MAIDEN FLIGHT DONE!!

Flew my friends Hellcat today and let me just say it was perfect!
He has it set up with a Saito FG60 and Zoar 22x10 prop.
I received the plane assembled mostly but required the final radio install and go over the retracts because he said there where issues them. Won’t bore you with the details.
Anyway, the FG60 is a pretty good match to this plane. The speeds and power are scale like and then some so you have that little bit extra. I had to lean it out but otherwise the engine was right on step. It’s very efficient on fuel.
Fuel - 91 non-ethanol with Klotz Technoplate at 20:1

I flew my Corsair for a warm up and when the Hellcat was ready after preflight and range check it was up next. Ran up and down the runway at a fast taxi to get a feel for it. I was concerned about the the gears narrow stance at first but when I reworked the gear I added some toe out to help ground handling and stability. Proved to be the trick, again, and the Hellcat tracks very nicely. It does have a tendency to swing the tail around at a certain speed so watch that. I gave the tail wheel just enough steering that it could turn around on our runway from edge to edge.

I was ready to go, engine was running fine, cylinder temps around 170F, and the wind down the runway. Added power, a little rudder, no flaps, and it lifted off sooner than I expected. It was on the wing and tracking fine. I got up and half way around the field then hit the retract switch for the first time and to my relief after all the tweaking on the gear they came up and locked. I got the gear so smooth they work at less than 10lbs to go down and about 20-25lbs to go up. I heard them lock and I was happy.

Flew around and trimmed the plane. I was surprised it required a bit of trim in all three axis. No worries trimmed it out and all was good again. I should note the plane was balanced at 6 inches per the book, empty, gear up and inverted. There’s no noticeable CG shift as the gear retracts it’s just like the Corsair, non-event.

Took the the plane up to about 300 feet and performed a few stall tests. This was the best part, it has no bad or violent stall traits. It just waffles like a falling leaf. So nose level, gradually pulling up elevator and reducing the power to idle until your at full up and idle. The plane just drops the nose and rocks back and forth. Compared to the Corsair that was just great. The Corsair will likely drop the left wing and depart but the Hellcat just mushes through safely. Drop the nose and add power like nothing happened.

Next came the flaps laps because I was expecting having to mix elevator trim in but no, none needed. The flaps are powerful so at half flap and just above idle I was cruising around at very low speeds with no indication of a stall. I increased the flaps to full and I could fly even slower. At this point I added power and then dropped the gear to see the what it would do. There again the plane showed no noticeable CG change or any bad habits. Instead it was stable and just required a little more power due to the drag.

Gear down and full flaps it felt good so I decided to land. Came around, lined it up and made a very smooth first landing.

I had a little fun with it getting comfortable so a few rolls a hammer head and some laps around the field was all it took to understand it. Rolls are faster than the Corsair even though the ailerons are pretty small, have not directly compared the size but for about the same size and deflection the Hellcat is more responsive in roll.

You do need to fly the Hellcat at speed. Unless your going to fly the rudder it does tend to slip through the turns but if it has speed then it tracks better.

So all in all it’s a very good plane and a very good candidate to scale it out.

Couple notes: I modified the cowl to increase cooling for the FG60 by cutting the flaps and opening them by 10mm.
Also if you are considering this engine then take a look at mounting it with the #1 cylinder inverted. The 3 bolt cowl pattern will be covered up by the 3 cylinders. It is a huge PITA to get to the bolts and I ended up wasting an hour cramming my hands in the cowl fumbling with a hex driver just to get two to work. The top bolt is totally obscured by the cylinder. So plan accordingly.

Scale note: the cowl is wrong. The two panel lines on the chin are incorrect and the lower cowl flaps are missing. Just FYI.

Im not a huge Hellcat fan but after this experience I am now. Very cool plane and lots of historical significance.

Happy landings...