.i 've been looking at the prince-america's tucano and star ship planes.has anyone assembled and flown either of these arfs?If so,what is your opinion as to the quality and assembly of the above ?how well do they flt etc.

Thanks, Ken

We have a rep for them in our club. He brought the 60 Tucano to the last meeting. It's hard to believe you can get a plane like that for $300. It's painted, fuse, wings, & tail with polyurethane. With the motor and radio on-board - the fixed gear one weighs about 8 lbs.

I had a chance to get a good look and everything seems solid. The only real work you have to do is to epoxy the stab into the fuselage.

I'm going to try to meet up with our guythis weekend - he's supposed to have the stuff at the field for folks to test fly. I believe I'm going to be buying the retract-ready Tucano 60. There's talk they will have a 120 size Tucano for around $500. I'll be on that like a fat kid on a snickers.

John ,thanks for your reply i'd be real interested i hearing how the tucano flies .It really does look good in the mags .i hope to see them at Toledo in april.ask the rep if they will be at the toledo show .Any oher info you can pass on will be greatly appreciated


Thanks again .Ken

GREAT plane. Beautifully built. Goes together very fast. All you need is an engine and radio gear and wheels. And a small amount of epoxy. That's the only building part of it,epoxying the hor. in. Even though it's built for fast flying it will land at a very respectable speed. Lot's of fun. Can't go wrong with it. Prince is getting more products in their lineup all the time. They are top quality, you can't go wrong with them.

thanks eagle

which plane are you flying?the tucano61 or the starship.?also does yours have the retracts?prince america will be first on my list at toledo show in april .Any other info you can give me on these arfs would be appreciated .

thanks for your reply .Ken

I have the Tucano 61. Went with a TT 91 4 stroker. It comes all setup for 60 size 2 stroke, even includes the needed pitts style muffler to match up to the muffler exit hole that's already in the cowl. The TT 91 muffler lined right up with it. Only had to open it up a little. It also comes with the engine mount installed for a 60 size 2 stroke also. I would have used a Dave Brown 90 size 4 stroke mount cause it has the same bolt pattern as the supplied unit,this fact alone gives you a lot of room to work with for engine choices, except I had a 120 mount on hand so I used it instead. Just had to relocate the top 2 holes, it was easily done. Supplied throttle linkeage lined right up. Servo tray is installed. Rudder is pull/pull, and all needed hardware is included. It assembled easily,quickly and with no "unwanted surprises". Mine is the fixed gear unit. Flies great. If I figure out the picture thing here I'll get it posted for you to get a look at. I've seen the Starship and it is a good looing unit also. I think you'ld be happy with either one. Any thing else you want to know just let me know. Here's my email address if you need anything.
[email protected]

They include a MUFFLER?? Are you kidding?? wow. I just ordered one last week. That would be pretty cool. I was thinking about finding a way to get a header and route a pipe back thru the fuse so I wouldn't have that ugly soup can hanging out one side. If this muffler looks good, problem solved!

BTW - to post a pic, just reply to this post and near the bottom of the reply page will be an "ATTACH FILE" option. Just push "browse" and upload your pic.

Hi eagle

thanks for the info .i was thinking about a os91fs.I've never had a tt 91 4 stroke.How does yours perform?i e-mailed prince america this morning with some questions and got answers back this afternoon,Now thats great service.i guess the tucanos are a hot plane .they are back ordered and are suppose to get a ship in mid march and also one in april.The orders for march are filled
exactly what type plane is the tucano.Its not a 3d type or is it?Or Is it primarily for pattern or can it do aresti type manuveurs.?I myself just like to fly sport aerobatics.
check out johng post below.he explains how to post a pic.I hope to get to see one of these arfs at toledo show.

Thanks a bunch for the info Ken

a tt 61 ought to be a great choice for the tucano also?

I'd like to piggy back the question: "What's the Tucano designed to fly like?" Like the Kaos...training patterns? Aresti...full patterns? or more like low wing trainers and general sport flying, etc...?

Having seen but not flown, I'd say it looks like a scale plane that will have alot of pattern capability. The wing isn't thick like a Kaos, not quite the thin airfoil of a pattern ship, but close. The light weight will lend itself to a wide speed range. The tail length isn't quite what a pattern plane would be either.

The Tucano is a scale plane, which is also available in a 40 size. Considered to be a 3rd style plane for the most part. Mine with the TT 91 FS turns a 14x6 at 9300 richened to 9100 on Byron 15%. It doesn't have unlimited vertical but it goes for a while. Had I gone with a Saito and a smaller battery pack I could have gotten it down almost a 1/2 lb. lighter. But I already had what is in it. It's a fast moving plane. Which brings up a question I have. When put slightly downward at full throttle,and it's moving pretty good, it misses a beat or two occasionaly. Could this be valve float or is it leaning out? Seems if I change the high side from where it is it just isn't as good a runner. I've never heard or read of valve float on any four stroke. Is it an issue? Other than that it runs great. I hear they have a 120 size Starship coming in the future. MMMMMMMMMMMM

Anyone have any experience with the Prine America Pegasus 40T. I am looking at this for my second plane as a step up to low wing from my trainer.

Eagle Flyer, How far out is the main needle on your TT91S? Unless they did some refining to the needle assembly it should be around 5 1/4 turns out. You should be getting a 1000 more RPM with that prop and fuel. Check the timing and valve clearance.
Is your engine thoroughly broken in?
Putting a piece of fuel tubing on the needle seems to help seal it with it being out so far.

