alfred
Senior Heliman
Location: Australia, New South Wales, Mid North Coast
| Be carefull
Here are some extracts of a preview for the Quick Learner 30 which were published in the Australian "Airborne" Magazine No 186 on pages 58-60.
Quotes:
1) "Just where were the good old instructions? Odd, there was no book. Ah, but what's this? It's a CD. Wacked it in the old computer. There it ALL was. Not only was the QL32 there, but all the other machines, and in glorious, living colour, too. I suspect that this could be the way of the future. (Sigh! ed.)
Nevertheless, I printed out the copy as I still like to work with a hard (printed) copy. Only problem I felt was that the instructions could be a bit more detailed as the helicopter is really aimed at the beginner. For example, most manuals now have full size drawings of all the nuts, bolts and screws, and this was missing.
2) "For example, bearing blocks have a correct side up. The picture showed this clearely, but no mention was made in the text that this was rather important. Hmm!"
3) "When I came to glue the clutch lining in, I found the material supplied was a touch too short. According to the instructions, it should be cut to 121.9mm. It was already 123mm in length, but was still too short. By trial and error it should be 124.5mm"
4) "Things proceeded nicely 'til I got to the fuel tank. No tank fuel tubing. As the TV ad goes, bugger! This wasn't a problem for me, as I have the necessary spares in stock but a beginner way out in the boonies mightn't be so happy!"
5) "A small thing that was an annoyance rather then a problem as such, was the undercarriage. The mounting holes had to be marked out and drilled. This I discovered is due to the fact that there are a couple of landing gear options and the set up for each is slightly different. No big deal and the holes were drilled in a minute or two."
The rest of the comments were more or less positive but my point is that this chopper is sold as a cut above the plastic fantastic or cheap helies. Personnely I believe that all the above is not exeptable for any modern heli kit.
I myself decided about 6 months ago to add a 30 heli for cheap cost to try out those unfamiliar manuevers.
In airborne Quick Worldwide ran full page coloured ads and I was impressed by the visual appearence and the apparent quality of the models.
Then I started to notice a lot of * and + next to the itemised features that then showed in small writing that this particular model DID NOT have these items which would come with the next models upwards.
Trying to work yourself through all these "Exceptions" left you confused with exactly what this heli was equiped with.
If you go to the pro then at least in Australia this model is on the "expensive" side.
I e-mailed the Aussie supplier for more clarification and his response helped in the decision NOT to buy this heli.
I bought a Raptor 30 and knowing all it's weak spots and good points I for myself after 3 months or more can say that I made the right decision.
Incidently, the above report came out AFTER I already decided against buying this bird. |
