dredknot

Hey Tom,what's the lastest on the hellcat,any more pics, video, news, anything at all

rctom

We were out flying it today, just trying to put more time on the airframe to be sure I have all the improvements in. I plan to order this month for delivery probably in February time frame.

We did get some video today, it is being edited and should be available in the coming week.

TF

dredknot

great

jonesjj3

My Feedback: (16)

TF,
What a nice looking ship I have a DLE 55 sitting here waiting for a project and this may be it where do we go to pre order? or get more details on ordering one?

SpinnerRow

Any chance you guys will produce a P-47 or P-51?

rctom

Both the P47 and P51 have been done to death, so that's not where I'm looking first. At our field you "can't swing a dead cat" without hitting a P47 or a P51.

What we ARE planning is a 77" Spitfire that is designed around the DLE-30. The prototype is under construction now and as soon as we get the Hellcat into production I will start doing the flight testing of the Spitfire.

Like the Hellcat, the objective is to produce a plane that is very close to scale, light, is easy to fly, stable and solid, and make it fairly easy to assemble also. A scale warbird for the average guy who isn't a world class modeler but will still make the average pilot confident flying it.

TF

dredknot

Tom no video yet ?

cap10b

All,
Video man was at the 3D huckfest so we didnt get a chance to wiz by the camera.

rctom

This is the same plane I've been flying but now with the longer cowl. I actually prefer the longer look.

I am amazed at the quality of the photos from my Iphone 4.

TF

jonesjj3

My Feedback: (16)

That looks nice

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

I like Jugs and Mustangs, but as Tom said, they are too common. Besides, I am a fan of the USN's biggest ace of all time, Cdr David McCampbell, and he was a Hellcat driver so I have to have one and will get a decal set from someone to have it look like his. People do not realize that the Hellcat was a dedicated air superiority plane, "without a pound for air to ground" so they do fly very well. I don't think they ever went against each other, but I am confident that a good Hellcat driver could have defeated Me-109's and FW-190's. Also, the F6F was the first plane the Blue Angels flew as well.

show871

The hellcat was one bad arse plane! I was told the hellcat had the most Air to Air kills of ww2, and argueably of any US plane in any air conflict ever! 5156 total, the mustang had around 4900.

show871

Here are my two hellcats waiting for thier big brother!

rctom

During its service in World War II, the F6F Hellcat became the most successful naval fighter of all time with a total of 5,271 kills. Of these, 5,163 were scored by US Navy and US Marine Corps pilots against a loss of 270 Hellcats. This resulted in a remarkable kill ratio of 19:1. Designed as a "Zero killer," the F6F maintained a kill ratio of 13:1 against the Japanese fighter.

Grumman built over 12,000 Hellcats which says something about how the pilots felt about it.

The strategy with the F6F was to build a plane that was stable and easy to fly for the pilots coming out of flight training with only moderate time. It worked.


TF

show871

Hey that stat is over 100 more kills than mine I like that better! OK enough fun facts break out that vid

rctom

OK You guys wanted some video, here's what we have so far. It's not a lot but it does show how docile the plane is.

Most of the flying was done at below half throttle.

http://www.wildharerc.com/downloads/videos/hellcat1.wmv


TF

tms261

Hi Tom, the Hellcat looks great! Perhaps just what i've been waiting for. I like my Edges and Yaks, "WH and not", but a 50cc Hellcat sounds great. My question is concerning the weight of the engine. I have a Taurus engine with an integral radial mount. No standoffs. The distance from mount to thrust washer is about 6 7/8 inches. Its a durable full crank engine, so is not light. About 4.5 lbs. Do you think it could work in this plane? If so, I'm more than happy to wait for this Hellcat. Also, will anxiously await the Spitfire, as the 30 CC size would allow me to take it to the field without hauling my trailer!

Thanks for all the great planes and support Tom!

Regards,

Tim

rctom

Yes, that engine will work great. You can use either cowl, if you use the short cowl the prop will be about 1" ahead of the cowl front. If you use the longer cowl you can space the engine out to get whatever look you want.

Weight won't be a problem, it should balance easily by just moving batteries back to where they would normally go. With a light engine I have the batteries all the way forward on the engine box., With that engine the plane will fly like a trainer.

TF

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

A Corsair this size would be wonderful, I think you could use the same rotating retracts for it, and I don't see anyone with a 50cc corsair arf.

rctom

The reason I started with the Hellcat is because of the way it flies. The F6F has a very straightforward layout that is very easy for anyone with a little experience to handle. It has no bad habits, it doesn't stall easily and when it does the stall is gentle and easy to control. Landings without flaps are long floating affairs, and with flaps the plane slows down easily while maintaining a slightly tail-high approach angle. All the controls are powerful but can be made very soft with low rate and expo settings, so it can be adjusted for almost any pilot.

Maybe someday a Corsair is a possibility, but I've never seen a corsair that flies as well as the Hellcat. It is my belief that if a company's first product doesn't fly well there won't be a second product, so I wanted to start out at least in the warbirds market] with a sure fire winner.

TF

Capt G

My Feedback: (8)

Looks good. When can we get one?

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

Well as far as well flying planes go war birds don't fly well at all in comparison to the Extras / Edge /yaks. Also I have a wild hare extra 84 since 2006 so I don't get what you mean by if the first plane doesn't fly well?
Corsair is very unique looking planes and the 60 size from Hangar 9 / Topflight fly great, I haven't flown the ESM but I have heard the 120 size is a good flyer too. But ESM chips paint horribly so a Ultra Cote version would be nice.


Here is to hoping the next warbird is a Corsair[8D]

rctom

What I am referring to is the first plane in a market, like the 35% Giles was our first aerobatic plane.

I believe that the first Wild Hare warbird should be, above all else, an easy to fly airplane. The last thing I want is for a plane to get a reputation for crashing because it's squirrelly in the air. I have seen a lot of planes where if you get it too slow it stalls and won't recover below about 200 feet altitude, that's an invitation to disaster.

The Hellcat does this. Kept reasonably light it flies like a trainer, doesn't snap out unexpectedly, stalls gently and recovers quickly, it has lots of control authority even at low speeds, and it does not require a lot of corrective mixing to get it to fly properly in all modes. I think most people will be successful in getting the plane built and will be happy with it in the air, and that's the prescription for a happy customer.

TF

Capt G

My Feedback: (8)

when can we order one?

rctom

Now. I just finished the ordering so I know how many will get and approximately when. They have promised to ship before Chinese new year holiday so I ought to have them by the end of February.

The price is not set in stone yet, I'm thinking plane alone will be $679 and the retracts will be $450. I will hold that price on pre-orders but I may be changing it at any time, not all my costs are defined yet.

Call me at 817-430-0107 to order.

I'm working on a web page for the Hellcat but I only got it half done then was yanked away for a million other things, I hope to get it ready soon.

TF