Hobby Lobby’s Telemaster By Larry Kruse
Proving once again, no matter what its size, the Hobby Lobby Telemaster is a great airplane!
PHOTOGRAPHY: LARRY KRUSE T
he long-used advertising adage, “Nothing flies like a Telemaster!” apparently can be scaled up or down and still be true if the latest laser-
cut version of the Mini-Telemaster, Kit V2, is an indication of the veracity of the state- ment. Differing structurally from previous kits and ARFs of this 45-inch wing span ver- sion of the plane, Hobby Lobby called upon Jon Valentine of Top Notch Products Compa- ny to do the re-engineering and the laser-cut- ting of this updated edition.
The re-engineering of the new V2 kit fea- tures laser-cut interlocking parts, including the forward fuselage, wing ribs, wing tips and sheeting, a ply battery tray, firewall, and a cleverly designed forward hatch that eliminates the need to remove the wing to replace the flight battery.
The first thing that strikes you as you open the utilitarian brown cardboard box is the excellent quality of the wood and the very precise laser-cutting throughout. Top Notch Products Company is to be congratu- lated on the execution of the re-engineering and cutting process undertaken for Hobby Lobby. Having had experience with several of Jon Valentine’s models, I can tell you his fingerprints are all over this one—and to a very positive effect.
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The building instructions Normally, the first thing I do in reviewing a kit is to read the instruction manual thor- oughly and try to mentally measure how easily the manual can be followed by the in- tended audience. In this case, the intended audience is a modeler who may be transi- tioning from experience with RTF (Ready- to-Fly) or ARF (Almost-Ready-to-Fly) to his or her first kit build, or a modeler who is just entering the hobby.
On the positive side, my assessment is that by following the step-by-step illustrat- ed building instructions, a beginning model- er will be successful in putting together an attractive model with a straight, strong (yet light) framework—again a compliment to Jon Valentine and his crew.
Having said that, the beginning modeler would be well-advised to enlist the aid of an experienced modeler for such tasks as in- stalling the radio and power system, cover- ing the model, and setting it up to fly. Now, it well may be that I received one of the pro- totype instruction booklets and there may well have been an expansion of the instruc- tions since then, but those areas noted above were not addressed in the instruction book- let that accompanied the kit I received to construct and review.
AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Wing area: Airfoil: Length: Weight:
Wing loading: Motor: ESC:
R/C sport balsa
45 inches 325 sq. in. flat bottom 32 inches 22 ounces
9.73 oz./sq.ft.
eRC BL450S 950Kv eRC 25-amp
Battery:Power Wing 2S 2100 mAh Li-Po Radio:
Futaba T6J 2.4GHz w/R2006 GS RX
Servos:
(2) Tower Pro SG90 9-gram micro servos
Manufacturer:
Hobby Lobby Int’l 5614 Franklin Pike Circle, Brentwood, TN 37027 866-512-1444
www.hobby-lobby.com JANUARY 2013
Mini
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