BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
I maidened the Combat Arrow this morning, and what a ride it was. I am impressed with the performance so far. It was fast and maneuverable once I got it leveled out. Off the first toss I gave it about 70-75% throttle and it took right off, then dropped the throttle to about 50-55% to level it off. Even though the elevator was set to dead center there was a lot of back pressure to keep it straight on the pitch. The more speed I put to it the more it wanted to pitch up, so it is pitch sensitive. The roll axis was just a bit of right trim and it was good.
I didn't have to constantly work the sticks, it would fly on it's own neutral position. I installed the 8x6 prop and it had plenty of power, endless vertical. Switched to high rates and the handling was sensitive as well, even at 30% expo. Rolls were insane, to the point where you lose sight of which way was up. Made for some interesting maneuvers.
I flew just the one pack, it was raining outside and this is the only plane since the P-40 that I haven't minwaxed. The landing was nice and easy, slowed down nice and lofty.
Improvements I would make to it as is, larger elevator surface. Right now it is 8 1/2"x 2", i would extend that out to 3", mostly for pitch stability on level flight. To compensate for the ballooning at faster speeds I may take the fuse pod off the bottom and place the thrust center line up over the wing center of drag. For this I will place the pod in between the wings like in the original Arrow design but again make it more of a fuse instead of just a wing.
Conclusion it does have a solid construction... I did lawn dart it once and busted up the nose a bit, but dusted it off and threw it back up again and it flew great, so as a combat plane or just something to take my abuse it worked out well that way too. Thanks for reading
I didn't have to constantly work the sticks, it would fly on it's own neutral position. I installed the 8x6 prop and it had plenty of power, endless vertical. Switched to high rates and the handling was sensitive as well, even at 30% expo. Rolls were insane, to the point where you lose sight of which way was up. Made for some interesting maneuvers.
I flew just the one pack, it was raining outside and this is the only plane since the P-40 that I haven't minwaxed. The landing was nice and easy, slowed down nice and lofty.
Improvements I would make to it as is, larger elevator surface. Right now it is 8 1/2"x 2", i would extend that out to 3", mostly for pitch stability on level flight. To compensate for the ballooning at faster speeds I may take the fuse pod off the bottom and place the thrust center line up over the wing center of drag. For this I will place the pod in between the wings like in the original Arrow design but again make it more of a fuse instead of just a wing.
Conclusion it does have a solid construction... I did lawn dart it once and busted up the nose a bit, but dusted it off and threw it back up again and it flew great, so as a combat plane or just something to take my abuse it worked out well that way too. Thanks for reading