVANCED PLANE IN MY HANGER.MANY THANKS TO HOBBY LOBBY FOR A GREAT PRODUCT. KENNY,CAPE COD,MA.

Overall the plane is a good value for the money. I didn't give it 5 stars because for a twin engine plane it should have came with instructions on how to setup the ESCs. I have 1 engine that brakes and 1 that doesn't. I called Hobby Lobby and I'm waiting on a call back from them. All I need is instructions on how to program the ESC.

The motors are good quality and the servos seem to be fine. The retracts work perfectly. I've flown the plane about 6 times and it did very well.

You can take the Y connector off the ESC and plug them into separate channels and then use throttle mixing to get the motors sync'd up pretty well. I have mine within 100 rpms of each other.

For all you bomber fans, this is a must have plane. Very cool. Well done Hobby Lobby!

As is the case with most ARFs today-the B-25 came safely packaged-in this case the bottom of the box was a large foam cradle which kept all the nicely wrapped parts safely in place.
The surprise was that a charger was included which hadn't even been touted in the ads.
The instruction manual is easy to follow and includes lots of pictures depicting the assembly procedure.
I had no trouble putting everything together -probably in five leisurely hours.
All the parts fit exactly and even the glue is included. I checked all the connections individually before stuffing the receiver and wiring in the compartment provided -it's a good thing I did because I found-- quickly--that there was a short in the Y connector for the navigation lights. When the wiring got warm I immediately disconnected the plug-but the red nav light had burned out.I called Hobby Lobby and they were glad to get feedback on this new model and are shipping a new light and wiring to me. That is the only glitch I came accross, and I can understand how one y in thousands might slip by.
I also felt that the rudder/nose wheel steering might not have enough throw so I popped off the panel covering the servos and relocated the rudder clevises and nose wheel steering z-bend to holes further out on the output arm. The model looks great and has lots of very well done scale details, the "machine guns" included in the kit even have the cooling jacket holes molded in , and I could watch the retracts operate all day long.
When I think of the hours I put in synchronizing the gear doors with the retract mechanism in the old days, it's a joy to watch the progress brought to us by electronics.
It was great fun putting this kit together -and I am looking forward to flying it in the next few days which I can --fortunately do--as I live in Florida.I'll report on the flying characteristics after the first flights
Phil Sibille


The overall appearance of the model is very