ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

The new ParkZone P-51 Mustangs are finally out. Looks great, will post my reveiw hopefully very soon. Can't wait to get one and fly it. Also, if anyone else has flown one these beauties already, feel free to post your reveiw and maybe some videos or pics.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Hey got mine yesterday, great plane. Flew it today flew great not for beginners no self correcting. The wind was about 12 mph but couldn't tell it, it tracked so well, good power, loop from level flight, rolled well, will tip stall if slowed down to much on landing. Flew 2 batterys got about 10 min. flights each mostly full power. Get one you will love it. Tried to load some pics but keep getting error message any ideas?

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I'm new to the hobby.
I have been flying a Parkzone J-3 Cub and feel comfortable with it. Take offs and landings without any problems, even under windy conditions (up to 10 mph) with no crashes for the past couple of months.
I'm thinking about purchasing the PZ P51 but I'm wondering if that is too much of a step up. I could go to the Begin-Air (4 channel but much slower plane) before I go to the P51.
Since you have flown the P51, what would be your recommendation?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Jmir

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

It is a pretty long leap from a J-3 Cub to any low wing warbird. I would not suggest that. The initial flight reports on this plane are mixed. I would wait a couple of weeks at least and see how the scales tip.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

The P51 is fast, maybe twice as fast as my J3 with the Venom motor. I have an ABX that I thought was fast but the Mustang will run circles around it. If you have someone to trim it out and help you learn to fly a low wing warbird like this you should be ok. I have 7 flights so far and I could not be happier with the way it flies. Landing is not so easy it doesn't float like the J3 or the ABX so if you slow it down to much it will tip stall and nose in right wing down. Btw I taught myself to fly with a FBC 2 channel then got the ABX, J3 Cub and a Tiger Moth 3D. The p51 is a great flyer you just have to pay attention all the time.








the P51 is fast

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I got mine yesterday and took it out this evening. I'm very pleased. It's everything I had hoped it would be. Making sure it's properly trimmed out is vital though. Mine dipped on the first hand launch and I broke the propeller. Fortunately they include an additional propeller and I was back in the sky in minutes. I flew the easy throw sport mode first to kind of get a feel for the plane. It is very responsive even in this mode. The plane is also very fast. The manual says it can do 40 Miles an hour.

Well once I got some altitude I flickd the switch and went into high throw mode. WOW! It turned into a completely different plane; rolls, loops, stall outs, it was crazy....I only had the one stock battery supplied with the plane so I didn't get to fly long. It's also a bit difficult to gage battery remaining because the moter is so quiet. I usually sort of do a fly by on myself at various times so that I can hear the engine and it helps me determine how much more flying I got.

The plane landed well but I'm concerned about busting up the bottom of the aircraft during future landings. It REALLY would have been cool if Parkzone would have taken advantage of the XPort and gave it retractable landing gear. That would have rocked! I figure I'll do some re-inforcements on bottom and at various vulnerabilities. I really want to keep it nice cuz it's a really pretty flyer.

Thank you Parkzone!

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Are there any flying videos of the model yet? Can't seem to find any, thanks.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I recently purchased the Parkzone P51 - it flies great! I did not like having to hand-launch and belly-land so I installed some landing gear. For the front two wheels I used some modified Aerobird gear. I also installed a fixed tail wheel. I would like a steerable tail wheel but not sure how to do that yet. Takeoffs are pretty easy from a hard surface - just hold full up-elevator to keep the tail on the ground and then give full throttle, releasing to neutral elevator when it lifts off. My gear works well for landings also - just need to be well lined up with the runway when I set down since I can't steer once the wheels touch down. The gear added about 1.25 oz. I haven't noticed any difference in performance with the gear on, but I did not fly it a lot prior to installing the gear.

I also like how the P51 handles the wind - I flew today in 12mph winds with no problem at all.

If anyone has ideas for a steerable tail wheel, please let me know. Thanks.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Flew the P-51 today. Got in a few good flights before the wind became uncomfortably gusty due to a storm rolling in. I'll keep this short...It flew great! Felt very stable in the breeze, much more so than the stryker which doesn't seem to like wind much. The power and general flight characteristics are very satisfying and scale like - this plane would look ridiculous zipping around with a high powered brushless IMO.

