Reviewed by Wayne Butler 2006
Originally distributed by Flair, this Kit is now distributed by JPerkins and is manufactured by CMPro
- Wingspan - 185cm (73ins)
- Wing area - 53dm2
- Length - 134cm (53ins)
- Approx. flying Weight - 5000-5200g
- Engine - 2 x 25-32 2-Stroke. (2 x 53 4-Stroke)
- Suits - 5-6 channel
- Factory covered
- Servo - 7-9 servos
This Kit got a lot of bad reviews when it was first released as the main spar and wing section were not strong enough and a number of incidents of the wings folding followed.
Thankfully the problem was rectified and a stronger thicker ply was used in the centre wing section construction.
The Kit was well packed and no damage was evident. The accessories packs were supplemented by Flair's own of better quality. The paint finish looked good and was very scale in colour. All too often a lot of ARTF Kits let themselves down by poor paint jobs and non scale finishes. This kit has a matt finish and the colours are applied evenly and are a pretty good match to the real thing. The decals though need something to be desired and I'll be tackling those later.
The wing is in three sections with the centre section forming the majority of the Kit with both engine nacelles and being of Glass Fibre Construction with Ply formers for strength. The outer sections are built up and text covered. The Fus is also Glass with Ply formers and the Stabilisers are built up with an ali tube running through the fin section.
The Nose and Canopy were good quality clear plastic and the canopy comes ready painted to match the fus.
So on with the build.....
I had already decided I would cut out the Nose, forward side windows and
cockpit section as well as making the canopy more scale like. The pics below
show how I achieved this.
I also decided to show the crew access hatch and cut the window out.
The Finished result once the cockpit and cabin floor is it looks pretty good. I wasn't too concerned about adding weight as I knew i would probably need more anyway as there is very little forward of the CofG.
The next section was the wings, retracts and engine Installation.
I decided to go for two SC 53 Four Strokes and mount them sideways at 90 degrees but because of the fact that it was only115mm from firewall to where the spinner had to go some changes had to be made to the firewall. I had to recess the carb into the firewall to allow the engine to sit far enough back. As the firewall was solid ply bonded to the glass shell it wasn't going to weaken the structure.
The outer wing sections had their ali tubes glued in and the outer wing sections glued to the centre section with epoxy.
The retracts used were Eurokit Large Air Up - Spring Down. and were mounted as in the picture. The Air cylinder was placed in the belly where the bomb bay would be and I cut a pair of doors so I could gain access to this area so I could also locate the receiver and retract air actuator servo. Trying to keep as much forward or as near to th CofG as I could. This also helped add a little more detail to the very bare underside of the fuz. I could have traditionally mounted the receiver in the fuz but there seemed little point trailing connectors and wires when the majority were already in the wing section.
I also changed the
colour scheme slightly to match a 105 Squadron Mossie and cut some paint
masks out to match the squadron codes used. The DZ385 also matches a 105
Squadron Mossie. The Fighter Command sky band however is not authentic
although it is reputed that a number of Mossies delivered to the UK from
Canada did arrive with these bands on.
Scale Spinners are also being produced as there are non commercially
available anywhere that are the true Mossie shape.
Keep watching and visit the RC Universe site where there is a lot more on this build and others experiences.
Probably the best reference for Mosquito information is the de Havilland Mosquito Page
Last updated 20/04/06