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The Pioneer is the first in the line of superb new Retro Series models, this new range pays homage to the Vintage RC and Freeflight era when models were practical, rugged, simple, good looking and always flew well, the Retro series offers you the chance to experience this golden age of modelling, but with all the benefits of thoroughly modern manufacturing and design!
The Pioneer is made from tough EPO and has been nicely painted in an authentic "dope & tissue" color, it is also Plug & Fly, so the pre-fitted Brushless Outrunner & ESC substitute the old oil burner and the pre-installed servo's offer you full four channel control. There are so many nice touches, including the alloy/plastic rear fuselage frame, the dummy rotary engine, machine gun and proper alloy rigging wires. The metal/CF under carriage is substantial and the large, thin wheels are able to tackle the roughest of strips without drama. Reciever access is via a neat hatch on the side of the fuselage and the quick battery access via the attractive alloy look cowl. Build time is very short, even the rigging system is simple and fast, not like the old days of building from plans, this one won't take 6 months to get in the air!
The Pioneer not only looks the part, it flies the part, the slow flight capability of this model is quite amazing and because it is so "locked in", the Pioneer manages to capture the essence of a much larger Vintage model in flight. At it's heart, the Pioneer is a Sport model, the power train has been well thought out making it quite capable of basic aerobatics like loops, stall turns, rolls, etc, without the need for excessive air speed. The Pioneer is a high quality, fun, robust and attractive "vintage" model with a truly authentic look and feel, take a trip down memory lane with The Retro Series!
Features: Plug and Fly Format, simply add your own reciever and Battery! Tough EPO Foam High Quality Construction and Painted Finish Robust and Practical Design Authentic Vintage Look Easy and Fast Assembly Superb Power Train/Airframe Balance Inexpensive to Get In the Air Aerobatic Capability Perfect Parkflyer size, Vintage flying without the need for lugging round a Flightbox! Perfect Post Trainer Model
Still looking for help, I may pin the front of the wing to the fuselage since the nylon screw mounts near the trailing edge unless someone can enlighten me as to where or how to insert the second screw? Thanks Troy
putting together the pioneer, not too difficult however the second nylon long screw, where does it go? Seems only place for one and main wing seems flimsy without two. Others say wires are optional, but I can see wing coming off without them or second screw? Thanks for any help. Want to take care of this before putting on wires if the second screw does go somewhere.
Thank you.
If you have never flown before, I would not recommend this aircraft, unless you have flown on a simulator. If you have a sim, or have flown RC planes before, I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BEAUTY. She is slow, stable, and capable. If you do get into a crash, fixing probably shouldn't be hard. Hope this helps! ~Joe
Case, you can use a paper hinge,or even make a hinge with an old xray sheet. Just make a thin cut with a hobby knife and use some foam safe CA, and you're on!
Ive been watching the video on the Pioneer it look look a great slow flyer as I have just learnt to fly on a Bixler and like the old time originals who flew low and slow, would this be suitable as the next step as slow flyer to continue learning later I would try a Tiger moth. ant thoughts on the Retro Pioneer as a second learner plane ?
Cheers Seawave.
Yes it's a slow flyer, but if you crash it, it will not be that easy to fix. I would recommend a simple high wing trainer for you, such as the YAK 12 Airplane EPO 950mm w/Flaps (PNF).
Hi, the wings can be removed by taking out one large nylon screw if you do not fit the underside cables. The cables are just for show but they do look pretty.
The supplied airscrews, although described in the hand book as 8"x 6" are in fact 7"x 6". I find that an 8"x 4" works very well with the supplied ESC and a 3-cell 1300 mAh battery as recommended.
Nozruc
Once again I find a plane that makes me want to spend more money but - and its a serious but. No spare parts. I wrote to HK support asking about this and they responded by saying I should ask the question on the forum. OK HK the question is do you plan to supply parts for this or the beautiful Tiger Moth or do we just keep gluing them together until their too fat to fly? I see a ton of parts for the Bixler but how do you break a Bixler? How do you even manage to crash a Bixler? Any thoughts?
Not true. The fliying wires are not only for scale looks but also provide much need stability to the wing. See the flight review provide by flitetest . com
The top wires is needed to prevent sagging or anti dihedral? Can we fly without the bottom wires, which is a concern say in landing on grassy area and the wire may be prone to get caught in these obstacles and rip the wings off?
Actually, Paul was right. (sorry Paul) You don't really need them. They would probably help if you were pulling a lot of Gs and may provide a little extra support in a crash. But they are mostly for show.
