HobbyKing EDF Hoverjet Review

It may not have wings, but its' not a boat and it doesn't run on tracks or wheels....and as it is powered by a couple of fans so it's pretty close to being a plane....right?

This was a bit of an impulse buy for four of us, something a little different to do on indoor flying evenings while waiting for the glue to dry on plane repairs and the like.

What’s in the Box?

Not much in terms of individual components.  Model comes complete apart from the need to add the decals (I’m going to be doing my own, so was glad of that).  All you need do is add a receiver and a battery and away you go.

Not much to talk about in terms of the build as all you need to add are a receiver and battery.

Removing the canopy/cover is easy.  It’s held in place with a bit of velcro at the front and the edf cover through the hole at the rear, just run your fingers along the velcro to break the seal and lift it off nose first.

I use 35mhz so opted for a Jeti Rex 5 Plus and took care of the antenae by slicing a slot around the foam...just deep enough to hold the antenae in place, so about 2mm deep.  This is easy done using a retractible blade, settin the blade out the required depth and just running it round the surface of the foam to the desired length.  No need to glue the antenae in as foam is reasonably dense/springy and will hold it fine on it’s own.

Both ESC’s receiver plugs are connected using a Y-Lead but I removed this and placed the Thrust EDF on the Throttle (Channel 3) and the Lift EDF on to my Gear Switch (Channel 5).  This gives me permanent and constant lift without the added complication of dealing with the thrust on the same control movement.  Directional Control Arm was fitted to my Aileron Control (Channel 2).

One thing I did notice was that the bend in the pushrod presses up against the Thrust EDF cover when on full right.  You don’t actually need full throws so you can either dial down the end points on your transmitter or by tweaking the control horns on both ends of the pushrod, set it not to touch.  It only just touches, so the easier choice is to do the adjustment to your end points.

The cut-out for the battery fitted both my Rhino 2250mah 3s1p and my Zippy 1500mah 3s1p batteries perfectly and as the Hoverjet came with an XT60 and not the advertised T-Connection I didn’t need to change anything there.

I’m going to be doing my own decals, but the other two have gone with those supplied.  Decals are easy to fit, just remember to remove the protective film on the canopy/cover before adding them.

Couldn’t be 100% certain of what material the canopy/cover is made from (some kind of vacuum formed PVC), so I couldn’t say how it would take to being painted.

Service and Shipping:

We ordered 3 Hoverjets and the total shipping came to £33.00 (give or take).  Marked shipping cost on the parcel was about £28, so £5 for packaging and handling means the total cost was reasonable.

Items arrived within 12 days of ordering, pretty much the timescale we’re used to with HobbyKing, so no delays there.

Packaging was by way of a sturdy cardboard box (3 boxes taped together in our case) and top and bottom of craft were well protected with air filled wrap.  The only possible problem was that the fit within the box is very tight so any hard/sharp impact on the sides will have penetrated straight through to the model....however they all arrived unscathed so that’s fine.

A few images of the HoverJet with Custom Decals

Images of what's on the inside of the HoverJet

Custome Decals (right), made by using the originals (left) as a rough template