diabolic-mind

hey guys, here is my review of the erc p-51 mustang micro warbird series.

sorry no pics yet but heres the low down on it. when i picked it up it had 2 yellow slips of paper taped to the outside of the box. one was in reference to the batteries nd the other was some information about the battery adapter. the slip that had the information about the adapter also had a small bag attached to it with the adapter in it. so it seems that now they are selling them with the lipo adapter included. the lipo adapter is so that the eflite and parkzone lipos can be used in the erc mustang. the lipo for the mustang is the same size as the other lipos, and the plug is also the same, but the polarity is backwards, the adapter just swithced the polarity for use with the mustang. the stock batteries for the erc micro mustang are 3.7v 130mah lipo's.

ok on to the rest, i gotta say the plane was well packaged, they used soft flexible foam on the wingtips to prevent and rubbing damage against the pcking foam it comes in. the contents of the box are as follows:

controller (tx)
controller batteries (4 AA)
micro p-51 mustang
lipo battery (2)

after getting the box opened and getting everything out, i installed the controller batteries into the controller and first took the time charge the lipos. and looking at the plane i gotta say the detail on this bird is incredible, they did a excellent job keeping the level of detail true and scale to the full sized ridge runner p-51 mustang. there was however a few faults that needed to be adjusted. around the clear cockpit canopy, (yep, its clear not painted) there is a red sticker that goes around the lower edge of it for detail, it was fairly pooly placed on, to most it wouldnt matter but for me i wanted it perfect. i simply peeled it up and placed it down properly, after doing so there was a slight amount of overhang at the end that needed to be trimmed off, which i used a exacto knife to do. the other thing was the double sided tape used to hold the belly pan on was slightly loose and offset. i gently pulled this off and recentered it, then pressed it firmly into place and held it there for a minute. i then used a few small strips of clear scotch tape to secure it more tightly. the next thing i noticed and i didnt really like was on the landing gear there is a thin cardboard piece that is grey, not sure what this would be called but it looked rather cheap and flimsy. i simply pulled these off and also removed the landing gear as i dont really have much use for take off and landings where i fly, belly landings are just fine for me. next i put the lipo in the plane and powered it up. the ailerons and elevator worked nice and smooth and proportional. the motor gears are pretty loud at lower rpm but once you get it up to almost full and full throttle it gets fairly quiet. sitting in my living room and going full throttle it had alot of thrust. before going to the field there was one thing i wanted to do. i wanted it to have more aileron travel, im not going to go into detail about the process of doing it here but i will do a write up for it in detail at another time. needless to say it was fairly easy to do if you are good with working on and building planes.

ok so i got to the field after adjusting the ailerons. i powered it up to about half throttle and gave it a toss, it started to dive toward the ground but instead of giving it some elevator i waited to see what it did. and what it did was build just a little more speed and started to climb. so i knew off the bat i was gonna want to give it some down elevator trim, once it started climbing it then started to tip left. so i circled around and landed it. i watched the elevator while giving some elevator trim using the controllers trim adjustment, i have it so that it sit just undet level. i also gave it some aileron trim to compensate for the left tip that it had. i then launched it again using slightly more throttle this time and it went out nice and smooth but still with some left tipping. so i kept it in a wide left turn and started adding right trim to it in hopes of getting the wings back level, unfortunately i got to the double beeps which indicated that there was no more adjustment allowed using the digital trim. so i brought it in for a landing and adjusted the trim back to neutral. i sat there for a minute scratching my head trying to think of what the issue could be, first i thought maybe the motor wasnt poperly angled to compensate for the torque of the motor. i looked at it and it looked fine. i then started looking the plane over, and discovered that the rudder on the plane was slightly bent left which would be causing the left turn. so i gently bent it a few times until it looked straight looking down the plane from the nose. so i powered it up again and launched it. once again it left my hand in a nice even flight but still had a little bit of left turn, so i input about 3 beeps of trim and got it nice and level. so now that its flying smooth and straight i finally got to have some fun with it. it turns either very sharply if you give it some elevator and aileron together, or with just the aileron it will turn nice and slowly and smoothly. the plane has more than enough power, it flies pretty decent at slower speeds but is also a little shakey at lower speeds. the wings want to tip fairly easy at anything under half throttle. at just over half throttle it gets a little more responsive and stable. one thing however i am noticing is that there seems to be a slight delay between the time i give roll aileron input and the time it starts to turn. im not sure if this is a fault or if this is something that is just in the design. regardless of that small fat the plane is easy to fly for me in my opinion, i however would not reccommend it to someone just starting out. but as far as basic flight goes its fairly stable.