I'll join the chorus and say that I wish parkzone would offer these planes with non-proprietary servos and no receiver, I HATE having a seperate radio for each plane. I have a JR XP6102 that I love, and nothing would make me happier than to be able to use it with this fine plane. I would also like to see parkzone take the next step and offer 4 channels on future planes - a rudder would be great on the P-51.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Oh, and I just want to add that this plane looks GREAT! It looks like a P-51 should! And the size is perfect for a parkflyer - not to big, not to small, and it really looks like it has "substance" for lack of a better word. Very refreshing amidst the onslought of flat foamies.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I'll throw my .02 in. I purchased one yesterday and flew it this morning in about 10-12 mph winds. I met up with a friend that had purchased one also. He had about 6 flights prior to us hooking up this morning. He lost his on the hand lanch and tore it up pretty badly. It is not the easiest plane to hand launch as the only way to do it is from behind the trailing edge of the wing. I would suggest a buddy to throw it for you if you have someone to help, that's what he did for me after losing his. It is very nose heavy but flies well once you get it up. This is my first electric park flyer and I mormally fly giant scale, so I won't be too critical of it. I believe it has great potential with some tweaking. I am going to add a block to the leading edge of the wing (underside) to help aide in the launch. I will also add some tail weight to help balance it out to prevent nose in's at launch. Together, these mods may make it more user friendly to get in the air. All in all I think it will be fun when the changes are made. :)

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

crimper,

Parkzone's Typhoon will come with a 4-channel radio and RX that can accept 3-pin servos, Lipo batteries, and a speed controller. The plane has a ste2rable tail wheel. I know it does not help with the P51-D but they are listening. I plan on purchasing the Typhoon and a second RX, speed controller, motor and P51-D so I will have two 4-channel Parkzone Planes. I also think that Parkzone is offering the Fuse and wings prepainted along with all the other parts needed to put together a plane with your electronics. Not quite an ARF but not too hard to put together as long as Parkzone keeps supplies in stock. All that back ordering is killing folks who keep cracking up the Stryker so I hope this doesn't happen with the P51 but over stock costs them money so it is a real balancing act to keep price down and profit up.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

we should be doing one of these soon for review with video in the rcu magazine. hopefully done in just a couple weeks.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

i got mine yesterday and flew it for the first time this morning in almost 25 mph winds and it handled it better then i thought it would. i did fly it with the 3s2100lipo and was amazed at the power as on launch, it more or less took off out of my hand. it looked great in the air and the gearbox gave it a really cool sound as well. the light wing loading really makes it get pretty much battered in the air but all in all it handled the extreme weather fine but only with the high rates enabled as the low rates didn't seem to make it move at all in the high winds. i was also glad to see that it does have an x-port on it and that it came with an extension so i put an old sonic module for dogfights by following the instructions in the newest horizon-hobby catalog. only problem is that nobody else has a plane equiped to do this. the only negative thing i have to say about it is the battery cover. because it belly lands, it got ripped off every landing. it looks as though the battery compartment may have been installed at the factory backwards as the clip to push over to get the cover off was towards the front of the plane and the grass simply ripped it off. i guess i have to get creative and come up with a new battery cover.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

:D oh, and yes, i love this plane already.:D

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Hey everyone, pull the cowl and the gearbox and check the motor screws mine came loose after 10 flights and the washer got between the gears and stopped the prop. This plane will not glide very well and I nosed it in from about 10 feet broke the prop, cowl. spinner and the elevator. My J3 Cub did the same thing but it just glided to the ground.I think if the washer had not got between the gears it still would have flew ok, but with no prop it came down hard. I was just getting used to high speed passes right off the ground, this plane is fun.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Hay Phat, how did they say to do it? I already mounted mine to the canopy with a little velcro, and cut a small square hole in the left side just below the canopy. I also used some fiber tape to reinforce the inside of the fues around the whole. Now I have the same problem as you no one to fight. Oh well, this saterday a friend of mine is comming over and we are going to god fight every thing with an X port against each other. Should be fun.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Wow I looked at how they mounted it in the article, and I don't really agree with mounting it on the side of the plane. You have effectivally shielded it from all but 180 degerees of attack. I feel for good, fair combat the way I have mounted mine is much better. Whenever you add one of these to a plane I think they look a little goofy, so I don't really mind it stuck on the canopy. I bought this for combat, so that's what I am after.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

