I've got an old (1981)Red Box Top Flite Zero on the bench for a customer. We did a previous "vintage" Royal 109 for him last year which turned out to be an unflyable dog. (My only kit-built DNF in 20 years.) After checking with the Warbird crowd here at RCU we found many others who had flying problems with that vintage design. I took on the Red Box Zero project this year, only because it was designed for Top Flite by a former Nats Champ, Harold Parenti, specifically for RC.
Now, as the bench hours begin to pile up, I'm wondering why Top Flite never picked up the Zero for an updated Gold Edition. I'm hoping this is not another vintage dog.
Anyone have the scoop on flying this particular Zero ? Panel lines and scale detailing are a lot less tedious when a builder knows he'll end up with a good looking flyer, rather than a "hanger".
Thanks!

I never built are flew a TF red box Zero, but I did build and fly several RB P51's. My experience with the old red box Top Flite kits is that the wood was too hard and too heavy. The plans stunk, and the die cutting....well what can you say good about the die cutting? However, they were good flying airplanes, if you could keep the weight down.

Vince

Yep, I won an RB Zero at a scale meet about 20 years ago....I built and and flew it.....flew great. I don't recalll what engine I used in it but the plane lasted several years until I flew it too low one day and hooked a tall weed off the far side of the runway. It had retracts and I think I built flaps into it as well......seeing your photo brought back some old memories...

I've always been told that the Bearcat and the Zero were the best flying of all the red box kits. If I remember correctly, they were designed by Hal Parenti, not the person who designed all the others... That would help explain why they always go for over 200 bucks on Ebay when the Mustang, Aircobra, and Corsair go for a little over 100 dollars...

-Bob George

Had a RB Zero years ago. Great flying airplane with retracts and flaps. Was glassed and painted with an OS .61 fsr in it. I know I probably threw away half the kit wood and replaced it with handpicked light balsa. Thats about the ratio of wood I usually endup replacing in an average kit. Keep the tail light as that is a long moment out there. Don

I'm glad to hear good things about the Zero's flying ability. The only Red Box I've built before this was the Mustang, a real carver's special, which came out heavy and flew like a rocket throughout it's short but glorious 2 flight career. To be fair, that was way back in '88 and I was trying to jump from a Kadet Senior(!) to that hotrod Red Box P51 warbird.

Don't know about building these vintage kits for fun though. Aside from investing a $200.00 collectors item,there can be extra work sometimes with 20 year old balsa, and the plans don't show near enough to scratchbuild from. Probably the way to go is to dupe the parts with new balsa and put the originals right back into the box.

Wish I'd thought of that 2 weeks ago!

Thanks all!

The Red Box Zero and Bearcat were the best in that series of kits. The Corsair was OK also. The P-40, Mustang and P-47 were designed by Dave Platt in the early 70s. I had a Mustang for my third airplane in 1972 and it flew great. I flew it a couple of years and sold it to a friend and he finally wore it out. Again when I built that one I got rid of most of the kit wood an it came out light. Had a Veco .61 flaps and Goldberg retracts and covered with Monokote. I think the Zero would still be a great kit today with only minor modification. I don't know why Top Flite doesn't bring it back. Don

Pick up a Red Box Zero off of Ebay, and just about to start it.