RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

The LE Extentions actually increase lift and keep the plane in the air longer..but your right, its the LG Brakes that kill it...

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Check out Charlie's post - they had a deadstick and said it dropped like a rock because it slowed down so fast. They didn't make it back near the runway.
I assume this would be like flipping a crow or airbrake mix on while deadstick.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

The laws of physics keep everything in balance. To create lift you will generate drag.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

I saw one of these fly yesterday. I am thinking of getting one for my 10 year old to fly. the plane flew fine. The most amazing thing is the engine started with a simple twist of the spinner. RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!! Wow! I will, however, lose the "airbrakes" on the wheeels, and set the flaps in the up position. Too much drag. The plane yesterday went deadstick, and dropped like a wounded goose!! Awesome plane for the price. Buddy cords included will help this type of system get going for the training planes. No longer will you have to get one of those boxey, ugly trainers to learn how to fly.

Great recovery form the Funtana 90 trip up, Horizon. This plane is impressive.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

hi,

well im glad to hear im not the only one who has a plane that seems to sink fast with a dead stick ;) i also have removed the brakes on the landing gear but will leave the flaps where they are for now or maybe put in a servo right away for them and see what happens next couple of flights, wich i hope to be either today or tomorrow.

as i said the plane seemed to fly stable and slow before the deadstick (then dropped fast) and now that i have the richness set right (LOL) i should be good to go with it.

bassman

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

I have been flying all of the Parkzone electrics (P-51, Slow-V, ..... etc). I am going to get one today. I hope I can fly it in a small field. Wish me luck.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

As a 40 sized airplane, I assure you that it WILL NOT fly in a SMALL park. You'll need a minimum of 15 to 20 acres of cleared field to safely fly this plane.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Ok.... picked up my P-51 on Saturday and started puting it together. The first thing I found was a hole in the covering in one of the wings. So it was a 40 minute roundtrip to my LHS to swap the wing for the one they had on display.[:o] Finally get the wing home and when I go to attach the two wing halves together, I couldn't find the plastic and two screws that hold the wings together. A quick call to the hobby shop and I realize I am missng the control linkage for the flaps also. Seems these 4 items were all in one small plastic bag, but I don't have that bag.[:@] Sooooooo.... Another 40 minute round trip to the LHS to pick up these parts. Keep in mind now gas is runing about $2.60 a gallon these parts[&:] Needless to say by this time I was geting pretty discouraged. With those items out of the way, the rest of the assembly went pretty much as it should have. Everything fit nicely except in the instructions it says the speed brakes are kept from rotating by the plastic that holds the gear in place when in actuality I find that the speed brakes only hit the top of the round head screws that go into the plastic. This doesn't seem like it's going to be enough to hold the speed brakes from rotating once the wind forces start to hit it. Otherwise, the plane looks great. After assembly, I turned on the receiver and transmitter expecting to have to program the transmitter for the control throws, but I was pleasently surprised when the display came up on the transmitter and there was already an entry for the P51. It seems the settings were already programmed in. All I had to do was set the trim tabs on the radio to center and then adjust the clevises on the control surfaces to center the control surface. All the throw amounts were dead on except for the rudder which I didn't change because the throw as listed in the manual versus what was programmed into the radio seemed excessive. The radio was programmed for 0.5 in throw either side and the manual calls for 7/8 inch either side. I left it at 0.5 in for now as the 7/8 seemed excessive. Has anyone else noticed that discrepancy? Haven't maidened her yet as I am waiting for flight instructor day at my local field which is Tuesday and Thursday nights. They're predicting showers so I'll have to play it by ear.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Now I remember why I bought it at my LHS instead of online.[:@]

