FMS Cessna 400 Review

Picked this up at SN Hobbies, one of our local hobby shops, as it looks very good, and was not that expensive at all. Came RTF with a 2.4 radio, but I am using my own JR9303 2.4.

The 3 bladed prop and metal looking spinner really added some great looks to it. The predrilled holes for the wheel pants were in the wrong place though, they look slanted in flight and on the ground. There are instruments in the cockpit, but you'll have to put your own pilot in there.

This kit showed a CG that people on the forums were saying was way out, so when I was ready for it's first flight, I took about 2cm off their recommended CG, and ended up putting about 21grams of lead on the underside of the cowl. This still gave it a bit nose heavy orientation, but that's always better.
Turns out it could have used the lead a little further forward, but it definitely flew a lot better than some of the reviews I've seen.

Guys were saying it had to come in hot, was uncontrollable at low speeds, and even the lightest of landings would bend the gear.

All of this doesn't seem to be an issue with mine.
The Gear is pretty mild steel but anything but a grass runway, you should be ok, unless you do come in too fast. The main gear even have some support braised across the mains to stop bending there, maybe it was an addition to the original version, who knows, but look at the price of this online and see if you can really complain about the quality without laughing...lol

Slowing this down doesn't seem to be a problem at all, with a decent CG set, you can slow this right down, and I haven't even got the flaperons, or the ready to use real flaps going, but it's a very stable plane as long as you take care of the balance.

One stupid thing is the placement of the battery, even just that far behind the CG will make it hard to use different weight batteries, let alone something larger than this 1800 that it comes with. Really though, that 1800 gives you over 8 minute flights with lots of full throttle.

Definitely not a speedy plane, scale looks and flight, but with simple aerobatics thrown in for fun. This thing really needs some lighting, wingtips and tail, and underside plus gear. It will make a great dusk and night-time flyer.

Thanks for watching, and reading my rambling review, more reviews, great video and awesome flying to come, on RCFreehold

Ronin