that way makes much more sense for fair combat. i thought about that also with only the right side of the plane as the vulnerable part. i think i'm gonna copy your way. ; ) now i just need to convince someone to go in on one of these bad boys so i can actually use it. the stealth target seems like a waste of time to me.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Just flew the PZ P51 and WOW! What a blast! I used a TP 2100 3S LiPo and the performance was fantastic. I only flew in the half-rate mode, and it was very easy to maneuver. I set all controls at neutral before flight, and I didn't need to apply any trim. I even did one very graceful loop. Looked like footage from WWII dogfight films. It handled just like a war bird, and it was easy to see in the air. The scale detail was breath taking in a high speed, low level pass!!

Plenty of power, and I only used 650 mah of the battery in an 8 minute flight mostly at 1/2 throttle. That should make for an easy 20 minute flight (if I can last that long). And I used the transimitter from my Slo-V (they are both the same channel, and the dual rate is backwards, but all else is the same).

PZ nailed this one. Its the right size, right cg, right power, and right handling. The only thing PZ could do to improve this bird is offer a wing with a retract. The "new" wing could come with a little foam tail wheel to glue on the back, and a longer Xport extension to plug into the wing for the retract drive mechanism. If foam, scale looking wheels are used, the weight should be trivial. Then if you are only flying on grass, you can use your old "no retract wing." Hey PZ, wouldn't that be great?

A four blade prop and spinner would also be awesome. Maybe PZ will offer that as an upgrade too!

Back to the flight line. . .

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I think I'll mount my combat modual inside the cocpit. what do you guys think?

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Anyone have any suggestions on power up grade. Ours flys just ok but manuevers are lacking. We are new to electrics but have witnessed the power available with the right combo.What about direct drive brushless Feedback Please. DB

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Hello,
I got mine on friday took it out to the field today with the fresh craged battery pack that came with it It would not fly It felt way nose heavy and not enough power for some reason !! 3 people at my field tried to fly it today no one could get it go more than 10 feet after hand launching it I wounder if I got a bum motor!!!
Has any one else had problems??
Please respond back

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Prob your battery is fully charged . Did you charge it on the charger that came with the plane or you're own. If the one that came with it is the only one you got, check the battery when the PZ charger shuts off, battery should be warm. If hot, it is overcharging, and if cold, prob not charged enough. I found that often unplugging a charged but cool battery and then replugging it in sometime tops off the battery better. Better yet, invest in a better charger, possibly one that does lipo so you can upgrade.

The plane does feel nose heavy, but when in the air, it flys fine.

You could charge it on someone Astro charger or something and check out the batt. I had a bad batt come with my old aerobird challenger that would never seem to provide much power. I checked it's status and one of the fancy chargers. It would charge to the right volts, but wouldn't hold the amps. If that's the case with your's, call PZ and I'm sure they'll send you a new one ROW.

My advice, switch to lipo power asap, as it just fly better with them, and you'll be much more satisfied. It will provide much more power and double the flight times. Next upgrade, I think I may stick in a Mega brushless. hmmm..

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I don't think the combat module will work under the cockpit. It works on sound, and I think that would muffle it too much. If anything it would reduce the range significantly.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I think Mr TBone is right on. Sounds like a bad battery or bad charge. I haven't flown with the stock NiHy, but the LiPo is GREAT, and the cg is just right. This thing flys out of my hand and up to 100 ft very fast with a full-throttle hand launch.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I wrote my initial impressions of the mustang earlier in this post and gave it some positive reviews. However, after flying it for a bit, I have to take some points away. The propeller breaks way to easy on even the softest belly land. (I've gone through three) My gear box busted so I replaced it only to discover the smaller gear on the engine was stripped off as well. Apparently you can't buy the little gear seperately so I had to buy a new motor. Again, this would have been an excellent candidate for some simple spring loaded landing gear that you could trip w/ the Xport. You could re-cock them again when you were ready to hand launch. I think this would save a lot of belly and prop damage. I've also smashed the wing but I'll take responsibility for that ::sigh:: but I'm well over 200 bucks into this plane. I'm liking my stryker more and more. [&o]