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

I trained a guy on one this last Saturday. It was a perfect day with little wind and 85 degrees. And I can say the plane flew terribly. It's way under powered. The flaps make it terribly sensitive to pitch and throw those 3 blade props away. If I had to teach someone on that plane I would take off everything and put them on a box until they got the hang of it. I am a H9 fan and have owned may of their planes but obviously they went with looks instead of performance. I few a Goldberg Tiger II the same day for another guy and its was by far a better plane for a beginner, but it wasn't a war bird. If any of you guys hear a new person talking about buying this plane please talk them out of it.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

hello all,

well just back from the flying filed and got a couple more flights on the P-51 trainer. i had 2 instuctors flying it and both said it wouldnt be hard to train some one on it. we took it up a couple mistakes high and throttled back to idle and put in up elevator and it just slowly flew along, neither wing tip would drop.

when it came to landing (this time engine set right) it slowed down very nice and set down very nicely, without even a wiggle to the wings. (very little wind tonight) i have to say after a few flights with this plane i would say it is going to be a favorite one of mine.

if anyone would like to see video of it flying i will try to get a minute or 2 of it tomorrow evening when i go again and then post it tomorrow night if i can figure out how to do it.

well thats it for now so far i would say hangar 9 has a winner on there hands.



bassman

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Good job Basssman..... :) I should maiden mine this evening with any luck. As you can imagne, I've been getting a little aprehenisive:( after reading some of the posts in here about it's flight characterisitcs, but your post has put me some what at ease. A couple of questions though. Did you remove the speed brakes on the landing gear as you had mentioned in an earlier post? Also, another poster mentioned that the plane was very difficult to handle on take off. Kept wanting to tip to one side. How were your takeoffs? Anything I should know there?

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

miklos,

yes i have the speed brakes removed from the landing gear on mine (personel choice) its just when we had the hard landing and bent the gear the speed brakes dug into the wing a little bit. as far as taking off, yes its a bit harder (IE.. different) than a trike gear if you have never flown a tail dragger before, i recommened getting help from your instructor for the first few flights. my plane wants to tip alittle bit to the left on take off ( TORQUE ?) otherwise it seems to roll fairly straight down the runway. hope this helps you.

as far as the video i wont be getting any today. winds are to be high at 25 mph today :( so no flying unless wind dies early, but i will try to get some on tuesday or wed next week. good luck with your maiden and make sure you get your engine tuned right so you dont have a dead stick first time out like i did. LOL


bassman

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

I found the same thing about the rudder. you have to stay on the rudder until you break ground. We are going to shim the engine to the right and also put some toe in on the gear. Dennis

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Hi!
Wow! Only $2.6 a gallon...let's see.... that's apr $ 0.55 per liter gas.
Over here in sweden a liter of 95oktan gas cost $ 1.63... three times as much[:'(].

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Don't worry jaka, we're quicky catching up. It's $5+ in some places today.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Want to do a couple of fly-ins next year here in Bowling Green,Ky. now I wonder if anybody would come if gas goes to $4. Dennis

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

I'm going to step in here and ask that everybody get off of the subject of the gas prices and stay on the subject of this thread, which is the Hanger 9 P-51 trainer. There was a thread in the Clubhouse forum about the gas prices that got out of control and was closed by moderators. I'm afraid that if we start talking about that in here the same thing will happen.

Please stay on the topic of the P-51 trainer

Thanks

Ken

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Well.... maidened my P-51 last night. First thing I did right off the bat as bassman suggested along with my instructor is removed the dive brakes on the landing gear.[:'(] Take offs require some right rudder to counter act the torque effect from the engine as you advance the throttle and bring her up to take off speed. My first take off was a thing of beauty. Straight and true right down the grass runway.:)
Once in the air, she was as tame as a kitten. Very stable and slow oweing to the flaps and the NADA winglets along with the cut down 3 blade prop. Low fly bys were a thing of beauty. It really wowed em at the field. After a couple of flights, I insisted that the instructor let me try landing her. He demonstrated the proper approach procedure and where to begin my turn for final and at the same time showed me where my throttle settings should be on final. After watching him a couple of times, I took her up and did a few circuits around the field and began my approach for final. Began a wide turn over the cornfield and throttled her back to half idle to begin her decent. Once in the glide slope, she grooved nice and true. Upon touchdown, she bounced a couple of times and then rolled to a nice stop. Not bad for a first time gas flyer. My only previous experience was with electrics. Specifically a Parkzone P-51 which didn't require you to land on 3 wheels just belly land which is a lot more tolerant of fast landings. Next time up, I think I will practice my landing approaches to get them down, but all in all, I am very impressed with this plane and can't wait to start yanking all the go slow stuff and turn it into a real warbird. I plan on cuting the speed brakes into the shape of landing gear doors and reattaching them to the landing gear facing sideways so they look like gear doors down instead of acting like air brakes. Then also, I will install the servo for the flaps and that should increase the airspeed when I raise them after takeoff. Can't wait to get her out there again.
Nice job Hangar-9.:D

