[smuzz]

Date: 23 Oct 11
Conditions: Ideal - good visibility, freshly mown super-wide strip, very light occasional breeze
Aircraft: HK Mini P-51D (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...ouse_.html)

KevB and Junior were talking this model up yesterday and Kev allowed me a spare he had new in the box. It took about half an hour to assemble last night and the only things that required attention were to re-glue the canopy retaining magnets, and to remove the pilot's seat and instrument panel to facilitate the battery. I removed a tiny bit of foam too, just to get the battery to sit well. In went an orange receiver and a Rhino 1250 mAh 2S battery and I had a look at the throws - there was no documentation at all with the plane, so everything was pretty much rule-of-thumb. I toned down the elevator throws a bit but left the ailerons as they were.

First flight: It goes well, everything that Kev and Junior had said was correct - it really does fly as well as the Parkzone Mustang! I had it a little nose-heavy, so I shifted the battery aft for the next three flights. An excellent model that goes perfectly out of the box. It behaves as if it were twice the size. I didn't think it would do so well on a 2S battery with a 10A ESC, but the lightweight power-train is deceiving - at full throttle it rolls with authority and large loops are accomplished easily.

Overall impression: Absolutely excellent - we're fortunate to live in a time where for such a little outlay, you can buy something which is already 95% assembled and goes so well.

UPDATE: Flying on 1000 mAh 3S batteries really gets things moving along! I slipped a 3S battery in for a test flight and discovered that it exposed the fact that the propeller wasn't balanced properly. It wasn't obvious at the speeds a 2S battery was delivering, but the extra rpm from the 3S battery made it clear there was more noise and vibration. After balancing the propeller, it was very impressive for a small warbird. Highly recommended!