Anyone flown this latest ARF by Seagull???

OH MY GOSH !!!! SOMEBODY FINALLY ENQUIRES ABOUT THIS ARF ? !!! Godflesh, I'm totally surprised by this. Here's the scoop. It's not available here in the US, you would have to order it from Galaxy Models in the UK. Not a spectacular performer but quite unique. Very costly to buy for a forty size ARF. As far as I know. I'm the only person with one here in the US. About $261 including shipping. It's well built for a Seagull ARF. I did a number of improvements to mine, like better scale landing gear, Ultimate spinner, smoked canopy, side-mounted Enya .50 w/Pitts style muffler etc. Quite a conversation piece at the flying site. Hangar 9 is not interested in selling it even though they carry Seagull ARF's. Quantum can't get them either. If I had the capability to put photos of it on this site I'd do it--- I'll try, asap. Out of my 28 aircraft, I treat this one like it was my new-born son. Gotta go, Seeya, MM

Hi there,

Got mine just a couple of weeks ago - a week after posting the last post. Great to hear that you're enjoying this latest from seagull. I must say - it really IS a beautiful aircraft. Haven't taken mine up yet. Just finished the airframe but haven't mounted the engine. Going for a side mounted saito72. What do you think? How does she fly with your set-up? Anything to watch out for?? The price you paid seems rather high but if you got to have it, You got to have it. right?? Would really appreciate it if you could post some pics...

GodFlesh. A Saito 72 is WAY TOO BIG ! It would really mess up the cowl trying to fit it. It has a very slim profile cowl. I chose an Enya .50 because it is the smallest .50 on the market and will just barely fit inside mounted at a ninety degree angle. You may have to sand/shave the corner/edges of the engine mount box to make the cowl fit properly. Quite a tight fit. Use a "Pitts" style muffler for the Enya. This engine hauls the plane around quite fast. It's a lite airframe too. The stock landing gear is too thin/short , so I made my own , more scale in length and appearence. Makes a big diffrence in scale looks. I installed a bigger fuel tank and "smoked" the inside of the canopy for a mystque look. Also, take the rudder servo and move it up into the wing saddle area. This plane is way too tail heavy. Use a pull-pull system on rudder and you will need a servo reverser for the elevators. I would suggest an "Ultimate" style spinner from Dave Brown Products [ 2 and 3/4 inch Diameter]. My total cost for this little .40 size ARF came out exactly at $800 US dollars. I treat it like a new-born baby, flying it sparingly, never doing anything wild with it and after a couple flights, I just show it off. I am a total "idiot" for spending this amount of money on this little plane but it 's the only way of getting a Harmon Rocket. There's nothing else on the market even in a kit form. And I hope nobody else would be stupid enough here in the states to do what I did. I wil post photo's of it within the next two weeks.....finally. Let me know how your's comes together. Seeya, MM PS, It weighs in at about six and a half pounds and is a real smooth flyer, no bad habits, floats in on landings.

Godflesh, here's the photos.

man!

mm that looks very scale indeed. excellent job - passes of for the real one anytime. I guess you can't really call it a semi-scale like whats written on the box. I'll be looking for a smaller 2-stk to avoid cutting the cowl like you suggested. Say, what's the height/length of the u/c that you fabricated? Would save me some effort by geting it right the first time. Thanks for all the info so far and great pics also.

Sharmanc, Well, ya,..... I am a little impressed with it myself too! I did not really measure the new landing gear as much as I just kinda sized it from a side photo perspective of a real Rocket. I have this talent for shaping things from just "eye-balling" it. The only two-stroker that seems to fit without making a mess of the cowl is that Enya .50 with a "Pitts" style muffler. You will certainly have a tail heavy plane with three servos back there unless you take the rudder one and move it up front and turn it into a pull-pull setup. The Enya is quite lite in weight. Dave Brown products makes the Ultimate spinner, I believe it's 2- 3/4 inch diameter. It all depends on how you want to dress this plane up. As I mentioned earlier, this is the only one of its kind here in the US. Exactly $800 us is what it took to complete this 40 size ARF, Fortunately, no one else here is foolish enough to dump that kind of money into this. It's an average flyer with no bad habits but it sure is a conversation ityem at the flying sites I travel to so I fly it very carefully and sparingly too. There are no plans to distribute this ARF here in the US so it's treated like my new-born son Gotta go to work so seeya later, MM

looks to be coming around in Augest.

here's the spec's from horizon hobby.

This outstanding scale sport plane is based on the popular record-setting converted RV-4 home-built by John Harmon.


