Hi,

I was wondering if anyone might have flown the VQ models imported by Morris Hobbies. I examined the A26 at Toledo and it seemed well built. I just wasn't worry about the 'shelf-paper' covering. I have been looking at their P51B or Maracchi warbird kit. I read some other reports that the plastic stuff with the kit isn't worth a darn. But, still I more concerned how they fly. Do they fly like bricks? I figured if the plane lasts the summer I would recover it during the winter.

Anyway that is all thanks for the input.

Dave

Dave,

If you have questions on the flying characteristics of our VQ line, please call me at the office. I'll be glad to put you in touch with our sponsored pilots. These pilots can tell you first hand about the landing and flight expectations of these new airplanes. As for the plastic parts...improvements have been made and fiberglass parts are coming soon! The temperature stabilized vinyl is nothing to worry about. This is new wrinkle resistant covering that doesn't bubble up after it stabilizes to the temperature. We offer replacement covering for every airplane. Don't worry about recovering it...this stuff will out last any covering material out there.

Sincerely,
Matt Jolley

The Maachi is somewhat brick-like... I didn't weight it, but it "felt" and flew like it was very heavy with a Saito 65 in it. No low speed capabilities at all.

I haven't flown it much after it stalled on landing and the wood in the firewall disentegrated (rather than popping out like most). The cowl survived where the wood did not so I'd say Matt's statement about improved plastics is probably true. Personally I would have preferred the cowl be less rigid than the wood in this case though

Dave,
I just finished putting together one of their A26's and have some comments you might be interested in hearing. First, I thought the packing in the box was lacking...examined two other VQ A26's at the LHS and all three had suffered shipping damage to some extent, mostly damage around the aft end of the engine pods on the wing. The whole airframe is made of a type of wood I'm not familliar with...very brittle, definately not balsa. The cowls were nice...fairly thick fiberglass w/adequate detail however, the fairings were of a thin ABS and needed to be reinforced over the entire inner surface with light glass. Covering was adequate and I did like the panel line and hatch detail. All this plane needed to look really cool was a little airbrushing for exhaust aft of the cowls and some jet exhaust "dirt" to enhance the panel lines. I added wing guns and barrels to the turrets...really looked good. It came in at 10 and 1/2 lbs with two TT54 FS engines. I had spring air retracts and replaced the fuel tanks...the stock tanks leak and are REALLY bad...replace them. I reinforced the firewalls, they just looked weak, at least too weak for 54 fs's. By the way, I need the extra power up here at 5280 ft. I set the CG at the recommended 4.3" from the leading edge and set the control throws the recommended amount. The decals were marginal...the registration marks were'nt lined up properly so any multicolor decal was messed up...I still used them but...Also I need to mention that there were absolutely no pushrods supplied with this particular kit. I did check one of the others at the LHS and saw that in fact there were pushrods and clevises included...just none in mine...go figure. Now for the flight report. After breaking in the two FS's, I noticed the right one ran a little rough so I tinkered with it until it seemed right. After range check, batt. check etc. I taxied into position and ran the engines up one final time (I also fly a Wing Mfg. B25 with twin OS 70 FS's so I know how important two good engines are). I throttled up and the plane tracked straight down the center line. After about 200ft. I eased back on the elevator and the thing just went straight up...flipped me out...I pushed the nose down...it took at least half stick to get it level and I did check the elevators before flight. Since I was flying on a new 8UAP I asked my spotter for some emergency down trim as I started a left turn to bring the thing back. Of course that's when the right engine quit and the plane rolled over to the right and started to plummet. I was able to correct the roll with aileron and a bit of rudder but then the thing balloned up again. By this time it was getting pretty far away and becoming difficult to determine orientation. One final roll to the right and it was a puzzle. The whole thing took about 25 seconds. I probably should have shut down the good engine and bellied it in wherever I could but it was initially heading toward a street and I needed to avoid that. I don't know why it ballooned up so radically...since it was an arf I didn't think to check incidence. CG was right at mfg. specs. Will I get another one? I'll have to wait and see...one of my flying buddies is just about to maiden his. I hope he has better luck than I did. Maybe I'll just stick to the old Wing B25...I know it flys good!

Mine flew very well, but on the third flight, it went out of control and was totalled. Can't explain it. Radio failure? Seemed to be.
On the first flight, while taxying in, one complete nacelle fell off, so you were right on the money about the firewalls being weak!
I had the same shipping damage as yours. The decals were the same as yours, just awful.
But it IS a lot of plane for the money. Just wish mine, like yours, had lasted longer.
Mine had two saito 50's and springairs, performance was not an issue.

Hi Guys,
I just received my Macchi last week and started working on it
this evening. The first thing I did was to cut a plywood firewall
and epoxy it over the stock firewall so as to reinforce it. After
reading that post about the firewall shattering after a hard landing,
I won't take any chances. The kit is good looking but some of the
plastic appears flimsy and I'm probably going to give some of the
fuse joints the onceover with some CA. I have an Enya 50CX to
put on it and will mount it upright. Hopefully, I can get it flying
in the next week or two and give a pilot report.