Those Prince Am. planes sure do look sleek. I'm glad to see some info being posted about them.

Is there a Link where these planes can be seen?

www.princeamerica.com

I have flown Eagle Flyers Tucano 60 and it is a great flyer. It is definitely not a trainer but if you have a little experience you will really enjoy this plane. At low rates it flys great. it tracks really straight and it's fast with the .91 TT in it. Be careful on high rates. It will tend to snap out of the top of the loop if there is too much elevator throw. I recommend to leave it at what the instructions say. The plane lands really nice. I own a Pegasus 40S. It is also a very nice airplane. I put an MDS 48 in it and it is FAST!!! It also tracks great. it goes where you point it. Also I recommend setting the elevator throws at what the instructions say. I could talk all day about these planes. Now I am waiting to get a starship!!!!

When I ordered mine at the end of February, my local rep told me it would be six weeks for mine to be delivered. I called today and he says the shipment has arrived from Brazil and the boxes will be going out tomorrow. Hopefully I should have mine next week. Not too bad AFA schedule.

BTW- I hear they are also going to be doing the Tucano in 120 size ARF (maybe less than $500 for it). I'll happily fly this one until that one comes along. Meanwhile, I'll be shopping for a suitable, small turboprop engine.

To followup my above comments, I just e-mailed princeamerica before dinner. I wanted to make sure that my credit card info was OK and my model would ship, etc...

I got back from dinner and they had already responded!!. I now have it from the horse's mouf that my plane is on the way. he even gave me the fedex tracking number.

We all know how important customer service is to our enjoyment of the hobby - if this episode is a good indicator I'll be very happy with my plane.

Thanks for the heads up Johng.

Placed an order via Prince America's website on the evening of March 18, and FEDEX says they will deliver the Tucano 60 tomorrow, March 22.

I guess it really pays to time your purchases with the ship arrivals from Heo ge Janiero (Rio de Janiero to you gringos !)

Bob Shirley

Well, I don't have my plane yet, although it's not Prince America's fault. Actually, their response has continued to be outstanding.

Somehow, Fedex was able to get the plane here to Orlando, then decided that there was an "incorrect address" on the label. I don't have any idea what that might mean - except that they didn't get me my plane yesterday as they should have, per their own tracking site. Fedex ground has never impressed me as being as competent as Fedex-air. I'm starting to dread what they might do to the box over the weekend.

The PrinceAmerica folks called Fedex themselves as soon as I let them know of the problem, although I had already confirmed the shipping address I needed. Hopefully, since they have the address now, they'll be able to get the thing here on Monday.

Not the end of the world, but I sure was looking forward to groping thru the box of plane parts this weekend.

Saw the Starship fly at the JR Challenge. It was awsome, don't remember what he had in it but it flew like a dream. Really beautiful looking, also.


This was not a .40 size, I think this one will be available soon.

After getting on the phone multiple times with Fedex last week to make sure they got my address right, I was assured that they had it and my plane would be coming out on a truck today.

Well, this morning the tracking page at fedex.com shows that status of my package hasn't changed at all. If it had been loaded on a truck, that would have shown up as a scan. So, I call fedex and get transferred around to somebody who supposedly handles traces for fedex ground and he tells me what I just restated - that for some reason it's not on the truck. So, he calls the local depot while I'm on the phone with him - AND THEY DON"T ANSWER THE PHONE. A call within their own company, they are not answering the phone. What's that tell you about this operation?

Of course they can't hold the package for me to pick up either - since it's Fedex GROUND.

This is not the first time I've had an experience with Fedex ground that shows major incompetence. I recommend against using these bozos.

It's here!! Wheeeeee!

The box arrived minutes ago. They double box their stuff at PA - and it's a good thing too. Fedex barely managed to miss crunching the horistab with a punch through both boxes.

They do include a muffler and fuel tank. The finish looks much better than I could do. Gonna keep this brief so I can do an inventory and head for the hobby shop before closing time tonite.

I'll post pics later.

My TT 91 high speed needle is out 2 1/2 turns and no it is not completely broke in yet. Suspect I will gain more rpms as it goes.I just finished assembly of a Prince America Hobby Star that I intend to use to replace the Superstar trainer I keep around. It went together fine. Only thing I had to do was move the throttle cable a little to match the 4 stroke location. Very easy to do and only took a few minutes to do and secure in place. Had about 3 engine choices, went with a Saito 45, it fit in the factory mount. Placed battery & reciever all the way forward and it balanced right on the supplied cg mark. Addition of a spinner in the future will give me a little down attitude, just perfect. Have it running as I type now. RPMS come out good for a trainer,10,000 with a 10x6, on Byron 10%. Will switch to 15% and may go to a 11x6. I would like to post pictures of my Tucano and the Hobby Star but every time I try it comes up with a thing saying the picture is too large. How do I reduce it? I'm using Windows XP. Thanks; Jim

i have a pegasus 40. the plane flies great. BUT, i have an os 46fx up front and it came out VERY nose heavy. i changed to a macs muffler and moved my battery to just under the vertical tail, and still had to add 3 ounces of lead to balance. i also just realized that on hard up elevator the plane snaps to the right. i calle prince america about this and they have no idea why the plane is doing that. i'm going to check the wing for washout or washin, and we'll see if thats the problem. hope you guys are having better luck.
tony