Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Has anyone had a chance to see or fly the new Great Planes 1/12 scale Corsair and Mustang?

[link]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXGJY8&P=[/link]

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Yes, but unfortunately for them, they're about three years too late! :eek:

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

nice looking plane. but not well suited for combat:

"Construction: All balsa and plywood"

just will not be tough enough for combat imho. need foam, aluminum and coroplast!!!

check around on the combat sites for list of tough planes.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

.....and

fiberglass

and

bi-directional tape

and

gorilla glue!!!!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

not use balsa plane in combat anymore?

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

This is all aside from the fact that their not AVAILABLE yet as noted in the ad "late feb"

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

yeah.....um.....you obviously could use a balsa and ply plane for combat......just make the crashes even more amazing!!

and in our combat you aren't looking to knock the other plane out of the air....lol

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

In the 2610 that I've been flying, you don't look to knock people out of the air.

But it happens. Mid-airs are a fact of life in combat. No one I know trys to cause mid-airs, but we sure get in to plenty of them anyway.

The better you fly, the more mid-airs you have (well, roughly, anyway). And the more combat you fly, the more mid-airs happen.

I've had contests where I've had as many as 8 mid-airs in 6 rounds. If every little tap blows your airplane to bits, you won't be flying much. That's the problem with "conventional" balsa/ply construction in combat.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Don't tell great planes thoughbecause i bet those planes fly great for sport. It is nice to see them produce these planes. It is long overdue though. If these planes get blood in the water for some newbies thogh all the better. I started flying scale combat with house of balsa mustang and FW 190. Got me hooked and then I moved on to competitive designs. Have Fun!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I totally agree... I'm not into combat flying (at least not yet), but I built some small .25 sized belly landing SPADs just to have some fun with, and I've got my eye on this Mustang. It's balsa, so it's too fragile for combat, but it looks like a nice, small, scale warbird for some sport flying...

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Anyone know when Great Planes will be shipping these, I have already been waiting a month. Tower said late Feb. here it is march and still no planes........[&o]

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I emailed Great Planes and asked when they thought these would be released, and here's the response...

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I just called today (4/2/05) and they said early april.....
Anyone know where I can get a Modeltech Me 109?

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I received the Tower update email last night and the corsair/mustang is now available from Tower,(limited quantities). Cant wait to see it.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Mine are being packed and will be on the way soon.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

So is mine and I have a nice norvel .25bb waiting here with me for it!!!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I was about to get the Mustang, but decided to wait and hear some flight reports from you guys. I'm mainly concerned with how well these hold up to belly landings. I have a couple of belly-landed SPADs that do just fine, but those are PVC and plastic... not Monokote covered balsa. The Mustang looks like it should hold up a little better than the Corsair, since the Corsair has it's aileron servos on the bottom of the wing (the Mustang's is on top of the wing, inside the fuse)...

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I've had a few balsa & heatshrink planes in the past that I belly landed. If you're landing on grass, you won't have a problem at all. You can even some in pretty fast and flat if you want, and you won't have the "pull the gear off" kinds of problems. So you're best off come in a little hot and flat rather than doing a belly flop stalled landing.

I haven't seen these particular planes in person. But corsairs should have a lot of dihedral. If the servos are located out in the tips, they might not be low enough to be a problem. Or you could relocate the servos to the top of the wing, which shounds safter anyway.

Obviously, landing on pavement or rocky ground is a different story.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I've seen foam and I've seen wood Corsairs, regardless, route the horns to the top. It only takes a tuft of grass to strip your gear. It won't do that on the top.

These should be hot little suckers and it would be fun to have just 25 size scale races.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Anyone got it yet? My corsair will be here tomorrow and I will post some pics. Should be fun, no rudder, 25FX, cant wait!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Mine arrived yesterday. They both look great. Construction is good and covering is good. Will be putting a Norvel 25 on the Corsair and a GMS 32 on the Mustang. Alas, it will be a couple of weeks before I can get to building them. I am currently finishing up a Monocoupe for a R/C demo at the Tunica Air Races.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Also got mine today (corsair) looks good and covering looks great. I'm in the middle of moving and it will be a couple weeks before I can start building it.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

When is the Tunica air races? I would like to go and have heard very little on it. Any site to get info,etc.?
Thanks

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

We plan on racing both of them with .25 size motors. to make it a flyers race and not a pocket race, it was decided, no race engines, no pipes and everybody has to use 15% nitro. Any kit built or ARF WW11 warbirds will be allowed. I wish the Great Planes ARFs would get here I feel like I have been waiting for months, oh ya it has been months! I see above a couple guys have received theirs, maybe the hobby shop will call any day? However you do em, have fun!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