Channel setup? Ok I just got the plan and put it together but I want to know if anyone has a simple guide to what channel goes where? For the Servos to match the RX/TX. I figure I can wire it up from a few times or simply ask if anyone else has already done it for me!
Any help would be great! Raven
Take prop off. Use Channel 2 for throttle, channels 3 and 4 for aileron/elevator, channel 4 could be rudder. Just test it out and you'll get it right. Guess test strategy :)
Dan O. is right. every transmitter can be set-up differently. 5 minuets of experimentation and you'll figure it out. When you've got stick a piece of masking tape on the receiver and each servo wire and label everything so it's easier to figure out if you switch your receiver between different models.
Before mounting the wing, the linkage for the rudder and elevator must be checked for proper length. The servos are under the wing and after the wing and guy wires are installed access to these servos is very difficult. The push-pull rods for the elevator and rudder were too long and there is not enough threads to make further adjustments with.I'll have to replace both rods.
once the wing is installed, the servos cannot be accessed. if the wires are installed it is even harder to get to the servos. It can be done but, what a pain! SO make sure the rudder and elevator is correct B 4 the wings are installed!
Might do there's a lot of space left with a 1300mah in! but if you get one check the landing gear mounting blocks have got some glue holding them in place! lol
Hi all, I own this aircraft and will wish him very cool meter motor / esc with a little more puissance.Il has trouble up to heaven, and frankly I'm looking a little more speed and one puissance.Si someone could tell me what to take. Thank you in advance to you Pascal
Yes it should of come with a 20amp ESC so the description say above,here is a part number to the one i would use for this model,PRODUCT ID: TGY-20A but if your not happy with that get in touch with HK 24 hour support center and tell them whats going on,the description above might be wrong,good luck and if this was help please award with credit,thanks.
thanks for the reply startazz,ile try to get the TGY-20a from the OZ Warehouse .Ive tried the 24hr support centre on a previous occation and i thought it was for order related problems ,where as mine is more technical.
Hi jonando,thanks for the credit mate as it's well appreciated,as far as CS go they should be able to help you about this mate and from what i've been reading on the forums HK customer services seems to be getting a lot better,so it might be worth a try.
The ESC in my Pioneer is a 2*10A unit. No idea what that means but I cut the heat shrink out with that label to expose the HEAT SINK It works just fine.
Iansydbr,if no one answer this question for you,try going over to rcgroups forum as there is a thread of it there,go to page 14 and see the last post(210)as he shows photo exactly where it is,which is around the 57mm mark,just google the planes name in full and wright rcgroups after and it should pop up,it did for me,hope this helps you out.
Check the length of youre plane before trying to find COG,as theyre all diferent,all depends where the Alloy frame is Glued. It pays to check that its glued properly also,as we crashed 2 of these before we discouvered the fault.
I also crashed my plane because of no glue on the rear alloy frame. Problem not wisible because of the cover plastic. In the crash did my wing bend and the alluminium spar was bent in the wing. This is hard to repair.
Hi Chung-Li i'd say 8/10 mins my friend,but what i would do is fly for five mins and after landing check how much life you have in your battery then take it from there,depending on how much life is left in your battery add a minute or half a minute to the next flight and see how you get on,remember to put the timer on your TX if you have one.it's hard for us to really say what time you will get because not every 1300mah battery will last as long as another one,because of C ratings and how old the battery is and so on,hope this helps a little Chung-li.
I really love this plane..but am not sure what transmitter reciver and battery are needed...isee the list of combo parts..just want to order the right stuff...thank you
It all depends on what brand of TX you use. For example, I use $pektrum brand Transmitters, the HK Orange series RX work great. For this model {which i own and love] I use the Orange 6ch RX which uses DSM2 technology. Just make sure the technologies mach and your good!
If you break the prop, findine an appropriate prop adapter will work fine until HK produces replacment parts for it.Its a threaded hub which is common for replacement. Hope that helps!
Hey guys, I saw the video and now want this plane. Question, can the wing be separated from the plane for transport, and if separated will it fit into a compact sedan. On the fence, with 1020mm wings not sure if I can make it work. Beautiful plane, and great slow flight in the video, nice break from the speed thrill that every plane these days are promising with 4s and up.
Good question Shahram,if it wouldn't fit your car you could take the wing off i suppose,i doubt it would take more than a few minutes to put the wing back on at the field,and if you do take this one to 4s just make sure the ESC is up to the job if not swap it out for one that will be ok,good luck mate ad i hope this was of some help.