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

i'm just the opposite. i have well over 50 flights on mine and haven't had a single thing go wrong on it except the battery cover breaking on the third flight (i just use masking tape to keep battery cover on now). i use the nimh battery just as much as the 3s lipo battery (alot of jumper switching) and like the performance of both. of course the flight time on the lipo is significantly better. like 4x better. i did leave it in my truck one day with the windows closed and in the sun and the paint on part of the wing bubbled up but it didn't affect the flight performance at all. i still love this plane with the stock setup but i can't wait for the motor and gearbox to break so i can put an uber brushless setup on it and get some incredibly unrealistic flight performance out of this thing.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Hey phat742......

Do you take the wing off each time you change jumpers, or do you have an easier method?

If you DO go brushless....... let us know what you do!![8D]

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

yeah i do change the jumpers by taking the wing off. i am really good at getting those damn screws back in now too. as for the brushless setup i was thinking maybe a multiplex 480-4g put into that gearbox on a 3s2100 lipo with the same prop. i think that setup would be pretty much a drop-in swap. or maybe an axi 2212-20 or a 2808-24. both with the 3s200 lipo and the same prop.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

I don't have any electrics but my son bought the PZ P-51. It's a nice little plane but somewhat under powered. I can't believe guys are flying combat with this model, as ours won't loop from level flight. A guy at our field has a Hobby lobby Corsair , 32" span that flies like a bat out of ----. We have the lipo up grade 2100 mah but the voltage increase is minimal. A small plane like this has to fly faster than scale speed to look right , IMHO. Is there a way to match a brushless motor to this setup? And could it be direct drive? I know it will probably involve tossing the provided radio and electronics . A better option for this plane would be airframe only and outfit yourself. My son never listens to me ! Any help welcomed. DB

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Dbateman,
Something with your plane doesn't sound right. I would have guessed bad battery, but you said you are flying Lipoly? Is it a Thunder Power battery? The thrust to weight ratio seems pretty healthy to me. I fly my little SU-27 at a T-t-W ratio of .9, and the P51 feels like about .65 to .75. That's plenty for a war bird!

I can do a loop no problem from level. I cruise at 65% power (just above the half tick on the Tx), and do all stunts at 100%. Also, at 40 mph, this model is almost scale speed. Although I am not sure that speed scales, it does look right to me in a high speed pass compared to WWII footage I've seen. PZ P-51 scale is about 1/11th, and at a 450 mph top speed, that scales about right.

Could you have a bad motor, or do you just fly a lot of planes with high thrust to weight ratios?

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

LOL....Crimper I know EXACTLY what you mean. I own a Futaba 9cap and I hate having all these transmitters that go to this certain plane. That would be nice if I could just tie in diferent receivers with my radio.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

can you switch out the supplied connectors with some Deans ? is there enough room?

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Im not talking about using the P-51 as a pylon racer. We just want some performance out of the aircraft. Comparable to all the electric stuff I have seen fly this thing really lumbers around with enough power for level flight but climbing and manuevers you have got to be carefull. Maybe the parkflyer thing is a little more laid back than we expected. It looks like it is doing around 40 mph. A 50% increase in speed to around 60mph should be about right. 40" span , 29 oz. flying weight. How do I figure out a combo to get us there? DB

