Hangar 9 .60 P-47 Thunderbolt Review

By John Alexander

For my next RC aircraft, I wanted a classic World War II warbird that would be a stable, responsive flyer. After consulting with my friends at Speeders Model Shop, I decided the new Hangar 9 new .60 size P-47 Thunderbolt ARF kit was my best option. There wasn’t much information yet available, but the “No Guts No Glory” P-47 looked too good to pass up, so I placed my order with Speeders and anxiously awaited delivery of my new plane.

Having owned other Hangar 9 ARFs, I had high expectations for the quality of the kit, and was not disappointed. The kit arrived securely and efficiently packed. When I examined the plane, I was delighted with the quality of the covering…I couldn’t find a single wrinkle or blemish on the plane. The painted cowl was a work of art, with a spectacular checkerboard pattern. The belly pan looked good, but was constructed of much thinner fiberglass, which I doubt will withstand a grass field gear up landing.

We all know the term “ARF” is an overstatement, but this kit comes closer than most. The airframe consists of only eight parts — the fuselage, two wing halves, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, cowl, belly pan, and canopy. The ailerons, elevators, and rudder were temporarily installed in the wing and tail feather using CA hinges. Another example of the ease of this build is the aileron servo leads connection. In most ARF kits, builders have to test their fishing skills to snake string through the wing in order to pull the aileron servo leads to the center. Hangar 9 solved this by pre-installing string in the wing. All the builder has to do is tie the string to the servo lead/extension and pull it through the wing – no fishing required.

The mechanical retracts were pre-installed, requiring only installation of a servo tray and retract servo in the center of the joined wing. I am told these are the same retracts used on Hangar 9’s .60 P-51. While they looked reasonably well constructed, I have heard many negative critiques of the durability of these retracts. This, combined with my desire for maximum reliability and durability, led me to choose to replace the stock mechanical retracts and wire struts with pneumatic retracts and oleo struts. I chose Robart 551 85° retracts and 440 7/16” straight oleo struts.

The Build:

I started the build by removing the stock retracts and plastic wheel well covers to prepare for the installation of the air retracts. The wheel well covers were easily removed by using a small flat blade screwdriver to gently pry the plastic loose from the glue. I chose to install the air retracts before joining the wings for ease of access.

The Robart 551 retracts were not “drop-in” fits, and required some minor modifications to the retract rails and bay. I first filled the retract mount screw holes with JB Weld and then used a rotary tool to widen the inside of the rails and open up the retract bay as needed for the retracts to fit. Note: in order for both 551 retracts to fit into the wing, I had to rotate the air cylinder of one retract 180 degrees to provide sufficient clearance for the air line.

After completing the retract installation, I measured and cut the 7/16” oleo struts to fit. I then trimmed the plastic wheel well covers to accommodate the retract air cylinders. After several test retract cycles, I determined that the wheel wells covers were limiting the strut retraction a small amount, so I chose to cut out the bottoms of the covers, basically leaving just the perimeter of the plastic covers as trim. This allowed the wheels and struts to better seat into the wing, and permitted a closer to flush fit. I finished by painting the interior of the wheel well with fuel proof paint.

The first step in the well-written instructions is joining the wing halves. I had to do only minimal sanding of the wing joiner to make a good fit. While I was waiting for the epoxy to cure, I took the preventative measure of strengthening the firewall with epoxy and fiberglass. The firewall looked to be securely installed, however I felt it prudent to add some additional strength.

If there is a weak point in this model it is the fiberglass “wing fairing” or belly pan. As discussed earlier, the fiberglass is a bit thin and makes the uninstalled belly pan deform easily. One of the formers in the belly pan of my model had come loose in the box, and I am aware of at least one other builder who experienced the same problem. While the former was easily re-glued in place, the belly pan did not fit flush onto the wing leaving small gaps along the joint. Hangar 9 addresses the issue by providing strips of trim to cover the gaps. A fellow modeler reported that the belly pan finish on his P-47 did not appear to be totally fuel-proof. Nitro fuel on his plane left the belly pan feeling “tacky.” I did not experience the same problem, but sprayed the belly pan of my plane LustreKote flat clear as a preventative measure.

The horizontal and vertical stabilizer installation was straight forward and without problems. The control surfaces (ailerons, elevators, and rudder) were very easily installed using the provided CA hinges, although the instruction manual does not indicate where to drill to insert the tail gear wire into the rudder. I recommend checking the elevator joiner wire before installing the elevators as at least one fellow modeler reported that the joiner wire in his kit arrived bent.

Hangar 9 makes the installation of the engine a snap. The firewall has four slots that permit adjustment of the engine mount to accommodate most engines. There are also two pre-drilled holes for the throttle pushrod for two or four-stroke installations.

The kit provides a servo tray for the throttle servo. The instruction manual also recommends securing the battery and receiver on the servo tray. For balance, I chose to mount the battery and receiver beside the fuel tank between fuselage formers. The elevator and rudder servos are installed on either side of the fuselage near the tail (servo extensions required). The aileron servos are attached to hatches mounted in the underside of the wing. The hatches fit perfectly into the wings and the covering matched flawlessly. Installation of the aileron, elevator, and rudder control horns was straight forward, although the provided screws are significantly too long and must be trimmed after installation.

