What is a good first 60 size warbird kit? Are some easier to fly than others? (Mustang,Corsair, etc.) I want retracts and want to cover it in 'glass and paint and detail it. thanks

You can't go wrong with the Top Flite warbirds. Have you built a kit before? If not, you might want to tackle a few sport kits first. The TF kits are nice but not necessarily for a first build.

Also keep in mind that glassing, detailing, etc means weight. Don't get me wrong, I understand why guys do it and I admire a detailed warbird. You just want to find a balance and not make your .60 size plane too heavy and no fun to fly.

I'd say a P-47 or Spitfire would be more friendly flyers than some of the others.

Yes I have built my QB 40S trainer and my Supersportster and I am planning on building a 4* 40 to have two low wing planes to learn on. I see your point on the weight issue. Back to the drawing board. I thought mustangs were good fliers. I'll check out the P 47's. How about ARF warbirds? Thanks

The Top Flite Gold Edition P-47 is tough to beat for a first war bird build. The instruction manual is easy to follow and very well layed out. Good Luck, Dave

From what I've seen at our club ( grass field) . The warbirds are a fairly agile fliers. However, they can be a major handfull on the ground.

Can't beat the Hanger 9 Hellcat ARF. Nice kit, nice flyer. There is a build thread on here.
L.

I'd leave the glassing for a larger bird, like the Top Flite Giant scales. I've read posts complaining of the flight characteristics on a .60 size Top Flite P-47, glassed, tipping the scales at 13+ pounds. The complaint was "I use the whole runway and it still won't take off", either that or they can't keep the nose out of the dirt. Which is a shame, because the Top Flite P-47 .60 is an excellent flier if you keep it within it's designed weight limits. I think the designed weight limits per the plans are 8 to 11 pounds, depending on how you build it (retracts, fixed gear, etc.) 2 extra pounds over the max is a lot of weight on a 63" wing. Which is why I've always said, I'd rather have a plane that looks great and flies great, as opposed to one thats over weight and looks pretty sitting on the ground. If you keep it within it's design limitations the Top Flite P-47 is arguably the best flier out of the Top Flite .60 birds. I'm currently building the P-47, have the Top Flite P40 kit, and will scratch build a Skyshark FW190A8. I think the Skyshark is probably going to leapfrog the P-40 and go on the board next tho.

If you insist on glassing and haven't done it before, search the boards here, there are lighter glassing methods than epoxy.

When I glass a plane these days I just use 1/2 oz glass and poly U and the plane comes out about the same weight as when I use covering, just don't over do the paint. I was talked into giving the poly a try and would never go back to the old ways of glassing. The Top Flight kits are outstanding and fly very well. I haven't built them all yet but I would sure like to!!!

Mustangs are great flyers but most people seem to like others as a first warbird. I'm slowly working on a TF P-47 an it is a great kit.

As for ARF's, I have the Top-Flite 60 size Mustang ARF and it is a gorgeous, well-built, great flying airplane. They also just came out with an AT-6. I like the H-9 Sptifire too.

Grey Beard-I am just getting started on my first Warbird build-Top Flight 60 Corsair. I plan on glassing with poly and midwest cloth 1/2 oz. I watched several Dave Platte (SP) videos and hope i can keep it light. It's getting a YS 110S so power won't be an issue.

Mark, when I came on I noticed your photo of the Cloud Dancer, what an outstanding looking plane!!! Great shot too. Dan talked me into using the Poly U that he did on his Daddy Rabbit a while back. He sent me to Completely Scale RC to read up on it. I used the Poly and Sealer the guy used but did it with 1/2 oz instead of the 3/4 just to keep it light, the plane was an Extra 260. It wasn't the water based Poly either so when he said to do it in an open space he wasn't kidding, talk about getting my head and brains removed. My shop isn't big enough even with the door and window opened. I'm just starting the Daddy Rabbit and plan on glassing it too but I'm going to use the water based Poly!! I also gave the Klass Kote paint a try!! A lot of money but what good stuff!!! Just like the old K&B two part and it thins about 50/50 so it goes a long ways. My last two coats of poly I mixed in about a 50/50 blend of baby powder too so it filled in the weave. It mostly all sands off anyway, came out as smooth as a baby's hind end!! Good stuff!! And very light weight.

I like the idea, i ordered Sig finishing resin and the paint will probably be the same, i don't think you can get the K&B stuff??

PS I just built a plane called Freedom 20 and posted it with a thanks to you (don't know if you caught it) also was your picture in RC universe with a Kaos??

You can't get the old K&B but if anyone has the part {A} then in most cases the Klass Kote part {B} will work with it. I see the stuff once in a while at sales. I missed the Freedom 20. Yes to the RCR photos, I get in there a lot. I send Ed photos of new stuff but that photo was a fluke, we were just talking and I sent him a couple of shots of my rebuild. I wanted to see the photos of my 13 year old in there with his brand new 4* 60 we built over the summer. That one came out nice except the green. The kid was hot to trot for the Mono green, guess what didn't want to shrink up!! First roll worked on the bottom but the second one he bought wouldn't shrink at all?? It still looked good. Didn't last very long but it looked good!!I will look up the F20 but I'm betting it has something to do with Ultra??
Gene

Gray Beard:

Do you use a sanding sealer first on the bare wood and then use the poly and fiberglass?

Yes, I do two coats and sand smooth then glass. The scale site I mentioned has the instructions. I do things my way though and I sanded the Poly between coats after the second coat, not heavy but just smooth. If my buddy Dan joins in he is a lot better at it then I am and even knows the correct address to the site, I'm puter stupid and can't pull up the address or I would post it. I have only done it the one time too and have been sold on it. Mark, I pulled it up, thank you much, easy isn't it and it helps out on clean up. I went out to the shop and looked, I have an old kit a friend gave me, a Sure Flight 1/2A 36 inch Baby Turkey and a Hobby Shack Little Gasser. The Turkey looks like a 3ch ball of fun if I even come up with an engine small enough for it. Smallest engine I have is a .25 and that would destory the reason for building it. Working on getting my new 30% Extra up and the Daddy Rabbit. The DR is on a short hold due to out of towners, doing the Vegas thing for a week. Back at it maybe tomorrow, I'm pooped, too much Vegas!![8D]

thanks for all the info. This is where I got the glassing idea.http://www.tompierce.net/rcplanes/. Let me know if you still think a 60 size would be too heavy using this method. It would make the plane look so nice. I like the idea of using any kind of paint you want and then sealing it up w/fuelproof clear. Besides, fixing paint mistakes is a whole lot easier than monocote ones. I really wanted a mustang or a corsair but i'll take the advice and look at the P-47's. Joe

The address didn't come up. A 60 size plane isn't going to be much if any more heavy if you do a poly glass job. No reason to fuel proof the paint if you use one of the two part epoxy paints, the stuff is bullet proof. There is a good one called warbird colors or the Klass Kote colors in matt. I have flown and built the P-51 a while back, quite a while back, it isn't a hard plane to take off or fly, it just likes to be flown in low for landings and faster then something like a stunt plane. I haven't flown the P-47 kit built but I have flown a couple of ARFs and giant scales, same thing. The warbirds just land faster then a sport plane, I haven't seen any problems flying one. Get the one you like and Don't Worry, Be Happy!! Merry Christmas guys!!