now for aerobatics. as with my playmate i dont try any stunts without using full throttle, so with it fully powered up i took it into a loop. it looped like a charm, it stayed nice and level with no wing tipping during the loop. i leveled it out and brought it around for another pass for a barrel roll. got it up around 40 feet and gave it full left for a roll, to my surprise it did not roll, the wing tipped up but the nose stated to drop and it went into a short dive and leveled out going into the opposite direction, i got some more alltitude and tried again but with the same result. i did read of the forum for the plane on hobby lobbys website that it will do barrel rolls with the outdoor prop for it. i do have the outdoor prop for mine, but have not yet put it on. so once i get it on and give it another go ill let you all know how it goes. overall im very impressed with the plane, its fast, fun, and pretty agile in the sky. on a 1 to 10 scale i would have to give it a solid 8. if it would barrel roll in its stock form and didnt need the trimming it did i would give it a 9. but for 60 dollars, i feel you truely get alot for your money. ill keep posting about it with my progress on the barel rolls, and any glitches or problems i have. thanks for reading guys i know it was long so i apoligize. ill try getting some pics for you guys tommorrow

diabolic-mind

after a little bit of research ive discovered something, the ailerons on the parkzone mustang run the length of the wing, and on the erc mustang they are roughly 2 inches long and out near the wingtips. im thinking this might be the reason it doesnt loop. im considering cutting the trailing edge of the wing and adding some hinges to give it a full length ailerons surface like on the parkzone mustang. but before i do, im going to test it another time, last night i got the outdoor prop installed on the mustang. after doing some reading online i discovered that there have been some issues people had with crashing nose first and the prop shaft slipping through the larger gear on the motor gearing which resulted in the prop rubbing the front edge of the fuse. to compensate for this while i had prop off i used a small amount of superglue on the front edge of the larger gear, and then i gave it 3 wraps around it with some sewwing thread. once the glue dried i added just enough super glue to coat the threads. for those of you not familiar with this, glueing, then wrapping with thread then glueing again acts as a cast. and in almost all cases hold very, very well. i reccommend using a pair of small tipped neddle nose pliers or needle nose vise grips, to hold the prop shaft while trying to remove the prop. then while holding the pliers gently twist and pull the prop off the prop shaft. if it takes 40 turns to get it off then thats what it takes. you dont want to "man handle" the prop whie removing it because you risk bending the prop shaft. but ill post with the results of the outdoor prop. i heard that the outdoor prop for the mustang is supposed the give a 25% increase in thrust, ill let you all know how true this is. and i will still be posting some pics of the mustang today...

Real Gambler

Thanks for the nice review so far! Did you ever flew a Parkzone Mustang before? No matter what, sound like it's a great deal at $60 and I love the fact that it does come with a battery adapter! Not sure l like the fact that the aileron are short, as you said, but on the other side, I guess adding flaps could be a fun thing to do, particularly with those small $5.00 HK servos...

Thanks again, and keep the great info coming in!!

diabolic-mind

another thing with it is the belly pan is removable, and with it off you can easily see the electronics inside of it. on the center of the board there is a black plug with 3 copper holes in it. im wondering what it could be for?  possibly a brushless esc and motor, or a 3rd servo? not sure, and i cant find any info about it online.

diabolic-mind

here are some pics, theres also a pic of the belly pan on and off the plane, you can see the 3 copper holes i was talking about. also the black control links to the left are how you adjust the ailerons. i moved them to the furthest holes out for maximum aileron travel. stock they are in the second holes

diabolic-mind

my mistake, for the ailerons i moved them to the inner most holes, the holes closest to the bottom of the plane

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Thanks for getting some pics up. They show how the plane really looks instead of those photo shopped pics the manufacture puts out.

Nice looking plane. Try pointing the nose up before trying a roll and see how it goes.

diabolic-mind

thanks for the tip wheelnut, i will give that a try and see what happens. i have a feeling that the aierons might need to be made longer though. i was thinking to that with longer ailerons it might be turn more responsive without having the slight delay i mentioned before!

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Those holes in the board look correct for a brushless esc. Bob Selman would know the answer to that though.

Fern

diabolic-mind

who is bob selman?

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

The owner of BSD micro. Very nice and very knowledgeable.

http://www.bsdmicrorc.com/index.php

Vertical3-D

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I have one of these ordered that will be here tuesday, good to hear some good talk about it, I also ordered the outdoor prop with it which I will probably install before flying it since you posted a review in stock form, I also emailed BSD and included the picture with the mystery plug in it, I have a good multi-meter for work so if they need anything tested at that plug i will gladly help them, I have a feeling that though this plane flies good stock we could make it fly far better without breaking the bank, I like my stuff to push the limits on power and maneuverability, I'll let you know how it goes when I get the plane, and hopefully some others with this plane or even the spitfire they sell with chime in here and we can get these things flying the best they possibly can.

