HobbyKing Pitts Model 12

[JetPlaneFlyer]

Here's my youngest holding the Pitts Model 12 I've just put together.

It's the HobbyKing 42" ARF: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idProduct=8785

I had to do a lot of work to get it into flyable order. The original fuselage was very badly twisted, HobbyKing replaced it which was good as I stripped the covering off the original, straightened it, and recovered, so I now have a spare fus.
There were a few other quite serious issues with the kit;
The worst one is the method of connecting the top and bottom ailerons just doesn't work at all. Fixing it properly meant stripping the covering off all four ailerons and building in anchor points near the aileron trailing edges for struts to join the ailerons. You can see that the aileron colour is slight different to the wing due to the new covering not being quite a perfect match. it might be possible to botch up a solution that did the job without re-covering the ailerons but better do the job right IMHO.
The plywood motor mount also needed beefing up. As standard it could barely support it's own weight and was already falling apart when it came out of the box. The reviews on-line mention motors falling out mid flight and I'm not surprised. The only surprise is that the motor stayed attached long enough to get airborn! The other weak areas that I beefed up were the cabane strut mounting to the fuselage and the lower wing where it bolts into the fus.. These may have been strong enough for gentle use but pulling a few 'g's would have ripped the wings off I'm pretty sure.

One thing I wished I had changed but haven't yet is the control surface hinges. The kit came with cheap flexible sheet hinges which are fine for the tail surfaces but they are quite stiff and with 4 on each aileron there is a lot of stiffness in the movement of the ailerons. I may yet have to cut them free and put 'proper' hinges in. I'm going to get some higher torque servos for the ailerons and see if that does the trick, if not it's time to chop the old hinges out which may be a tricky job.

All I'm waiting for for the maiden is a tailwheel assembly (the kit one is horrible and far too heavy) and the new high torque metal gear aileron servos.

Would I recommend this kit?.. Well even with it's issues it was good value for the price I paid and if you are happy to do quite a few modifications and aren't too concerned that the instructions supplied are worthless, then it builds into a nice looking model which I think should go rather well.
If you want a quick and easy to assemble model that goes together right out of the box then probably look elsewhere.

Hope you like it....