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

SO is it foam, plastic covered foam, plastic, built up, what is it made of? I didn't see any styro grain. Amazing, Cox built an almost ding proof plastic arf 30 years ago but today the foam just gets weaker and weaker.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

got my p51 on saturday, put deans plugs on it and added a length of wire to the battery wire from the esc as the wire would no way allow me to connect the bat. flew it this morning. at first it wouldn't fly, kept mushing to the ground and the bat cover and rear wing mounting kept coming off, but i had only run the motor for a minute previously to check if it worked. should have run at least one battery thru it. anyway, the firth time, i was beginning to get pissed off when it suprised me and flew away and climbed up high. excellent. did some loops and general handling to get used to it and it was fine. as the battery was getting low it was losing height when it suddenly went into a spin - must have stalled it or something. anyway it recovered by itself and i had to make a head on landing but muffed it up at the last - must need a bit of speed when landing - and nosed it in. broke the prop, cowling and spinner, but miraculously everything else was ok. nice plane, i'm going to stick with the stock batteries, just ordered another one, although i did have a 21oomah tp 3 cell lipo, but it was duff and i've returned it and still waiting for a replacement. my first flying warbird and i wanted rtf to get it in the air with no messing. the bat cover is crap and i used 2 rubber bands to hold it on. the rear wing mount could do with being better but as long as the wing doesn't come off in flight i'm happy. can't wait till the next outing ! by the way, these guys in Australia sell the airframe, no electrics for $99 http://www.modelflight.com.au/hobbyz...51_mustang.htm

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Hey,

I saw from ebay that there is a guy selling some Parkzone P51 parts, maybe you can check it out. Prices are cheap compared to horizon and any other retailers considering that the parts are only 1 week old (as mentioned from the ebay listing).

Check out this link, http://search.ebay.ca/_W0QQsassZpinoyQ5feh

For the information of everybody only.

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

Well I see that I am not the only one who has issues with this new plane from parkzone. I already fly the stryker and liked it untill the rx would lose reception at about 20 feet. Before I tell you about my experiances let me tell you what I feel the weak points are - The battery cover - it came off almost every landing or would at least mow some of the lawn, why could they not design a better non obtrusive cover, I have put some packing tape over it to aid in the retention of the cover. Handling - I don't know if I am too demanding, but this thing reacts awful slow, have you seen the response from the aileron servo? it takes about 1.5 to 2 seconds to go from one position to another, when you try acrobatic maneuvers, you really have to plan ahead. The elevator - The supplied tape came off after the first flight, I then used hinge tape that is still there and holding. Prop - This belly landing crap is killing me! the whole balance of this plane is to lean forward upon landing, I have gone through four props even though the landings were good ones! Flying characteristics - I feel that this plane is too sluggish, I have to fly it pretty much full throttle and it feels squirrely the whole time, trimming this thing is worthless since if you have the ailerons one way and then release the controls it does not go back to a nuetral position, but instead needs a little nudge to seat it again. Let us also use our own receivers so that we do not have a bunch lying around for each plane. How about selling a full plane without the receivers and transmitter for those major crashes.
My feeling is that Parkzone is nickel and diming us to death with al these fragile and cheap parts, I love the looks and the concept, but would not recommend this to anyone who did not want to spend more money and time on a plane that appears to be designed to crash or fall apart even when you fly it good. I do not feel that this plane flys very stable, the Wattage p-51 and the kyosho model both fly and perform much better. (Though they have thier issues too, but fly much better). So in closing I feel that with some improvements they may have a winner here! but untill they open their eyes and fly this thing for themselves, the next thing we will see is this plane flying into the sunset, without its battery cover!
Thanks :)

RE: ParkZone P-51 Mustang RTF
 

i agree with you Marshman, that this plane is not as good as the f27 in many ways, but i think it's a pretty good warbird for beginning on. i've only flown mine twice, had it go into a spin, had it tipstall on launch and brok a prop everytime i've tried flying it. i'm going to use gws props in future. the battery cover is not very well designed and i keep mine on with 2 rubber bands. the other thin is that the rear wing mounts come out easily if you make a hard landing, but hopefully they wont break. i also noticed how slow the aileron servos are. but i've really enjoyed my 2 flights with it and want to fly it lots. i've had a wattage corsair that wouldnt fly and a gws me109 that would only tipstall on take off (and also the first gws plane i built, not that well) so i'm glad of the parkzone mustang to get into warbirds. i'm going to master this plane, but will leave it stock as i've got a wooden mustang to build in the future and that will be brushless. you could buy the fuselage wings and tailfeathers and build your own, but my wooden mustang was less than $60 and is really nicely made - you can get it from raidentech. however i want to do any crashing on the parkzone plane.