MigKiller

Hi everybody, i was wondering if you can offer any advice in getting started in flying warbirds. I've been flying for about 2 to 3 years now but i haven't flown anything that drags its tail around lol. The plane i fly now is a sport scale A-36 bonanza. I also fly air cruiser and trainer races and seem to be pretty good at it. Thx a lot for your time and help

Derek
Check six

Steve Collins

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Your best bet at the stage that you say you are in would be the Great Planes P-51, the kit, not the ARF. This one is the best looking of the sport scale P-51s and has very good handling qualities. Set it up with fixed gear and bend the gear wires forward a little bit and you will have a P-51 that is as easy to land as any other sport plane.

scottrc

Derek,

The Great Planes P-51 kit is good, it's wing is elliptical and has plenty of washout to prevent tip stalling.
Other good taildraggers are the Four Stars 40 and 60 and Super Sportsters. To fly a warbird, you need to really work on using the rudder, elevator, throttle, and ailerons in combination with each other. These planes are really forgiving and good for that. I made a Supersportster resemble a Spitfire.

Semi scale, and scale warbird kits are designed to reflect the full size plane dimensions, so these kits tend to fly like a real one. They are overpowered, snap roll easily, and glide like bricks without power.
Do research on the full scale plane. If you like for example, the Corsair, read up on how to fly a real one. I've bought a copy of the P-51 Manual and have talked to full scale P-51 pilots on overcoming certain flight characteristics that I encountered with my Top Flight kit.

Stay away from the ARFs for now. They are heavier and are tricky to set up (CG, trims, offsets). If you must have an ARF, find someone (easy to find on RC Universe) who had the same one and ask them for advice on how to set it up.

You don't need retracts or flaps at this stage, save them for your third or fourth warbird. Retracts can be a maintenance hassle, and again, using them and flaps requires timing and learning when to apply appropriate throttle, elevator and rudder.

A good third plane is the Great Planes Corsair kit. It too has a sport wing and is fairly forgiving, especially for a Corsair.

When your ready to graduate to a "warbird", check out these forums, there is information for just about every warbird that has been flown.

Hope this helped

Scott

MigKiller

Hey thx a lot for the help you guys. I think i can handle that plane ( the mustang) you recommended. And plus that's a sweet plane but i'm more of a P-40 and Spitifire fan lol. If I every need help, I won't have trouble finding it at the air field I go to.So that should be good. And scott I play a lot of combat sim games that are up to date. I have the flight characteristics set to realism. So what that be of some help to me. OK thx all

-Derek-

wfortney99

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Another oprion you might consider is the Top Flite P-39 air cobra with those good warbird looks, nice flyer, unlike the P-51 and Corsair few people have one, and did I mention the tricycle gear to prevent those nose-overs !

Just a thought,
Bill

foxx

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I have read P-40 is one of the hardest war-bird to fly. May be you want to investigate this before starting on a P-40.

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

O.K. my turn now.... I had a World Models P-51D as my first warbird and I went straight to it after my trainer...I had no major problems...It is sleek..goes together in 8-10 hrs is fast w/ a .46 FX and comes w/ retracts already installed... It is all wood w/ a fiberglass cowling and belly scoop....I loved mine and flew it for 5 years....I then recovered it and sold it for 220.00 w/ motor and servos...talk about a great investment.... Worl models also sell a .60 size spitfire that is first rate quality as is all of their kits...
the only warning is the WM Corsair and Warhawk have mediocre rotating retracts.... Have fun get a retract ready Warbird and strafe the field.... Watch your 6'

sfsjkid

My third plane was a WM P-51 and therefore consider it a good warbird "trainer" also. It does tip stall but not like a true warbird since it is on the light side. Landing gear is not strong, but adequate as long as you don't do any hard bounces. I would not recommend the WM Corsair as a start, it is a challenging bird on both take-off and landing, so much so that some very experienced pilots have just given the bird away. Personally, I think do enjoy it because of the challenge.