diabolic-mind

yeah im sure theres alot of room for improvement. am considering ordering the sptifire within the next week or two. as far as the outdoor prop from what i can feel of the airflow and the pull it has in my hand, its deffinately alot more thrust than the stock prop. make sure you use needle nose pliers to hod the prop shaft when you go to remove the stock prop and while putting the outdoor prop on it. i would also suggest reinforcing the lrge gear on the prop shaft while oyu have it apart, just to make sure nothing happens

Vertical3-D

My Feedback: (20)

yeah, I'll definitely take a look at that gear while it's off and take your advice with the pliers, I have a bunch of needle nose pliers and a small needle nose vice grips at work so i'm sure I have something that will work, I'll get some pics up when I get it, I'll be using the landing gear for flying in front of my house, our street is a culdesac so theres barely ever any passing cars, I used to fly large electrics out front, climb out and cruise over the neighborhood, but I flew electric 3-D so I am pretty good at flying in the tight space, hopefully this mustang will have enough room to cruise around, do some low passed down the street, maybe with mods some low inverted passes

diabolic-mind

as it is i wouldnt expect it to do any inverted flights. im a pretty good pilot myself and i can fly my playmate inverted but from ive seen with the mustang i dont think it could pull it off. i could be wrong but thats my opinion based on my few flights with it sofar

Vertical3-D

My Feedback: (20)

yeah, I'll find a way to put enough power in it to try it, or increase all the throw or surface sizes till it's possible, I shoved a saito .91 in a cub most guys fly on a .56, and it flys fantastic, if i had 1.25 I'd put that in it, proof you can never have to much power...but once again I appreciate the heads up before attempting it, much better to know it probably won't work so I can be ready to save it if it doesn't want to do it.

Real Gambler

Don't see why it would not fly inverted...  Elevator is about the same size as the Parkzone P51, so unless it's totally underpowered, it should loop quite well.  And the ailerons are big enough to keep it inverted once you're half way through the loop.

That connector definitively look like an ESC connector. Sadly though, I would not be surprise that we find out it's simply a programming port, for manufacturing. Basically, I don't expect a $60 to make it easy for us to add an ESC, unless there would be a brushless version in the near future. On the other side, a serial programming port would allow them to plug everything, then dump the firmware into the chip, and do some quick live adjustment to the servos (question: if there's no Z bend in there somewhere, that would back up my theory?)

Bonus question:  Not obvious on your pictures...  Does it crack open like the Parkzone or everything is done from under the belly of the plane?  How do you access the motor?

And again, thank you, thank you....  Very nice job so far and awesome pictures!

Vertical3-D

My Feedback: (20)

not sure what the wing is like on the parkzone, this one looks undercambered, but should still fly inverted i would think, but without flying it yet I'm just gonna have to take diabolic-mind's word on it, we'll see how it goes, hopefully the weather is nice tuesday evening when I get home so I can fly it right away

diabolic-mind

hey guys im back from another flight with the mustang. ok for starters it does in fact fly inverted and i gotta say it does it with ease. im not sure if its because im using the outdoor prop or not. i never tried flying inverted with it with the indoor prop that was on it but it does in fact fly inverted. also i really need to press the issue of buying the outdoor prop for it for anyone thinking of or that is buying it, the outdoor pop on this plane is awsome, it has so much more power than it does with the stock prop. but even with the outdoor prop that has a steeper pitch ange it still gets a little shakey at lower speeds. but flying it at just over half throttle it flies petty well and stable, at full power it goes like a bat out of hell, its quick and responsive. and i have to thank wheelnut for suggesting to point the nose up a bit when trying to roll it, it did in fact roll with the nose pointed a bit upward. it wasnt the prettiest roll ive ever seen but it was a roll. im seriously considering extending the length of the ailerons on it. with the outdoor prop it does seems to be a little more responsive but it is a bit more hesitant than i would like it to be. also i noticed tonight that when you get it into a wide turn, it will pretty much just stay in that turn until you bring it out of it. if you wanna fly straight and level then you gotta flick the aileron stick until it just starts to tip into a level straight flight and its golden. overall im impressed with this plane, well worth 60 bucks by far. i do have to admit though that my flyzone playmate is my favorite plane still, mainly because of the insanely long flight im getting out of it. and the mustang runs about 10 minutes, good thing it came with 2 lipos lol

gambler, im not sure the setup on the parkzone mustang, but on the erc mustang you pul off the belly pan for access to the linkages for the ailerons like you seen in the pic and to get to that plug. im not sure how the motor is accessed but when i had the prop off i noticed that the main gear the larger gear that is has holes in it, and if i spun it i can see a single small silver screw head threw the front. my guess is that if that screw is removed the whole motor and gear mount would probably just slide right out. for sake of knowing i will attempt to remove it tommorrow after work and see what happens

