THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51D
Mustang is one of those designs that hardly
needs an introduction. As popular as it is,
you would expect to see Mustangs in the
same numbers as other popular designs,
such as the Piper Cub or the Extra 300. Until
recently, a Mustang kit either looked great
or flew great—never both. It’s a design that
doesn’t translate well into a smaller version.
In the past couple of years a new
“invasion” of Mustangs has come onto the
market, and these have taken advantage of
new materials and building techniques to
make them much more successful. Horizon
Hobby’s Hangar 9 P-51 ARF is one of the
latest in this new wave of Mustang Almost
Ready to Flys (ARFs) and boasts a
significant amount of prebuilding. Let’s put
it to the test.
First Impressions: When I opened the box,
several things instantly caught my eye. One
is the high quality level of the finish. All
parts are precovered in aluminum iron-on
covering (I presume it’s UltraCote), and a
good amount of the trim is preapplied. All
parts are well protected in a series of
polybags and cardboard boxes.
With the exception of the cowling, all
parts of the Mustang are built up from balsa
and plywood. The fuselage and wing
sections are surprisingly light, even with the
retracts installed. There’s lots of room in the
fuselage for large hands like mine.
A complete hardware package is
supplied with everything separated in
individual bags. You’ll find a fuel tank,
engine mount, wheels, hinges, pushrod
fittings, and everything else you’ll need
except the spinner. The included wheels are
nice-looking but extremely heavy. They
seem to be solid rubber; a good set of
lightweight foam wheels would be much
better.
Construction begins with assembly of the
wing. The ailerons are attached to the wing
halves using the supplied hinge material.
Each servo is mounted onto a hatch then into
the wing. Once the servos are in and
connected, the wings are joined by epoxying
the center spar in position then epoxying the
wing halves together.
Before I get to the fuselage, I have one
other thing to mention. As you would
expect, the instruction manual calls for
certain screws and holes to be drilled. All
the hardware was included but was bigger
than the manual called for. I preferred the
larger hardware to what was stated. The only
problem that this brings up is that all of the
holes had to be drilled bigger than called for.
Tom Sullivan
P r o d u c t R e v i e w
[email protected]
Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang ARF
Pros:
• 90% prebuilt out of the box
• Surprisingly lightweight, quite strong
construction
• Well-illustrated instruction manual
covering steps in detail
• Solid, complete hardware package
included
• Preinstalled retracts and retract
pushrods
• The elevator and rudder servos are
positioned far back in the fuselage to
keep pushrod “slop” to a minimum.
• Prepainted fiberglass cowling
included
• Most trim is already applied
(invasion stripes, insignia, etc.) and is
cut iron-on covering—not stickers or
decals.
Cons:
• Supplied wheels are very heavy.
Once installed, they almost double the
wing’s weight.
• Retracts are not high quality; they
squeaked and showed signs of binding.
Even though the gear was in the lockdown
position, they had a significant
amount of “wobble.” The port gear
failed during one of the landings. (The
manufacturer has addressed and
corrected these concerns; see note at
end of article.)
64 MODEL AVIATION
04sig2.QXD 1.23.03 1:27 pm Page 64
I’m not sure if this was a translation problem or if Horizon
substituted better hardware, but you might encounter this if the same
manual and hardware are in your kit.
The stabilizer is inserted through its slot and glued in position.
The vertical fin, tail wheel, and movable surfaces are mounted next.
Once mounted, the pushrods, control horns, servos, and fuel tank are
installed rather quickly.
The servos are mounted far to the rear of the fuselage, just under
the stabilizer. This makes for a good, slop-free control linkage, but it
does detract a bit from the Mustang’s lines. With a bit of work, the
designers could have hidden the servos with a couple of hatches
rather than have them protrude from the fuselage. Regardless, the
system does work well.
Radio Installation: Throughout the construction steps, several servo
lead extensions and a “Y” harness for the aileron servos are needed. I
used two 12-inch extensions for the aileron servos, two 18-inch
extensions for rudder and elevator servos, and one six-inch extension
for the retract servo.
