jamiem
Member
As you may or may not be aware, I've had a bit of an unhealthy obsession with the Goblin since the first pictures and videos were released last year. It looks nuts, sounds incredibly unique, and is just one of those machines that I had to have, sooner or later 
Roll on to this week and a very good mate made me an deal I really couldn't say no to, despite being in the middle of buying my first house (how I've still got both my testicles after breaking the news to the other half I'l never know!). It arrived Thursday and instantly I was in love! The first thing I noticed though, was that SAB have changed the paint design since the first batch kits (this is a latest 4th batch kit), where the boom is a solid fluro yellow, instead of the green/yellow fade, and the same for the tail fin and skids. While in pictures I actually prefer the older original style, in the flesh this is so bright it's unreal, and I love it. It was built (being 2 flights old!) but obviously I wanted to check it over properly, so I set about checking the various assemblies. It is incredibly simple in design, with some really nice little design features, like the motor to main shaft belt tensioner, tail belt tensioner, in-built pitch marks on the grips and head block etc etc. I had a slight issue with a sheared bolt below the face of a standoff in the boom, but after a bit of swearing and heating, I had it out and replaced. The rest of the (re)build was issue free, and a dream to work on. I trasferred all of the gear from my 700e v2; Align 700mx 510kv, ICE2 120HV, MKS HBL665/669 HV servo's, Full size V-Bar v5.1pro, Opti 2s 2150 and Opti 6s 5000's.
On to the field and today was it's maiden. The weather was near perfect; broken cloud, little wind, and reasonably mild. I was nervous for obvious reasons, but it was totally uneventful. I have 3 governed headspeeds; 1800, 2000 and 2200. 1800 is fine, powerful, smooth quiet, 2000 is plenty agile enough for almost anything, but lets be honest, this is a bit of a nutjob of a machine, so 2200 is where it's at! I've had 4 flights in total, and I'm hooked. It's a very aggresive machine, and has the fastest/sharpest collective response of any machine I've ever flown. Weight wise my Goblin is about 150g heavier than Dave Rands similar 700e v2, likely caused by the full size vbar versus mini, and the 2s rx pack versus bec on his. In flight however, this feels very light, and quite different to my 700e v2.
Overall thoughts? Awesome. Some nice design features, battery fitting and removal is a total **** of a job though, especially compared to the 700e v2 and its sliding locking battery tray (although I need to get hold of a piece of carbon/plastic to help fitting after watching Ross Gashead fit his packs at charmouth). The paint job itself is very good, however on a kit of this cost, it wouldn't have hurt to layer on the lacquer a bit more to help blend the different layers and edges/steps in, but this is a minor grumble, and is an improvement over the first batch kits I've seen. In flight it looks and sounds awesome and it couldn't be much brighter (possibly only with an Opti canopy/boom fitted?!). It has genuinely lived up to every bit of hype I've read about it, but it really does suit a high headspeed, so be aware if planning to run it lower, that it will do it, but I suspect you won't be getting the best from it, by far.
Maiden:
3rd Flight:
Roll on to this week and a very good mate made me an deal I really couldn't say no to, despite being in the middle of buying my first house (how I've still got both my testicles after breaking the news to the other half I'l never know!). It arrived Thursday and instantly I was in love! The first thing I noticed though, was that SAB have changed the paint design since the first batch kits (this is a latest 4th batch kit), where the boom is a solid fluro yellow, instead of the green/yellow fade, and the same for the tail fin and skids. While in pictures I actually prefer the older original style, in the flesh this is so bright it's unreal, and I love it. It was built (being 2 flights old!) but obviously I wanted to check it over properly, so I set about checking the various assemblies. It is incredibly simple in design, with some really nice little design features, like the motor to main shaft belt tensioner, tail belt tensioner, in-built pitch marks on the grips and head block etc etc. I had a slight issue with a sheared bolt below the face of a standoff in the boom, but after a bit of swearing and heating, I had it out and replaced. The rest of the (re)build was issue free, and a dream to work on. I trasferred all of the gear from my 700e v2; Align 700mx 510kv, ICE2 120HV, MKS HBL665/669 HV servo's, Full size V-Bar v5.1pro, Opti 2s 2150 and Opti 6s 5000's.
On to the field and today was it's maiden. The weather was near perfect; broken cloud, little wind, and reasonably mild. I was nervous for obvious reasons, but it was totally uneventful. I have 3 governed headspeeds; 1800, 2000 and 2200. 1800 is fine, powerful, smooth quiet, 2000 is plenty agile enough for almost anything, but lets be honest, this is a bit of a nutjob of a machine, so 2200 is where it's at! I've had 4 flights in total, and I'm hooked. It's a very aggresive machine, and has the fastest/sharpest collective response of any machine I've ever flown. Weight wise my Goblin is about 150g heavier than Dave Rands similar 700e v2, likely caused by the full size vbar versus mini, and the 2s rx pack versus bec on his. In flight however, this feels very light, and quite different to my 700e v2.
Overall thoughts? Awesome. Some nice design features, battery fitting and removal is a total **** of a job though, especially compared to the 700e v2 and its sliding locking battery tray (although I need to get hold of a piece of carbon/plastic to help fitting after watching Ross Gashead fit his packs at charmouth). The paint job itself is very good, however on a kit of this cost, it wouldn't have hurt to layer on the lacquer a bit more to help blend the different layers and edges/steps in, but this is a minor grumble, and is an improvement over the first batch kits I've seen. In flight it looks and sounds awesome and it couldn't be much brighter (possibly only with an Opti canopy/boom fitted?!
). It has genuinely lived up to every bit of hype I've read about it, but it really does suit a high headspeed, so be aware if planning to run it lower, that it will do it, but I suspect you won't be getting the best from it, by far.Maiden:
3rd Flight:
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