MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm 4CH RC Airplane PNP for $60 from Banggood - Part 3: Maiden Flight in High Wind

I am cheap and I like buying and reviewing midsize (i.e. wingspan between 1000-1500mm) RC airplanes that cost less than $100 to get up in the air. This is a particularly important market segment in my opinion, especially for trainer airplanes, because most of the newbies wanting to get into this hobby are not willing to invest more than that. Nevertheless, their first experience is critical in keeping them in the hobby.
Hence, whenever I see a “potential candidate” in this market segment for a reasonable price, I just go ahead and order it. My main goal is to sift through the “duds” in order to get to the “buds”, or in other words to find the gems in the rough. Plus, I extremely enjoy building and flying a wide variety of cheap airplanes; the more the better.
I ordered this airplane kit from Banggood.com when it was on sale (“Flash Deal”) for $59.99 plus $2.99 shipping:
www.banggood.com/E0717-1030mm...
They advertise it as a PNP (plug-and-play or receiver-ready) airplane, but in actuality it is a kit that comes with the motor, ESC (electronic speed control), the servos, and two propellers. The premise is that you can build it up to a PNP-condition with all the materials provided in the box, and you will only need to add a receiver, a transmitter, and a battery in order to get it ready to fly.
So, in theory, you can get this airplane flying for $100 or less if you are a penny-pinching and patient shopper. Here is the math: This plane cost me $62.98 shipped to my door in the U.S. The recommended battery is a 3S 2200mAh LiPo battery, which you can order from HobbyKing for $9.99 (Rhino brand). And a basic Turnigy 5X 5Ch 2.4GHz transmitter and receiver combo costs $26.51 on HobbyKing. You can find similar deals from eBay, Banggood or other online hobby stores as well. (By the way, I am not counting in the charger, since it is an investment that you make one time when getting into this hobby and will use it for years with all your future planes.)
This kit arrived in a basic, unbranded cardboard box. Upon opening it, I was pleasantly surprised by a large sheet of building instructions with color pictures and an English description for each step. It was printed on a high-quality, glossy paper. I am not used to seeing something like this arriving with an inexpensive, no-name kit from China. GREAT START!
The materials used in the construction of this airplane turned out to be really interesting: plastic (polyethylene or polypropylene) fuselage, expanded polystyrene foam (a.k.a. Styrofoam) wings, sheet foam horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and plywood main tray and reinforcement. Do I care? No, as long as it builds well and flies true, I don’t! And we are going to find out soon enough!
In the first episode, I showed the unboxing of this kit and shared my first impressions:
• MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm ...
In the second episode, I demonstrated the detailed assembly to complete this kit and get it airworthy:
• MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm ...
In this third episode, I am doing the maiden flight in less-than-ideal conditions, in high wind. There is also some aerial drone footage of the airplane during the second half of the video. I am planning to do a few more flights with this airplane before sharing my final verdict, because I would like to test it properly in low or no wind conditions, so please stay tuned.
By the way, here is the link to the video that I mentioned in this episode, about Banggood charging U.S. customers for “free shipping”:
• Banggood! Please stop ...
Thank you very much for watching. If you find this review useful, please consider liking it and subscribing to our channel. And do not forget to hit that notification bell. Stay safe and healthy. Hope to see you on the next video. Cheers!

[@Doggeslife]

First launch definitely looked tail heavy. Second take-off was nice. Very good job with the build and tweaks.
I'm looking at $60 for the basic kit at Bang Good. But the Plug & Play kit (PNP) that you received with servos and more is priced at $96 shipped. Not much chance of beating the $100 limit with either kit.
The $60 version does not come with these:
2212 Motor
30A ESC
8060 Prop
9g Servo (4)
Add cost of radio and battery and the $100 barrier is easily broken. No biggie, as you still end up with a cool airplane.
Happy flying!

[@PropsWheels]

Hi Doggeslife. Yes, I always start a bit nose-heavy, especially in the wind, and then move the CG progressively rearward to match my taste of maneuverability vs. stability.
Timing is everything for beating that $100 threshold. If you are patient and not in a hurry to get this plane flying, you can wait for the next sale. A few weeks ago the kit was selling for $35 at Banggood with free shipping.
Good luck!

[@warbuzzard7167]

Hey, buddy! My flyin' buddy bought this airframe and put his own gear into it. On his maiden flight, he folded the wings when he entered a loop. The bird's wing is only supported by a small balsa spar - far too small to support the wingspan. You should cut out a wing-width slot and hot glue a smallish carbon-fiber spar into the bottom of the airfoil. Ideally you can then slap a piece of packing tape across the slot and have as strong an airfoil as you can stand.
Oh, and consider a flight-stabilizing receiver like a LemonRX for this airframe. Good flying! ☺️

[@PropsWheels]

Hi WarBuzzard. Thank you for your recommendation. I wanted to build it as close to "standard" as possible in order to give it a fair review. I did a couple loops (coming in the next video very shortly) and it was fine, but they were not high-G loops. After I compete its review, I will strengthen the wing.
By the way, I prefer flying full manual (without stabilization) in order to build up my skills. Cheers!

[@Doggeslife]

@@PropsWheels A spar would be a good call if they used balsa. Usually spruce was ideal for those. I put a 3mm carbon spar in my Xk A160 for a similar reason. The flimsy wing struts it comes with scare me and won't support it during negative GEE maneuvers.
I agree that gyros are not needed on a plane this large. I do run AS3X anti-gust Spektrum receivers on my micro planes (500mm span or smaller) because the local winds toss them around like dry leaves, but no self-leveling or SAFE systems are onboard. More fun that way.
Happy flying!