Top Flite Zero mods
05-26-2018, 05:29 AM
#1
Top Flite Zero mods
I recently acquired a Top flite Zero ARF which has gone through 3 of our club members hands. I flew one at WBOTR a couple years ago and was unimpressed to say the least.
The plane tracked badly and just did not fly at all like the other TF giant warbirds I have. (P-51, P-47, F4U- P-40) The plane I just acquired flew just as badly, not bad enough to crash, but it did not groove at all. We tried everything, re balanced, changed engine, changed settings, etc and at best it just was not a fun airplane to fly. Well, my friends built Meister Zeros and kept telling me that the TF didn't look right sitting next to them. We finally decided that the TF did not have enough dihedral in the wing, After trying everything else I bit the bullet and cut the wing in half and increased the dihedral from 7 degrees to the correct 14 degrees. (measured off of three views of full scale Zero) and test flew it. The difference is amazing.
It now flies like a Zero!
Larry
The plane tracked badly and just did not fly at all like the other TF giant warbirds I have. (P-51, P-47, F4U- P-40) The plane I just acquired flew just as badly, not bad enough to crash, but it did not groove at all. We tried everything, re balanced, changed engine, changed settings, etc and at best it just was not a fun airplane to fly. Well, my friends built Meister Zeros and kept telling me that the TF didn't look right sitting next to them. We finally decided that the TF did not have enough dihedral in the wing, After trying everything else I bit the bullet and cut the wing in half and increased the dihedral from 7 degrees to the correct 14 degrees. (measured off of three views of full scale Zero) and test flew it. The difference is amazing.
It now flies like a Zero!
Larry
05-27-2018, 03:54 AM
#2
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Larry,
If you think the TF mustang flies well out of the box ( and it's ok ) you should put the proper dihedral in it's wing. Several of us over the years have done this. Top Flite ( on the Arfs ) does not get the dihedral right. The kit is correct. Putting more dihedral in makes the P51 much more forgiving on landing and even more rock solid in the air. I glad you fixed you issue.
If you think the TF mustang flies well out of the box ( and it's ok ) you should put the proper dihedral in it's wing. Several of us over the years have done this. Top Flite ( on the Arfs ) does not get the dihedral right. The kit is correct. Putting more dihedral in makes the P51 much more forgiving on landing and even more rock solid in the air. I glad you fixed you issue.
05-28-2018, 07:46 AM
#4
It is interesting, the P-51, P-47 and F4u I have are all kit built and fly great. I have always wondered why the kit built versions seem to fly better. Now I think you gave me a part of the answer. There is a difference between flying, flying all right, flying good and flying great
Larry.
Larry.
05-30-2018, 06:59 AM
#6
Larry,
If you think the TF mustang flies well out of the box ( and it's ok ) you should put the proper dihedral in it's wing. Several of us over the years have done this. Top Flite ( on the Arfs ) does not get the dihedral right. The kit is correct. Putting more dihedral in makes the P51 much more forgiving on landing and even more rock solid in the air. I glad you fixed you issue.
If you think the TF mustang flies well out of the box ( and it's ok ) you should put the proper dihedral in it's wing. Several of us over the years have done this. Top Flite ( on the Arfs ) does not get the dihedral right. The kit is correct. Putting more dihedral in makes the P51 much more forgiving on landing and even more rock solid in the air. I glad you fixed you issue.
06-03-2018, 08:22 AM
#7
My Feedback: (8)
I find it amazing that Top Flite does such a nice job on all other aspects of their planes and screws up the dihedral angles! From my point of view, this makes an otherwise nice plane just look goofy.
Having a flatter wing obviously doesn't provide a better flight characteristic. This is the reason why I do not own any Top Flite airframes.
There is no question that they could do it right but why should they bother when their customers aren't demanding it?
Having a flatter wing obviously doesn't provide a better flight characteristic. This is the reason why I do not own any Top Flite airframes.
There is no question that they could do it right but why should they bother when their customers aren't demanding it?
Last edited by Steve Collins; 06-03-2018 at 08:25 AM.
