My PKZ "Warbird" Parkfliers

[19000rpm]

Nothing, for me, compares to the sight of a warbird lifting off, doing a victory roll, making a low overhead pass and coming in for a landing.

I've got two PKZ Warbirds: The "Gunfighter" P51 and the F4U Corsair. I also have a spare Corsair airframe that's destined, when I get off my dead arse, to become a non-military, Reno racer. I used to have a PKZ Spitfire also, but it had a wing fold and nosed in.

My P51 I built from an airframe using all PKZ parts and I hopped it up over stock with a 30A Eflite pro ESC and 9X7.5 prop. I added main and tail landing gears from the Corsair with P51 like gear doors. It flies with absolute precision, for a parkflyer, and has no bad habits. It does around 60mph.

My Corsair is bone stock. Flys and lands great. Top speed about 50mph.

I know Kent's got a P51. Anybody else out here have any PKZ warbirds? This would be a great time to start comparing notes.

[Gabe]

Man I had the Trojan T-28D. It wasn't technically a warbird though.

I do have the micro P-51. Top speed is approximately 8-10mph ;D

[19000rpm]

Mar 5, 2010 11:30:16 GMT -6 Gabe said:

Man I had the Trojan T-28D. It wasn't technically a warbird though.

I do have the micro P-51. Top speed is approximately 8-10mph ;D

The guys who know more about this warbird thing than I do would call the T28 a warbird even if it's not a combat plane. Too bad you crashed yours.

The ultra micro P51 flies at scale speed so it's a warbird of the most authentic kind.

[Gabe]

Yeah, sad man. She was really fun. Probably about a 60mph plane. Unlimited rolls, easy snap rolls, and a greased landing every time. RIP...

[akent]

Yeah, 19k, I love that P51 'Gunfighter'! Like you say, the lines are beautiful on these when you do a low slow pass and scale like flying.
Mine is box stock and flies incredibly well. I maxed out the throws though, so I can get out of trouble! The stock settings are really slow.
Plus, adding the rudder servo made a HUGE difference! It will actually do slow snaps now! I need to fly that more.
I robbed the AR6110 out of it for one of my foamies now. I need to get another one for it.

My ONLY complaint with it is the plastic parts that it uses in the front are too dam brittle if you bump it on the ground. Well, another complaint is how they did the aileron servos. No protection on those at all! I stripped both on a landing that hit some tall grass a little too fast.
I put some spare metal geared ones I had around in there and no more problems!

I did also buy this, but I haven't flown it yet:






This thing is BEAUTIFUL!!

[19000rpm]

Yep, you've got to have that tail servo to make it fly right. Really helps on lining up the landings too.

There are a number of aileron control arm and control arm protectors. Dubro makes some. And you're right about the cowling and spinner too. My approach was to add the landing gear and that protects everything very well.

That is one beautiful EDF! What is it and where did you get it? Looks like the tanks and rockets are going to get knocked off unless you've got some retracts.

[akent]

Mar 7, 2010 18:12:16 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

Yep, you've got to have that tail servo to make it fly right. Really helps on lining up the landings too.

There are a number of aileron control arm and control arm protectors. Dubro makes some. And you're right about the cowling and spinner too. My approach was to add the landing gear and that protects everything very well.

That is one beautiful EDF! What is it and where did you get it? Looks like the tanks and rockets are going to get knocked off unless you've got some retracts.

Yes, I found some of those servo protectors, too. I haven't ordered any yet, as the metal geared servos are holding up well.
===
The EDF is the L-39 from Great Planes (Electrofly). I bought this one from Tower Hobbies and I paid $139 for it, including the EDF (55mm Ammo motor powered 'Hyperflow' fan), a 25 amp ESC, and Electrofly servos. I thought that was not bad for what you get.
Included are TWO canopies, the one with pilots and a lighter one to fly with. The armaments are attached with magnets and pop off for flight! They included those for display! The thing even comes with that stand! It's really cool looking on the desk!
It looks so nice that I might just never fly it! It's fun to power up and blow all manner of stuff off of all surfaces! It makes a great leaf blower, too.
Kent

[Solitaire]

Yeah, but try and fly a leafblower.

Looks good, Kent. I figured it wouldn't be long til you got into EDF's.
Now, that 8-10 mph micro P-51 that Gabe has...just my speed. Reaction time in minutes rather than millisecs. Kinda like the mCX.

