Hey everyone. I am in the market for a good 50cc size airplane and I am looking for something that I can enter in to IMAC next year with. I have not competed before so I will be starting as low as I can.
I am leaning toward the WH Ultimate. I have talked to a few people and I have heard a lot of differant opinions, and I know eventualy it is my decision, but I wanted to get you guys opinions also.
I have been flying for about 2.5 years now and I fly warbirds and I also have a 54" Goldberg ultimate that I love, but I want to et in to something bigger. I have had gassers but currently that have rekitted themselves so I am looking for a new one.
The other one I am looking at is the new 29% Sukhoi from Wild Hare.

Well let me know what you think, also if you have any tips on practice please let me know.

Thanks guys.

I've had two of Tom's Edge 540's, The first was the WH Edge 540 1.20 size and it's on it 3rd flying season. I recently bought the 28% Edge with a brison 3.2 motor and will be flying it next season. I guess toy can always call and talk with Tom and he can give you his opinion as o what you need and what will best suit you for IMAC. If youre just starting IMAC you will basicly start flying the basic & sport type arobatic's. The WH 12.0 baby Edge 540 fly's these manuvers very well, I'm guessing the WH 28% will fly basic, sport, and advanced mauvers just as well. My guess is the 28% Ultimate will do all plus the unlimited manuvers.
You don't want to get a plane that too aggressive for your flying needs. and wind up rekitting it as you call it. Call Tom and he can advise you what best fitts your needs. If you choose to buy a Wild Hare product, Tom is only a phone call away and he will help you with what ever question you will have during the building process. Or you could check out some of the thread in the IMAC & Wild Hare Suport forums. I've been flying advanced status for the past three years and would like to get into IMAC, but I don't have any Imac events really close to my location.
NEDYOB

Sukhoi would be a good choice..........the open cowl will slow it down on the downlines

The Wild Hare 80" Yak 54 is an excellant 50CC plane. Does the sequences and 3D. Mine was so simple to set up and trim I couldn't believe it. Put a DA 50 in it and i guarentee you'll love it.

I will call Tom and talk with I am for a bit. I am on vacation for a few days so when I get back I was going to give him a call and see what he has to say. I have a few friends from the club that fly IMAC and one flew a Double Vision and the other flys a 116" extra 330.

Personally the Ultimate, while a great plane, does not do well for IMAC unless you are really good at trimming and wind correction and hiding those corrections. I have a well trimmed Ultimate from GP and H9 and while I can run through all the sequences up to Intermediate (my skills stop there) it does not do them well. Give it a bit of wind and you can have a hand full.

The key to IMAC is a well trimmed plane that is not too light that you can easily predict what it is going to do at any moment wind or no wind, there is something to be said for Extra's and Yak's. I have both in 50cc and larger sizes and (I used a C-Arp 2.3M Extra 330L this year with a 3W70iUS and it was an absolute joy to compete with.) the Extra has gottem me quite a few good scores in basic) I took 6th in my first conrtest flying a Cap and second in my second one flying the Extra and have mainly scored firsts since then with it). I would not run them (50cc) through anything higher than sportsman though. I am in the process of trimming a 3M Comp-Arf 260 for next year in sportsman, possibly higher and I feel I need this to be competitive in the region I fly in as the smallest plane this year in sportsman was a WH 35% Extra 260 protoype. Remember, the judges are gonna be pilots that have been doing this for a while and know exactly where you will be trying to hide mistakes. I also have Wh 33% Edge and while this thing is flying very well, running it through the sportsman sequence is a bit of work.

The basic class is all about having fun as is IMAC in and of itself, but to truley be competitve your gonna need something a bit better than the Ultimate. I'd go with the Aeroworks 50cc Yak with a DA50 on a pipe and you'll be pleased. You'll have a great IMAC machine that will serve you well and you can 3D the pants off it.

There are some really good IMAC pilots in your area, contact Pride Grimm, Mike Dinu, Kent or Alex Porter or Pete Castine. Pride and Mike have been neck and neck all year in basic and Pride is basically a robot which until recently was flying a 10yr old Carden Extra and then he bought a well trimmend C-Arf 2.6 Yak and has been basically unstoppable since that point, Mike is good but he quickly found out he needed something a bit better to be competitive with Pride and he went with the 2.6M Extra and saw his scores go up. Kent is just flat out good in Intermediate as is his son Alex in Sportsman and Pete flies Advanced with a C-Arf SuperExtra. Anyone of them can really help you out

For a 50cc plane, I think the Extreme Flight Yak cannot be beat for IMAC. I have seen many fly, and they are excellent.

Ken