This item is discontinued.

GREAT PLANES F4U CORSAIR ARF
PRODUCT TEST REPORT
by Jerry Festa

Well, Gordon finally got me to build an ARF! To be honest, I have a reluctance to accept ARF's for a variety of reasons, mostly personal, with the exception of some trainers. ARF's do serve a purpose, but that purpose has not been something I could relate to ... or wanted to, for that matter. Anyway, I'm handed this huge, colorful box that has enough plastic bags holding all sorts of goodies, that it amazes and intrigues me. Each of the major components were very carefully sealed within a thick plastic wrapper that reminded me of the backing from a roll of MonoKote. No parts damage was found, as the box and packing method seemed to protect the innards very well in its trip from abroad. Hidden inside the fuselage was the canopy, fuel tank, and a package of nuts and bolts. Speaking of which, check out the items needed to finish this plane—very little! Every nut, bolt, horn, and screw supplied, along with the fuel tank, engine mount, wheels, wheel collars, clevises, and more. In fact, when I dumped all the hardware into my building box, I was sort of taken back. There were a lot of individual parts there, and more than I thought would be needed! I was wrong, though, as every part was required and used.

Construction could best be described as "assembly", as all the major components are already built and covered, and covered with a highly realistic appearance. The shading on the tail feathers made you want to feel them just to prove they weren't really fabric covered and weathered. Likewise, there were what appeared to be various fluid trail streaks leaking from numerous panels on the wing. Overall, the appearance of the plane was simply outstanding, and very realistic, but not overdone. One compliment about the covering is that it is very strong, and almost hanger rash proof and dent resistant under normal circumstances. The downside is that the covering is applied over a foam base affixed to a balsa framework ... light but difficult to repair. Don't plan on dropping a model like this into some field from 200' at full throttle and expect to resurrect it easily.

The wing actually comes in three pieces with the center section uncovered to permit the installation of aileron pushrods and, if desired, retracts. The instruction manual goes into great detail as how to complete these procedures with excellent results, so read and follow them! After all the hardware was installed in the center section, the outer two panels were then joined with a couple of joiner braces. The center section was then covered with a couple pieces of performed plastic covering. All the parts fit fairly well, and considering that I don't like to use materials other than balsa, I have to admit that the engineering on this plane was both well thought out and executed!

Hobbico rotating retracts were installed as suggested by the instructions, and they performed as well. Still, I would favor some other brand of retracts, as the Hobbico units don't seem to take the punishments of my landings very well. To build a Corsair without retracts would be, in my opinion, a mistake, as they really look great when retracted. The foam wheels provided are small, as is the strut length, which is not very scale looking. Since this is not a true scale project, however, they do the job.

The fuselage was next, and the most complicated and difficult part was installing the tailwheel. Because the tailwheel was located in a scale location, some plumbing arrangements had to be made, and in spite of the excellent engineering, my stubby fingers and the available space didn't get along well at all. In spite of that difficulty, the surprising thing is that if you follow the directions, your rudder will be in neutral while your tailwheel is lined up straight ahead. Now that took some forethought by the designers!

The radio was installed as per the instructions and kit layout, which placed the servos close to but behind the CG. I tried to move them forward, but that would require their removal whenever the supplied oval fuel tank was installed or removed. The 600 mah flight batter was tucked next to the tank against the firewall. In spite of this, a total of 15.5 oz. of lead had to be added to the front side of the firewall. The really surprising thing is that even with this addition of dead lead, the total weight of the plane came out just as advertised! Great Planes suggests a weight of 8.3 lbs., and mine came out at 8.2 lbs. Still, despite the added weight, I was later very pleasantly surprised at the speed this plane is capable of obtaining when using an engine on the low end of the recommended power range. More about that later.

The tail feathers were installed without much trouble, and the wing was secured to the fuselage with two 1/4-20 nylon bolts that thread into blind nuts for a secure mounting. The tank was easily installed, as was the adjustable engine mount with its mounting holes and blind nuts (factory installed) in the firewall. Holes for the fuel line and throttle pushrod were already drilled, making installing the hardware an easy affair. The outer pushrods for the rudder and elevator were already installed too, with the final connections hidden inside the fuselage for a scale-like appearance. In fact, the only external horns are the aileron connections. Flaps on the inboard panel, by the way, are not likely, unless you go to great lengths to modify the center section. Flaps are really not needed on this model, except possibly for the sake of appearance.

