Kostas1

Guys,


TowerHobbies sells this old/new ARF, with a very nice colour....

But the fiberglass fuselage makes me think twice....

Any feedback on this airplane ? Good Bad ?

Any personal experience ?

[link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?Q=1&I=LXASPD&P=3#tech]Thunder Tiger 1/7 Sea Fury ARF .91,67.75" [/link]

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

I have one and have mixed feelings about it! Some parts of it are very nice and others are somewhat "iffy". I had only a few issues with the quality of the airframe and the glass fuselage seems good to me, although maybe a tad heavy. As with most ARF warbirds the retract mounts are very weak and need to be reinforced before flying. Also, the outboard flaps on my airplane were very warped. Beyond that the airframe seems built well and it flies nice and straight. The supplied mechanical retracts are a joke and I replaced mine with Spring Air retracts and functional oleo struts. I originally built my airplane box stock except for the retracts (even left the flaps fixed) and it flew great but was about 15 pounds which is quite a bit heavier than Thunder Tiger's specified weight. It took a couple of pounds of nose weight to balance but everything was as far forward as I could possibly get it. I have talked with other guys who have had this airplane and they were able to keep the weight down around 13-14 pounds so I guess I must have just received a particularly heavy one. At any rate, it flew fantastic and is without doubt the best point-rolling warbird I've ever had. Mine does need to be respected around the stall due to the high wing loading (about 48 ounces/sqare foot as I recall) and it seems to roll forever on landing due to the high touch down speeds. Mine got banged up on a downwind, dead stick landing so I went ahead and glassed the wings and tail, added the flaps, and re-painted the airframe when I did the repair work. I only got a few flights on the rebuilt airframe before a stuck throttle servo resulted in a gear up landing out in the weeds and it now sits needing some repair work to the undersides. I can only imagine how nice this airplane would be had it come out around 12-13 pounds instead of 15!

Kostas1

Why yours came so heavy....

Have you changed the paint sheme ; Because TH sells a different one....

Any pics of the inside of the fuselage ;

Tcoltpilot

I made my TT Sea Fury all electric. I crashed it on the third flight and have since purchased another. Mine went together rather well. The wing tubes were very tight and needed quite a bit of coaxing. I put air retracts in the first one and now going to put the E-Flight electrics in. I have them in on my H-9 P-47 and work really well. The Sea Fury does need a lot of nose weight to get the CG correct. That was one reason mine crashed on the third flight when the battery pack shifted aft. Really nice looking plane in the air especially with 5 blades being turned by an electric Neu Motor 1515/2Y with the 6.7:1 gear reduction system. A very wonderful and unique sound. The elevator control rod on mine was a bit short and would have prefered one end being soldered and the other adjustable on the servo. Be careful slicing out the flaps and have a very sharp #11 blade or single edge razor blade. I had to do some repairs in this area. I suggest using flaps as it makes the lands smooth and slow. You won't go wrong with this plane as it's a beaut.

Kostas1

How well is the fuse ( fiberglass ) built ;

What's your all up weight ( AUW );

Kostas1

Awesome landing....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caB1a_mGkYg&feature=feedlik[/youtube]

gewiens

I have one running on a power110. Have the eflite retracts on it and everything is fine on the plane asides from the CC 120HVESC burning out just prior to my 3rd takeoff. Running it on 9s.

Kostas1

That is awesome

....any more pictures ;

gewiens

I don't really have any other real good pics of it. This was when i finished it. Forgot to mention, AUW is 13.5 lbs. This was a really good candidate for E power because of how easy it is to use the existing top hatch. I just had to make 2 dowels and use that black antenna i made to remove hatch. I use the APC 15.75x13 3 blade propand even on 8s it has lots of power. This plane has a nice sound to it. Faster flybys it actually has a whistle to it like the real plane, really cool. Not sure if it's the exhaust pipes or what. Of coarse i had to get some custom canadian decals made up for it.

Kostas1

Anyone else...;

Tcoltpilot

The 5 bladed prop (16X14 was made by Zinger along with the pre cut spinner for $125. It flies this plane very well with the electric set up I had on it. The battery packs I use are 5400ma 5s times 2 in series. I get from 6-7 minutes of flight time. I use the same set up on the H-9 P-47 and use an APC 4 blade prop 15.5X12. No cleanup after flights. Can't wait to rebuild the Fury as it's just a great looking and flying model.

Tcoltpilot

It is heavy but mine went together well. I still haven't built the second one yet and has been in the box a long time. I still plan on building it but have other pressing projects like the new F-4 from Skymaster. Turbine to be ordered tomorrow.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

My brother and I are currently working on our second TT Sea Fury (first one can be seen above) only this time it's the "September Fury" race version. The airplane is being extensively reworked and their will be very little left untouched when we are done. This one seems to be a bit better quality than the previous one and is much lighter. Between two and three pounds lighter in fact, a substantial amount on a 68 inch span airplane.