Top Flite P-40 Old Red Box Kit
 

Anyone know how hard to build one of these old T/F red box Kits? Have someone that has one for sale.

TF Red Box P-51B
 

I just finished a TF Red Box P-51B Mustang this winter. I cant say they are easy to build but flying performance is great if you weight conscience. Instructions are brief and printed on the blue prints. I lightened up some of the solid balsa blocks supplied for flaps & ailerons. I installed double aileron servos on my 2nd. I built my first TF P-51B about 15 years ago and painted with Chevron primer, and top coats and it was heavy. I covered my 2nd with flat olive drab Monokote and used all the Shangra-La decals. I love the way the ole Dave Platt red box kits fly if done right. The kits are rapidly disappearing. We have a Bearcat and P-39 in our club and they are old. Mine has Hobbico retracts and ST-61 ring (from my old P-51B) and hope to fly for a long time.

Top Flite P-40 Old Red Box Kit
 

These kits are kind of crude compared to what is availiable today. They were known for bad, heavy wood, crushed die cutting and light on instructions. They required a lot of carving and sanding. Unless you can get this kit for next to nothing, I personally wouldn't waste time on it. Some people think because it is an old kit that it is worth a premium. Not in this case IMO.

Vince

Top Flite P-40 Old Red Box Kit
 

A different time ... I like the red box kits for their historical significance, and for sentimental reasons. They were the kits I drooled over at our hobby shop as a kid while flying Kadets with my dad.

It was pretty much presumed that if you bought a red box scale kit that you had some building experience. What is it ramcharger, something like 12 steps to completion, as detailed on the Mustang plans?

I've got two red box kits, the P-40 ("War Weary") and the P-51B ("Shangri La"). Guys who have been around the hobby a long time will tell you that, done right, the red box kits will fly well.

I haven't started on mine--yet. I was actually thinking of using the kit wood as templates on the way to building a lighter model. A lot of the kit wood is uranium-hard (especially the tail feathers) and heavy.

Thanks for the sentimental journey.

Red Box p-51B
 

My P-51B weighs 7 lbs & 6 oz with an inverted ST61 ring engine and Hobbico retracts. It is covered with flat olive drab MonoKote and I like it. My original P-51B was painted with Chevron brush-on and spray paints and primers. The instructions sheets are 2 piece with 15 steps in rather simplified prose on them. Each step has its illustration. That is good enough for me. About the balsa, I replaced the stab, original was very dense & heavy. I used the solid flap balsa blocks but bored out for lightness. The aileron blocks were light balsa but still bored out. I used the ABS exhaust stacks and have a bottom access piece to the fuel tank. I built my first Shangra-La P-51B in the mid 80's w/o retracts. I built a Egleston red box P-47 razorback and sold it. It did not fly like the P-51B, P-39, or Bearcat. My P-51B flys like a pattern plane. It is the best I have flown. The new P-51D 40 size kit from GP flies real well if set up by an experienced builder. The Gold Edition 60 size Warbirds have to much ABS plastic and build heavy. With experienced builders & flyers they are fine but they attracted by a lot of RC rummmmys and inexperienced flyers and builders @ Christmas time and get splattered all over the place in spring & early summer time. Watch who you take advice from before turning down these kits.

Top Flite P-40 Old Red Box Kit
 

I have talked with other pilots and they have echoed what ramcharger says. The planes will fly well.

The parts count in these kits is not huge. Follow the instructions, use common sense to substitute and lighten as necessary, and you should have a good-flying, good-looking model. I'm inspired now--the red box Mustang is now on my winter to-do list.

Top Flite P-40 Old Red Box Kit
 

I do not disagree that the red box kits fly well, that is a given. However they are truly builders kits. Be prepared to replace some of the balsa, and interpolate the instructions.

Vince

P-40
 

I have built the red box P-40 and it is a builders kit. You will spend alot of time sanding and shaping. My plane has retracts and split flaps and weights in a shade over 8 lbs. You need to keep the thing light, with a real effort to keep the tail light. Mine is painted with Chevron paints over .75 cloth. I then clearcoated it with the Chevron Paints flat clear, which in 4 months turned into flat yellow, which is another story. They do make into good planes that fly real well if you watch your self during construction. Good Luck, Dave

P-40 Red box
 

The P-40 red box was the second plane i built. Y ou have to do alot of figuring out. The insructions are way breif. Before my buddy crashed it i used the bell crank system. It worked but had slop in the controls. When i built a new wing i put four servos in the wing. Much better control. I put an OS 61 FX in it. Great power. If you do build one trace the wing ribs for future use. I had to buy another kit to get a new wing. Good luck. If you have any questions on building it E-Mail me. Mike