F-86 Skyblazers EDF Jet Receiver Ready

I bought this as my first EDF because it was a good price, and EPO. It's a great flier, as long as you can get it through the launch. It needs a really hard throw or it will stall and crash. The EPO tolerates the crash on takeoff pretty well, though.

Tone down the ailerons until you get used to flying it. It's easy to get into oscillations in flight and put it in the ground if they have too much flex. The paint on the hor. & vert. stab. attachment surfaces peels easily allowing the tail and hor. stab. to detach sometimes, so use a little glue on the seams at the top, or strip the paint out before you glue in the stabs. II used hot glue. The included epoxy cured way too fast to give me time to apply and use it on all the attachment surfaces. Make sure to use a rubber band on the front to hold the canopy down. Those magnets come unglued very easily, and the canopy will fly off in flight.

Bag the drop tanks. They fly off on landing no matter how soft. I made some small foam "u-bolt" protectors for the 2 wing servos and a 1/4" wide, 1/4" high foam "landing gear to save the damage on the bottom from landings.

It's got enough power for an intro EDF. I flew it in moderate wind with no problems, and the speed was more than adequate for my purposes. It has a nice scream. If you want to scream by the crowds at 100+, though, you'll be disappointed.

Flew it a bunch of times and then nosed it in in the wind. Thanks to EPO the damage was not that severe. Boil the foam for a few minutes to get the shape back and glue back together whatever broke, and you're ready to go again.

Overall a good first EDF. Fairly stable if you can get it through the launch, and easy to fly and land if you are already familiar with aileron use. Good landing characteristics, except for those drop tanks.

The F-86 Sabre gets an average rating, put it this way, it looks better than it flies. I purchased the F-86 to replace my 64mm AMX Light Attack EDF Jet (also purchased from Hobby-Lobby, but they dropped JPower models), which is now RIP thanks to a crash caused by Sun blindness. I pulled the power plant from the AMX and dropped it right into the F-86 - Wicked 4800Kv motor, 9g digital metal gear servos, 2200mAh 40C batt, therefore I bought the kit not the ARF/RTF version.

Compared to the AMX, the F-86 is sluggish. Top end speed is about 65-70mph with no modifications to the airframe. The nip-tuck, which involves cutting a small 1/2" wedge from the bottom and "tucking" the airframe back together to reduce the diameter of the exhaust, is required to get into the 80mph range on the Wicked 4800Kv motor.

The drop-tanks don't secure into the wings very well, so I recommend cutting some 2" long c/f rods and allowing 1/4" or so to stick out of the drop tank, then put small holes in the wings and use Gorilla glue liberally to keep those tanks from ripping off on grass landings. The c/f rods help but looking back I may have been better off using NEO magnets on the tanks.

Overall, the F-86 is ok, but not great. I wish HL still sold the AMX, it was a better-performing airframe and the electronics installed in a much more "clean" manner. I would not fly the F-86 on the stock motor/ESC as IMO it would be grossly under-powered.

Finally got the maiden in. Wow, very quick, good slow flier, easy landing, can't wait till next time. Easy build too, very good quality overall. Can't beat the price.

This is my first introduction to an EDF jet. I must say that it is a very stable flying airplane. As the instructions say it was together in a little over an hour and the next day I took it out flying.

The first flight was hairy because I hand launched and probably did not do a good job of it because the plane dipped and started for the ground, but I was able to recover and fly. If you have flying experience this is a good inexpensive way to introduce yourself to the hobby of EDF, but for sure NOT an beginner's plane.

I gave the model 4 instead of 5 stars (although it should get five), because when I landed (and I thought it was an easy landing on matted down grass) the drop tanks broke a bit. They appear to be hollow foam and not alot of thickness in the walls. I recommend before flying for the first time to reinforce the drop tanks with something (I used clear packing tape).

I would actually give this plane a 4 1/2 because the service at Hobby Lobby was superb thanks to Dave.

I will sure be back for something else....just got to save my pennies.

This is a fun little jet. Most EDFs come with marginal batteries and need upgrades,,the included 3S battery is perfect for 4 to 5 minute flights. I live in a snow-belt,,not a problem for this jet. It balances so nicely on the drop tanks that you can take off from snow. The skid plates on the tanks make perfect snow skis. It skips along so easy that landings take some room,,LOL. It can be touchy but useing EXPO takes care of that!

Really inexpensive FUN!!