I'm not sure if these count as warbirds... It's an advanced trainer.
I've loved the Ryan even since I first laid eyes on one. There's something amazing about their design. The 'local' aviation museum (it's about 2 hours drive to Temora) has a beautiful example of this bird and seeing it fly is quite special. I had thoughts of buying the white and red foam version and painting it silver, however I noticed that there was a US army silver and yellow version available from some places. Then, HK released a lovely balsa version.
Christmas saw me receive the Durafly Balsa Ryan STA PNF. My wife sneakily bought it and wrapped up the components and numbered the parts so I could guess what it was as I opened each one. As soon as I saw the fibreglass spats I knew what it was.
For a balsa build, there was little to do. Glue the wings together, glue on the tail feathers, screw on the landing gear, push the control rods through the fuselage and rig up the elastic 'cables'.
HOWEVER... Four things really detract from the beauty of this model... 1. The covering's not wonderful - it hasn't stuck down in some spots, creating bubbles and such in a number of spots. 2. The slots for the tail feathers aren't very tight - the slot for the vertical stabiliser wasn't even close to straight. I tried to cut it out a little and glue it straight, but it's still not quite right. I had to use epoxy for the horizontal stabiliser and hold it in place until it set. 3. The rigging is PAINFUL to do. And the instructions for which strand to use for each spot are missing. I think I got it right. However screwing into the spats is hard to do - some pilot holes for all the rigging screws would be an easy and extremely helpful improvement. 4. The ESC is terrible. There're no instructions for it either in the manual or the HK website, which would be fine if it just worked when you plugged it in. I have no idea how I got it working. It wouldn't arm, then suddenly out of the blue it armed and I managed to grab the plane before it did any damage.
For a balsa model, it's pretty heavy - I reckon it'd weigh about the same as a foamie of the same size. But it should fly nicely. The enormous motor easily rolls the 10x6 prop over which will produce scale flight on about 1/4 throttle and should just about hover it at half. I'm looking forward to the first flight, which may happen this evening.
I've loved the Ryan even since I first laid eyes on one. There's something amazing about their design. The 'local' aviation museum (it's about 2 hours drive to Temora) has a beautiful example of this bird and seeing it fly is quite special. I had thoughts of buying the white and red foam version and painting it silver, however I noticed that there was a US army silver and yellow version available from some places. Then, HK released a lovely balsa version.
Christmas saw me receive the Durafly Balsa Ryan STA PNF. My wife sneakily bought it and wrapped up the components and numbered the parts so I could guess what it was as I opened each one. As soon as I saw the fibreglass spats I knew what it was.
For a balsa build, there was little to do. Glue the wings together, glue on the tail feathers, screw on the landing gear, push the control rods through the fuselage and rig up the elastic 'cables'.
HOWEVER... Four things really detract from the beauty of this model... 1. The covering's not wonderful - it hasn't stuck down in some spots, creating bubbles and such in a number of spots. 2. The slots for the tail feathers aren't very tight - the slot for the vertical stabiliser wasn't even close to straight. I tried to cut it out a little and glue it straight, but it's still not quite right. I had to use epoxy for the horizontal stabiliser and hold it in place until it set. 3. The rigging is PAINFUL to do. And the instructions for which strand to use for each spot are missing. I think I got it right. However screwing into the spats is hard to do - some pilot holes for all the rigging screws would be an easy and extremely helpful improvement. 4. The ESC is terrible. There're no instructions for it either in the manual or the HK website, which would be fine if it just worked when you plugged it in. I have no idea how I got it working. It wouldn't arm, then suddenly out of the blue it armed and I managed to grab the plane before it did any damage.
For a balsa model, it's pretty heavy - I reckon it'd weigh about the same as a foamie of the same size. But it should fly nicely. The enormous motor easily rolls the 10x6 prop over which will produce scale flight on about 1/4 throttle and should just about hover it at half. I'm looking forward to the first flight, which may happen this evening.