Unfortunately neither in the product description nor the pictures is the wing shown to be separate. Worried that wing is not put together with a screw, but with glue (gluejob rather then a screwjob). Hopefully somebody will put together an "unboxing and putthing together" video.
Good points and i've just gone and had another look at the two videos over on Youtube to try and find out for you,sorry but Scott don't mention it but there is a good thread over on rcgroups on this model,so i'm sure someone else would of asked the same question if not you could ask,Scott from HK sometimes answer questions over at rcgroups as well if hes been on that there already,sorry i couldn't be of more help to you and i too hope someone does an unboxing and a good build video.
Hey startazz, just issued you credit, your always helpful, I may just throw caution to the wind and buy it, the video of it was just amazing. One can always push a screw holder into the fuselage and then put a screw through the epo wing and attach to the screw holder in body. Should work with epo, fingers crossed.
What a true gentleman you are shahram for awarding me credit. Yeah what you say shouldn't be hard at all if it isn't already like that,i'd still like to know if it is glued on or a couple of screws holding the wing on,so if there isn't any videos or someone telling us how it's put on perhaps you would like to share the info when you get yours. I've got to put in another big HK order in early next week but i'm sorry to say i can't put another plane in the basket,as i'd really like to put this one in there too,still there will be other orders.thanks again shahram.
Hey guys,
This is a quote from Scott on RCGroups a couple of minute ago!!
"The wing screws on, however, the rigging wire means that the best you can do for transportation is to unbolt and swing to one side, unless of course you change the rigging system to say springs at one end the could be re-attached....but it would be fiddly."
Yeah thanks Taz and i didn't think it would of been a glue on job,i know shahram will be pleased about that and as you say the rigging could be a bit fiddly but i'm sure something could be done to make that a bit quicker.
I have just unboxed and assembled my BEAUTIFUL Pioneer! I can confirm that since the wings have wires on both sides (above and below) it will be Very fiddly (almost impossible) to remove wing for transport. I will keep mine as they are when transporting. I did an "unboxing" movie for those of you who would like to see how it comes packaged and what contents are inside. Hope you like it. Maiden flight video will be available soon. Cheers www.link
Good fix Wizliz and a couple of zip ties would do just as good if no one has an odd bit of tubing laying around. Thanks for sharing these videos though as they are very helpful.
What's up Startazz, if you click on С*е*р*г*е*й*'s name and look at some of the discussions he/she/it has started, you will see that a person called 'Anatoliy' answers and receives credit. Likewise, if you click on 'Anatoliy's name, you'll see that С*е*р*г*е*й* always answers. Can't believe that this is the way some people pursue the hobby, scamming companies 20c at a time. Cheers -Al
Well done Sherlock and if you need a Dr Watson give me a call, Lets hope HK look into this if they see this thread because if your right it would be a bit unfair.
Lol You dont have to be Holmes, Watson or British to work out this comrade is trying to steal credits. What is that? Russian? The only 2 guys with those characters ive ever seen at HobbyKing. He's not the 1st and he wont be the last.
Well if he is trying it on he should get into trouble,when theres people like you and me helping people out for 20c a pop and only using one account,we don't need people like that coming on here ripping HK and us off.
Yeah NICE ONE Hobbyking admin, You might want to check a few other accounts as well,i've seen the same sort of thing with a couple of other names but can't remember who they where off hand,if i remember i'll soon pipe up.
i see HK took my comment of about this plane!! as nice as mine looked and flew for 30 sec. then esc failure at critical low banking. crash! all HK is doing about it is offering to credit me for a new esc????? and to whoever reported me these are facts so stop sucking up to HK !!!
Just as soon as they can get them over to your warehouse i would of thought Bruce,having said that though we sometimes have to wait a while before we get the planes we want in the European warehouse if at all,not sure why that is but i bet some one some where is looking at all the sales of this and other planes and to which counties they go to,then work out if it would be worth there while sending them to which ever warehouse,at the end of the day we want them so we should get them.
Takes months sometimes before the new planes get to Australia, mate. From Aust wharehouse the plane will be a bit more expensive and the postage a bit less, as you know. Ive bought planes straight from HK China and they arrive in good shape. Took a bit longer and cost about AU$15 more but you just cant rely on HobbyKing to stock ALL the good stuff in Australian wharehouse. In fact i think they used to send us a fair bit of **** that noone else wanted. Aust wharehouse is getting much better though. I reckon you'll wait 2 months before u see this retro plane is Aust. Its wanted by many. I recomend buying it here and now if you dont want to wait ages mate. Sweet looking plane.
