sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

If you have any kit building experience at all you would not have any problems correcting the issues you MIGHT find with this particular ARF. After getting the plane past the first flight and experiencing its slow speed handling in both take off and landings and its rock solid high speed characteristics (NO tendency to tip stall out of high G maneuvers like some other brand's P-51 models do), you will quickly forget the assembly issues as this plane becomes your GO-TO plane for every day flying for fun.

As far as the problems are concerned, myself and the other pilots and builders who post here will be more than glad to offer advice, and pictures, of the solutions that will get you past any difficult assembly issues.

Don't miss out on the best FLYING Warbird you are EVER likely to have control of just because it may be more difficult to assemble. While it is true that I may have had more than my share of assembly problems with its wing, I, and many others who have built the other brand's P-51 model were all discouraged by the necessity to rebuild its wing before it could handle a PERFECT landing without have its landing gear collapse or even lose a wing panel in flight. That P-51 model has been on the market since the 90's and its manufacturer STILL has not admitted that there is any problem with their design or taken ANY steps to correct its issues. The sole kit upgrade has been substitution of a hardwood wing joiner for the piece-of-crap wing joiner that was supplied with the early production runs. After losing a wing panel destroyed my first TF GS Mustang, I bought another of the ARF version and paid a cabinet shop $50 to make me a duplicate wing joiner out of hardwood only to have that plane break its fuselage in half due to poor structural design.

I devised structural mods for the TF Mustang and went on to own and build 7 of them. If you like (as I do) to take part in warbird gaggle flights at events you will quickly see the performance advantage over all other warbirds.

R/C Foolish

My Feedback: (6)

Ok, I've got all of the gear doors finally done. How do you adjust the tail door spring to close the doors all the way? They don't pull down tight.

marksp

My Feedback: (9)

Admittedly, more a "assembler"/flyer than a kit builder, which explains why I have a 98% built kit that has yet to fly. 2 center wing sections & 2 right wings and still have issues with wing tube figment. In fact, the tube alignment is so poor I crushed the left wing simply from the force while trying to separate. Yikes!

Len Todd

If your rear wheel doors are not fully closing then I suspect you need to figure out where they are binding. Once you remove all the binding to the point they will drop closed, when the plane is inverted, then if the springs do not pull them closed, then you need to shorten up the springs to increase their tension. I finally got mine to close fully. But it was a lot of froggin' around to get there.

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

marksp,
My wings are too tight even after the surgery to correct the original problem. I use wood door shims from Lowe's or Home Depot to separate them. the shims are very thin at the pointy end and can be pushed in between the wing sections to get them separated enough to get a larger wedge in there. Keep them away from the tubes and retainers. After getting one shim in on each side I pull them out and then double them and go at it again. The wing structure is too fragile to withstand hand and finger pressure trying to pull them apart. After I get them far enough apart to get my fingers around the tip root, I have someone hold the center section, I put the tip in my armpit, and using one hand to pull towards my armpit and the other hand to push the center away from me. Don't let the helper try to pull the center or they will crush it. After I did the wing tube surgery they were tight, but possible to separate.

I posted a description and pictures in this thread on how to do the tube surgery. Just search sjhanc and it will show up. If you need any more either post it here or PM me. Cutting into the center to relocate the fiberglass tube is easy if you have a Hobbico electric knife, it makes precise cuts possible and I use the original skin pieces to close it up after its done. I leave the original film covering on the pieces I cut out and seal them with packaging tape after they are glued back in, hardly visible repair.

If not for the wing problem I would have bought a third plane to convert to a B-C model Mustang. Instead I bought a Jerry Bates 89 inch B model plan set, got a wood kit from a laser cutter and bought the Vic Catalasan B model fiberglass fuse (a very high quality molding). It has scale panel lines and a nice set of glass parts and canopy also. I had it completely framed up after 2 weeks of work so I figure it is competitive with the ARFs In assembly time and expense to buy the parts. Another modeler is posting his build in RCU and I am using his thread for my build also.

grumman-cats

So I've been looking at this hanger 9 spinner and for the life of me, I do not see any gold plating on this thing anywhere. There must be some for the cost of this thing. maybe the backplate is made out of pure silver. what has everyone else been using?

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

Check out Dave Brown spinners, good quality and much cheaper.

Len Todd

I finally went with Dave Brown and just painted mine red. The HH Spinner does not even have the backplate's edge painted. The HH one I initially got and sent back had paint runs, you could see where they tried to rub out orange peel and came w/o a backplate. They later sent me a backplate and it was not painted. I sent the whole thing back. Way over priced. But it is hard to get a good yellow stripe around the O.D.

GR7Racer

The backplate of the H9 spinner sits inside of the spinner cone and is not visible when the cone is installed. No need for paint.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Exactly. There is about an inch on either side where the prop blades exit the spinner that you can see the unpainted backplate but thats about it, otherwise its covered.

Len Todd

Mine came w/o a backplate. The backplate they eventually sent me did not fit totally in the spinner. There was an edge around 1/8th" wide all the way around it. Maybe after the fiasco I went thru with it, they changed. Either that or they sent me the wrong backplate. ?? Who cares. I ended up with a DB spinner and saved a lot of $s. I like HH stuff. This spinner is the only rip I have had with them. So, please do not take me wrong.