I have a VQ P-51 mustang that is about a year old now. I purchased mine from the previous VQ dealer last year at Toledo.

The aircraft flys fabulous!! Much like some of the pattern aircraft I flew in the late 70's and early '80s. Equipped with hobbico retracts, powered by a JETT SJ-46 and a turbo-jett muffler. Also has a remote needle valve. The combination is outstanding. Lands well, no bad habits. Take off and landing from grass poses no problems.

The structure itself is not too bad. Fairly rugged. Assembly instructions were passable at best. Hardware was useless (although I did use the pushrods). Screws were very soft, and I would not recommend them for engine installation. Engine mount provided would be ok for some engines, but the Jett proved to require more, and I installed Sig aluminum mounts. Painted fiberglass cowl was a nice feature.

In general, the VQ kit was a pretty good value, and I am happy with mine.

I have flown the AT-6 and the MiG as well, and both flew very well.

Bob Brassell

Well, my Macchi is almost ready for a test flight. All that is left
to do is final adjustments and check the CG. If anyone has
flown one of these recently, I'd appreciate a pilot report. It sure is
a pretty airplane but I do have some reservations as to how well
some of those plastic pieces will hold up in the field. I guess I will
find out soon.

To follow is a excerp from another thread I wrote about 6months ago. I know that the importer has changes and maybe the problem parts but this is what I found on mine.

Scotsman, I have a VQ Macchi 205, it was powered by a Rossi .40 with hobbico mechalical retracts and had just under 10hr flight time before I retired it. It was retired because:
- Plastic Wing fillets cracked so bad from vibration they had to be removed.
- Plastic retract seround departed in flight because it was so badly cracked from vibration.
- Plastic wing tips began to crack due to vibration, I filled them with two part foam. The cracking stopped then parts started coming off like it was stattered auto glass.
- Plastic head rest behind pilot started to crack.
- Cowel had cracked in meny places.
- Landing gear mounts each riped out once, I replaced them with marine ply. But when they ripped out they put large holes in the bottom of the wing. Patching required shelf paper or packing tape.
- Plastic oil cooler on bottom of wing cracked so bad it removed it's self in flight.
- Prone to flutter, caused by unanchored "Y" pushrod to elevator.

Mine sits in the burn bin awaiting sacrafice to the cloud gods. I normaly would pass it on to someone interested in warbirds in one of the clubs I belong to. But as the plastic parts started to fall off it started getting squerly, dropping wings, snapping. I don't know if this is because of the mostly missing wing tips or the wing has become very loose and can be bent almost any way I want to bend it. I'm almost tempted to remove the covering to see if it is the only thing that is holding the wing togeather. If I was pressed to rat it on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) it would round up to 3.

If you have one do not use it with the "Y" pushrod provided without anchoring the elevator end of the pushrod to prevent it from moving left to right in the fuse and using your elevators as ailerons. With the plane assembled and setting on the wheels put your index finger under one of the elevators and lift quickly. Notice the other elevator goes down as the one you are lifting with goes up. This is caused by the pushrod moving left or right in the fuse as you put pressure on the one elevator. It also allows the elevators to form harmonics, which is what I figure happened to mine.

Well, the Macchi flew today. My first attempt to fly it was
actually last night. It didn't go well but it was my fault. I ran
a tank through my new Enya 50CX engine and got it adjusted
with no problems. I then decided to taxi the airplane around
to check ground handing. The plane handles very well on the
ground and shows no tendency to nose over. I set the CG by
the book. I shut the airplane down and sat there for a while
trying to decide whether to test fly it myself or get one of the old
hands at the field to do it. There was a slight crosswind so I waited till it diminished some and waited to see if anyone would
show at the field. Finally I decided to give it a try. I got it started, lined it up and gave it power. I then did what I told myself many times not to do. I pulled it off before it was ready to fly. It banked left and caught a wingtip, came down on the gear minus wheels and prop with the engine still running. THERE WAS NO OTHER DAMAGE! No plastic parts ripped off, no damage to the covering,
no damage to the firewall which I had earlier decided to reinforce.
I brought it home and checked it out thouroghly. I put a new
prop on it and reattached the wheels and some lead weight that
had come loose in the nose. This morning I took the airplane back
to the field. All the old pros were there. I got my friend Cliff to help
me and he gave the airplane his nod and reassured me it should
fly fine. He stood beside me as I poured on the power. There was
no wind this time and I let the airplane build a lot of speed. It flew
off the ground straight as an arrow. I turned downwind and hardly had to trim at all once I got it straight and level. The Enya
50CX seemmed to be more than enough power for the airplane.
Even though I decided to leave the wheels down, it seemed extremely fast. Anyway, as I was setting up to land, the engine quit. I dead sticked the airplane into some grass on the side of a
hill. I didn't think to put the wheels up so I bent the retracts. NO OTHER DAMAGE! That includes all of the plastic parts and the structure and covering. All in all, I'd say I had two very good days. I am impressed with this airplane. It seemed very stable
and fast and took one real good hit and one minor one and
came out without a scratch. So far so good. It also made a big
hit at the local field and drew many compliments for its looks. I'm
pleased so far.