Customer Reviews

Ultra Micro P-51D Mustang

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you already know how to fly a 4 channel RC plane then this is a must have! I find it's flight charistics realistic and capable. Smooth and gentle at low power, quick and responsive at high power. I love the removable main gear for grass belly landings. The battery is great, If you have a Blade MCX or MSR heli the batts are interchangeable.
Now, I must stress this point, if you don't already know how to fly at least 3 channel RC planes this is likely not the plane for you! Start with a vapor or slo-V. This is not a toy for the kiddies.

I have been flying a Hobbyzone SuperCub LP for eight months in the park and entertaining families on our street with "cul-de-sac airshows." I was able to put the 48" wingspan SuperCub just about anywhere I wanted to: chasing away flocks of birds, performing loops and cloverleafs, flying approaches over trees and rooftops, even touching down in our small front yard and coasting to a stop within reach of delighted kids and parents. After a couple of crashes one evening and decided I should try to find a smaller plane that would be better suited for the small space.

I debated between Hobbyzone's Aeronca Champ (not yet available in Apr '10) and Parkzone's J-3 micro Cub. After all, Parkzone said you could "fly it in a gym or your backyard in calm winds." Great! Then I found this P-51 for only $10 more than the micro J-3. Sweet! "With 4-channels and aileron control, I can delight the kids in our circle with ease," I thought.

Flight 1 - The winds were very light in the circle, so I practiced taxiing it around in the driveway. Control surface tests went well, so I decided to give it a whirl. It leapt into the air with ease and immediately took every ounce of effort and concentration not to crash the thing! As I fought for stabilized flight, I picked up altitude for more recovery insurance. The plane caught a breeze coming over the rooftops and quickly disappeared! I cut the throttle immediately and went to survey the damage. It had landed nose first in the grass and both main gear housings had sheared off the wings. The foam nose showed a few wrinkles, but the propeller shaft was solid and turned without vibration or excessive noise. Phew!

Flight 2 - After a couple of weeks of wind, I awoke to a calm morning and decided to take the micro Mustang to the park and give it another go. The first three attempts lasted less than five seconds each, and carried the plane to its crash site at least 50 yards away each time. :-( On the fourth try I had success, although it was a challenge to keep flying smoothly. The slightest stick movement would jerk it through the sky in over-controlled movements! I had to give it a lot of nose up trim to keep it level as well as some aileron trim. The thin silver wings were tricky to see in the morning sky, particularly flying away or toward you; then, it was like looking at a BB sitting on a razor blade! After ten minutes or so, the motor made a few revving sounds and lost power. As I coasted it in for a landing, the sensitive flight controls caused me to crash it, again on the prop spinner. I then flew it for three more batteries, about 10-15 minutes each.

On the second battery, the prop spinner departed the plane, having been jarred loose by so many impacts. This affected its looks only, but not handling characteristics. Batteries two, three, and four (batt. 4 was batt. 1 recharged with included DC charger) I spent learning to try to smoothly control the plane and practiced half a dozen gentle belly landings in the grass. Like I mentioned, the controls are EXTREMELY sensitive, and on several flare attempts, I ended up in a nose-high stall attitude. Fortunately, a shot of throttle sent it off safely for another approach! I also took it up for a few loops, Immelmann, and split-S maneuvers. When I heard the motor revving, I throttled back and brought it in for a smooth landing. Although battery 2 was not quite fully charged, it had been on the dock awhile, so I sent the Mustang up again. At about 30-40 feet during a split-S, the motor quit, and I was unable to effect any elevator authority to pull out of the dive. The plane nosed hard into the ground like a dart, crushing the front two inches of fuselage. :'-(

In Summary:
- I flew all of these flights using the LOW RATE transmitter setting as recommended. I can't imagine what normal rate would have been like! As one review mentioned, "herding a Tasmanian devil"--it was nearly that bad on low rate.
- The slightest breezes will toss your 1.2 ounce Mustang through the air like a dandelion seed in turbulence! Think of it as a powered paper airplane: Only fly on CALM days!!
- While you can probably tame the micro Mustang, it takes awhile to get the hang of, so take the main gear off and go to a large grassy field. The taller the grass, the better cushioning for your mistakes!
- I thought about flying this at a nearby gym... I'm glad I didn't, as it also claimed you could do. That would have been disastrous! The plane is so fast, that it is a good 50-100 yards away in just a few seconds. I don't know of any indoor areas, shy of at least a triple basketball court gym, that would be suitable. Even then, pitch control would have you into the ceiling before you could get it trimmed properly.
- The foam prop spinner absorbed a lot of impacts, protecting the plane from all but the final, fatal crash. New fuselages run $10-13, but I'm not looking forward to fixing it. I've considered cutting my losses and putting it on eBay...
- The 2.4 GHz with Spektrum DMS2 transmitter can be bound to other bind-n-fly (BNF) aircraft, although this controller may be part of the problem with the aircraft's squirrely tendencies. One review recommended a separate controller for $60 and the $99 BNF P-51 rather than this $129 RTF version.
- Although I was starting to get the hang of it, the flight characteristics were a little erratic and sometimes unpredictable. If I had it to do all over again, I might try the $89 RTF Hobbyzone Champ. Maybe it is a little slower and more forgiving, I don't know.
- Good luck!

