BalsaKits Ultimate Flight Box
New Products That Are Worth a Closer Look
With space for your transmitter, charger, batteries, tools, and spare parts, the Ultimate Flight Box offers a convenient way to haul everything you need for a day of electric flying.
Terry Dunn provided this review of the BalsaKits Ultimate Flight Box. Here is what he had to say.
BalsaKits is a new company under the Florida-based JMP Hobby Group, which also includes the popular RC boat manufacturer ZippKits. According to its website, the goal of BalsaKits is to offer affordable, entry-level model aircraft kits and accessories that are made in the USA. One of their initial offerings is the Ultimate Flight Box, which was designed with the specific needs of electric fliers in mind.
The Ultimate Flight Box is sold as a kit consisting of 34 pieces of laser-cut, 1/8-inch plywood. The laser-cutting on my example was very good. All of the cuts passed completely through the wood and there were no charred edges. After removing the parts from their parent sheets, I ran 150-grit sandpaper along the edge of each piece, and then switched to 400-grit to smooth both sides.
A printed assembly manual is included with the kit. Each step features written instructions and clear computer-generated images. Every piece of the kit is clearly marked with the appropriate parts number in a large font. There is no confusion about which piece goes where. I found the instructions easy to follow and well organized.
As recommended, I used Titebond II adhesive for all of the assembly steps. This wood glue sets up in 30 minutes and fully cures in 24 hours. While building my example, I glued the parts for a given step and held them in place with clamps and/or masking tape. I then came back about 30 minutes later to move on to the next assembly step. Using this method, I completed the Ultimate Flight Box during a very leisurely afternoon of building. If you are in a big hurry, you can use medium CA instead of Titebond II.
This kit employs tab-and-slot construction. The parts self-align to create a strong, square structure. I did not have to modify any of the parts to get a good fit. There were no hiccups at all during assembly. All of the tabs snugly pressed into their respective slots, just as they should.
I think that you would have to be totally asleep at the wheel to build this flight box crooked. To be honest, my experience building the Ultimate Flight Box has made me eager to build one of BalsaKits’ airplane models.
There are many different ways to decorate and protect plywood. The manual suggests paint, sanding sealer, or finishing resin. I used blue, water-based wood stain for color, and then applied a coat of water-based polyurethane for protection. I am happy with the resulting finish.
The completed flight box measures approximately 12 inches each in length, width, and height. It features dedicated spaces for your transmitter, batteries, charger, and tools. There is also a drawer for small items and even a “pocket” to store your battery checker. As an exclusively electric flier, I can’t think of anything I would need for a day at the field that does not fit in this flight box.
The battery area includes a removable tray with optional dividers. With all of the dividers in place, each of the nine compartments is perfectly sized for a four-cell 2,200 mAh battery pack. By removing some or all of the dividers, I can easily fit my larger batteries, including six-cell 5,000 mAh packs.
The BalsaKits Ultimate Flight Box is a well-designed product that is very easy to assemble. More importantly, it provides a versatile carrier for electric fliers to transport and utilize all of their equipment at the flying field. The BalsaKits Ultimate Flight Box is priced at $79.
New Products From the Modeler’s Mall
Heinkel He-178 15-Inch Wingspan Catapult Glider @ $19.99 + S&H from Aspect Laser
Tel.: (248) 707-4430
Website: aspectlaser.com
Designed and laser-cut by John Hoover at Aspect Laser, the little 15-inch wingspan Heinkel He-178 is the finest soaring Catapult Glider in the Aspect Laser lineup. Balsa Catapult Gliders are pure fun—they are simple to build, full of action, and able to get into the air quickly and easily.
Assembly requires only a small amount of medium CA or Titebond glue—nothing else. Everything is included in the kit: the launch band, dowel, and even extra balancing clay for precise trimming. With a little help, a young beginner modeler with minimal building experience can assemble the model and be flying within a half hour. And who knows where it might lead? Many astronauts began their journey flying simple model gliders.
Visit the Aspect Laser website for glue, covering materials, and hobby tools. It’s a perfect step into the world of flight!
UMX Eratix 3D FF 450mm BNF Basic with AS3X and SAFE Select @ $169.99 + S&H from Horizon Hobby
Website: horizonhobby.com/e-flite/
Scaled down from the popular E-flite Eratix 3D FF (Flat Foamy) 860mm, the UMX Eratix 3D FF 450mm airplane offers “flat foamy” capabilities and performance in more places and smaller spaces!
Arriving 100% factory assembled and ready to fly right out of the box, the Eratix 3D FF 450mm includes a brushless outrunner motor with a prop saver that’s compatible with popular 2S 280 mAh to 350 mAh batteries, four servos, and a Spektrum receiver featuring AS3X and SAFE Select technologies. It offers aggressive aerobatics plus the smooth sport- and slow-flying performance that is found with flat-foam models. Ready to bind to your compatible Spektrum transmitter, its laser-cut and composite-reinforced airframe makes it lightweight enough to fly extreme 3D maneuvers indoors in spaces no larger than a living room or almost anywhere outdoors. It offers a truly “mild-to-wild” flight experience that intermediate to experienced pilots will appreciate!
The battery, battery charger, and a full-range, five-plus-channel Spektrum DSMX/DSM2-compatible transmitter are needed for completion.
HEO 48 High-Wing Sport Trainer @ $159 + S&H from BalsaKits
Email: sales@balsakits.com
Website: balsakits.com
The new HEO 48 high-wing sport trainer design from BalsaKits is extremely easy to build, with excellent flying characteristics. Great for beginners as a first kit build, it features laser-cut, hand-selected AAA balsa and plywood construction. The kits are designed to minimize the “fitting” of parts; everything goes together without sanding or fitting.
With a wingspan of 48 inches, length of 34 inches, and a ready-to-fly weight of 30 to 36 ounces, the kit also includes prebent, steel landing gear with straps and screws, wheels with wheel collars, pushrods, pushrod connectors, control horns, hinges, and full-size plans. Illustrated, step-by-step spiral-bound instructions are optionally available for an additional cost (the instructions are also available to download online).
Required but not included are a 2212 or 2216 1,000 Kv motor, a 30-amp ESC, a 3S 1,500 mAh battery, four servos, covering and CA or Titebond glue, a 10 x 5 propeller, and a radio. A window decal set is also available and sold separately.
SOURCES
- BalsaKits
sales@balsakits.com
balsakits.com
Titebond
(800) 877-4583
titebond.com
ZippKits
support@zippkits.com
zippkits.com