I used my JR X8103 transmitter with an R700 six-channel
receiver, an 1100 mAh battery, and five 537 servos. I also used one
of the new JR 703 low-profile retract servos.
Final Assembly: Once the servos and linkage is in place, it’s on to
installation of the fuel tank, engine, and throttle servo. I used the
trusty O.S. FS-91 Surpass four-stroke that you might have seen in a
couple of other reviews. Although it’s not at the top of the
displacement called out by the instructions, later you will see that it
was more than enough power for the model. Engine-mounting was
straightforward and went exactly as the manual indicated.
The nice aluminum spinner on the front of the review model is a
Vortech spun-aluminum spinner supplied by Dave Brown Products.
Dave was not only kind enough to donate the spinner for the review,
but he supplied a spinner that was custom-cut to match the pitch of
the Master Airscrew 14 x 8 propeller we used.
After setting the throws to those recommended in the manual and
checking the CG (center of gravity), I found that the model balanced
right on the money, and we were ready to go fly.
The preinstalled retracts seem to be a good idea from a marketing
standpoint, but they were disappointing—especially when used in
combination with the supplied wheels. Even when using a specially
made retract servo, it was all the servo could do to raise the gear. All
the linkages came preinstalled from the factory and showed signs of
binding and rubbing with the internal structure of the wing. Things
were so tight that the gear actually squeaked when in motion.
We have to use the product as it comes in a review, but if I was
building this model for myself, the retracts and the tires would be
replaced with better products.
Flying: When the day came for the first test flight, I had a bit of help.
Bob Hunt, Model Aviation’s aeromodeling editor, was on hand, and
he talked me into letting him do the flying.
After fueling and a preflight check to verify that all servos were
operating in the correct directions, the O.S. 91 was fired up and
quickly came to life. Taxiing the Mustang was easy. There’s plenty
of throw in the rudder for steering, but the wobbling of the retracts
can be seen.
For the first takeoff, Bob lined up the P-51 into the wind, throttled
up, and began the takeoff run. The model took an average amount of
runway to lift off, and it climbed with authority.
Being unfamiliar with my transmitter, Bob asked for some help
with trimming and locating the retract switches. It took a few laps
around the field before he had the model trimmed out and flying true.
Gaining confidence, Bob brought the Mustang in for some photo
passes. It flew just like most P-51s I’ve seen—fairly stable, but not
enough to give you a false sense of confidence. The model flies fairly
quickly, so there are no surprises as long as you pay attention.
With the photos out of the way, Bob throttled up to see what the
Mustang was capable of. Axial rolls, barrel rolls, and point rolls are
smooth and scalelike. Loops, Immelmanns, Figure 8s, and other
maneuvers are easily done. The controls specified in the manual gave
it a good amount of control, but not too much. All rolls, stalls, etc.
were predictable.
The Mustang maintains good control in slow speed, even when
slowing to stall speed. Stalls are predictable and can be recovered
from with a minimum loss of altitude.
Bob brought the Mustang in for its first landing, and it came in
just as expected—smooth and predictable. He sat it down gently on
the mains, where the port gear collapsed approximately 10 feet after
landing. I brought the Mustang back from the flightline to diagnose
the problem. When I removed the retract, I found that one of its
internal plastic pieces had broken. That brought flying to a close that
day.
This is a great-looking model of one of the best-known fighters of all
time. The construction is lightweight and strong. The finish is of high
quality, and it’s a great-flying design. Could it be that those retracts
were the “lemon” of the batch? I certainly hope so. The retracts in
the review model will be replaced, and we’ll be back flying in no
time. MA
(Note from Horizon Hobby spokesperson Steven Goodreau: In
response to the observation that the retracts do not have enough
power to retract the supplied “heavy” wheels, we have made a
change so that all new production models will include lighter wheels
to remedy this situation.)