[Gabe]

Dude th micro P-51 is suprisingly fun at the park. The kids there chase it around like it's a big grasshopper or something. I've taken her up about 200 feet before too. She doesn't do too bad. It kinda makes you grin cause it's so small.

[19000rpm]

Mar 7, 2010 18:43:59 GMT -6 akent said:

Mar 7, 2010 18:12:16 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

Yep, you've got to have that tail servo to make it fly right. Really helps on lining up the landings too.

There are a number of aileron control arm and control arm protectors. Dubro makes some. And you're right about the cowling and spinner too. My approach was to add the landing gear and that protects everything very well.

That is one beautiful EDF! What is it and where did you get it? Looks like the tanks and rockets are going to get knocked off unless you've got some retracts.

Yes, I found some of those servo protectors, too. I haven't ordered any yet, as the metal geared servos are holding up well.
===
The EDF is the L-39 from Great Planes (Electrofly). I bought this one from Tower Hobbies and I paid $139 for it, including the EDF (55mm Ammo motor powered 'Hyperflow' fan), a 25 amp ESC, and Electrofly servos. I thought that was not bad for what you get.
Included are TWO canopies, the one with pilots and a lighter one to fly with. The armaments are attached with magnets and pop off for flight! They included those for display! The thing even comes with that stand! It's really cool looking on the desk!
It looks so nice that I might just never fly it! It's fun to power up and blow all manner of stuff off of all surfaces! It makes a great leaf blower, too.
Kent

I'm going to check that one out Kent. Heck of a desk ornament. Very neat that the armaments are on with magnets. Good engineering.

I got the ultra micro Sukhoi instead of the P51's. My wife, at the time, said I was becoming P51 obsessed. Of course, now she wants me to build another larger PKZ in all "shiny" aluminum. who's Who's P51 obsessed now? ;D I'm either going to do it in aluminum tape or Testors chrome paint.

PKZ will be coming out with another warbird fairly soon. The scuttlebutt is that it's either another Spitfire in the "Z" foam or a Zero. I'm up for either one. I loved my other PKZ Spitfire, but it was too fragile, and have always wanted a Zero. Either way, I'm going to stick with the PKZ warbirds because they look great, fly great and repair easily. That last part is a must for anyone flying off and landing on rough surfaces like I am.

[akent]

The P51 is absolutely my favorite plane of all time.
As a kid, I read every book from WW2 that I could get about the air wars over Europe. The P-51 was always there in the latter part of the war and the pictures were amazing. It is a very very sexy bird.

That said, when I was into RC 25 years ago, I built no less than 3 P-51's, from a .40 sized up to a 120 four stroke.
These were all jinxed though and NOT A SINGLE ONE lived passed it's maiden. Radio failures, engine stalls, and all manner of problems where there.

Imagine how I felt when I actually flew the PKZ P51 that I have now! I love that thing, and hey, it flies well!

I also am excited about what PKZ is coming out with! I love the Zeros too, as well as the Spitfire!
Kent

[19000rpm]

Most P51 models are difficult to fly because they are too faithful to the real thing in terms of wing design. They need to fly fast, turn fast and land fast to avoid tip stalls. Not to mention unintended torque rolls from too much power at the wrong time. So, I can see why you might not have made it beyond the maidens even without equipment failures...I'd bet at least 75% of all pilots with most P51 models, unfamiliar with the planes eccentricities, crashed them on maidens.

Fortunately, the product development guys at PKZ finally recognized the need to design a more forgiving wing when they designed the current P51. Their first attempt, "frankie", was fairly crash prone if you didn't have a good amount of experience with low wing aileron planes. And, even then, it was easy to get caught off guard.

I can't recall hearing even a single negative comment on the new PKZ P51. It seems like even the people that criticize just about everything are happy with it.

I can imagine the looks on your face when you launched that thing and it flew straight as an arrow. Probably looked just like my face did. ;D

[scarface26]

Gabe - FYI the T-28 did see some use in the Vietnam conflict. I had a flight instructor tour in the Naval Training Command in VT-27, Corpus Christi, Texas, in the early 80's and we were the last squadron in the Training Command to fly the T-28. There is nothing more thrilling than starting up a T-28 on a cold morning. Clouds of white smoke billowing around you, backfires louder than a 12 guage shotgun, and 18" jets of flame shooting out the exhaust pipes. It was wonderful.

[19000rpm]

Thanks for adding to the T28 creds scar.

[Gabe]

Wow! What an experience that must have been. Sounds like good memories.