Hi All, Currently Ihave electrics but want a noise maker to add to my collection. Ihave an Apprentice E, and a T-34 Mentor. Iwant to build a warbird, but dont know which one would make a good flier for an intermediate like me. It needs to be able to short take off, fly stable at slow speeds, while still be able to move. Ihave a ultra micro Corsair which flies pretty darn good, but dont thnk Iwant to tackle something as complex as a gull wing at this time. Not sure if a P51 would be a good choice, they are so common too. Ido have a planned B-26 Marauder in the works, but that is going to be a long build since it is scale. Since I already have a heavy metal trainer, something with guns is what Iam looking for.

60" or so wingspan, kit form, where it can be built right out of the box with minimal extra parts needed outside the kit save for the radio and engine. Also under $150 if possible. Years ago I built a Carl Goldberg Cub, and want to build a kit like that, where just covering, radio and engine were needed to fly.

Great Planes is one of the last to still offer 'fun-scale' warbird kits: easy to build, easy to fly, in your price range (WELL under $150, but are '40 size', and have spans just under 60". Corsair or Mustang: either one woild be a good choice.
http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/kits-glow.html

Top Flite kits cost more, and more difficult to build, more difficult to fly, and are better suited to someone with a little prior warbird experience. Buy one for your 2nd warbird, but not your 1st

Kit or ARF? big difference

True. A good Sport Scale ARF I would pick the PTS Mustang and just remove the PTS stuff off of it. Once you have a little bit of building or assembly under your belt, then I would add the E-flite Retracts.

Pete

60" or so wingspan, kit form,


It is a winter project, a 2 hour ARF would not work.

acdii,

Then, take a close look at the Great Planes corsair and Mustang. Go to GP website and download the building manuals so you can assess the building process. You can compare to the building manuals of Top Flite wardbirds too. That's what I do when undecided about purchasing certain kit.

I am at the final stage of building a TF Spitfire. I have not accounted the number of hours invested in that plane, but certainly can say that I am close and over 150 hours so far and still have over 50 hours to go.

Hope it helps,

Pedro

The T-34 is a PTS, so quite familiar with the droops, makes it a good stable flyer once Itrimmed it out. If I wanted a quick build the P-51 PTS would make a good plane, no doubt about it. Especially since it comes with the motor already to run, no breakin or tuning needed, just fire it up, adjust for temp and off it goes. I'm looking for a kit build, something to burn up the winter hours.

Ha Haaa, you in the wrong decade. Should have done this about 9, 10 years ago, the last decade. In this one came the invasion of ARFs and you would be hard press to find what you looking for. How ever there are a few places where you can find some short kits in which you only get mainly bulk heads and ribs, you supply your own wood sheeting, hardware and glass or plastic parts this would put you in the price range you are looking for, kind of. There are places that still sell very good kits but not in your price range because the price of wood has gone up a lot. More like $300 and up for full kits. Some of those you have to supply your own hardware all you get is the wood and maybe cowl and canopy, MAYBE.. You have to hunt the web for a kit deal and hope all the parts come with it. I understand your price range and think your best choice is to do a scratch build from a short kit. The up front out lay of cash is small and you get your other parts a bit at a time. That is what I do for my giant scale birds that is close to 1k or more when finish. It is done a little at a time.
An intermediate warbird would be one with out retracts, I would go that route. Like a VAL, PT 19, Stukas are not bad and many others.
Check this site out so you can get some ideas of what is out there in short or full kit form. Get back to us as to which warbird you are more leaning towards because they are so many out there it would be good to narrow it down a bit, that way we could better help you.


http://www.bhplans.com/BTPlansPg4.html
http://www.warbirdkits.com/kits.html

Thanks, that is what I was looking for. The TF Corsair looks like it will fit the bill nicely. Ididnt like the GP one with the boxy non scale fuse, it looks goofy. They also have a scale T-34, but that would just be redundant to have 2 of them. The DC-3 looked tempting, maybe I will pass that to my friend to see if he is interested, he has a couple already but one is Electric, the other doesnt fly well at all. Price looks good too.