April 2003 65
The Mustang comes prebuilt, precovered, and prepainted. It
goes from this stage to ready to fly in roughly eight hours.
The beautiful lines and curves of the Mustang are unmistakable
in the air. This is an excellent-flying machine.
Photos by the author
04sig3.QXD 1.23.03 2:44 pm Page 65
Contact information:
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Rd.
Champaign IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com/products/descriptio
n.asp?prod=HAN2375
Specifications:
Stock number: GPMA1301
Wingspan: 651⁄2 inches
Wing area: 745 square inches
Weight: 7-81⁄2 pounds (ready to fly)
Length: 553⁄4 inches
Engine required: .60-.78 two-stroke (10-
15cc) or 72-100 four-stroke
Radio required: Five-channel with six
standard servos
Products used/referred to in this review:
JR radio system:
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Rd.
Champaign IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com
O.S. FS-91 Surpass engine:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
www.osengines.com/
Master Airscrew 14 x 8 propeller:
Windsor Propeller
Box 250
Rancho Cordova CA 95741
www.masterairscrew.com
Vortech parabolic spinner:
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45014
(513) 738-1576
Fax: (513) 738-0152
www.dbproducts.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/04
Page Numbers: 64,65,66
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/04
Page Numbers: 64,65,66
THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51D
Mustang is one of those designs that hardly
needs an introduction. As popular as it is,
you would expect to see Mustangs in the
same numbers as other popular designs,
such as the Piper Cub or the Extra 300. Until
recently, a Mustang kit either looked great
or flew great—never both. It’s a design that
doesn’t translate well into a smaller version.
In the past couple of years a new
“invasion” of Mustangs has come onto the
market, and these have taken advantage of
new materials and building techniques to
make them much more successful. Horizon
Hobby’s Hangar 9 P-51 ARF is one of the
latest in this new wave of Mustang Almost
Ready to Flys (ARFs) and boasts a
significant amount of prebuilding. Let’s put
it to the test.
First Impressions: When I opened the box,
several things instantly caught my eye. One
is the high quality level of the finish. All
parts are precovered in aluminum iron-on
covering (I presume it’s UltraCote), and a
good amount of the trim is preapplied. All
parts are well protected in a series of
polybags and cardboard boxes.
With the exception of the cowling, all
parts of the Mustang are built up from balsa
and plywood. The fuselage and wing
sections are surprisingly light, even with the
retracts installed. There’s lots of room in the
fuselage for large hands like mine.
A complete hardware package is
supplied with everything separated in
individual bags. You’ll find a fuel tank,
engine mount, wheels, hinges, pushrod
fittings, and everything else you’ll need
except the spinner. The included wheels are
nice-looking but extremely heavy. They
seem to be solid rubber; a good set of
lightweight foam wheels would be much
better.
Construction begins with assembly of the
wing. The ailerons are attached to the wing
halves using the supplied hinge material.
Each servo is mounted onto a hatch then into
the wing. Once the servos are in and
connected, the wings are joined by epoxying
the center spar in position then epoxying the
wing halves together.
Before I get to the fuselage, I have one
other thing to mention. As you would
expect, the instruction manual calls for
certain screws and holes to be drilled. All
the hardware was included but was bigger
than the manual called for. I preferred the
larger hardware to what was stated. The only
problem that this brings up is that all of the
holes had to be drilled bigger than called for.
Tom Sullivan
P r o d u c t R e v i e w
[email protected]
Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang ARF
Pros:
• 90% prebuilt out of the box
• Surprisingly lightweight, quite strong
construction
• Well-illustrated instruction manual
covering steps in detail
• Solid, complete hardware package
included
• Preinstalled retracts and retract
pushrods
• The elevator and rudder servos are
positioned far back in the fuselage to
keep pushrod “slop” to a minimum.
• Prepainted fiberglass cowling
included
• Most trim is already applied
(invasion stripes, insignia, etc.) and is
cut iron-on covering—not stickers or
decals.