After about 1.5 hours, the corsair already looks like an airplane. The wing joined together perfect, with no gap and no sanding. The horizontal stab went right in with no worries (just dont forget to put the elevator joiner rod in first). The vertical stab slid right in. This is truly a great little airplane. I am impressed at how they kept the corsair lines on this small airplane. Normally, they will box the fuselage,etc. This fuselage is actually round all the way to the tail. Basically, this is the kit everybody that ever wanted to put a gas engine in one of the nicer looking foamies. It is amazingly light and strong. fully sheeted fuselage and half sheeted wings. The bottom is grey (even with a squiggly divider line between the blue and grey) and the top is the same blue as the Hanger 9 corsair. A friend came over to see it and he was just as amazed as I. It is basically a miniature hanger 9 corsair. I will put some plastic wingtip skids under each side of the gull bend and on the tail and land on our paved runway rather than grass. If this flips over in grass the vertical stab will snap immediately. Sliding on three plastic skids will be safer. Also, the skids will be lower than the aileron servo arms to avoid the stripped servo problem. I tried to download a pic or two but it says file to large. Enjoy

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

What servos & RX are you guys putting in these?

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Four HS-81's and a JR slim receiver.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

The Tunica Air Races and Air Show will be held June 2-5, 2005 in Tunica, Mississippi. For more information and to order tickets visit www.tunicaairraces.com

Thanks!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Thanks for all the info on the GP Combat Corsair, guys. I do not fly combat but love Corsairs and was looking for more info on the GP Combat ARF. It does sound like it was done up right and light for the sport flyer. All I need is to do after ordering is stick on the Marine Markings of WWII and be ready for a fight. RCU is great!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I flew the corsair today and man what a treat! It flies awesome. I have a 25FX and all HS85BB servos. I went to full throttle, held it over my head with the left hand and toosed it. It flew away great. Once trimmed out, I did everything trying to pull it apart. Really high loops with a tight pull out at the bottom with no tendency to snap. Vertical rolls until it looks like a little dot! Inverted flight, outside loops,etc. It looks cool coming out of a steep dive over the runway at full power and no gear. Really just what I needed in a throw around airplane. Everyone needs one of these to keep in the trunk of the car. Landings were so slow you could almost catch it. I just flared and killed the engine and kept holding it off until it just stopped and plopped on the grass from about a foot. I put some wigtip skids on the gull wing bend and one on the tail. Really nothing else to say except I am glad I gambled on this one, it is a keeper for sure. By the way, you can fly it at a soccor field and save the 20 minute drive to the field!

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

i saw these and was thinking the same thing as lear31a... i was reading the specs and it said a .15-.25(?). well, i happen to have a pair of .15 wasps from another project and was wondering if a .15 was really enough? i have no desire to take it into combat, just something to throw around, ya know? it sounds like with the .25 its a rocket. any thoughts? thanks. now if i could just find a really small pair of rotating landing gear :)

-jim

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

With the 25FX it is pretty fast but not just amazing or anything. It moves along very quickly with the 25, the 15 would definately fly it, but it might be a little more agile on the handlaunching due to less propwash and power. The 15 might suit the mustang better since it is a lighter airplane (one less servo,etc). Either way, you will enjoy this one.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

What prop are you flying with your .25 FX?

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I started with a 9*6, I am not yet sure what prop would be the best.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

That's what I've got on my .25FX as well, a MAS 9X6 (MAS hold up better than APC for me on belly landing planes ;) )... it's worked quite well for me so far, so I haven't experimented with other props either. The SPAD Gnat I have it on has been crashed/repaired many times, and is so torqued, warped, and out of alignment now that it flies like crap, so I'm considering the Combat Mustang for it (my mean time between crashes has increased enough for me to consider balsa again :) ).

If anyone puts a .32 SX on one of these, I'd like to hear a flight report! I've got one of those too... puts out about 50% more power than the .25 FX in about the same space... should make these little planes really haul *****...

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

lear21a said..."By the way, you can fly it at a soccor field and save the 20 minute drive to the field! "...

is that true? do they really fall into the "park flyer" category?

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Well, now your are venturing into an area that I do not know. I am not sure what constitutes a parkflyer (maybe electric?), but I was referring to the size and convenience of it. Call it what you want, but yes you can fly it in an area the size of a soccor field.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

I suspect you can take off and land on a soccer field easily, but you're going to be over-flying a lot more area, espeically with a .25FX on there.

Play around with the props a bit. For combat, the most common prop for the .25FX is the MAS 9x4. APC just came out with a 9x3 and 9.3x3 that sound GREAT for combat use, though I've not flown one myself. The lower pitch allows the engine to turn up to some high rpm, and you still get quite a fast moving plane, as well as better turning and climb and an easier launch. Of course, if the plane is light and clean enough, you may or may not get higher airspeed with the 9x6 or 9x5.

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Personally, I wouldn't want to fly a nitro plane at public field or park (i.e. with buildings, people, kids in the vicinity). Maybe the little sub .10 engine planes (I have no experience with those)... but definitely not .15 and larger...

RE: Great Planes Combat Corsair and Mustang
 

Any pictures of the skid assembly. I haven't started assembling mine yet but looking in the construction book I can see the airlon servos will definitely hit the ground on landing.