HK Reverb full composite electric glider

Maybe this is not a formal review, but I will share my thoughts about the Hobbyking Reverb high performance electric glider. I put together this airplane last winter and I have flown it a lot during this summer, and I am very satisfied with it.

Link to HK: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__18453__Reverb_Full_Composite_High_Performance_Electric_Glider_1320mm_ARF_.html

This is my first and only warm/hotliner, therefore I have not much to compare it with. I used the 3 cell setup Hobbyking recomended:

• Motor: Turningy 480L V-Spec Inrunner 1370kv
• ESC: Turningy Plush 40A
• Wing servos: Turningy TGY-777MG
• Elevator servo: HobbyKing HK939MG
• Propeller: 10x6 folding propeller with carbon fibre blades
• Spinner: 35mm aluminum
• Battery: 2200mAh 3 cell LiPo

One problem was that HK did not have any aluminum spinner with the right diameter that also fitted the recommended motor, at least not a year ago. I got a spinner for a smaller axle and drilled it up in a lathe. One other thing to point out is that the motor pulls almost 50 amps on a 3 cell with this setup. The ESC is a little bit to small, but it does not seem to be any problem since I only use full throttle for a couple of seconds at a time.

The airplane itself comes as an ARF. The fuselage, wing and stabilizer warped in bubble wrap as well as I small plastic bag with the screws, linkage, roderhorns and hatches. I was satisfied with how high quality all the parts was. However, no manual or instructions was included. Not even a picture showing where the CG should be. I would say this is an advanced airplane to put together witch seeds some building skills. It requires a lot of work compared to other ARFs.

Getting the servos to fit in the wing is probably the most intimidating part of the build. I had to remove the back cover of the servos to make them fit. Since I have designed a lot of planes before I know that the CG should be around a third of the wings chord from the leading edge.

The airplane tracks like an arrow in the sky. It feels very precise and the sound when diving from high altitude to make a flyby is amazing. I have not measured the speed of it but I would guess around 100mph. It is possible to do thermal soaring with this airplane if the conditions are god, but there are better gliders for this. I would think that this plane is perfect for slope soaring, but I have not tried it. It is also fun to just fly around with very low throttle. The airplane is fairly easy to fly but landing is hard since it glides longer than you expect.

I would recommend this airplane to advanced ore intermediate pilots that want something fast and fun to fly around with, and have some building experience. I think the airplane is diffidently worth the money, and it is perfect if you want more than just a "foamie".