Cons:
• Supplied wheels are very heavy.
Once installed, they almost double the
wing’s weight.
• Retracts are not high quality; they
squeaked and showed signs of binding.
Even though the gear was in the lockdown
position, they had a significant
amount of “wobble.” The port gear
failed during one of the landings. (The
manufacturer has addressed and
corrected these concerns; see note at
end of article.)
64 MODEL AVIATION
04sig2.QXD 1.23.03 1:27 pm Page 64
I’m not sure if this was a translation problem or if Horizon
substituted better hardware, but you might encounter this if the same
manual and hardware are in your kit.
The stabilizer is inserted through its slot and glued in position.
The vertical fin, tail wheel, and movable surfaces are mounted next.
Once mounted, the pushrods, control horns, servos, and fuel tank are
installed rather quickly.
The servos are mounted far to the rear of the fuselage, just under
the stabilizer. This makes for a good, slop-free control linkage, but it
does detract a bit from the Mustang’s lines. With a bit of work, the
designers could have hidden the servos with a couple of hatches
rather than have them protrude from the fuselage. Regardless, the
system does work well.
Radio Installation: Throughout the construction steps, several servo
lead extensions and a “Y” harness for the aileron servos are needed. I
used two 12-inch extensions for the aileron servos, two 18-inch
extensions for rudder and elevator servos, and one six-inch extension
for the retract servo.
I used my JR X8103 transmitter with an R700 six-channel
receiver, an 1100 mAh battery, and five 537 servos. I also used one
of the new JR 703 low-profile retract servos.
Final Assembly: Once the servos and linkage is in place, it’s on to
installation of the fuel tank, engine, and throttle servo. I used the
trusty O.S. FS-91 Surpass four-stroke that you might have seen in a
couple of other reviews. Although it’s not at the top of the
displacement called out by the instructions, later you will see that it
was more than enough power for the model. Engine-mounting was
straightforward and went exactly as the manual indicated.
The nice aluminum spinner on the front of the review model is a
Vortech spun-aluminum spinner supplied by Dave Brown Products.
Dave was not only kind enough to donate the spinner for the review,
but he supplied a spinner that was custom-cut to match the pitch of
the Master Airscrew 14 x 8 propeller we used.
After setting the throws to those recommended in the manual and
checking the CG (center of gravity), I found that the model balanced
right on the money, and we were ready to go fly.
The preinstalled retracts seem to be a good idea from a marketing
standpoint, but they were disappointing—especially when used in
combination with the supplied wheels. Even when using a specially
made retract servo, it was all the servo could do to raise the gear. All
the linkages came preinstalled from the factory and showed signs of
binding and rubbing with the internal structure of the wing. Things
were so tight that the gear actually squeaked when in motion.
We have to use the product as it comes in a review, but if I was
building this model for myself, the retracts and the tires would be
replaced with better products.
Flying: When the day came for the first test flight, I had a bit of help.
Bob Hunt, Model Aviation’s aeromodeling editor, was on hand, and
he talked me into letting him do the flying.
After fueling and a preflight check to verify that all servos were
operating in the correct directions, the O.S. 91 was fired up and
quickly came to life. Taxiing the Mustang was easy. There’s plenty
of throw in the rudder for steering, but the wobbling of the retracts
can be seen.
For the first takeoff, Bob lined up the P-51 into the wind, throttled
up, and began the takeoff run. The model took an average amount of
runway to lift off, and it climbed with authority.
Being unfamiliar with my transmitter, Bob asked for some help
with trimming and locating the retract switches. It took a few laps
around the field before he had the model trimmed out and flying true.
Gaining confidence, Bob brought the Mustang in for some photo
passes. It flew just like most P-51s I’ve seen—fairly stable, but not
enough to give you a false sense of confidence. The model flies fairly
quickly, so there are no surprises as long as you pay attention.
