There is no doubt that the 40-50 size glow aerobatic/3D models have their place. Who wouldn't want a plane that builds quick, will fit in your car or truck, has a great flight envelope and will do anything your fingers can make it.

Meet the Matrix 40 ARF. Well packaged, looks great, flies great.

Kit Name: Matrix 40 ARF
Manufacturer: Carl Goldberg Products LTD.
Price: $189.99

Wing Span: 55.25 inches
Wing Area: 662 sq. inches
Fuse Length: 58 inches
Flying Weight: 5-6 lbs (review model 5lbs 11.7oz)
Motor Size: .40-.50 2-stroke .52-.70 4-stroke
Motor Used: Saito .72
Radio: 4 channel, 5 servo's
Radio Used: JR PCM10X, JR R600 rx, (4)Futaba 3010's for aileron, rudder and elevator, (1) standard for throttle.

The Matrix showed up in fine shape, the model is well packaged and I was surprised once I opened the box at the fine level of the covering and also liked the fact that the wing was already joined. Less work for the modeler, gotta love that!

Start off by installing the horizontal stab, the instructions say to use epoxy, but I don't see how one could do that without making a huge mess, so I went with CA. I had to do minor fitting to get it level with the wing, and it fit the slot very well. Finish off the tail by CAing the CA hinges into the rudder and elevator halves. Then screw the tail wheel in place.

The elevators on the Matrix use a different setup. There is a bell crank that goes ahead of the stab that has a pull pull to the elevator servo which is in the wing area. It was a little of a pain to get it all installed, but all in all was not bad. I have seen some buy an aftermarket ball bearing setup, but for me so far the stock setup works fine. Al thought not the most free setup I have seen, it does work.

Some of my hardware did not work out. The links for the pull pull that go onto the servo had no ends for them, as you can see in the picture above the silver ones were what I received, there were no clevises that screwed onto them so I'm not sure what happened there. Luckily I had a set here I was not using so I went with them to complete the job.

Landing gear already have the blind nuts mounted, my complaint here is the two piece gear. They do not stay put, Id much rather see one piece gear on these models. The plane comes with wheel pants, but on my field they lead to nose overs, so I left them off this time.

Fuel tank comes with all hardware, but be careful on bending the tubes, they will break if bent too much, make slow gradual bends to prevent failure.

I mounted the Saito .72 inverted, as it fit the cowl best this way, I went with a Goldberg 2" white spinner,and a 14x4W prop on it, seemed to be the best for my combo with most vertical.

Canopy had a score mark to trim on, and I mounted with some screws of my own as the model did not come with any to secure it.

The ailerons received some thin CA to secure the hinges. After cutting out the servo holes I noticed there was a piece of wood installed with a line to the exit in the center section, very cool! Thanks Goldberg! No surprised here, I went with one Y in the center instead of using two channels on my RX. Spoilers are not needed on this model.

To finish off the Matrix install the supplied decals, check your CG, and set the throws. Your ready to FLY! Like I said, its a fast build with little head scratching at all, I was pleased with the assembly and fit of all parts of this model.

Wow is this plane predictable! Very slow stall speed, and harriers and easy to do with very little wing rock, surprised me! Big plus, I had to do a dead stick landing and it really was a floater, nothing wrong with that.

It will fly slow, smooth and precise, it even looks like a pattern ship. I flew mine fast to see if it would stay together and it never let go. Use good servo's and you should not have any issues.

Inverted flight requires a little down elevator at my CG setting, inverted harriers were easy to stay on top of as well, is there anything this plane wont do? I was even doing parachutes and walls with no problems, after I had enough video taken I was trying to make it come apart in the air to see what it couldn't handle, but I cant break it!

Hovering was not a problem, the long fuse made it easy, my old saito .72 and 14x4w prop gave me a little reserve power, but was not ballistic by any means, and Saito .91 would wake it up I'm sure, but watch the speeds as these are not meant to be flown wide open.

Rolling harriers gave me something to work on, I could get them part of the time, and sometimes not.. I'm not a pro at them anyway, so in the right hands it will do them. With more practice Ill get them down like I have in my other models.

Even harriers to landings were not a problem, and are fun. Two piece gear would be much more liked, but these seem to hold good. On my last flight of the day one of the main wheels decided to fall off in the air, so I did a harrier to landing and the gear held on after that kind of punishment, so it is strong enough.

Parachutes are really cool, there is a couple of them in the video's, fun to do a parachute to a harrier to a landing or hover. Knife edge had a little coupling to mix out, but after setting the radio it was no problem to do circuits on knife edge.

Blenders are also very doable. I think mine is still a tad nose heavy as it didn't flatten out quite as I wanted, but it still does them well. Blender to an inverted harrier is a great maneuver.

Like to thanks Dan Vacanti and Bill Perry for helping with the video and pictures.

Watch the video of the Matrix 40
VIDEO 1 of the Matrix 40 ARF Windows media 11.1 MB	VIDEO 2 of the Matrix 40ARF Windows media 11.4 MB

 

No doubt in my mind this is a keeper, it is fun to fly, setup is fast, and does everything. If your looking for a second model consider the Matrix. I feel that if you can fly your trainer very well, or can handle a low wing, you'll enjoy this plane. I got a fair amount of interest at the field with the model, most were impressed with the punishment I was putting on it and how well it handled, and I agree!

Be sure to watch both video's, as both do not contain the same maneuvers.

Carl Goldberg Products LTD.
PO Box 818, Oakwood, GA 30566
678-450-0085
Fax: 770-532-2163
www.carlgoldbergproducts.com

United States Distributor
Great Planes Model Distributors
P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
Telephone: 800-637-7660 or 217-398-6300
www.gpmd.com

Saito engines
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Road
Champaign, IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com

Futaba
www.futaba-rc.com
Distributed Exclusively in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico by:
Great Planes Model Distributors
P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021
Telephone: 800-637-7660 or 217-398-6300
www.gpmd.com