RE: For those who love World War Two Fighters
Phil G,
My Ziroli was a basketcase when I obtained it in a trade. All wood had been hand cut by whoever started it. The wing was completed but needed a ton of work to fix. For instance, the ailerons, though built with the wing and cut out did not match the wing tips. The wing tip ended about an inch too short ? how'd that happen ?, so new trailing edges on the wing tips were fabricated. I also changed the hinging from a regular nylon hinge as per the plan to a more scale robart hinge point, then added a new leading edge to the ailerons for the hinge covers. The top of the wing had also been glassed and was just awful, had to grind out the runs and wrinkles in the cloth then fill in the mess. The tail had been installed about 1/2" crooked measured from the wing tips to the tail tips, sooooooo I cut it off and put a new laser cut tail (stab,elevators and rudder) to the fuse. The fuse is nice and the plans good, however you need to change quite a few things if you want it scale in the hinge department. To be honest, if you are not worried about the 94", I would look at the Y/A P40E/MkIa. That is a beautiful kit and all those scale details have been addressed.
I purposely shyed away from the teeth, so many have them and the lines of the plane get lost. Also I wanted a unique story behind mine. Squadron Leader John 'Willi' Williams was shot down and captured by the germans. Thrown into Stalag luft III, he participated in the 'Great Escape' and was one of those recaptured and murdered by the Gestapo. It's chaps like Willi I try to honor.
She flies well, you hear much about P-40's being hard to fly, not really, quirky compared to my Thunderbolt but no surprises. Warbirds are all very similar, as long as you have correct airspeed, all is well.
S1
Here's a couple more birds I've had