With the photos out of the way, Bob throttled up to see what the
Mustang was capable of. Axial rolls, barrel rolls, and point rolls are
smooth and scalelike. Loops, Immelmanns, Figure 8s, and other
maneuvers are easily done. The controls specified in the manual gave
it a good amount of control, but not too much. All rolls, stalls, etc.
were predictable.
The Mustang maintains good control in slow speed, even when
slowing to stall speed. Stalls are predictable and can be recovered
from with a minimum loss of altitude.
Bob brought the Mustang in for its first landing, and it came in
just as expected—smooth and predictable. He sat it down gently on
the mains, where the port gear collapsed approximately 10 feet after
landing. I brought the Mustang back from the flightline to diagnose
the problem. When I removed the retract, I found that one of its
internal plastic pieces had broken. That brought flying to a close that
day.
This is a great-looking model of one of the best-known fighters of all
time. The construction is lightweight and strong. The finish is of high
quality, and it’s a great-flying design. Could it be that those retracts
were the “lemon” of the batch? I certainly hope so. The retracts in
the review model will be replaced, and we’ll be back flying in no
time. MA
(Note from Horizon Hobby spokesperson Steven Goodreau: In
response to the observation that the retracts do not have enough
power to retract the supplied “heavy” wheels, we have made a
change so that all new production models will include lighter wheels
to remedy this situation.)
April 2003 65
The Mustang comes prebuilt, precovered, and prepainted. It
goes from this stage to ready to fly in roughly eight hours.
The beautiful lines and curves of the Mustang are unmistakable
in the air. This is an excellent-flying machine.
Photos by the author
04sig3.QXD 1.23.03 2:44 pm Page 65
Contact information:
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Rd.
Champaign IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com/products/descriptio
n.asp?prod=HAN2375
Specifications:
Stock number: GPMA1301
Wingspan: 651⁄2 inches
Wing area: 745 square inches
Weight: 7-81⁄2 pounds (ready to fly)
Length: 553⁄4 inches
Engine required: .60-.78 two-stroke (10-
15cc) or 72-100 four-stroke
Radio required: Five-channel with six
standard servos
Products used/referred to in this review:
JR radio system:
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Rd.
Champaign IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com
O.S. FS-91 Surpass engine:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
www.osengines.com/
Master Airscrew 14 x 8 propeller:
Windsor Propeller
Box 250
Rancho Cordova CA 95741
www.masterairscrew.com
Vortech parabolic spinner:
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45014
(513) 738-1576
Fax: (513) 738-0152
www.dbproducts.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/04
Page Numbers: 64,65,66
THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51D
Mustang is one of those designs that hardly
needs an introduction. As popular as it is,
you would expect to see Mustangs in the
same numbers as other popular designs,
such as the Piper Cub or the Extra 300. Until
recently, a Mustang kit either looked great
or flew great—never both. It’s a design that
doesn’t translate well into a smaller version.
In the past couple of years a new
“invasion” of Mustangs has come onto the
market, and these have taken advantage of
new materials and building techniques to
make them much more successful. Horizon
Hobby’s Hangar 9 P-51 ARF is one of the
latest in this new wave of Mustang Almost
Ready to Flys (ARFs) and boasts a
significant amount of prebuilding. Let’s put
it to the test.
First Impressions: When I opened the box,
several things instantly caught my eye. One
is the high quality level of the finish. All
parts are precovered in aluminum iron-on
covering (I presume it’s UltraCote), and a
good amount of the trim is preapplied. All
parts are well protected in a series of
polybags and cardboard boxes.
With the exception of the cowling, all
parts of the Mustang are built up from balsa
and plywood. The fuselage and wing
sections are surprisingly light, even with the
retracts installed. There’s lots of room in the
fuselage for large hands like mine.
A complete hardware package is
supplied with everything separated in
individual bags. You’ll find a fuel tank,
engine mount, wheels, hinges, pushrod
fittings, and everything else you’ll need
except the spinner. The included wheels are
nice-looking but extremely heavy. They
seem to be solid rubber; a good set of
lightweight foam wheels would be much
better.