Good Luck!

jaka

Hi!
May I ask...Why you would like to start flying warbirds?
I ask because they don't fly to well.
There are other types of airplanes that fly much better.
I myself like to build (75%/25%) and fly scale models which I have built myself (no ARF). But if it's just improving my flying skills I'm after, there are other types of airplanes that are much better.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

prop wash

Mig,I think that if you go to a war bird you should think twice unless you have a lot of money to burn.Go with any low wing t dragger because even the sport models have inherent flying carecteristics of the real bird.The Word models P is a really good model,they fly straight and true right of the board.But,like any good flying WB they come in hot and nose over a lot.It takes a lot of practice and scrapes[elevator and engine control] to land the plane or take off.A lot of pilots tend to" force" the plane up and down.You have to "FLY" these planes.Too soon up and you will snap roll.Same thing coming in[too slow] for a landing.The bigger the plane the easier[X(]they fly[:@].So be patient and fly a low wing sportster first.Tom

aghost

My Feedback: (13)

Jaka,
Why fly warbirds?? There is probably not one answer, but I like the way they fly, they recall a history of a very troubled time when ordinary people became heroes.

I have several from 46 size to GS.

Brian

tr21triton

what, no one suggested the h-9 p51 pts?[sm=confused.gif] its a great flying trainer that will fill your needs for a warbird,taildragger and trainer. i just giggle like a school girl on every flight.[sm=lol.gif]

mirwin

My Feedback: (1)

That's the ticket. It's essentially a warbird with training wheels. After you become proficient, you can remove the training wheels and have a relatively good flying, smart looking warbird. Based on what I've seen of it, it would be a perfect 1st warbird.


Mike

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Warbirds are more fun and more rewarding to fly. Other types of airplanes fly better, but they become boring after a few laps since it's no challenge to fly them. Most warbirds fly very well, thank you very much. All of H9 .60 size warbirds fly like sport planes, and any can be used as first warbird.

easton24

My Feedback: (1)

My second plane was a 60 size p-51 mustang after flying a trainer for about 3 months. Hardest part is takeoffs and landings. Go ahead and get one with retracts because you will want it with them after you get used to the plane. I dont believe they are any harder to fly you just have to fly them different. If you have 2 to 3 years experience you will have no problem flying them you just have to take that step in learning how to fly them. There is no need to get a trainer disquised as warbird you will probably be disapointed with it after awhile. I have sinced moved on to tf gs p-51 and am building a tf p-47 gs from kit. Someone asked why do you want to fly a warbird. When you see one come in for a lowflyby down the runway with the wheels up with a roll at the end. If that dont make you want one, you wont understand. They are more work with the retracts especially getting mechanical retracts to work right. But I believe they are well worth it.

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Not sure I can concur that they're "more fun" to fly, though I can concur with the fact that it's more rewarding for sure[sm=thumbup.gif]. I say maybe on the fun part because a kit built, scaled out warplane does not fly at all like planes you might have flown up to that point, even really the ARF warbirds IMHO. Flight characteristics at full speed are usually more similar, but you immediately notice that you have to be WAY more cautious in what you're doing up there. I really think the only way to learn how to do it right is just to build what you think will not be beyond your abilities to fly with some learning curve in there and with some help from guys who may have good flight experience with the plane you're building.

I jumped in with a Pica FW190 as my first real warbird kit. I had a club expert do the maiden, though probably didn't need to. I found that I could fly it without too much worry, but that there was a learning curve for me on the warbirds. Slowed down real fast, not as stable, or a good windy day plane at all. All the characteristics then change when the gear comes down, and you have to learn them on a shorter tank of fuel. All the thinking going on.....where's that retract switch? Are the gear up? Are the flaps down? Is it too rich? Is it trimmed out? Where's the dual rate? But, this said, the only way you really ever get comfortable doing it, is by doing it over and over.

Good choices for successful flight endeavors would be Top Flight P47 or a 190D. I know the Dora flies well and is a little more like a pattern plane at speed. I've never heard of a bad experience with the P47 too. The above comment is right on in the $ part though. Get ready to be nickle and dimed to death. The Spitfire is a nice flying plane too, and I don't think you would be beyond your abilities to go a little down the scale road and still be safe, i.e. cockpit kit, retracts, paint, panel lines, etc.. I wouldn't spend a ton of time on it though, because there will be some times that you stall it out a foot above the runway and drop it in while you figure out how to accomodate the different characteristics. Save a better scale attempt for the one you do after the first.

Flak

My Feedback: (1)

MigKiller,
I too recommend the Great Planes P-51 or the Corsair. My Great Planes P-51 is powered by a 2 stroke Super Tigre .75 and my Corsair is powered by a 4 stroke Saito 65. These are Sweet flying Warbirds. Good luck.

