Nick Hudson

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I have both kits and wondering which one is better to fly? The Corsair is the fiberglass body, does that make a difference? Which one has the best stall? Thanks!

Big_Bird

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Nick, not having flown the Hellcat but having watched one fly, I think it's a toss up as to which one flies best.

I think the only time I stalled my Ziroli Corsair was on the first flight when I was checking the stall characteristics. It was fine, slowly fell off to the left.

Build em both and you let us know.

Corsair photos in my gallery.

Ken

M Gill

*whew*

Hard choice. They are both good flyers.

Mace Gill
The Aeroplane Works

warbirdz1

Nick.....They both fly very well ...but the F4U will have the lighter wing loading........F4U will be in the 30-34 lb range and the Hellcat in the 40-45 lb range depending on your way of building.......The F4U has the edge in landing as it will slow up several knots less and uses less runway.......but @ the other end the Hellcat is quite fast....good 10 knots or better..........Bill....

smchale

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My Ziroli Hellcat is at 30 lbs and is finished except for balancing. I hope that will still keep me in the 30-34 lb range. Can't imagine how it could get up to 45 lbs?? There are a couple pics in the gallery. I didn't do anything special to get to 30 lbs, just built per the plans, was carefull glassing it, etc. The finish is primer almost completely sanded off and testors enamels.

warbirdz1

Sean.....What hurts the Hellcat is when the weight & balance process is done ........my buddies weighed in finished around 33-34 lbs.......then needed 7 lbs of nose weight to balance it.......the Hellcats engine/ firewall as you know is slightly forward of the wing L/E.....making alot of weight sit behind the CG.......finished with a smoke system and 42lbs...it flys remarkably well...fast and stable....just needs a few more knots of airspeed for landing...........Bill....

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Bill, good point! I'll keep my fingers crossed! Also the Hellcat has a nice tail moment...while that helps it fly so well, it also means having to add weight to balance the short nose, and to watch the weight back there while building.

Big_Bird

My Feedback: (1)

I'm curious about one thing.

Didn't the Hellcat and the Corsair use the same R-2800 engine? Why was the Hellcat built so heavy in the nose (or so light in the tail) as to require that the nose be so short?

Ken

BobH

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The Corsair had such a long front end that it earned the nick name of "Hose nose".. there was a lot more fuse ahead of the wing leading edge than on the Hellcat... BobH.

WhiteRook

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I THINK THE REAL HELCAT FIGHTER HAS A VERY LOW STALL SPEED, THE HELLCAT SHOULD BE THE MORE MEEK OF THE TWO.

Todd Jackson

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I also have had the weight problem with my Hellcat but I was able to keep it in at 32# after adding 5 # of noise weight. The only thing missing in mine is the retracts. Flying it is a dream, landing is holding a little power flaps down and fly it to the landing.Have not had a lot of hands on with the corsair but I am a Grumming person myself.I flew the Ziroli Bearcat to a grand total of 1000 flights and hung it on the wall....But they all are good flyer's.. Thanks Todd

US185Damiani

The Corsair and the Hellcat BOTH have short noses ahead of ther wing leading edge. Look closely at pictures and you'll see they look very similar. The difference is in the location of the cockpit. The corsiar is called the hose nose because the cockpit is so far back from the nose. THe hellcat and corsair are BOTH very close in speed but the Hellcat was and is much easier to fly because of its cranked wing dihedral ALA T-6, DC3 and TBF Avenger. THe generous tail moment on both airplanes is what gives them very nice handling attributes. I have flown 2 or 3 different Corsairs and they fly like a dream. The P-40 is such a tricky airplane because it is Short coupled and the nose is almost as long as the tail. (My CG is still a little too far aft so that doesn't help either LOL) this makes for difficult handling. (I have a TF P-40)
anyway Enjoy them both The Ziroli Corsair flies like a dream, and the Hellcat is almost a heavy trainer in the handling department.
Good luck!
Mike

F4u5

My Feedback: (81)

Both fly good, pick the one that interests you most. I have owned both...both are good. I prefer the corsair tho...he he

warbirdz1

Nick.....I agree with Jeff......really cant go wrong either way..........The "Z"Hellcat is a bigger plane than the "Z" Corsair as it has a 100" span vs a 93" span..........the Fuse is also shorter than the Hellcat which might also explain some adding of nose weight.....my "Z" F4U weighs in a tad over 33 lbs.with a Q-75 and working gear doors with associated sequence valves/door actuators etc.....and it flies very well.....186 flts and over 5 yrs old.........lands like its on "rails"....very easy and slows up nicely.......let us know what you build first....Bill........

Big_Bird

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warbirdz1 and anyone else, this is a little off the subject but here is a tool called a Jpeg Resizer. It's a free download and is great for resizing any photo to the maximum size and resolution that RCU will accept. The link is:


http://www.vikarplus.com/english-index.html

I used it to resize this photo of my Corsair. The settings were width=700, height=525 and compression=53. You can play with the compression to stay under 70kb.

I do love my Ziroli Corsair.

Ken

Nick Hudson

My Feedback: (138)

Thanks Guys! Hate to say it, but now I'm really dont know which one to build and wich one to sell. I have both kits and need to get rid of one to fund the other.

US185Damiani

In that case keep the one that tugs at your heart string the most! LOL Thats the only way to decide! ;-)

luckyb001

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Build the hellcat. Mike

RickVB

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Build the Corsair and sell me the Hellcat.

Big_Bird, from your photo it looks like civilization is closing in on your flying field. Boy, do I know how that feels. :disappoin

luckyb001

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AHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

wareagle614

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MY HELLCAT HAS 20 FLIGHTS ON IT IT FLYS GREAT WEIGHT 40 IBSTAKE OFFS AND LANDINGS ARE GREAT

WarpdSpazm

Better yet... build the Hellcat and SELL ME the Corsair. That's my winter project once I finish my thunderbolt...



Seriously though... Think of this... Which one do you see less of where you fly. By me there are "0" hellcats and 3-4 corsairs (Not a big warbird group) So I'd build the Cat just to be different.
Not that it helps, but you really can't go wrong. Also how "scale" are you looking to go - strictly by the plans? or details and extras? and lastly which has a pilot you'd like to model - the guy with a great story. Just three things I weighed to chose my Jug in the Pengie III of Capt. Mike Gladych.

Hope this helps.