400 Class J-3 Cub EPO Foam RTF

There are LOTS of 400-class J3's available out there, and like myself, I'm sure you're wondering 'How can This One be better than ANY of the others'. I can only speak from my own experience. I purchased an 'Exceed' Brand (cheeper), from a different outfit; and although it measured and looked almost exactly identical, BELIEVE ME these are NOT the same. This Art-Tech J3 is by far a much better model in EVERY regard. You can see it immediately in the craftsmanship when you first open the carton. (no direct comparison).

From my own personal and professional observations, this J3's weight and size is almost identical to many other J3's being manufactured; but all too often other Outfitters sell models that have either poor-fitting parts, sloppy details, or are simply thrown-together. (A good reason to stay with a Solid Outfitter).

This one however, (the Art-Tech J3) appears to be a First-Class Job. It would seem the old adage "You Get What You Pay For" applies here very appropriately. I'm impressed; and I'm often VERY persnickety.

My second review for this airplane. I got a timely call back from tech support and advised me the battery just fits into the bay and the ESC should be all the way forward...it can't go any further, so you literally squash the battery on top of the ESC...feels wrong, but after a few times works just fine. I got her in the air just fine, but folks..please don't buy this for any type of "trainer"..it's for an intermediate at a minimum. I have over 20+ years flying RC planes and this is fast and has a nasty tip stall if you are slow or enter a high degree bank turn without coordinating with rudder. I tip stalled it at about 50' in the air..and to the models credit, I was shocked at how durable. I broke the prop and cowling, but all glues right back in place....no bent prop shaft or wind damage. If you have experience building and especially flying, this is a decent RC plane, but after reading the only other review it is clear there are quality control issues and overall I wouldn't recommend this plane. Hobby-Lobby would be wise to either supplement the terrible instructions or simply not carry a lower quality, high-frustration "RTF" advertised as a trainer. Thanks for reading and hope this helps your purchase decisions.

Cub is well packaged and major components are well protected with bubble wrap. Found installed propeller broken upon opening the box,otherwise contents were in perfect shape. I perused the manual, and found the assembly steps well done, with color photos of each step. This is a beautiful model, very scale-like outlines, including inset, scale ailerons, "shock absorbing" landing gear, seats and pilot figure.

Made initial test flight in 10 to 12 mile per hour wind; no issues, though at 23 ounces, it does bounce around a lot. Lots of power, easy ROG and swift climb. Glide is good, as landing approach was power off. Landing was not as smooth as I would like but blamed it on wind. Some power on the approach may prove to make the landings smoother.

Now for the not so good features:
Included "Allen wrench" is too small for the Allen screws on the motor mount. Should be 1.5MM Allen key.
Included spanner type wrench is too small for the prop nuts. I filed it slightly to fit and used a 5/32" wrench to "jam" the thrust nuts against one another.
Epoxy glue provided is excellent! Directions and cautions are not. I "massaged" the tubes before using. I suggest latex or nitrile gloves when working with this adhesive. It is a fast drying epoxy, approximately 5 minutes, so assure parts are ready to glue before mixing Part A and Part B.
Instruction manual did not detail the installation of the receiver and servos, which are located under a hatch behind the battery holder.
The ESC is located in the forward part of the fuselage, in the cavity that forms the battery 'box'. The ESC needs to be pushed as far forward as possible to allow sufficient room for the supplied 1300 MAH battery pack. Even with this, there is hardly enough room for the "Deans" sytle battery connector.
In flight, the model has PLENTY of control authority about all axes. For a beginner, I would recommend having the controls set at a hole nearer the center of rotation of the servo output shaft, as it would be easy to over control the elevator and ailerons.
The model suffers from adverse yaw, which necessitates application of rudder to ease this when making turns. With the servos installed in the RTF or ARF versions, it would be difficlut to change the position of the servo arm to give differential aileron to alleviate some of this adverse yaw. There is plenty of rudder authority and can turn the model. There is not enough dihedral for real stability, as might be expected of a trainer. so there is quite a bit of nose dropping in turnes initiated with rudder, as the airplane is being banked by yaw input.
A redesign of the wing assembly would be helpful to allow the model to be disassembeld for transport in the excellent packaging box. The wing halves must be glued together, using the small fibreglass rod included to keep the wing halves from twisting. The wing struts are functional, as are the braces on the tail surfaces. Do not fly without them!
Longer screws would be helpful for attaching the wing struts to the fuselage. Since the struts need to support the wing for positive G loading, a longer screw would reach farther into the hard plastic mount that is a part of the fuselage.
The yellow finish on the foam does not match the molded plastic parts. While not a big deal, and hardly noticeable while in flight, for the purist, a better match would be a good deal for subsequent redesigns or reissues.
I have suggested that the installed propeller be removed, and placed in the box with the spare prop to prevent breakage, as was the case in the model I received.

All in all, this is a GREAT model. The negative comments are not meant to take anything away from the quality and appearance of this model. It is a good flyer, and while still brand new, has already received many favorable comments from others who have seen my model. I am proud to fly it, and will do so often, when flying season returns fully to the Midwest.

Just purchased this for Christmas
After opening the undamaged box, I found that the propeller had broken, the pilot and seats had not be glued down and were damaged, after about four hours of assembling this( READY TO FLY ya right) using the absolute worse set of instuctions I managed to get it pieced together with several repairs from shotty manufacturing. Now to the great part, attempting to decifer the "binding" procedure I can not get anything to work. Emailed "tech support" for some assistance.....NOTHING!!!! not even a "please describe your problem more clearly"...oh well now we have a very nice "for display purposes only" very expensive model.... I would recommend doing some reasearch on this company prior to purchasing..LOTS OF COMPLAINTS out there on there "after the sale asssistance" I wish I had!!!!! CHINESE JUNK

Just received and assembled this plane. It is a beautifully done model with amazing detail but there was slight damage to the rear by the horizontal stabilizer (easy enough to glue back and support), pilot figure and chair was not secured and needed gluing and support, and one of the support wire holders for the horizontal stab was install backwards. Also, can't figure out how in the world the battery fits in the bay with the ESC taking most of the space......need to call tech support. I'm a little disappointed by the lack of quality control, and very poor instructions. If you've never built a model RC plane before, please plan on getting help as the translation is horrible and you will be lost. The hinges are very tight on the rudder and elevator, again inexperienced builders would never think to work these hinges in 20 or so times minimum or you'll most likely strip a servo. Once complete with battery hanging out of bay, all servos worked fine and very strong motor. Yet to maiden but she sure does look great sitting on my table. If she flies as good as she looks, it will be worth the quality control issues and horrible instructions...will post another review. Price was fantastic, yet to try tech support as there are issues with this model so hopefully they will know how the battery is supposed to fit.