Warbirds for those interested in moving up to a larger gas engine warbird.

Waz at the field on Saturday and several pilots were wondering about getting into a warbird without spending 400 or 500 man hours building one.  We had a good discussion and I had my Troy Built Models P40 with me.  Did not fly er though.  Darrell and Frank were most interested.  So I put this together for you.

I mentioned several websites/companies that are selling good size Warbird ARF needing a 50 cc gas engine.  The wing loading is not as heavy as some that you might build yourself. And these ARF might only need 30 to 50 hours to get them in the air vs. 400 hours or so.  But for instance my Yellow P47 weighs 26 pounds, but my Yellow Spitfire weighs 23 pounds.  But the Spit is a foot larger, hum.   Thus the size of the plane will not ultimately determine the weight.

Here are some websites.

My preference for those moving up from a 65 inch nitro to a good size warbird would be the Troy Built Models ARF – Zero.  This plane comes pretty much pre-built and ailerons, flaps, elevators all glued in, but check those glue joints.

These planes probably have pretty good quality.  I like my TBM P40  it is OK. 

If you are moving up to a WarBird you probably, really, should move up to something larger than an 80 inch wing span plane to get that “big bird” feel.

Here are the sites.   http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/PDZERO.html ; This plane runs about $1100 bucks, engine, $500, by the time you buy the servos and receiver you will be up to 2K.

P40  http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/ESMP40-86.html

Spitfire    http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/ESMSPITFIRE89.html

Fly Eagle P40    http://www.flyeaglejet.com/en/P40.html

EasyTigerModels   Several planes here.  http://easytigermodels.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14&zenid=938020cc7332...

OK, I checked all these out. Still doing research. Top Flite also has a 86" P-40 coming out in late Aug. Thanks for all the leads, Doc Bill. I agree, Sonny, the Hangar 9 60 size P-47 and P-51 are great flyers. I have both and tempted to do the other 2 in that warbird series.

Yes, I have to agree with the fixed gear, that these come with and then later moving to the retracts if wanted.

Lawrence had a "beater"  Yellow Aircraft P47 that had fixed gear, and so did I.  Thus, I would agree to do the same, with some of these same planes.  The fixed gear take a lot of the head aches out of the picture when your moving up.  And, will save you about $350 to $500.

My two cents
the Top flight Giant P 47 has to be on of the easiest to fly
comes covered, looks great and at a decent price
I would get the retracts
they just dont look right with gear hanging down
My beater p 47 was fixed gear but the first thing I did was add retracts