Construction begins with assembly of the
wing. The ailerons are attached to the wing
halves using the supplied hinge material.
Each servo is mounted onto a hatch then into
the wing. Once the servos are in and
connected, the wings are joined by epoxying
the center spar in position then epoxying the
wing halves together.
Before I get to the fuselage, I have one
other thing to mention. As you would
expect, the instruction manual calls for
certain screws and holes to be drilled. All
the hardware was included but was bigger
than the manual called for. I preferred the
larger hardware to what was stated. The only
problem that this brings up is that all of the
holes had to be drilled bigger than called for.
Tom Sullivan
P r o d u c t R e v i e w
[email protected]
Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang ARF
Pros:
• 90% prebuilt out of the box
• Surprisingly lightweight, quite strong
construction
• Well-illustrated instruction manual
covering steps in detail
• Solid, complete hardware package
included
• Preinstalled retracts and retract
pushrods
• The elevator and rudder servos are
positioned far back in the fuselage to
keep pushrod “slop” to a minimum.
• Prepainted fiberglass cowling
included
• Most trim is already applied
(invasion stripes, insignia, etc.) and is
cut iron-on covering—not stickers or
decals.
Cons:
• Supplied wheels are very heavy.
Once installed, they almost double the
wing’s weight.
• Retracts are not high quality; they
squeaked and showed signs of binding.
Even though the gear was in the lockdown
position, they had a significant
amount of “wobble.” The port gear
failed during one of the landings. (The
manufacturer has addressed and
corrected these concerns; see note at
end of article.)
64 MODEL AVIATION
04sig2.QXD 1.23.03 1:27 pm Page 64
I’m not sure if this was a translation problem or if Horizon
substituted better hardware, but you might encounter this if the same
manual and hardware are in your kit.
The stabilizer is inserted through its slot and glued in position.
The vertical fin, tail wheel, and movable surfaces are mounted next.
Once mounted, the pushrods, control horns, servos, and fuel tank are
installed rather quickly.
The servos are mounted far to the rear of the fuselage, just under
the stabilizer. This makes for a good, slop-free control linkage, but it
does detract a bit from the Mustang’s lines. With a bit of work, the
designers could have hidden the servos with a couple of hatches
rather than have them protrude from the fuselage. Regardless, the
system does work well.
Radio Installation: Throughout the construction steps, several servo
lead extensions and a “Y” harness for the aileron servos are needed. I
used two 12-inch extensions for the aileron servos, two 18-inch
extensions for rudder and elevator servos, and one six-inch extension
for the retract servo.
I used my JR X8103 transmitter with an R700 six-channel
receiver, an 1100 mAh battery, and five 537 servos. I also used one
of the new JR 703 low-profile retract servos.
Final Assembly: Once the servos and linkage is in place, it’s on to
installation of the fuel tank, engine, and throttle servo. I used the
trusty O.S. FS-91 Surpass four-stroke that you might have seen in a
couple of other reviews. Although it’s not at the top of the
displacement called out by the instructions, later you will see that it
was more than enough power for the model. Engine-mounting was
straightforward and went exactly as the manual indicated.
The nice aluminum spinner on the front of the review model is a
Vortech spun-aluminum spinner supplied by Dave Brown Products.
Dave was not only kind enough to donate the spinner for the review,
but he supplied a spinner that was custom-cut to match the pitch of
the Master Airscrew 14 x 8 propeller we used.
After setting the throws to those recommended in the manual and
checking the CG (center of gravity), I found that the model balanced
right on the money, and we were ready to go fly.
The preinstalled retracts seem to be a good idea from a marketing
standpoint, but they were disappointing—especially when used in
combination with the supplied wheels. Even when using a specially
made retract servo, it was all the servo could do to raise the gear. All
the linkages came preinstalled from the factory and showed signs of
binding and rubbing with the internal structure of the wing. Things
were so tight that the gear actually squeaked when in motion.
