HOBBY SHACK

E-Z by CHRIS CHIANELU


H obby shack’s* new addition

to their Warbird series is the Mitsubishi
Zero, the fighter that dominated the
Pacific skies in the early stages of World War
II. The Hobby Shack version most closely
resembles an A6M2 of the 402nd Chutai,

341st Kokutai, Clark Field, Manila, winter of
1944.

The Zero, in terms of finish and weathering
refinements, is the best EZ Warbird yet. The
Mustang and FW 190 were good, but the Zero
is simple; unlike the Mustang which was a bit
overdone. As with the other EZ Warbird, all plastic
parts must be sprayed with a matte clear or scuffed
with 000 steel wool if you don’t want glossy panels
on your fighter. (With those the enemy would spot
you at 10 miles!) I coated all the plastic parts with
Black Baron flat clear as I did on the FW 190.
Incidentally, the stuff has never peeled off.

Following the design approach of all other EZ
kits, the Zero’s structure is a three-layer skin (foam-
board sheet covered with color scheme layer


covered with Mylar) stretched over an inner
skeleton of balsa and plywood.

Because these kits are carefully packaged, parts
never arrive damaged. Everything is provided
except the radio and engine. All parts are bagged
and most are of very high quality like the spinner,
wheels and tank. Notice I said “most.”
Unfortunately, the plastic clevises are poor, and I
suggest you throw them out. Not only are they
brittle, cracking easily in cold weather, but there’s


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ng, Easy-Building Add Up To ZERO.



too much flash left from the molding process so
that some of the clevises would not snap closed.
I’ve noticed a decline in the quality of this
particular piece of hardware in the past few EZs
I’ve bought. Other than this, the quality of the
parts has been maintained and, in some cases,
improved.

CONSTRUCTION: Assembly can be
completed in three or four evenings. One area in
which the Zero has been improved is the fit of the


plastic parts such as the large, attractive wing
fillets and tailcone parts that fit perfectly. This was
most apparent in the tailcone, which has four main
parts, giving the sharp, sleek tailcone which Zeros
are known for with a minimum of work, while
also hiding the tail-wheel steering mechanism.

I deviated from the instructions in the elevator
Y pushrod installation, and the steel wing hold-
down bolts (which I replaced with nylon items).

It’s so much easier to get the Y elevator pushrod











in place and through both
exits before the stab is glued
in place. The illustrated
method is difficult even when
using the provided snaking
device. Another point I’ll
continue to emphasize is
don V use the steel wing bolt
Simply knock out the pre-
installed blind nuts and tap
the existing hole with a '/4-20
tap. The hole is just the right
size.

One word of caution: the
wing hold-down plate is
plywood, and this isn’t good
for long-term maintenance of
threads. The solution is to
thread the hole, coat the
threaded hole with medium-
viscosity cyanoacrylate, and
re-thread. Threads cut in
cyanoacrylate are strip-proof.

Apart from these two
points, you can follow the
instruction book, which has
about 65 photos and
diagrams.

The finished Zero, powered by a Saito .80, weighed 6
pounds, 6 ounces and balanced perfectly with battery and
receiver placed under the forward section of the canopy. This
is my second Saito .80 and both are among the most
powerful 4-strokes in their class. The remarkable thing is
that idle and handling characteristics are not sacrificed My
other Saito .80 is in one of my seaplanes and I rarely need to
retrieve the plane because of a flame-out.

PERFORMANCE: On the day of the test flight the wind
was extremely strong, and blowing across the runway at that!
It was so cold that I decided to forego any engine break-in
and fly the Zero since the Saito ran so well on the first start.
However, the fantastic idle I had with my other one was a bit
elusive since the engine is brand new. I’ve every confidence it
will eventually match my broken-in example, with further
running in.

Nick “Giant Scale” Ziroli let the model go, cross wind,
and the plane was airborne in approximately 15 feet, vaning
immediately into the wind. As a result of the solid roll axis
control, the model was easily controlled and the cross wind
was never allowed to get under a wing. Remember to heed
the recommended control throws on the ailerons and elevator.


I went a little extra and
found that the model was
sensitive in both roll and
pitch; a switch to low-rate
yielded a far smoother flight.
I gave the transmitter to Nick
and the motor went dead.
With the amazing instinctive
precognition of a true R/C
Squirrel, Nick was later able
to make a most gentle
three-pointer, attesting to the
slow-flight characteristics of
the Zero. Next in line was our
executive editor, Rich “King
Ura of Jetdom” Uravitch,
who proceeded to put the
Zero through the usual paces
of rolls, split S’s and high-
speed low passes. He was
most impressed, not only
with the airframe but also
with the pulling power of the
under- propped (1 1x7.5)
Saito. When it was time for
King Ura to land, the wind
had died down. Since old
dogs don’t easily leam new
tricks or adapt to changing temperature or wind condition, he
greased the Zero in, thinking he still had a head wind. The
model rolled off the end of the runway! When the plane hit
the grass the tail was already down so the speed wasn’t that
great. Nevertheless both main gears broke out of wing. This
seems to be one of the weak spots of the Warbird line, as the
same thing happened to my FW-190. We’d like to see the
manufacturer beef things up in this area.
Other than that, we had no problems with the Zero and it
can only be described as a pleasure to fly; a ship any
intermediate pilot can handle. Remember, ours is a
preproduction prototype so the weak gear problem may no
longer be a problem. During hangar flying, after this session,
we all agreed that we’d like Hobby Shack to expand their
Pacific Theater series. Maybe a Hellcat, Corsair or P-40, but
we’ll pass on the Brewster Buffalo*.

*The following is the address of Hobby Shack, the mail-order
distributor featured in this article
Hobby Shack, 18480 Bandilier Circle, Fountain Valley

CA 92728.



(A MODEL AIRPIANE NEWS