"Keep 'Em Flying!"
Flak

mirwin

My Feedback: (1)

". . . . Why you would like to start flying warbirds? . . . . . " Why would one prefer a Ford over a GM or Dodge? Why on earth would anybody like the color blue? Why do you prefer 80° over 70°? These questions are as old as the hills, and have no answers. It's a matter of preference.

I fly both aerobatics and warbirds but my heart is with the warbirds. Maybe it's because my father was a 30 year Marine Corps fighter pilot and I grew up around Corsairs and SNJs and F9Fs and T2As and FJ3s and F8Us.

Of the two planes, aerobatics and warbirds, I think warbirds are more difficult to take off and land. I'm the only one in my club who flies warbirds. I'm the only one in my club who will fly my Corsair. The best pilot in my club (in my opinion), a man who has been flying RC for 30 years and who competes in pattern and fun fly, won't even come near my Corsair.

I like the challenge of flying my warbirds in a scale - like manner. I love doing a smooth split-S or Immelman. Doing a pass 10 feet over the runway followed by a nice, slow victory role stops virtually every flyer at the site (who isn't himself flying) in his tracks to watch. And, again, everybody stops to watch me land (I hope not just because they're watching for another nose-over.)

So I love warbirds. But, when I'm not flying, I'm most likely watching in awe at one of the other members going through his 3-D or aerobatic routine. I love to watch some of the impossible stunts they do!

I love it all. Whether it's a warbird or a J3 Cub or an Extra 330, I love it all.

If the guy wants to fly warbirds, good for him! He's helping to keep our hobby alive, and he's doing what he wants.

Go get the warbird that you most want! If you crack it up on take-off or landing, then patch it up, and fly it again!

And have some fun.


Mike

discusmike

My Feedback: (2)

I'm with Richard,all warbirds do not fly bad,i started out with the GP pt-19 which is a great plane to fly,this was actually the first bird i ever flew,and is not bad to land,i solo'd on the plane,so if warbirds fly so damn bad,how was that possible,i also have a zirolli stuka,and it flies like a good trainer in the air,is very hard to stall,and when it does,its very predictable.Don't let stereo types scare you,if you want to fly warbirds do so.

jeffk464

I think you should definitely go with one of the sport scale arfs if not an aerobatic taildragger. I remember switching to taildraggers and there is definitely a learning curve with them. Learning on a plane with a heavy wing loading and short fuselage will definitely add to the challenge of getting away from tricycles.

jaka

Hi!
My intention was not to discourage anyone from starting flying warbirds/fighters as I like them too.
My intention was more: Why not think twice about it and start flying something more easy first?
Many people have the desire to start flying a classic P-51 or Corsair fighter before they are ready for it. They usually crash their new warbird rather quickly and get disappointed.

I much better way to become a better pilot is to learn the basics first...and I don't mean learning to fly, that I take for granted. What I mean is: learning more about how airplanes react and why and learn some basic aerobatic skills like doing inverted flights at low altitude, doing knife edge flights, rolls, moment rolls, rolling circles, Cuban eight, snap maneuvers and that sort of thing. All these maneuvers could be done with a .40 size low winged trainer type airplane and will teach you more how a fighter type airplane reacts and why.
It is also very good to have pylonracing experience before you start building/flying that first fighter. Having flown fast airplanes is good as it hones your reflexes and flying skills and makes you aware of things like how to trim an airplane and how to build light and what is important in setting up an airplane and what is not important. It also helps you improve your engine knowledge and how to set up an engine for best results.
Competition, pylonracing also hones your awareness of how it feels flying in tight formation at very low altitudes, at fast speed and it teaches you how to react in a blink of a second...all this sharpens your senses and makes you a much better R/C fighterpilot.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

desmobob

My first warbird was a Kyosho P-51D ARF. It flew (still flies) like any sport plane I've flown. I also built a Great Planes P-51D kit. It's a great flier too, with sport plane manners. Both of these airplanes have a Super Tigre .51 in the nose.

I guess my point is, I was a little apprehensive about flying my first warbird, and the first two were really no different from any low-wing sport plane I flew.

Maybe some of the other models are harder to fly, but I wouldn't worry too much.

Good luck with your choice,
desmobob

JGrc

My Feedback: (29)

Derek,

the best bet is you go to the Sepulveda Basin and talk to the Warbird pilots. Also Vic from vicrc.com can steer you in the right direccion.

JG