Parkzone F4F Wildcat BNF
Bought from HorizonRC.com($180)
Specifications
Wingspan: 38.4in (975mm)
Length: 28.7in (730mm)
Weight: 25.4oz (720g)
Motor Size: 480 sized 960KV outrunner brushless
Receiver: AR600 DSM2 Spektrum RX
Servos: Parkzone SV80 x4
Prop: 9x6
ESC: Parkzone 18A Brushless
Battery: 1300mah 3s 15c
Unboxing
The Wildcat come in a relitively large box and all of the components inside are nicely packaged. Bubble wrap and styrofoam neatly cover the parts.
Heres what you get in the BNF version of this plane:
1. 2 wing halves
2. 2 elevator halves
3. Fuselage
4. 1300 3s 15c battery
5. Parkzone car charger
6. Bag 'o' accesseries(Screws, tape, velcro straps, etc)
7. Manuel
Assembly
This may be the easiest plane I've ever assembled in my life! All the electronics are preenstalled for you!
The first thing that i did was slide each half of the elevator slot into its predesignated area. Once you've done that, use the provided tape and tape on the elevator. View attachment 975 That is the hardest part of the assembly! Now the only thing left that you have to do is put in the wing halves. All you do is take the carbon fibre spar and slip it in one of the wing halves. While slipping in the wing half, be sure to thread the aileron servo wire through the provided hole. At this point you should have one wing in and a carbon fibre rod sticking out the other end. Open up the canopy and you'll see a blue tab attached to the main wing. View attachment 976 Go ahead and screw it in. The screws are found in the bag 'o' accesseries. now do the same with the othr wing half. Slide it through the carbon tube and screw it in. The screws for some reson are SUPER hard to screw in! So be aware that you may strip the screw. The last step to build is simply just plugging the aileron servos into the Y-harness that is already plugged into the RX. Go ahead and insert your battery into the battery compoartmend and use the provided velcro strap to secure it. View attachment 977
Then just bind it to your radio and your ready to fly!
Flying
First of all, the F4F is a hand launch plane, so that means you cant have both hands on the radio. I recomend you launch it with your left hand so you can control the ailerons and elevator with your right hand. Or the other option is just having someone else launch it for you. Oce the plane is launched, it will just fly straight ahead until you give it input. It doent have any tendency to dive, roll, or climb on its own. The thing i noticed on the maiden was that the recomended controls throws are very touchy. 30% expo on the ailerons and elevator fixed that without a problem.
This plane definitely flys like a fighter! It is maneuverable, stable, and all the other characteristics you want in your airplanes! It glides nicely for paerfect landings. Another big plus is that it is super quiet with it's 480 engine! When i fly mine, no one notices it because it basically has no sound. But in a dive, it gains a lot of speed and makes an awesome sound!!! It does rolls, loops, and even stall turns. Inverted flight is amazing! It remains super stable even though it has reverse dihedral inverted. THis F4f flys fast and haas alot of verticle performance! Stalling this plane is actually a challenge. No matter how slow you go, the plane will just pitch down a 'lil bit. Landing this plane is alot of fun! Even though it has no gear, landings are fun anyways. To land, all you have to do is cut the throttle and let it glide down. I prefer landing in high rates. Once the plane is close to hitting the ground, give it a flare and it'll land perectly! I've landed mine many time and i havent even broken the prop yet! Heres aflight video: Here a conclusion of it's flight characteristics:
1. Super stable. Basically flys on rails
2. Fast enough for a great verticle performance
3. You get a good flight time with the stock battery. Flights are around 8 minutes
4. Landings are simple
5. Small in an area as small as a baseball diamond
Conclusion
These are my final thoughts:
Good:
1. Good flight characteristics
2. Fast and easy to assemble
3. 2 Day delivery from Horizon! lol
4. Nice scale paint scheme
5. The battery compartment can fit up to a 2200mah 3s battery
6. Handles alot of wind
Bad:
1.Getting the battery into the battery compartment is complicated.
2. A little to pricey
I highly recomend this plane! You will love seeing this in the air and doing cool stunts with it!
Keep it up.