TOP FLITE: Giant-Scale P-51D

A Gold Edition ARF

When you combine the words "Top Rite" and "P-51D Mustang," you know you have something special! Top Flite's long, successful history of producing excellent flying scale warbirds continues with this new giant-scale Mustang ARF. I've built several Top Flite Mustangs and had much fun flying these wooden kit-built fighters. Both the .60-size P-51 and the Gold Edition giant-scale version are well worth the building time and effort. Interested in saving time? You'll love the new quick-building 1/5-Scale "Big Beautiful Doll."

IN THE BOX

When you open the box, you can't help but think that someone has built and covered the kit version of the Mustang and then carefully packed it up for you to finish. The fuselage has the fin attached, and all the trim work has already been done. The black-and-white checkerboard on the front perfectly matches the painted-fiberglass engine cowl, and the anti-glare panel and pinstriping have also been applied. The wing panels, control surfaces and horizontal stabilizer are all completely covered and ready to install.

Also included are the instruction manual, a formed and painted canopy, a complete hardware package, painted fiberglass wing fillets, fixed landing gear and installation blocks, two sheets of stick-on decals, wheels, painted fiberglass landing-gear doors and air scoop, vacuum-formed cockpit parts, a fuel tank and an aluminum spinner-an excellent assortment of accessories, indeed.

WING WORK

To put the Mustang together, start by hinging the ailerons and the flaps to the wing panels. A nice feature of the wing is that the flaps and ailerons use recessed hinges. This produces a scale appearance without a lot of fitting or assembly work. Once these surfaces are in place, install the wing servos, control horns and linkages. The wing features hatch-mounted servos, and only the servo arms are exposed. The flush-mounted hatch covers are held in place with six screws.

Before you join the two wing panels, install the Robart retractable landing-gear units and air lines. These units drop right into place, but you will have to wiggle them a little to get the air cylinders and lines to clear the openings cut into the wing ribs. Once you've pulled the air lines and the wing-servo extension leads through the center access opening, insert the wing dihedral brace and glue the wing panels together with 30-minute epoxy. I used Great Planes adhesives throughout the model's construction. After the epoxy has cured, complete the wing construction by installing the main landing-gear doors and connecting the air lines with quick-disconnect and T-fittings.

FITTING OUT THE FUSELAGE

The only major assembly work for the fuselage is to glue the horizontal stabilizer and hinge the elevators and rudder into place. Once this has been done, the instructions suggest that you install the scale cockpit interior and the canopy, but 1 instead installed the radio gear and the control horns and linkage. Then I moved on to install the retractable tailwheel assembly and the pull-pull steering cables. The functional tailwheel gear doors are another nice scale touch; they open and close as the tailwheel mechanism is operated. Two metal arms attached to the tailwheel frame push the doors out of the way as the unit extends downward, and small rubber bands looped around plywood tabs glued to the doors and the fuselage interior snap the doors shut after the unit has retracted. Simple and effective!

FIREWALL FORWARD

The construction manual contains comprehensive instructions for installing a U.S. Engines 41cc gas engine, and the kit comes with plywood spacers for attaching this engine to the firewall. My choice for power, however, was the ZDZ 40RV-L. To install this 40cc gas engine with its rearmounted carb requires that you first build a plywood engine box and then install it through the firewall and tie it into the next fuselage former. I made the box 3½ inches square by 8 inches long. The sides are made of 1/8-inch birch ply, and the firewall face is made out of two layers of 1Ainch aircraft-grade ply laminated together. I drilled through the sides of the box into the edges of the firewall and installed lengths of 1/8-inch birch dowel to tie everything securely together. I then cut a square opening in the main firewall and slid the box into place so that it extended 2 3/8 inches out from the firewall; this produced the necessary 7¾-inch spacing between the main firewall and the spinner backplate. Before I epoxied the box into place, I positioned it to give the engine 2 degrees of right thrust and 1 degree of downthrust. I bolted the engine into place with four 10-32 cap-head machine screws and blind nuts. I drilled several large holes in the sides of the engine box and cut a large opening at the top of the firewall to allow plenty of airflow into the Bing carb. I used ½-inch-wide strips of 1/8-inch ply to tie the back of the box into the second former just in front of the wing saddle. The fuel tank slid easily into place through the rear opening of the engine box, and the throttle servo is simply installed in an opening cut in the top of the main firewall. A short throttle linkage with two ball-link connectors connects the servo arm to the carb. I completed the fuel plumbing with an Excel Fuel Filler fitting from Slimline.