I was reluctant to buy such a small plane as I have 15+ years flying gas powered models, including scale, 3-D, you name it... I was surprised and pleased by the Ultra Micro P-51. It super light construction and powerful motor, make it super maneuverable and smooth flying.

I flew it with windy conditions and it was tougher to handle, I even crashed a couple of times but It wasn't damaged, which was also a surprise. I would advise not to take the P-51 for a flight under windy conditions.

I recommend purchasing the BNF version and buying a decent radio. The radio in the RTF version is too toy-like and although you can certainly fly and control the plane, the feeling is much smoother with a better ratio (the Dx5e Spektrum is perfect and it only costs 59.99).

It is not possible to change the radio mode through the old school steps. Although the radio has a switch to select mode 1 or mode 2, the stick configuration is that of a mode 2. I opened the radio and it does not have the common springs and screws to change the mode.

Happy flying!

THIS IS NOT A TOY, YOU SHOULD AT LEAST BE AN INTERMEDIATE FLIER.

I bought this kit along with the Ember 2 BNF assuming that once I'd gotten good at flying that one I'd be able to fly this one and avoid crashing it. The remotes were compatible, and I thought I was well prepared when I first threw this plane into the air... I was wrong. This plane is agile and unstable, and keeps me on my toes. It's fast and powerful and I enjoy flying it, but after a couple weeks of flying daily and crashing more often than I wish to admit, I'm considering replacing the airframe for another 25$. I have no regrets.

The best way I can describe flying the Ultra Micro P-51 is like herding the Tasmanian Devil. Considering its great scale looks and tiny size, I guess it's a miracle it flys at all.

It is built from very lightweight pliable foam. The control surfaces are delicate, be careful when you take it out of the box not to crack the integrity of vertical or horizontal stabilizers. As delicate as this plane is, I've discovered that it can take a pretty hard crash in the face.

On your first takeoff, you'll discover that elevator trim is somewhat hopeless. It's got so much power for a feather weight that it leaps up into a very steep climb under throttle.

Unfortunately, it's really too fast to fly comfortably indoors, unless your venue is enormous. But if you take it outside, it invents all kinds of interesting new maneuvers in anything but dead calm wind. Kind of limiting. I think this design pushes the micro concept a little too far.

This plane is fun in the same way that a wooden roller coaster is fun, it provides the thrill of cheating death. Sometimes.

Nice little 4 channel plane for the price. It flies well and it can turn on a dime. Battery life is fair, about 5 minutes flying time. I thought it would be to twitchy and sensitive, but I've found that this turns out to be a good thing. You can pull out of any nose dive or bad maneuver very quickly. Not like a 3 channel trainer doing a death dive into the ground. This thing pulls right out of it. BUT: you MUST avoid all wind. Trying to fly this in any amount of wind will crash it quickly. It's just so small and light weight that it can't handle it. The only other negative I would say is that the tail/rudder is quite frail.

And crashed mine first time I flew it over and over ...ITS NOT A BEGINNER PLANE ... My Tip go on you tube learn some basics ,dont fly in the wind,use the simulator ... my plane is still ok after crashing it nose first into the soccer fields I hope my learning curve isnt that long but I must say .... IM HOOKED ...:) Ill buy another one shortly and remember what I learned .... TINY MOVEMENTS with the Stick .... :)

This plane is awesome, let me say that if you have any clue how to fly a plane you should be fine. I flew this in 17kn winds the plane just stayed in one spot kinda funny, (no crash) The next day the winds were down to 5kn I had a lot of fun just make sure you stay hligh so you can correct if some thing goes wrong. Every time I over corrected high i was able to recover with about 15 feet to spare. Now I have landed this on pavement 4 times still no crashes. BUT!!!!!! I was just about to take off the front two wheels were off the ground and the tail wheel hit a lip in the concrete when the tail when hit it broke the tail almost in half, it was in air nearly impossible to control it went up about 25 feet so I could try to see if I could recover it on the way back down but I could I reduced power and lost all control put in full power and got some control back but it was to late it was going down it hit perfectly on the side walk that is 3 feet wide in a park 3 times the size of a foot ball field and cracked the fuselage. Needles to say went over there and put some double sided tape on and went right back to flying (its not the same plane it used to be it dose not fly as well soo I bought another one, the other one Im going to uses for parts I want to add led light to the plane there are ports on the electrical board. should be interesting!!! awesome plane plane flys great I have hit trees pavement garages the grass a park bench and its still flying its a great plane! Just want one with no damage!


OH YA make sure you tape the back of the remote control!!! On one of my flights it came off and a battery popped out just enough to turn the plane off and the plane came down with no power also no bad damage!

It really is a durable plane except that durn tail wheel and tail section haha

My husband absolutely loves his miro p-51. He is very pleased with the construction and workings of the plane.

The plane nose was not durable, when the propeller spun the nose would fall off. The wings were of poor quality.