Decision has been made, my friend happens to have a Top Flite P-51 kit, in the box, unbuilt, still had tape on the box.  Same as the Gold Edition, but before the Gold Edition.  I'll work out a deal with him on it.  Now I will need to get a motor, tank, landing gear, and other items lined up. Not sure yet if I should go Gas or Slime on it, a 4 stroke would sound nice on it, but the Gas would be easier to keep flying since I can just stop at the gas station to get fuel as opposed to finding stuff at the nearest HS, which is no less than 30 minutes away from my house, and an hour to where I fly. Also cost much less.

Glad we could help with your initial decision.

Now that you have the model, look at Robart pneumatic retracts and DLE 20 gas engine. As for 4-strokes, OS and Magnum are good options.

Pedro

Tower has the DLE for 270, looks like a winner.

The Top Flite kits BEFORE the Gold Edition kits have little in common. I had the pre-Gold Edition Mustang years ago, and know for a fact that it is completely different from the Gold Edition kit.

Idont remember the front cover, but the plans look pretty much the same as the downloaded copy from TF. What is different then between them? plastic parts look the same is in the plans too.

Cowl was all carrved wood, there was no 'plastic'. Parts were all different too: many more parts than G.E. kits. If it is a 'B' model, with "Shangri-La" decals: it is most likely the early version.

Certainly right. The old TF planes are not as kind as the newer Gold Edition flying wise. The Gold is a much better kit too. That I think is the main reason why the gold series came out to tame those airfoils that made quite a few unhappy fliers. Especially the P47 that had a nasty stall same with the P40 and 39. I think you maybe lucky. The P51 was not too bad. Just don`t fall asleep on it.

Then it is a GE kit. It has the lower cowl in heavy plastic and the radiator scoop, gun ports and manifolds in heavy plastic. It is the later model too with the bubble canopy. It was on a shelf in his barn above his workshop, and had a layer of dust on it, he didn't remember how long ago he got it.

Ican see how easy it is to sink cash into these, $250 for the motor, over $200 for the retracts, and Ihavent added up the servos and RX yet. I'm going to build it very nicely and make darn sure Ican fly GOOD before it even taxi's! Ihave got to get my right side orientation issue handled before Iwreck one of my planes for sure. Ihave no problems when approaching from my left, but from my right Iget all backwards, and already flew into the side of the barn once, thankfully it was my lightweight foam plane that only needed some packing tape on the fin to repair.

Servos can be cheap, in comparison the the other stuff: Futaba S3004s work great for these size warbirds, and are less than $15 each. Lot's of other affordable choices too.

Mechanical retracts are less expensive, and no less reliable if installed correctly. I like to use independatnt, hi torq, low profile servos for the retracts, which can be adjusted for speed so that they retract slowly, AND at different speeds (VERY realistic looking).

Maybe once you get things around: you coukld start a 'build thread', we all benefit from such thread. US by learning from your mistakes (IF you make any) and you by being able to tap us for advice, based on OUR mistakes.

Iplan on it for sure. Iwould prefer mechanicals over the air ones, Ithink it would be less weight and one less thing to worry about going wrong. If you have suggestions let me know so I can put them on my wish list.

Oh, will the Futaba work with a Spektrum RX?

Normally, I just want to have an idea of how much money is in a model but never want to know the exact amount. I just need to remember that I need to protect the investment to enjoy it for long time. Never want to know the exact amount so I don't have to cry when I have a bad landing and need to spend extra on repairs. Last model I lost on a dump thumb crash was over seven years ago. I still remember how much it hurt to my pocket and my ego.

The guesstimate for my Spitfire is around $850.

Well getting an RTF pretty much makes you know how much you spent! :P My T-34 didnt hit the air untilIknew I could fly it OK. Ispent far less on an Apprentice trainer and had no problems with flying it, so cut my teeth on that one then flew the 34.

It is a Gold Edition kit. Started on it last week, at least taking it out of the box, checking all the pieces, and yes I got it all back into the box with the lid on, except for the plans. I rolled them loose to let them lay flat.  Going to start putting the tail together Tuesday night.