mkuzmukerau

My Feedback: (2)

Took my H9 P51 up today for the first time.... Flew amazing... On the third flight the firewall broke away partially, but remained intact, putting the bird into a crazy uncontrollable spin, ending up with a meeting with the ground. Im really pissed because it wasnt my fault, but I dont think H9 will do anything about it... Anyone else have any experience with this? I probably will call just to complain, but arent expecting much..... Any ideas?

Mike

Holeshot

Why do you think H9 will do nothing?

Did you buy from a Hobby store or online?

I know that my Hobby shop would give me another and they would then worry about H9!!!

Don't give up until you've tried ALL avenues. Give them a chance.


.

searcher

My Feedback: (1)

I have had similar incidents happen. On both occasions, I was able to bring them down in one piece and repair the firewalls.

I am curious why you didnt cut the power and dead stick her back? Perhaps you were too close to the ground when it happened?

mkuzmukerau

My Feedback: (2)

Holeshot and Searcher,

Unfortunatly, I bought the kit at a hobby shop that was hours away from my home town at the time, they were the only ones that had it in stock, my normal shop didnt. Now I have moved several states away, and as you can see in quite the situation....


The incident did happen at a low altitude, but also they way it broke is what made the crash. I think if it would have simply seperated cleanly I could have dead sticked it it... But it broke 80%, and was attached to the plane only by the control linkages and some remaining split wood. The weight of this think hanging down in the air, and the rpm of the motor is really what made for disaster.....

Its sunday, so im not going to be able to do anything today, but do you think I should call Hangar 9/Horizon?

Mike

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

The firewall on the H9 Mustang is a known issue. The firewall must be reinforced before your first flight. There have been many posts on this in the past. You might want to do a search for the H9 Mustang in this forum and in the ARF forum.

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

I heard about the firewall problem before I started on mine so I was able to do something about it. I mixed up about two ounces of epoxy and poured it into the fuselage on the backside of the firewall. I rolled the epoxy around until I was sure it had covered all of the firewall to fuselage joint. It has stood up to an OS 1.20 on 30% nitro with no problems at all.

Give Horizon a call and tell them what happened. They are quite good at making things right.

Holeshot

I also heard about the firewall weakness. I glued it from the back, drilled and dowelled it from the front, and cut a piece of .050" titanium and shaped it to fit perfectly over the firewall, epoxied it in with a mixture of epoxy and Kevlar, and bolted the motor and mounts in to squeeze out the excess.

I would definately call Horizon, it only makes sense to make you happy so you'll be a lifetime customer rather than a one time sale.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

One would assume that Horizon has heard about this problem and taken steps to correct it. Maybe the one that Mike bought was from an earlier batch. And again, maybe Horizon didn't do anything about the problem.

mkuzmukerau

My Feedback: (2)

I'm gonna try to call em tommorow, see what they say. And yes, my P-51 was an early batch... I got it right when it came out near the end of last summer, but do to moving and such, just recently got to get into it...

MarkShapiro

My Feedback: (52)

Very sorry to hear about your bird. I truely don't mean to be a wise guy after the fact, but whenever I have put an ARF together, I always add epoxy and reinforcement to firewalls, and CA to stringers, etc. The theory being that the guy putting the thing together in China is not going to take the same care as I would. Kind of defeats the ARF idea, but it pays off in the end. Call H9, they'll make it right.

KJSmitty

As others have mentioned, call Horizon Hobby. Numerous posts regarding crashes or near crashes, some still on take-off role when the firewall departed. All that I read were being taken care of by Horizon. Horizon just required you to send in the "evidence" so they could tell that the joint was not glued properly from the factory. From what I read this area had the glue bead too far back thus it barely came in contact with the firewall when installed, thus the week connection.

Definitely get with them.

www.horizonhobby.com

Good luck

Smitty

rottielover

Please let us know what Horizon is willing to do for you. I'm VERY interested to see what they say on this.

mkuzmukerau

My Feedback: (2)

I spoke with Horizon today, told them the situation, they said they never heard of any fire wall problems, well at least the person I was speaking with hadn't on the P-51, but gave me a reference number and told be to box it up and ship it to them, for a possible replacement. I'm still a bit cautious and not trying to get too excited, as I did have alot of extra money poured into the plane that cant be replaced, but if they did replace the stock plane I would be absolutley thrilled..... I'll keep everyone posted on the final verdict....

Mike

rottielover

Mike,

I suggest you take photo's of your plane before you ship it, DETAILED photos. Also anything else you can think of write it down!!!! / keep records. Make sure you keep your tracking number when you ship it and check the tracking info on the web also!

Lowlevldevl

My Feedback: (1)

mkuzmukerau:

I am just curious as to what engine you were using on your H9 Mustang? I am seriously contemplating purchasing one of these after I saw the full page ad in the back of Model Aviation this month. I would really like to go with the Saito 200ti twin, but if the firewall is a weak area, maybe I need to rethink. How did it perform before the firewall decided to part ways?

mkuzmukerau

My Feedback: (2)

This was the Hangar 9 60 size P-51D, not the 1.5. Anyway, it was powered by a Saito FS100

Mike

Lowlevldevl

My Feedback: (1)

Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarification!

rustyrivet

My Feedback: (6)

I've dealt with some good companies and service departments in my lifetime BUT THE PEOPLE AT THE HORIZON SERVICE ARE THE BEST!

I'd be surprised if they would put you through the trouble of sending the thing back to them, and then not coming through for you. -VERY surprised!

mkuzmukerau

My Feedback: (2)

Just to close this thread, this is the way things worked out.

They had me ship it back to them, so I cut it up into peices and off it went. The only thing they asked was that the firewall area be left intact for examination. Didn't hear anything from them since. However 2 weeks later a large box was delivered to my from Hangar 9. Apon opening it, it was a brand new H9 P-51.

I still lost quite a bit of cash in the failure of the 1st, ie: a servo, 4 cans of Lustercote Flat clear, and a whole LOT of detailing time, BUT, they really could have shafted me on this one and they didnt. I am extremly pleased with H9's customer support and recommend their airplane kits to EVERYONE!!

Mike