We have to use the product as it comes in a review, but if I was
building this model for myself, the retracts and the tires would be
replaced with better products.
Flying: When the day came for the first test flight, I had a bit of help.
Bob Hunt, Model Aviation’s aeromodeling editor, was on hand, and
he talked me into letting him do the flying.
After fueling and a preflight check to verify that all servos were
operating in the correct directions, the O.S. 91 was fired up and
quickly came to life. Taxiing the Mustang was easy. There’s plenty
of throw in the rudder for steering, but the wobbling of the retracts
can be seen.
For the first takeoff, Bob lined up the P-51 into the wind, throttled
up, and began the takeoff run. The model took an average amount of
runway to lift off, and it climbed with authority.
Being unfamiliar with my transmitter, Bob asked for some help
with trimming and locating the retract switches. It took a few laps
around the field before he had the model trimmed out and flying true.
Gaining confidence, Bob brought the Mustang in for some photo
passes. It flew just like most P-51s I’ve seen—fairly stable, but not
enough to give you a false sense of confidence. The model flies fairly
quickly, so there are no surprises as long as you pay attention.
With the photos out of the way, Bob throttled up to see what the
Mustang was capable of. Axial rolls, barrel rolls, and point rolls are
smooth and scalelike. Loops, Immelmanns, Figure 8s, and other
maneuvers are easily done. The controls specified in the manual gave
it a good amount of control, but not too much. All rolls, stalls, etc.
were predictable.
The Mustang maintains good control in slow speed, even when
slowing to stall speed. Stalls are predictable and can be recovered
from with a minimum loss of altitude.
Bob brought the Mustang in for its first landing, and it came in
just as expected—smooth and predictable. He sat it down gently on
the mains, where the port gear collapsed approximately 10 feet after
landing. I brought the Mustang back from the flightline to diagnose
the problem. When I removed the retract, I found that one of its
internal plastic pieces had broken. That brought flying to a close that
day.
This is a great-looking model of one of the best-known fighters of all
time. The construction is lightweight and strong. The finish is of high
quality, and it’s a great-flying design. Could it be that those retracts
were the “lemon” of the batch? I certainly hope so. The retracts in
the review model will be replaced, and we’ll be back flying in no
time. MA
(Note from Horizon Hobby spokesperson Steven Goodreau: In
response to the observation that the retracts do not have enough
power to retract the supplied “heavy” wheels, we have made a
change so that all new production models will include lighter wheels
to remedy this situation.)
April 2003 65
The Mustang comes prebuilt, precovered, and prepainted. It
goes from this stage to ready to fly in roughly eight hours.
The beautiful lines and curves of the Mustang are unmistakable
in the air. This is an excellent-flying machine.
Photos by the author
04sig3.QXD 1.23.03 2:44 pm Page 65
Contact information:
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Rd.
Champaign IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com/products/descriptio
n.asp?prod=HAN2375
Specifications:
Stock number: GPMA1301
Wingspan: 651⁄2 inches
Wing area: 745 square inches
Weight: 7-81⁄2 pounds (ready to fly)
Length: 553⁄4 inches
Engine required: .60-.78 two-stroke (10-
15cc) or 72-100 four-stroke
Radio required: Five-channel with six
standard servos
Products used/referred to in this review:
JR radio system:
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
4105 Fieldstone Rd.
Champaign IL 61822
www.horizonhobby.com
O.S. FS-91 Surpass engine:
Great Planes Model Distributors
Box 9021
Champaign IL 61826
www.osengines.com/
Master Airscrew 14 x 8 propeller:
Windsor Propeller
Box 250
Rancho Cordova CA 95741
www.masterairscrew.com
Vortech parabolic spinner:
Dave Brown Products
4560 Layhigh Rd.
Hamilton OH 45014
(513) 738-1576
Fax: (513) 738-0152
www.dbproducts.com
