Read First Before Buy Parkzone Ultra Micro P 51 BNF
The P-51 Ultra Micro airplane from Parkzone is a real joy to fly. These great, compact little planes are the perfect size for playing around in a nearby soccer field or parking lot. The P-51 is a little trickier to fly than some of the other models in the series (like the J3 Cub or the T-28 Trojan), but it's still what I would consider a beginner's airplane. It is fast and agile and looks great in the air or on the ground.
Despite being made of foam, the frame is really quite resilient to crashes because it is so light. Unfortunately, this also makes it impossible to fly in all but the calmest wind conditions. Everyone crashes eventually and Parkzone offers replacement parts at reasonable prices.
My plane was sold as a Bind-and-Fly (BNF), which means you use your existing transmitter. I already had one from another model that came Ready-to-Fly (RTF) and it was a simple matter to bind the old transmitter to the new model. I would recommend the BNF model and a good transmitter, such as the Spektrum DX6i, if you think flying is something you will stick with in the long term.
I've had my Ember 2 for a few months now and have been anxious to try an aileron plane. Enter the Parkzone Ultra Micro P51. Now, I knew it wasn't going to fly quite like the Ember - being almost 2X heavier and having a smaller wing area to boot. Well, I was correct. This plane will zip like a rocket and climb at near 45 degree angle until it's merely a dot in the sky in no time. I tried to fly it in my back yard - which is about 3/4 acre - and there was simply no way for me - at my current skill level - to keep it in bounds. Later in the day, I took it to a 10 acre open field and really put it through its paces. Mind you, this is my first aileron plane, and my first aileron flights. I had no problem doing basic turns, dives, stalls, rolls, etc - with sufficient altitude for safety. Not a single time. Closest I came to a mishap was when I got it at the far end of the field, with the sun in my eyes, and lost orientation for a bit. The best way to learn is indeed "2 or 3 mistakes high." From the reviews I've seen, this is the micro to get once you're ready to step up to ailerons - NOT the Sukhoi! - and I can't disagree. Not having the plane for long enough to deem myself an expert at ailerons yet - I can assure you I am having a TON of fun learning with this plane! Definitely looking forward to what I can do with this plane once I'm confident enough to increase the throws and fly at lower altitudes!
BalasHapusReally awsome little plane, i bind it to my dx7s with no trouble flew it 30 minutes after it was delivered, just the time it took the battery to charge! Great job amazon!
BalasHapusI give this little plane a 10+, real fun to fly. Since the plane is made of light material you must fly on winds below 3 miles or less. I wished though the tail of the plane was constructed a little stronger.
BalasHapusRead the directions, and you will be fine. Yes, it is foam. It is light, and it can turn. I am not an expert, but I think this is a great little plane that can fly over small fields. I don't recommend it for indoors. Buy the Sukhoi SU 26 m ultra micro if that is what you want.
BalasHapusLike any airplane, wind will be a factor. I won't fly it unless the willow in the back of my house is fairly still. A small breeze isn't going to ground it, but I think it is boring to have to fly into the wind the entire time. This plane is super maneuverable, and it can take a crash better than many other planes I have flown. The wing shape gives a lot of lift, which means inverted with low battery power is an issue.
This is a great sport flyer. Fast for size, and more powerful than the Sukhoi, it will make you a better pilot if you are somewhat experienced and ready for the next plane after a trainer.
I got this plane at a hobbyshop and emmidiatly tried to fly it. It crashed and shattered the rudder. So I got a Hobbyzone champ (which is waiting to be fixed) and learned off that. I finally got back to the Mustang and I flew it easily! I was doing barrel rolls, loops, knife edge, stall turns, inverted flight, and more! It is painted so it has the same scheme as the Mustangs from the 118th squadron that served in the Pacific Theater of WW2. All in all, I LOVE IT!!
BalasHapus
BalasHapusI bought this after spending several hours in a PC RC simulator to get accustom to flight control and characteristics of RC planes. As my first RC plane, I can say that while it is a little tricky out of the box, once trimmed properly, it flies very well. The simulator helped me tremendously with maintaining orientation and spacial awareness, without, I think this plane will be a bit too much for most people.
BalasHapusOut of the box, the elevator trim was horrendous. Anything over 40% throttle it just wanted to pull straight up and stall. After fixing that and adjusting some very minor aileron trim, it become very easy to fly. As another review mentioned, it has a ton of natural lift to the design. Most dives are self correcting and very smooth, often requiring a up on the elevator stick to get it to fly level.
As the manual instructs, FLY IT ON REDUCED INPUT FIRST. It will seem very twitchy even with the reduced settings until you get the hang of it. Once comfortable, allowing full input allows some very fun and aerobatic flying. I bought some aftermarket 160mah batteries and can get nearly 10-12 minutes of flight using about 70% throttle for the majority of the time.
All in all, I would say that while it is definitely not a beginner plane, if you've had a fair amount of simulator experience that you should be able to fly it with a very minimal learning curve.
I bought this plane because I have very limited time to get out to the big club field and I have a small open area across the street from my house. I can walk out my front door, open the throttle, and with a flick of my wrist, be burning up the sky in 5 minutes or less. This plane flies well in an area half the size of a football field and can even be flow inside in a large gym if you stay on top of it. With minor trim adjustments it flies beautifully even in reasonable wind (5 mph). It has enough power and speed for me to practice most aerobatic maneuvers. Because of its small size it responds very quickly so it great practice to improve my reaction time. Now when I get to the field, my .40 size airplanes seem so easy to put through their paces. This little plane will fly inverted figure eights, stall turns, rolls, loops, even knife edge for a few seconds. This is not a plane for a beginner. You need to have some stick time on a 4 channel plane before attempting this one.
BalasHapusThe plane has proven durable so far with around 50 flights on it with no signs of any problems. The only negative is that the battery that came with it was defective, giving only a flight time of just over a minute. I had some spare 130mah 25C batteries for my Blade heli and they gave me over 5 minutes at full throttle for tearing up the sky. Now I want Me-109 and a Spitfire to go with it. Come on Parkzone, start making some additionl models and help me build a collection.
First of all, this is a RC plane designed for people with previous experience in RC planes.
BalasHapusIs the type of plane that will not "auto correct" if you let go of the sticks, however, is very stable and somewhat forgiving.
It will slow down to a crawl, and has no bad tendencies during stall
I can say this is the first micro RC plane that actually delivers to the promise of indoor/outdoor flight.
The Ember, and any other micro plane is just to unstable even in the most slight breeze.
This plane will handle winds ~7 Mph, it will bounce a bit, an might be toss around a bit, however will you always feel you are in control of the plane.
In terms of speed, it will fly slow or fast, either way it will perform correctly.
In terms of built, there is absolutely nothing to do, the plane is 100% built, to the last detail, in terms of durability, is a very light plane, and from all my parkzone planes, is the most delicate from all, the foam will dent easily, the first couple of landings were on snow/ice, and after a while I noticed that I was scraping the foam from the bottom of the plane in belly landings, so I added a little bit of tape on the zones that first made contact.
What I find most attractive about this plane, is that any baseball field is more than enough to fly comfortably, if I don't feel like driving to the field, I just walk a little and I'm able to enjoy the same type of performance that I have on my bigger planes.
I would really recommend this plane, however consider the shortcomings and decide if this is really what you are looking for.
For me, this is the solution for a quick flight in any small space, and I'm very happy with it...