The Dynam Sukhoi SU-26M

         The Dynam SU-26M is a incredible plane for anyone wanting to get into 3D aerobatics. When I bought my first one, it was only $120 (PNF) which is about $80 less than the Parkzone Sukhoi. Although the Dynam Sukhoi doesn't have AS3X or SAFE, It still handles the wind very well and is relatively easy to fly. I liked it so much, that when I killed my first one, I bought another one. There are just a few things I changed to make it better.

       One of the first things I did was cut some holes to let air in. I cut some small holes in the plastic cowl and another hole right over where the battery sits.

       One other thing I did was change out the rudder and elevator servos. It came with 17 gram plastic gear servos, but they both striped out very quickly. I changed them out with 15 gram Corona metal gear servos which seem to be working great. One other quick thing I did was get a better prop adapter. My prop flew off at a event at my local club, but I luckley landed it before I ran out of altitude.

       Like most planes, the Sukhoi has a canopy that is prone to coming off in flight. I fixed that with a simple servo horn and a piece of popsicle stick. I just screwed a control horn onto a piece of popsicle stick. Then I glued it just behind the canopy so it could prevent the canopy from coming off in flight

        The next thing I did was put a strip of Gorilla Tape on the leading edges of each wing. This just helps prevent the leading edges from getting torn up too much in transport. I also put some black stripes on the bottom of the wings to help with orientation.

         The final thing that I did was cover the landing gear mount with epoxy. I did this because the landing gear will rip off if you have a bumpy landing. It will still rip out even with epoxy, but it happens less often now.

Here are some random pictures of the plane.

         Over all, The Dynam SU-26M is a incredible plane given it only costs $120. I would not recommend this plane for a beginner because it likes to fly fast and you don't have much control over the plane in stalls. I do however think this would be a great second 4 channel plane because it is easily repaired, cheap, and isn't very hard to fly. One thing to note is that if you plan on doing some hardcore 3D with this plane, you might want to consider adding some more carbon fiber to the wings because they have a little too much flex to do some real 3D as is. I purchased this plane at Nitroplanes.com, but I would honestly recommend buying it from another place like Motion RC because they have great customer support, unlike Nitroplanes.

Last but not least, here is the list of electronics and other specs.

Motor: BM3720 650kv

Prop: 13X6

ESC: 50 amp

Servos: Two 9 gram servos and two 17 gram servos.

Recommended battery: 2200 4s. I used a 2200 40-80c Sky Lipo

Wingspan: 47"

Length: 46"

Material: EPO foam

Thanks for reading! I hope that this was helpful.