I can’t say enough about the great quality and appearance of the fiberglass cowl. I really hated to cut the cowl to accommodate the engine installation. I cut a Quarter-sized hole for the OS-91 four stroke engine head, a nickel-sized hole for the carburetor needle valve, a small hole for a fuel dot, and a 2” by 3” slot on the bottom of the cowl for the muffler. The provided dummy radial is constructed of thin and somewhat flimsy black plastic, but has reasonably good detail. I dressed up the radial by painting the engine cylinders in a more scale fashion. Once epoxied inside the cowl, the dummy radial appears to be strong enough to serve its cosmetic purpose.

With the OS-91 FS engine and the battery, receiver, an onboard glow driver battery installed on either side of the fuel tank, the aircraft balanced perfectly at the recommended 4 ½” aft of the wing leading edge.

Flight Test:

After engine tuning and run-up checks, I gave the Jug a high-speed taxi test. By the time I got to 1/2 throttle, her tail was up and she wanted to fly. I wanted to do some more preflight checks, so I resisted the strong urge to go for it. The plane handled great taxiing to and from the pits, and was stable during the fast taxi/pre-takeoff roll. She required only a bit of rudder to track straight down the runway. The engine ran smoothly, and with the on board glow driver, idled very slowly.

We conducted the maiden flight the following weekend and despite some less than ideal weather, the Thunderbolt flew like the venerable warrior it’s modeled after. With 12-15 knots of headwind, the plane was off the ground within 20 feet passing through about half throttle. After a good amount of down trim, the Jug flew like she was on rails and looked terrific. The invasion stripes really stand out! On low rates, rolls and loops were very scale-like. Landing into the strong headwind was just a matter of letting it settle in at about 1/4 throttle on final and easing back the power with the flare. The OS-91 FS ran flawlessly and gave the plane plenty of power. The Robart retracts and Robostruts functioned great as well. I think this is going to be a great Sunday flyer -- fun, reliable, and impressive. This one’s a keeper!

Hits:

• Quality of model

• Terrific covering job

• Ease of build

• Well-written assembly instruction manual

Misses:

• Wing fairing …thin fiberglass, poor fit, formers falling out.

• Thin, poorly fitting dummy radial

• Nylon mechanical retracts

• Okay, this is a bit picky for a sport scale ARF, but the scale appearance could be better if the fuselage was better scaled to the wing (the fuselage is about 1:8.5 scale and the wing is about 1:7 scale). 

Design Specifications:

Wingspan: 65”

Wing Area: 727.5 sq. in.

Fuselage Length: 51”

Weight: 8 – 9 lbs.

Recommended Engine: .60 – 1.00 2-stroke or .72 – 1.00 4-stroke

Radio: 5-channel with 6 servos 

Specifications as built:

Weight: 9.2 lbs.

Engine: OS-91 4-stroke

Receiver: Hitec Supreme 8-channel

Transmitter: Hitec Eclipse 7

Servos: 5 Hitec HS-425BB

1 Hitec HS-81 (air retract control valve)

Retracts: Robart 551 85° pneumatic retracts

Landing Gear Struts: Robart 440 7/16” straight Robostruts

 

About the author:

John Alexander retired from the U.S. Navy after 25 years as Naval Flight Officer in P-3C Orions. No longer flying with the Navy, he satisfied his aviation addiction by jumping headlong into RC aviation with the help and prodding of his (older) brother Kenny, a 25+ year RC building and flying veteran and warbird enthusiast. John’s marriage and some airplanes have survived his first two years in the hobby and his RC hangar has grown faster than his flying skills. Most weekends, John can be found wrestling gravity at the Memphis Propbusters flying field outside Memphis, TN.

So you want to fly an R/C Helicopter?

By Keith Hollifield

There's no denying it... R/C helicopters are one of the most attractive products for newcomers to the hobby. There is just something about them that grabs the attention of most people. The knock has always been that they are difficult to learn to fly. That has been the case until recently. The new crop of electric beginner helicopters are perfect even for the complete novice.

The difference is in the stability and easy of use. In the "old" days when you had to learn on a large nitro burning helicopter there were several stages of lessons before you were actually flying. You had to learn to set up the helicopter. You had to learn how to tune the engine. You had to have an experienced pilot trim the helicopter. Finally you would work with an instructor pilot to begin learning.

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If you are interested in learning to fly helicopters just come by the shop. We will be happy to show you the basics and get you started the right way. If your timing is good we might even have a demo chopper to fly for you.

While you are there check out these new products in the retail store:

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Stryker C - Ready to Fly, 80mph jet-style flying wing. The early customer reports are amazing!

New Sunglasses - We've added a new line of sunglasses that will be perfect for those fall/winter days where the wind can tear you up. These have foam inserts to block the wind and swappable lenses so you can tune the shading to the conditions.