Bruce I got this the other day from HK "" *HobbyKing_Admin(8563) Everything thats in the HK warehouse will eventually be available from the satellite warehouses in a country near you."""" So there is hope
YEAAAh HobbyKing! I see you have replenished your stock of these aircraft! Keep that up, with all your stock, and adjust your shipping charges, and your business WILL GROW exponentially - this year!
With out any doubt Raymon,HK seem to be really upping there game just lately,what with all the new Durafly planes and the new Retro series,i think we are going to see bigger and better things as far as HK goes,which is all good for us boys.
Hi jbc,shame about the dude reviewing this product already and the people who gave him the thumbs up for something he hasn't even got yet DOH,still how are you we haven't seen you on the tube in a while,it would be nice to see you get this model and do one of your reviews and flying videos. I'm holding off getting this one as i want to see what else they are going to bring out in this line up.
Hey looks like someone noticed and removed his comment from the review section :) atleast someone's paying attention, good work HK. Yeah I know Startazz, have 2 models to build before I consider anything else. Got alot of new video that just needs editing but unfortunately work's been getting in the way :(
Yeah i hear you mate,i never noticed that so nice one HK for getting rid of a silly review comment on a plane thats not in there hands yet. jbc what about helping out your fellow rc fliers by awarding credit when you can.
i will mate i will do a vid of unboxing and finished product.it will probably take another 3 weeks to get to oz.its coming lol. i wonder whats coming next from the retro series.
not a great resemblance to an eIII really,wrong fuselage shape,eIII fuse tapers horizontally ending in a horizontal knife edge,almost rectangular full flying horizontal stabilizer,rounded full flying rudder,but if you squint really really hard,maybe from a distance it could.
not really,the comment was "very much like".in as much as it has wings motor fuse etc yes,much like the spitfire looks like a 109,wings fuse tail etc.doesn`t change the fact though that it is a desirable model and would like it in my hangar
mon premier avion vraisment comptant de mon choix tres fun et agreable
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nzflyer
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hi, this is a great wee plane , just what I wanted, something small to fly in the fields next door to me, very quiet in the air. Only good for the calm days, oh,, check CG and operation of the servos before flying,, the wires are a pain to to put on and in the end the crimps didn't hold so took them all off, will replace with a strong thick thread, currently flying without wires. The plane is a breeze to take off and land, looks just great in the air just on dusk in the evening. I get about 8 - 10 minutes on the 1300 3S just cruising about.
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phil
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This is a nice model but does, like some, have faults. The faults are: a weak/foam fuselage. Nose over on landing to hard and the tail section breaks off just behind the pilot. Nose up too high on landing (that stalls the wing and drops the plane on the ground) could break the nose motor/secton just forward of the wings leading edge. Been there done both. Keep the glue out !! It is a nice trainer, and flies well, just don't go too slow. I changed the prop and got immediate improved performance. The wing is stout so that's a good point. Not really a powerful performer for stunts but does okay. There are no parts available. Mine arrived with a warped rudder, I was able to do some repairs and still got into the air. I had the landing gear plates pull loose but Gorilla glue worded great for that. The rudder and elevator servos sit under the pilot and not accessable just food for thought. I was reading another review regarding the CG point stick to 30pcnt of the wings cord (5.7cm) rearward from the leading edge... worked great for me. I give this plane an overall rating of four crowns.
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2/28/2013 Newfly
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This is a fantastic plane! Flies like a dream. It does it all, inverted flight, loops ,rolls, slow flight, forgiving after stalls. Do not fly it in the wind though. I have been flying mine for a month now without incident. It flys like a dream! Very nice. Took it out today in a little wind and was good until in the middle of the flight the wind picked up to 25 mph! It switched in an instant. I brought it around for a landing facing the wind. 3 approach attempts before i was sort of comfortable.About 10 ft off the ground it was tossed into an inverted dive and pounded hard into the dirt ripping a chunk of soil out of the ground! It broke the prop off, busted the wing in half, ripped an aileron off, broke the fuselage in half behind and infront of the wing, ripped the landing gear off and snapped the battery hatch locking pin off. It appeared the Pioneer was doomed but with some ca glue, a new prop and velcro to hold down the battery hatch it looks really good again. It all went back together strait. It flys just as well as before the fantastic crash. I strongly recommend this plane to anyone!
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Philip
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Just received mine, unboxed it and had it together in about twenty minutes less the wires. It is a real good looking plane and I can't wait to go fly it. The wires are hard to get taught enough so I am going to use some heavy thread and glue the ends with CA. All of my other planes are biplanes but I think the Pioneer will become my favorite plane. Great job Hobby King keep it up.
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