Volantex Ranger 600 Stunt Edition RTF (V761-2S)

I heard this is a good plane to learn with. Being made of foam I thought it would be difficult to break. Both itself and anything I hit.

As my first bird, there's nothing really to compare against but with that said I was very impressed with both it's glide performance and agility.

I'm using a TX16s Mk3 with it, if curious it uses V761, convention binds to channel 16, you'll find the gyro settings on channel 5, calibration on 6, and stunt modes on 7. Telemetry is a little screwy, seems it yields 4.2V constantly for the battery then suddenly jumps to less than 3.6V

I screwed up the gyro settings on my first flight, got almost ½ way thru a battery before I realised of the two gyro settings (third is disabled) only one is functional - but once the stabilisers was on I could last more than 60s without hitting the floor.

Best experience is likely with low winds for beginners, with the stabilisers off a slight breeze will gain lift and push the nose up but with them on it'll overpower a stiff breeze.

Battery self-rates for 10-15min, but I was out there for nearer 40 - admittedly most of that time was spent walking to retrieve it from the floor. It can fly at really low speeds, so dial back the throttle and I wager you can exceed 15 min of flight time with stock batt.

At one point the nose pointed at the floor so I yanked the stick back full - it looped in about ½meter of circle. That's not what I was trying to do, it just happened. *very* agile.

A gust took it out of the park I was in, and lacking confidence to return it I killed the throttle as it dissapeared out of sight and pushed the nose to the floor - hope I don't hit any cars and retrieve it before it gets run over - and started running. Got out of the park and failed to locate it where I'd expected - as scanned further up the road, panic rising, I spotted it still in the air. A good 30s of no stick input, after pointing it at the floor. Gyro keeping it level, just dissapearing over someone's garage roof. Managed to crash/park it in their garden.

The foam took far more impacts than I'm happy with giving it, several not gentle, but I think it was the high G turn into asphalt (I was trying to miss it) that split the foam down one side of the nose, where it hollows to accomodate battery. It was still flyable. Spot o T-7000 seems to have rejoined it... If it wasn't such resilient foam it would have been dead the first time I threw it up. I'm desperately in need of skill upgrades.

Noticed decent impacts can seperate the canopy - hit a tree and when it came down I couldn't find the canopy which killed that session early. Luckily spares are cheap so I got two, one I've chipped a little foam out of so I can cram a bigger battery in there (650mA/h vs the stock 400mA/h - it's physically larger and impinges on canopy space. Intent is to increase flight time).

When the weather improves I'll be testing what putting a larger battery in there has done to the flight charicteristics... maybe even test the 'one key stunts' if I feel I'm displaying enough control to make it sensible.

All in all, I've had fun - and hopefully I'll show some improvement next it's up. Bang for buck, it's probably about as good as you'll find for fixed wing, it's got great handling and low speed performance helping those starting off, and in acro mode can perform well enough for 'experts' to still be happy.

The Ranger 600 was recommended by the excellent staff of 'Wheelspin' as the ideal beginners plane- no wheels to tip it forward on landing, no front prop to get broken, and easily handled with a stabilising mechanism in beginners mode. Although, as the 'Stunt' version, it can easily stretch you as you improve. I wasn't so keen on the black & dark green colour scheme which makes it hard to find in a bush! I got a spare battery as they only last about 15-20 minutes, although I always try to gain height with the motor before turning it right down and just glide down- so 2 batteries can last me 60-90 minutes. Smaller than I thought, but that makes it easy to store and transport as a first glider!