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

nickleup, if you find that your H9 P-51D has poorly fitting wing panels, these pictures show the location and size of the wing sheeting cutouts I made to repair both of my wings. It is necessary to determine what fits and what don't fit. Both of my wings had the same error in the location of the left rear center panel fiberglass tubes. In addition to this major error in factory construction of the wing panels my second plane's wing had fiberglass resin residue inside of the left tip panel's large fiberglass tube that I had to remove by sanding the inside of the tube. This took several hours because the tubes have a smooth finish that if disturbed, causes binding of the aluminum tube inside of the fiberglass tube. I had to remove the drops of resin, then sand the tube enough to get the aluminum tube to go inside.

I used a Hobbico hot knife to make the sheeting cuts and to cut the fiberglass tube free of its supporting ribs. The wood removed did not compromise the wing structure and, after the tubes were relocated to where they should have been installed in the first place, the original pieces were reinstalled with the original covering intact.

Packaging tape was applied over the cut lines to seal the gaps in the outer covering. I will have to use multiple posts to address this repair, and if you find that product support won't help you I can post more pictures of my solution to the problem.

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

If you already have taken delivery of your plane and find you have a defective wing, try to resolve the problem by contacting Horizon product support for a replacement part or parts. This worked in the case of my brother's plane but not for me. After filing a warrantee claim and emailing pictures that they requested I got no further response from them.

The way to buy this plane is through a local hobby dealer, assemble the wing panels at the hobby store before taking delivery and, if there is a problem, refuse it and let the hobby dealer handle the necessary warrantee claim, or give you your money back.

I order my planes direct from Horizon and they sat in my shop unopened while I finished construction of another ARF from Tower Hobbies. The planes were bought in two different calender years about a year and a half apart. The first plane was assembled and flown for 50 flights before the second plane was bought so they had more than enough time to fix this wing issue by the time I bought the second plane.

While the repair looks intimidating it is not actually difficult to accomplish and can be done in about 4 hours or less. This model has very good performance and especially low speed handling qualities are much better than the TF P-51, making it a go-to plane for everyday fun.

NICKELUP

My Feedback: (82)

Hi thank you for getting back, I just recently damaged my mustang and the only thing that survived was my wings and stabs, I order a new center wing and fuse and I am just about done with it, I haven't try the wings yet, i wanted to know what's involved just in case my wings didn't fit correctly.

grumman-cats

just a little lesson for anyone that runs into shipping issues and horizon hobbies. My mustang arrived at my house with a lot of box damage and after inspection I found that the vertical stab was broken. this appeared to be the only damage but horizon wanted me to send the whole box back after I spoke with them over the phone. the wing box had no damage so I kept that. anyway, they sent me a replacement fuselage that arrived with even more box damage and the fuse was the only thing in the box. It's construction was also poorly done compared to the fuse that I sent back minus the broken stab. After my second phone call they finally sent the rest of the kit which did arrive in perfect condition. 1 out of 3. So I didn't have a complete list of what was suppose to be in the box so I got online and was confirming that I did indeed have everything when I noticed that the advertisement showed a complete cockpit kit. phone call #3, I was informed that they do not supply or even make the cockpit kit and they just haven't changed the website yet.


This is not starting off very well for me being a 1st time Horizon customer. I hope this plane fly's well. I also may be stripping the fuselage but haven't decided yet. the covering job was not done well. I get the feeling that this was someone else's return that they sent to me. all because they used FedEx to ship it and they obviously don't care.

grumman-cats

anyone running futaba s9650 micro servos in the tail and do they have enough power for this size of plane?

R/C Foolish

My Feedback: (6)

Does anyone have pictures of how they secured all of their wiring on the wing section. The gear servo mount fits snug in front of the dashboard. Just curious...

General Jake

I was going to buy Varioprop 25f for this bird but "JB Hobbies" went out of business....Is they anyone in the US selling Varioprops?
Thanks

marksp

My Feedback: (9)

Not exactly the same, but Solo Props offers ground adjustable pitch props - http://www.soloprops.com/home.html

Futterama

Hi,

I have the model on my shelf, but haven't really had the time to start building yet. But reading of the wing fit problems, I decided to check my model.

I needed to sand the wood holes to align with the fiberglass tube as they were a bit off. Now I can fit the wing tubes into the center wing, but I can only push it in a few inches until it gets too tight. It's better in the wings, but they also get a bit tighter than I like when pushed all the way in.

So I took my digital calipers and measured the wing tubes. The diameter is between 31.85mm and 32.10mm at a specific distance from the end, that means the tubes are not perfectly circular. This could very well explain why they bind so much.

What should I do about such a problem?

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

General Jake, I bought my first prop from Jb Hobbies, but since then I have ordered them direct from Ramoser in Germany. Good service.

General Jake

Isn't shipping expensive from Germany?

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

I didn't think it was. If the shipment is not going to a Euro destination there is a reduction, VAT, if I remember right, is not charged. And shipping time was reasonable. I have ordered small parts direct from Chinese sources, it took less than 1 week. The package size for a hub, small parts and 8 blades is relatively small, and light also.

R/C Foolish

My Feedback: (6)

There is a video on u tube of a servo driven canopy from Speed Channel. I would like to get in contact with whoever did that. I have a linear servo that I want to use, I want to see how he mounted his. Any help would be appreciated. R/C Foolish

kalzone

Go to page 17 post # 409. I did this to my canopy there are pics of what to modify and what actuator I used