Next Warbird

[19000rpm]

It's rumored Horizon Hobby will announce their next Parkzone Warbird tomorrow; 06-24-10. Any bets as to what it will be?

[19000rpm]

It's a Bearcat. Nice plane. www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ1980

As a kid, 9 or 10, I entered a contest that was to name the plane. I won. It was a Bearcat. The fact that my Uncle was running the contest had nothing to do with me winning. ;D

I got a ride in a Bearcat. It was, as far as I know the, only 2 seater in the Marine's fleet. It was a blast. I was almost too short to see out of the side of the plane, so the pilot did a lot of rolls. ;D

[Gabe]

Seems like PZ is really cranking out the new planes this year. All of them appear to be top notch and great quality as far as detail is concerned.

[Raygun]

Don't you mean Wildcat?? The bearcat is my boss

[19000rpm]

From what you've told me about your boss; he seems more like a polecat, Ray. ;D But you're right it is a Wildcat. Not enough coffee early this AM.

Horizon is focusing on bringing as much new product as they think the market can handle. And, I agree, it is good stuff, and the selection of models doesn't seem to be quite what anybody expected.

[akent]

NICE!
My uncle (RIP) flew Wildcats in WWII in the pacific! He talked about how horrible they were against the zero, if the zero had a half way decent pilot.
He would talk about having a chance if you could get above the Zero.

He shot down a few Japanese planes, but not zeros. He shot down torpedo planes and fighter bombers.

He got shot up a few times, but never shot down in the Wildcat!!

I MUST get one of those planes!
Kent

[19000rpm]

Got to give your uncle and all the rest of the F4 pilots lots of credit for just surviving the Zeroes.

The Zero couldn't be caught in a climb and a hapless F4 pilot trying to do that would stall and the Zero would just turn and blow him away. The fantastic armor on the F4 saved many a life.

In a dive was where the Zero was vulnerable to the F4, but like your uncle said a good Zero pilot was tough to catch. Thank God they had a lot of less skilled pilots than we did.

I would have preferred to see a F6 Hellcat if they had to do a Cat series aircraft. It was the most successful Naval aircraft of all time. Kicked some serious Zero butt with it's superior performance. Soooooooo, I'm probably going to convert the PKZ F4 into an F6 at some point. ;D

[Gabe]

This is a serious history lesson.

[akent]

My F4F has SHIPPED!
I bought it from Red Rocket.

I really like that PKZ is making these more equal in scale. This is supposed to be the same scale as the P-51, I think.

We need something British, German and Japanese in this new foam with the same scale!

Anyway, I'm excited to see this plane. It apparently uses all the same electronics as the P-51. Also a huge plus.
Kent

[19000rpm]

Congrats on the new F4 Kent. I understand it flies really well and, like you say, having the same electronics as the Gunfighter is a real plus.

I'm going to wait for the airframe kit. I'll drop a 10 size motor in it, 40A ESC, 2200 25-30C in it and otherwise Hell Cat it. ;D

The F4 is closer to the P51 and Corsair size than the ME109. The ME109 is nice, but IMHO, not the best of the litter.

Horizon really should stick a Zero in the line up in the same size and re-do the Spit and Focke Wulf in Z foam. Then they'd have the most iconic of the Warbirds all in the best size and construction.

[Solitaire]

HC has what appears to be a nice F6F HellCat. Not sure how it compares to the PZ line of planes, though.

The Zero was definitely maneuverable, but it had ziltch for armour. The Japanese designers (Mitsubishi, I believe) felt it was better to have agility rather than protection. The F6F could take shots from the Zero all day long since it had armour plating around the cockpit including behind the pilot's seat and a self-sealing gas tank. Add the 6 wing mounted 50 cal's and you have one tough opponent.

[19000rpm]

I haven't had any feedback on any of HC's planes. Except your Bipe with the back-wards decals? ;D

I'll opt for the PKZ F4 because of my past experience with the line and the availability here locally. Shipping from HC on big pkgs. is a killer for us south of the border anyway.

You're spot on with the F6F's attributes. Too bad we didn't have it earlier.

Pilot safety wasn't even an after thought for the Mitsubishi designers. That eventually bit them in the ass because they lost so many good pilots they had, mostly, inexperienced kids at the controls by half way through the war.

[akent]

Wildcat just showed up!
It looks awesome!

I'll try to post a couple of pictures later along with the P-51.

I hope to maiden it this weekend!
Kent

[akent]

The Parkzone F4F Wildcat is amazing.
It seems that with every edition of Parkzone birds, there is less and less work to do. This one takes no glue at all. Well, I guess the P-51 didn't either, if I remember right.

With this one, It was probably 15 minutes of real work putting it together and another couple of hours just checking it over!

The two piece wings slide in with a plastic tube (carbon?). Each wing half has a screw inside the fuse that holds it in place. These wings aren't going anywhere. Each wing also has it's own aileron servo whose lead goes through a cutout in the fuse. All very well designed and thought out.
The tail is two piece as well, and it has it's own carbon rod that goes through the fuse. Slip this all together and there are four pieces of tape! that hold the horizontal stab on. The tape seems well done! It feels strong. It is the same as the P-51 stab, but this is better designed, it looks to me.

Hey, the pilot has a SMILE!! Think of that!

The glued in wheels to simulate retracts look GREAT! These look like real wheels that are in the retracted position.

The F4F and the P-51 are the same scale and have the same pilot size. If the planes are really true to scale, the F4F is FAT! I have attached pics of both planes on a table.

When a 1300ma 3s is installed in the stock location, the CG is dead on. Amazing how they can do that. With an AR6110E, the throws are also dead on to the manual with high rates at 100% and low rates at 75%. How do they do that???

There seems to be very good ventilation built in. The power is very good, but not quite 1:1 on the vertical. It feels about the same power to weight ratio as the P-51 just holding it at full throttle.
The P-51 weighs (without a battery) 560 grams (19.7 oz). The Wildcat weighs 620 grams (21.8 oz). That's closer than I would have expected given the chubby girth of the F4F!

I can't wait to fly this! This weekend, I hope.

[19000rpm]

Looking good Kent

I just repaired a new PKZ Extra 300 that had some shipping damage and it uses the same wing arrangement as the F4F that is similar to how many wood and monokote constructed planes have been designed for quite some time. Nice step forward for the foamies.

Look forward to your report on the maiden.