Have budgeted to purchase a new plane for this upcoming flying season and have narrowed it down to two. Looking at the Seagull PC-9 1.20 or the Hobby Lobby 90mm erc f-18. Both have awesome reviews, just really hungup on what to do. By the time all is said and done and RTF they come in around the same price range. I takeoff from a very smooth and cut short grass field, so the F-18 should have no issues. The only thing is the wear/tear on the hobby lobby smaller retracts compared to the larger PC-9's. I am really stuck and looking for some input as to what to choose and experiences with either plane.

thanks

Hi,
I had a Seagull PC9 120 and it was a great plane. I scrapped the "giant" pilotsheads and replaced withmore scale examples.( unfortunately, I crashed it on take off with an engine out so no fault of the plane. )

The retracts are mechanical and are quite suitable for a mown grass strip as yours is.
I did however end up having some problems with the nosewheel retract. ......during the cycle it would turn slightly sideways to the airflow and this produced a wind force strong enough to stop the cycle .I eventually improved thisby adding spring wire to prevent the wheel from turning. I currently fly a BHPc9, almost identical to the Seagull but with flapsand an air operated retract system. These retracts were hopeless and so I fitted Eflite 60-120 electrics and all problem are solved.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Merlin Man.

Hi,
Another picture, but cannot find one of my nosewheel mod. Please contact if you would like more info.

Hi'

Opps, having some problems with the picture uploads! Have found some more including one of the nose wheel mod. Will try again.

Thanks for the input merlin man. I am leaning towards the Pilatus, from what I hear and read it will not disappoint. What type of spinner/pilots did you use?

Given that the F-18 is a foamy and the Pilatus a Balsa plane, I would go with the Pilatus hands down.

I have several 90mm and 70mm foam jets. Though I like them, I view them as "short lifetime" planes.

The foamies get dinged up VERY easily and they are not as robust as that Pilatus.

The Pilatus will likely serve you for YEARS, the foamies just a few seasons.

Hi,
The Spinner was a Thunder Tiger . They make 2 or 3 shapes for the size needed and I choose the most pointed one

. The pilots were the 1/5 scale Aces of Iron busts which have to be painted

.I will include some photos of the full size so you can have alook .

The pilots looks good. I checked the iron aces website and they don't seem to have any modern fighter pilot figures. Oh well I will check the LHS. Also, for a little more scale I was thinking of using a three bladed prop with spinner. A four blade would look really good by I have not seen to many of those and I am not sure on the whole balancing thing with multiple props.

The pilots Melin Man used are 1/5 scale "Civilian Sport" pilots from Aces of Iron. They are listed under Civilian Category on the Aces of Iron website.