Hey Guys first of all this is a great site thanks for all the information you people put out there. Here is my delima, I have been flying a Avistar with an OS46 pushing it for a few months now. I can do near perfect takeoffs and pretty good landings. I can do loops, turns,rolls,and fly inverted. I want to move to low wing plane I have looked at many planes but i want a military plane. I like the VMAR Texan II but i have heard some really bad things about them. Im looking for a 40 or 60 size military plane that will be good for a second plane. I know sticks, 4*, somthing extra are good planes but help me find a good militay low wing.
Thanks alot
Chad

Great Planes P-51 Mustang
Take a look:

http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma0175.html

Chad,

I don't think you will want to hear this but I would not recommend a war bird as a second plane. Build any of the low wing sport models such as the 4*40-60. This would be a good stepping stone.

War birds have a much higher wing loading making them faster to land, most are tail draggers (not hard but diferant that trike gear that you have with your trainer) and I feel this is too large a step.

A sim. would help overcome much of this but I would still go with a 4*, Sig SE, etc.

You said that you are pretty good with landings. Well that is where you will probably have the most trouble with a warbird. You will be learning to fly a low wing, high wind loading and tail-dragger all at the same time. The warbirds are harder to land than trainers and sport planes. I would suggest that you switch to a sport plane like 4*, venture or other similar plane. You could always put some warbird graphics and trim scheme on it.

I should make it clear that I don't recommend this as a second plane either, but if you are confident in your skills, and you're too "antsy" to listen to reason, then the GP P-51 is what I would suggest over MANY other warbirds out there.

My 2 cents,

Get a Sig 4 star 40.

Cover the fuslage in grey, cover the top of the wings in cub yellow, cover the bottom of the wings in silver, cover the tail section in green, put a red strip on the fuslage behind the cockpit, put another red strip on the top of each of the wings, put a red spinner on it, and then add some Pre World War II American insignia to the wings.

You will then have a good flying, sortawarbird. The color scheme is authentic for a U.S. Navy aircraft in the mid to late 30's. And best of all it can be seen!

Latch 66 beat me to the punch..select one of the "recomended" 2nd planes such as a tiger 2 or 4*50 or 4* 60 and run yourself silly covering it in WWII P-51 insignia (a bright red tail like the Tuskeegee airman woudl be nice) and fly the beejezus outr of it, in themean time get a P-51 kit and by the time you finish building and decorating it.. you'll be ready to fly it
Regards,
Patrick
BEauty.. as most things is in the eyes of the beholder (and at 300 ft high nobody will now its not a P-51)

Go with the Sig 4* 60, you can either build it or get the ARF.

at one time midwest had the success series of warbirds,they were not scale but they looked good and flew easier than the scale planes,I'm not into warbirds but some of the club members were flying them as there second and third planes.
Have a goodun,John

I went from a Avistar to a Ultra Stick 40, to a Sig something Extra..The US 40 was a good move up for me.The SE keeps you on your toes.That thing is unreal!.JT

Before you make a decision take a good look at the World/ Airborne T -34. It is in three different warbird colors and flys just super, tri gear and it really sticks when it touches down, fast or slow. Our club flys them with Saito 56's and OS 46FX's, both do a fine job. Only $129.00 if you look around.
Fred

FCSOCAR928:

Most have been said, if you still insist on a low wing warbird, go to a warbird trainer, like a PT-19 or a AT-6 Texan.- You can try an ARF, global has some but if $ is no Objection look at the ARF PT-19 from Great planes It may be not .40 to .60 but still a .60 will do!!
Be ready to do repairs!!!

Latch66 and sawmpflier are right on bullīs eye!!!, give it a deep thought!!

I'd have to agree with most of the others on building a warbid-like version of a standard second plane... But what I didn't see mentioned so far is that wingtips, turtledecks, and tail feathers are free (in the sense that they give a plane most of its look and they can be freely exchanged as long as you keep the same sizes!)

To make a 4* into a 'tween years mil-trainer, lower the front of the turtle deck and raise the rear to make it almost level. Add a curved foredeck and a little cockpit side sheeting to blend the front end into the rear... and use just the front part of the canopy or a homemade windshield cut from a soda bottle to finish your open cockpit. Wingtips of that era were generally round -- a very easy add-on to cut out of 3/16 or 1/4" balsa and glue to something like a 4*'s nice flat wing end. Then the tail gets redesigned with straight sloping leading edges and rounded trainling edges.... just keep the same location and area for the stabilizers and the control surfaces and it'll work pretty much exactly like the original. Finish in pre-war trainer colors and that's about all it takes to give you a great flying plane with the looks of a military trainer.

If you try it, you will be really glad you did.

I definitely agree with everybody....a warbird probably isn't your best bet for a 2nd plane.....but, if you're completely determined to get one....you might want to check out the Kyosho Spitfire ARF....it has a very low wing loading....and is advertised to be a good first low-wing (although I have a hard time believing that)

Mike

Always look at the what the pilots trained in. They didnt just jump right into the P-51's and P-47 and such.