READY TO BUY?


Product Number: SEA3050
Out Of Stock.
Due Early August
Sorry, this item can't be gift-wrapped
Oversized
($8.50 ground shipping surcharge)
Quantity:

List: $189.99
Our Price: $144.99
Lightweight balsa-and-ply construction
Fiberglass cowl and wheel pants
Covered in genuine Hangar 9® UltraCote
Based on John Harmon's home-built, record-setting converted RV-4
Wing Span: 54.4 in
Overall Length: 52 in
Wing Area: 636.5 sq in
Engine Size: .40-.46 2-stroke; .56-.82 4-stroke
Radio: 4 channels w/5 servos
Its lightweight construction from high-quality balsa and plywood provides very good flight characteristics, and its fiberglass cowl and wheel pants and lush UltraCote® covering make it a great plane to look at, as well as fly. The Seagull Harmon Rocket .46 is a must-have for budget-minded sport pilots.

thats everything from there website.
Dave

Dwnt, Well, that blows that all to ----. H-9 told me they were not going to distribute it. Hmmm------ HOWEVER !--- Lets turn this into an advantage, [ since I don't have to defend the title of "Biggest Idiot who would not have had to spend that much money for this ARF if he had only waited for this item to arrive here in the US ] at a $150 bucks, I can buy another, strip off the red ultracote and make a more personal color scheme. I wonder if there will be any more threads on this once it becomes a little more popular ?, Seeya, MM

Though I usually do not go for the smaller aircraft I am going to obtain a Harmon Rocket. So you can guarantee me being in here when they come out in august. I have wanted one of these since I first stumbled on the thread a while back. But, was not interested in spending the 200 plus dollars on it at the time. Thank you for all the info so far.

Jon, on behalf of my impulse buying and a now much lighter wallet, you are very welcome !. Ya'll come on back when you obtain your Rocket and I will be very happy to exchange assembly ideas on this unique ARF. Seeya, MM Uh, it was $260 Jon, not $200

I saw this baby at the hobby shop here locally for 150.00 NOT BAD!!!

Kev

MormonMike,
I'm just bought a Seagull Harmon Rocket III today and am starting construction. Could you be more specific about how one would do a pull-pull setup for the rudder? What parts, and any pics?

Thanks!
Randy Lervold
Vancouver, WA

Hello Randy, It's no big thing on a pull-pull set-up. Sullivan prods has a nice 2-56 pull-pull kit. Mount servo in fuse close to trailing edge, center it. Use a pin to poke a tiny hole for the wire to exit the fuse in the tail, lining up with the rudder control horn. I'm using a lighter engine [Enya .50] so that's why I don't use a servo in the tail. I'm unable to post photos here due to the company's proxy server at this computor site. No internet at home. May be a while. Balance your plane carefully, another Rocket flyer is having a heck of a time with his. I am very conservative with this plane, I only fly it scale but it fly's great. It's best in my opinion not to WAY over power this little ARF, it makes a mess of that slim cowl when installing too big of an engine. But, you have your agency, do what ever you like. Post your photos if possible please. MM

MM, thanks for the reply. I'm installing an O.S. 46AX with a Slimline Pitts-style muffler in mine. Will that be enough engine, and will that exacerbate the aft CG problem? Sounds like the fwd rudder servo will be required to get the proper CG.

In trying to track down the Sullivan hardware I'm not seeing anything on their web site (www.sullivanproducts.com), any chance you could provide the part numbers I need? Sorry, I'm a bit new to the RC parts world.

Thanks very much,
RL

Randy, coulda swore it was a Sullivan part. Let me check at home for sure and I'll reply Weds. What's your alttiude ? That will determine if the .46 will do the job. I'm at 4500 feet here and it takes a .50 to do the job. Nothing spectacular but flies great. Yes, the lesser weight of the Enya made me go to a pull-pull. Besides, it's a little more professionally done too. Remember, I fly scale so I don't expect 3-D out of this. Seeya later, MM

MM, I'm at essentially sea level. I could swap my NIB OS 46AX for a 61FX if it would be better. The O.S. site shows the 46AX at 17.2 oz WITH muffler (no weight w/o) and the 61FX at 19.4 oz but they don't say whether that's with or without muffler. So we're looking at a weight delta of 2-4 oz. Will that effect things much?

Randy

Randy, sorry for being late, Yup, It is a Sullivan Part for the pull-pull kit. # 520. Try it. MM PS, At your altitude you wont have a real power problem. Should do just "peachy".