I just purchased 3 planes from Giant scale planes at the Wram show and I was wondering about the quality of these ARF's. I purchased the P51(68"),Spitfire (71"), and the Cousar (75") for $650.00. Was this a good deal or not? Also are there any mods that I should do to these planes before flying? I would like to put in retracts also but which brand?[&o]

You got a good deal. GSP has been advertising heavily since before Christmas trying to unload their planes at rock bottom prices. I had the 68inch P-51. It was heavy and Ihad a 1.08. I got rid of it. Literally I gutted and tossed it in the trash and installed all the stuff in a Modeltech P-47. I like the Corsair. A couple friends have them with 1.08's in them and nice flying plane.

I am just about to complete 68!QUOT! P51. I really like the model. It is not perfect, but for under $200 you can't beat it. I sanded down the seam and repainted the top including the cockpit and repainted part of the nose. I am replicating the paint scheme on !QUOT!Old Rednose!QUOT!, P-51 owned by the Commemorative Air Force here in Texas. I striped the rudder and monokoted it in red, white, and blue. I epoxied the landing gear area to reinforce it. I used the white canopy glue to glue down the front belly pan, and a thick clear gel adhesive to glue down the radiator intake to the wing. You will have to trim the intake underneath a bit to get it to sit right. I used clear silicon to make a seal between the wing and the body. It had some wrinkles, but I carefully used my heat gun and iron to smooth them out. I am going to use a side mounted Super Tiger 90 with a pitts muffler, I may go inverted buy have not made up my mind yet. I would love to use a 120 4-cycle, but I don't want to spend $300+ on an engine when I have a drag racing car to keep up, LOL! ST 90's are only around $100. I am using the retracts that GSP sells for the plane. I took them apart and added a thin washer where they pivot. It took out the extra play. I am anxious to fly it, I am not sure how to post pics on this site. I will try and get some up in a month or so.

Good luck,
Danny

Thanks guys can't wait to get started. I know Ihave to do some work all atf's do. Say snoop did yours have retracts? If so what did you end up with? Did you have to modify or build up the retract area? I'm flying off grass and the supplied wheels don't look scale to me, too small.

I have both the Spit and the Corsair and yes, the supplied wheels are too small. On the Spit I have taken the vac-formed wheel wells out and opened them up to 4" dia using 3.5" wheels with 7/16" oleos. Much better for grass.

I'm using Robart 609HD mechanical retracts and have had no problems with them in 9 months flying.

Still not sure what retracts to put in the Corsair as I haven't started it yet.

Pete