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

I am new to planes in general and had only been flying on Real Flight G3 until earlier this week when i got my PTS. All i can saw is WOW this thing is easy to fly. I have never flown any plane except on my simulator and i had zero problems flying this mustang.

The only complaint that i had was that the speed brakes are a joke. They made the plane fairly unstable but soon as i took them off it was very stable and crisp handling.

I have now flown the plane at least a good dozen times at 20 mins a run and i have taken all the !QUOT!trainer!QUOT! parts off the plane. I'm now doing all kinds of tricks with and just love the plane. The only best thing to do is put into the flap servo. That made a huge difference.

I know i am a rookie but anyone could easy fly this plane with a bit of help from someone with some experience.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Thanks for all of the good info guys. I have never flown before and was very impressed with this plane but I am having trouble conviencing the guy's in the club and more importantly the instructor that will teach me to fly that this would be a good beginner plane for me.

Any suggestions for me on that from some expierenced flyers that I could use.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

This was to be my first plane, but I got tired of waiting for it to be available. IMO the best thing I ever did was to get my Kadet SR ARF/JR Sport SX600/Super Tigre 51.
I saw the P51 Yesterday at the field. The owner had trouble with take offs and landings. He has been flying for about six months. It flew well, but I thought Trainers were suppose to be easy to handle on the ground as well.
I spent about a hundred bucks more, and a few hours assembling the Kadet, but it handles easy enough on the ground AND in the air for beginners. JMO...Kevin
P.S. One of the guys that helped maiden my plane killed it on purpose in the air, and dead sticked it to a beautiful landing!

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

Well I have not flown the P51 yet so I can't comment on the flight as it relates to beginners as I said I would do. The reason is that I have not got the plane assembled. As stated before I have no build experienced even with an ARF and only did solo flight a couple of weeks ago.
The landing gear did not fit properly. One side the wire was not bent correctly and the slot was poorly cut but I have that fixed as much as possible. The speed brakes do not fit well. If you line them up as they suggest to let the hold down screw be used as a stop the plastic speed brakes bend and sit at an odd angle and there is not enough room to slide them up the gear wire.
The real problem is the wing fit. The dowels and alignment holes do not match up so I cannot get the wing on. You would think that the factory would at least check that before the plane is boxed for shipment. Good thing I have experienced culb members to get help from. Just proves the point that you MUST either join a club or have an experienced pilot who can help BEFORE you get serious in this hobby. Beginners take note: Planes sold as "Ready to Fly" doesn't mean exactly that as I have found out.

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

How long does it take to build this trainer P51?

RE: P51- TRAINER FROM HORIZON
 

chrs,

its not really a matter of BUILDING it because its anf ARF so you put it together and it took me about 30 minutes . (but i have done quite a few of them)

and unlike some of the others i did NOT have any trouble with my plane everything fit nicely.

i am still trying to get some video of this bird flying but, first the weather isnt cooperating. now i think i fried my TX :( hooked up my field charger and now nothing will work. yes i had the polarity right but who knows maybe i hit the wires together while pluggin them in or something. so i will send it back to horizon and see what they say. so now i have to wait YET again to fly my P-51 again.



bassman