diabolic-mind

i forgot 1 thing gambler, the body splits down the middle vertically. in order to do so the wing, tail wing, rudder and clear canopy would all need to be removed in order to split it down the middle. i also just had an idea. if buy chance im not always in the mood to do barrel rolls and want it to just have basic controls, im considering the possibility of making it so that i could have 2 main wings to use, 1 that has stock ailerons and one with longer ones. i know i could simply just use less aileron input but for the sake of having a little project to work on im thinking of making some type of quick mount setup for switching between the 2 wings. and also it would probably make it alot easier to change wings during bad crashes. anyone have any thoughts as to a way of making this possible? my one though sofar would be to have the wings screw into place. which would require drilling holes into the fuse then setting some type on tiny nuts into the fuse for the wings screw to screw into. just one idea, post some thoughts on it though. who knows this could be a concept we could use on all our micro planes and warbirds

Vertical3-D

My Feedback: (20)

some of the micro magnets today are very strong, you might get away with some of them and a single or even two locating pins, though that would probably weigh more than just using small screws, a second wing would also be nice cause you could work on modding it and perfecting the longer ailerons while still flying, makes me think I should have ordered a spare wing to mod now...I want fly it first, then I'll decide where to go with it, larger ailerons are rarely a bad thing though

joizeex

hey guys, just thought you'd like to see how these things fly. here's my spitfire:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-eOPDPfNRM[/youtube]

i've flown this thing in 5-7mph wind although it was shaking a lot.

this is with outdoor prop installed. later i moved the aileron control rods to the innermost holes. i also bought 240mAh 20C batteries from hobbyking along with connectors which i soldered on. the big battery is 1g heavier than stock and gives a few more rpms. 51000 vs 47000 at full charge. it won't fit inside, so i just have it velcro'ed outside. i also had to take it apart (removed belly and wing) once because in a crash the aileron servo motor popped out of its housing. after removing the wing i pulled out the Rx board and secured the motor with a drop of glue. there's a square rod that sticks out of the firewall. to that rod the entire gearbox+motor unit screws on with a single screw that can be seen through one of the holes in the main gear.

also, if you crack or break the wing, you can fix it with CA, as it melts the foam pieces together. i once crushed one side of the wing in my car and it was crumpled and in pieces. CA fixed that right up.

this is actually my first plane (if you don't count countrol line some 20 years ago) and i learned to keep it in the air for an entire pack after flying it for 2 full packs.

diabolic-mind

thanks for the video, i had a feeling that the screw that is visible through the gear holes was to remove the whole motor assembly. i wonder if i could upgrade the stock motor with something else. maybe something that uses power more efficently that would give longer flight times. the only downer to the mustang is the short flight times, (roughly 10 minutes). im almost tempted to use the playmates electronics in it lol j/k. but i do get close to if not more than 20 minutes of flight time out of each battey in the playmate.

joizeex

i also was looking around for more power to do unlimited verticals and possibly install a rudder servo. basically, if you look on hobbyking.com, they have tons of options with very small inrunner and outrunner motors, super light Rx and tiny super light servos (the sliding type). the plane will likely gain some weight and i think the wings are a bit too soft to handle really hard maneuvers with a heavier plane traveling at higher speeds.... with that said, maybe someone would want to try it?


later that day..... Just got back from the park. broke the horn on the elevator servo in a crash. will have to CA it, although i'm not too sure how CA holds on to nylon... i hear not very well.

i'm also going to try to make a quick remove feature for the wing. i'm thinking of having small brackets on the back of the wing root that'll go inside and under the opening in the fuse. they'll be placed tightly with the walls, so that the wing doesn't move sideways. the foam on the fuse will be lined with clear tape to prevent wear and tear. then at the front i'll probably have strong magnet(s).

diabolic-mind

heres a tip joizeex, if you can remove the whole servo horn that broke, use a small drop of superglue to connect the 2 broken pieces. once that dries use anothe small drop on both sides of the crack and spread it out thin so that it is just around the area of the crack with only a slight amount of glue above and below the crack on both sides. then take some sewwing thread and do a few wraps around it, say just wide enough so that it covers the crack completely and about 2 layers thick. then take some more super glue and rub it onto the threads so that there slightly wet. let that sit overnight and dry and it shouldnt be an issue ever again. ive used this method several times on several different things and it makes an excellent cast.

as far as adding all new electronics to the mustang goes i think im going to leave mine stock in that sence. im going to improve on it else where though. the wing changing option is a deffinate i think. along with the ailerons, maybe the motor too. im pretty happy with the power it has with the outdoor prop on it. im thinking of using my mustang as a template to custom build another mustang out of foam plates and foamboard. the same scale as this mustang but with a few changes. im also considering getting the spitfire, looks pretty sweet. and did you notice on the box that it shows a pic of the mustang, the spitfire and then a black image that looks like a plane that says more coming soon? i would LOVE to see a micro t-28 trojan or even a corsair.