Focke v Spit v P51

[eyeboy]

Just in the process of treating myself to yet another of the parkzone range but am a little concerned about the comments regarding the Mustang. I'm struggling a little with the Focke and have lost a Super Cub (see this months "The Fallen" for info :( ) but am seriously considering getting the Spit for Christmas. If you had to rate them, in what order would you purchase the planes to progress your flying skills? :confused: I would really appreciate any views on this from both compete novices (like myself) and ACE's alike. ;)

[MalcolmS]

Hi There

Sorry to hear you had problems with the Cub and the FW190. I have a Cub which with the aid of glue and tape is still going strong. I also have a 2nd hand FW190 which I have not been able to fly yet due to various problems (bent,stalling wing & bad speed controller it seems a pig to launch). I too have heard bad things about the P51 but I can heartily recommend the Spit. I had trouble with my second flight but purely with launching as it is less forgiving than the Cub when hand launching. However once the Spit is in the air and you get her three mistakes high you will have great fun. For landing the Spit will come in gentle on very little throttle and then will glide the last few feet with no power and more importantly no stalling. I have now only crashed my Spit twice - once due to sticking a camera on its tail and stalling (forgot to balance the weight - duh!!) and the second time the battery went flight on approach and she tipped down and buried herself in the mud.

In answer to your orignal question:
Get the Cub if you are a complete novice and a nervous flyer, get a Spitfire if you want a good looking scale warbird that is the easiest of the PZ Wabirds to fly, get a FW190 if you want a more aerobatic warbird as it rolls better(and you want to fly for the other side). Get the P51 if you wish to have a challenge as it was the first PZ warbird and I believe has some "bugs" in its design. It certainly looks great but might be tricky to fly.

I my opinion just get the Spitfire - you won't be disapointed!! Or buy a new Cub to start again :p

Good luck

Malcolm

[rleed]

Eyeboy, It would be wise to get another Super Cub. IMO there needs to be something in between It and the Spitfire. The Spit is much faster than the Cub and this is where a person runs into trouble. They say speed kills, and in this case its true. After you have mastered the Cub I would recommend some type of low wing, alieron equipped plane to aid in the transition. The Spitfire is the most user friendly of the Parkzone warbirds. As MalcomS stated it has excellent slow flight characteristics with no tendency to tip stall (roll over) during approach and landing. Hand launch is a "Firm", level toss at full power. Once airborne it performs very well on the stock Ni-mh battery. As you already know the FW can be a bit tricky until you get used to its quirks. It requires the same launch technique only with a harder toss. It is very fast, especially on li-po battery power. It also needs a touch of power throughout approach and landing to prevent tip stalling. I have come to love bolth of mine and once you get used to it its a ball to fly. (I shoot down my Dad's Spitfire regularly!) I would stay away from the Mustang until you have been flying for awhile. Its the turd of the Parkzone line. Keep at it. Its a great feeling when you can fly these things with confidence. Then you buy another one and start all over again!!!:D