ParkZone Ultra Micro P-51 BNF Review

[ATIS]

PARKZONE ULTRA MICRO P-51 BNF BUILD AND REVIEW

http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=286http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=285


http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=282

The ParkZone Ultra Micro P-51 comes very well packed in small box the size of a laptop case!

Whats in the Box:

(1) Micro P-51
(1) charger
(1) lipo's
(1) bag of velcro
(1) package 4 "AA" batteries

Whats not in the Box:

(1) TX

Build:
There is no build, charge the lipo, bind and go fly!! Takes 5 minutes from box to first flight!!

Preflight:

Verify that all control surfaces move in the correct direction and that the CG is set at 35mm from LE of wing. Remember to balancer her inverted.

REPORT CARD:

Good:

- Easy to follow instructions
- Great looking plane

Bad:

- Single lipo charger
- Only 1 lipo
- No spare prop


FLIGHT REPORT:

Weather:

- NA, flew in a gym ...so it was calm!!

http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=284 http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=283


Maiden:

I bond her to a DX5 I use for my indoor planes. She is as fast if not faster then the SU-26m. Take offs were easy but once in the air throttle back. I found it difficult with her speed to trim and fly in the gym, a second set of hands would come in handy. On low rates the ailerons are still responsive enough to get you in trouble if your heavy handed so go easy on them. Elevator throw seemed too little out of the box but worked fine. The plane is stable once trimmed out. I have to admit I never "landed" mine during the 3 flights I attempted...I managed to find a wall on all occassions but thats part of the fun of indoor flying. No damage except my spinner broke loose from the glue.

Report Card:

ROG: Easy and relaxing
Speed: 5-10mph forward speed,
Landing: Easy, (at least RC Golf made them look that way)
Beginner: No, too fast for beginner indoor.


Summary:

Beautiful plane that looks great chasing the other "micro" planes aroudn the gym. She is tough enough to take the hits from the wall and keep flying or in my case on of the ceiling braces and then the 40 foot drop to the floor without damage. The color scheme and speed are perfect for this plane.

http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=281http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=280http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=10&pictureid=279

[ATIS]

Here is my short and interesting maiden:

http://www.vimeo.com/7023158

Here is RC Golf flying his:

http://www.vimeo.com/7022933

[WJCJR1]

Nice flying mini-plane. Get yours figured out Brian?

These minis are nice they have plenty of go power and are very nimble.

Wayne

[ATIS]

I got a few laps in with her but I got to high and hit the rafters!! She dropped the 40 feet down, bounced and I flew her around a few more laps. I need to get her off the DX5 and on to my DX6 (but its full) so I can add a little EXPO as I am a little heavy thumbed.

[WingingIt74]

I'm glad to see a warbird without invasion stripes :clapping:

[kirch]

It is obvious from your video, and from my own experience, that the micro p51 is robust in spite of its light weight. The light weight seems to handle rough landings for the most part fairly well.

I cannot fly my micro p51 in a space that small. A soccer field with no trees nearby is much better. I took mine up to the club flying field this morning (it is Thanksgiving here in Canada so a lot of guys were at the field). A lot of interest, even from the guys flying glow. Virtually no wind but the temp was a cool 41F. The sky was overcast. That little silver plane blends in with the gray overcast sky just a little too well, even more so than the T28D.

This is the first plane I have ever had to hand launch. With about 3/4 throttle and just a bit of up angle it goes out nice and straight. It was surprisingly easy. As someone mentioned somewhere, a little like tossing a dart ... except this one almost leaps from the hand. All my hand launches so far have been surprisingly straight and uneventful.

I let the chief instructor take it up for a spin. He liked it much better than the Sukhoi. He said it was less twitchy. He flew it on high rates much more smoothly than I did on low rates. I could see that his roll rate was much higher. He was able to land it on the grass right as his feet flying it nose-in on the final approach. I think that there are going to more people buying that plane after today.

On another flight I was zooming around nicely when I felt a sudden loss of power. I pulled the plane in close to listen for a pulsing motor when I noticed I had no spinner ... and no prop! So I got to do another dead stick. Put it right at the feet of another person standing at the flight line. Surprised him a bit when this tiny plane dropped at his feet.

Another pilot and I went on the field and I found the spinner (tiny!) and fortunately the prop was not far away from it. We just needed something to hold the shaft still while we screwed the prop back on (counter clockwise). The spinner needs glue to get it to stick back on.

The 150 mAh E-Flite batteries work as well as the 120 mAh that came with the plane. I have only done up to 4 minute flights so I have not pushed LVC envelope yet.

I only fly on low rates, it still has plenty of responsiveness, almost too much for me. I am glad that I had worked my way up to the T28. This is definitely not a beginner plane, even on the low rates indicated in the manual.

I was surprised your landing gear did not pop off smacking the ground like that in the gym. I did one flight in a parking lot this afternoon and plopped it a bit on the landing and one of the gear pads popped off. It looks like they just used double sided tape to stick on the gear pads. When I got home I glued the gear and my spinner back on using white glue. We shall see how it holds.

I will be adding a little clear packing tape on the bottom of the fuse right at the front under the motor. That area is already a little abraded from the landings.

Other than needing next to no wind (under 5 mph) and keeping it away from trees (they have a magnetic attraction), I like this plane. It seems fragile though .. but at least the parts are cheap and I can keep lots of batteries in my pocket on cooler days.

Richard in Toronto.

[ATIS]

I read of a "flaps" mod that will let her fly in half the space of a basketball court...I plan to try it and will post info and picts when I do it.

[RacerPaul]

Thanks for the review! Am looking to get one of these lil gems... but first commited myself to ordering a Blade msr Micro Heli RTF. Hmmm... wondering can I buy the $99 version w/out transmitter and use the Heli's DSM trans with the P51?

Also. looking forward to the 'flaps' mod.

Paul

[ATIS]

Paul, Welcome to the forum!! Please visit the intro thread and introduce yourself to the group. Also if you fill in your location you might find someone near you to fly with.

The TX for the blade MSR should work fine for the P-51. I would suggest you ppick up a couple of extra lipos. I have heard the PZ 1s 130's preform better then the Eflite ones, the Turnigy suck in my opinion (I have one and dont like it).

[kirch]

The Blade mSR batteries are the same as the ones for the P51. Apparently there is a trick where one can use the same battery for either interchangeably.

The P51 batteries attach using a velcro strip. But if velcro is attached it will not fit in the mCX or mSR.

The trick is to put the velcro on a sleeve and then slip the sleeve over the battery for use on the P51. For use on the mSR take the battery out of the sleeve and slide it into the battery cage/tray.

The 150 mAh battery seems to work well too. As someone pointed out elsewhere, 12C on a 150 mAh battery is 1.8 A max current. 14 C on the 120 mAh mSR/P51 battery is 1.68 A max. So the 150 mAh battery exceeds the current output requirements, has more capacity and it is only a little heavier.

[ATIS]

The PZ battery holds its voltage better from 30 seconds on compared to the EFlite ones. I saw test results somewhere. The Turnigy were the worst.

[Mike]

Where will the "flaps mod" be posted?

[ATIS]

I have them done...just havent mounted them and wont be able to test it till the 13th when GBI does their next indoor fun fly. I will get the picts posted this weekend. It will be in the mods section for the Micro P-51.