The engine selected for this plane was my very old (10+ years) Enya .45 CX which is now mostly brown from all the years of using caster oil based fuels. I installed a J'TEC generic Pitts style muffler with two exhaust ports, to which I added an 8-32 pressure tap from DuBro. The large cowl enclosed both the engine and muffler, with the only cooling coming from the space between the cowl and fuselage. The dummy engine was cut away directly in front of the engine, forcing the air over and around the engine, but escaping all around the fuselage. I was somewhat concerned about the possibility of overheating, but flight tests revealed no heating problems.

I did make an error in routing the exhaust into but not through the cowl. The result after only one flight was that the exhaust heat deformed the plastic cowl and fuselage outer skin! So make sure your exhaust pipes completely exit the plane.

As mentioned before, almost a pound of lead was added to the nose in order to balance the Corsair as indicated. The balance point (3.5" back from the leading edge) was obtained with the wheels retracted while sitting on Great Planes' CG Machine, which made this procedure a pleasure. Controls were set to the recommended rates, and the supplied scale pilot figure was given a coat of paint (and a cigar) before being strapped in for some test flights.

The day of test flight was forecast as windy and rainy, but like most weathermen's predictions, that didn't pan out. It was windy, but only about 5-10 mph, and even that was mostly right down the runway! So much for his guesses, eh?

My good friend Fred Hermann was asked to make the maiden flights while I took pictures. He currently flies a Great Planes ARF P-51 with an O.S. .46FX and Dave Brown retracts. The first flight of the Corsair was without a cowl to put to rest my fears of overheating. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at the first takeoff, as the F4U tracked straight ahead and used up about 200' of paved runway before Fred gently lifted her off the ground. The retracts were quickly activated, and some down and right rudder trim added to make this bird track fly and level 'hands off'. Relatively axial rolls were completed, after which Fred commented that he felt the ailerons could be a bit more responsive. A couple of split "S's" and loops were followed by numerous low passes to show the stability of the plane. It appeared as if the tail was hunting on a couple of fast passes, but it may have been my imagination. Fearing the worst, Fred climbed into a forced stall, and with a strong headwind the plane slowed down and actually stood still for a second before finally breaking hard to the left. The slow speed characteristics were very good, and Fred had to give full up elevator to actually make it stall and break to the left.

Playtime was almost over, and a landing was soon in order. Keeping his speed up until he passed over the end of the runway, Fred made a gentle touchdown. Then while rolling to a stop, the right gear collapsed! Luckily, my Top Flite wood prop wasn't even scratched!

For the second flight the right gear pushrod was readjusted and the cowl installed. Again, a relatively slow rate of climb followed a 200' takeoff run. I am glad to see that some people can make a scale model take off like its full-scale counterpart. It's a personal gripe of mine to see a plane take off at a 45 angle, especially a J3!

This flight included a ½ reverse Cuban 8, followed by a full bore flyby along the outer edge of the runway. What a kick! This bird really moves! Rudder proved highly effective, and very little elevator was needed when flying inverted. And this time, the landing was not only centerline, but the rollout was unique in that the tail stayed up longer than expected. We heard a vibration noise while we were taxiing back toward the pit area, and sure enough, the engine was loose! All four mounting screws were lost, and the engine was being held in place only by the throttle pushrod and plastic cowl! I'd forgotten to check them after that first flight! A cardinal rule is to check all nuts, bolts and screws after the first and second flights. I forgot this time, and it almost cost me an airplane.

In conclusion, I have to admit it (got any salt for this crow I'm about to eat?), I actually enjoyed assembling the Corsair ARF. It was a different experience for me, but now I can see why some in this hobby are stuck on building ARF's. The flying characteristics are better than expected, the quality of the kit was impressive, and the instructions got me through without messing anything up. That's quite an accomplishment to admit to, but that's the way it is. Now, if they could only make a repair kit for that foam/covering....