RCKen,

You really do have an old kit. This one hasn't been made since about 1991, when the Borg assimilated Top Flite. I used to have a review of the kit in an old issue of Model Airplane News, bavk in either late 83 or early 84. I remember some of the details, but not all. I have also been working off and on (more off than on) on a red box P-47, so I may be able to provide some insight from my experience with the P-47.

The kit used in the review were Dave Brown mechanicals. I peersonally like mechanicals because once they're set up, there is very little maintenance required and they're lighter. But, it's really a personal preference. The old Top Flite kits didn't call out any specific retracts and provided no guidance in how to install. I had to engineer the install in the P-47 on my own.

The red box kits tended to build heavy. The engines you are considering may be a little on the small side. The 61 FX will work, but a 75 or 91 2 stroke would probably be better, or a 120 4 stroke. I recall from the review that the nose is actually shorter than scale and the review model required nose weight. I say, if it needs nose weight, make it useful weight. I have a Fox 74 for my P-47.

Another thing about the old kits is the way the ailerons and flaps are set up. Both sets of surfaces are shown driven by single servos mounted in the center of the wing. Modify the wing to accept separate servos for each aileron and flap. If you're using a computer radio, mix the channels. If not, use Y-harrnesses. I wish I had made this mod when I had the chance! That's a majorr reason why I put my P-47 on the back burner.

The wood for wing sheeting in my kit was severely warped. You may need to either trim the edges before gluing or replace it outright. The wood in my kit for the fuselage sides were harrd as baseball bats. I replaced them immediately.

The die cut plywood is crap. My kit had "Product Improvement" Notice (yeah right, more like product cheapening) that said the plywood parts are no longer die cut all the way through. The die cutting only provided an outline and the (poor) modeler has to cut all the ply parts out by hand.

I was able to engineer a retractable tail wheel into my P-47. That was pretty straightforward. I added a partial bulkhead in the lower parrt of the fuselage, near the tail. I used a Robart 60 sized retractable tail wheel. I used the plans as a guide for position and angled the tail wheel bulkhead to give the correct position when down and full retraction into the fuselage.

The pre-formed fuselage sides don't really fit all that well. Soak them in water prior to installing and don't use CA. Use a slow curing glue like Ambroid or alphatic resin to give yourself time to make the shells conform to the skeleton. Apply one piece, then trim, trial fit the next, and trim to match. Fill with balsa shims as required.

You can rig the centerline station as a tank/bomb drop. If you can find a Vortac bomb release, just run a small cable from a micro servo to the release and you have another cool scale feature.

As I reacall from the review, the Zero was a good flier. Fast, but predictable. Apparently, it inherited many of the full scale's good characteristics.

You might be able to find a copy of the old MAN review at your local library, or perhaps someone else who reads this thread may have a copy and can scan and e-mail it to you. It would be a good starting point.

Good luck with the Zero.


Rob