Parkzone RC Spitfire

by Luke Berry
(Essex, UK)

OK, so it's finally here - the review that some (two) of you have been waiting for!!!
As of this morning, after weeks of waiting I had a calm day, and a free morning to maiden this bird. But before the first flight, I should begin with the 'build'.

Background
This is ParkZone's admirable attempt at possibly the most beautiful warplane to have ever flown. The 3 channel offering (Esc, elevator, ailerons) comes RTF, with a 480 motor and spinner attached.

Build
The big box had been waiting in the corner of my room for some time, it was finally time to unwrap it (to be honest I had already had a sneak peek - couldn't wait).
The box was well laid out, with everything arriving in one piece - always a bonus.



First thing that struck me was the quality of the parts, the foam is of the highest quality, the covering is well applied and the decals better than I could have done. On to the 'construction' as you can see from the photo, there are literally 3 pieces to put together:



The tail is held in place by 4 pieces of tape; "4 Pieces of tape!!!" I hear you cry, "however will that stay on!!". Well it does, and it does it brilliantly well. You may be able to see from the pic that there is a plastic flange that holds the tail in place, that takes most of the force, and the tape only stops it sliding to the side.



Very efficient in my humble opinion.

Fuselage
One note about the fuse: with most foamies they are entirely foam (ergo the name) but this Spitfire has a plastic chassis, a reinforcing skeleton, if you will. It provides strength, but more importantly rigidity, as there is very little flex in the plane, vital for tight turns etc.
The wing is held by 3 screws, so long as you can plug a servo into a receiver then you can do this step!

Trimming
After charging the battery and making sure everything was trimmed with a quick 'long-grass' gliding test (as a footnote, I should mention that on the first flight the plane was perfectly balanced, it required no clicks at all on either elevator or ailerons) it was off to the field.

After a long 3 minute walk to the bottom of the road it was time to let this beauty fly. The manual does a brilliant job of talking you through the first flight, even as far as suggesting a flying field. Though this is excellent, I find it slightly paradoxical as this plane is not for beginners, yet the manual seems to think it is!

A quick word on the 'Modes' then we will fly, I promise...
With the tx in Mode A (The transmitter has a switch on the top to switch between mode A and B, the manual recommends A for the first flight as it dampens the throws of the surfaces, mode B is more fun though)

Flight
So I can stall (OK, pun intended) no longer, the flight...
A small throw from my hand and she was away. She flies brilliantly, happily cruising at half throttle, and you can pull some barrel rolls and loops whilst in mode A. She is such a stable plane in the air, the large wing surface area means that she is capable of very low speeds, and when you are gunning it, the wingloading is minimal so tight turns are easy (just like the real thing).
Half way through the flight I switched to mode B and the fun began, the plane was instantly more responsive, and I felt happier that if I got myself in a tight spot it would turn quick enough to get out of it.

Climbing and Stalling
The Spitfire does like to climb, and she will go straight up, but no unlimited vertical I'm afraid. Her ability to climb does help get you out of tight spots (as already stated). When you do run out of airspeed the stall is slow and easily manageable, I really wish my trainer was this easy when I was starting out!
I managed to make my dad gasp (took him on my second flight, he has never been into RC flying, but wanted to see a Spitfire fly, its genetically programmed into all British men I think) as I deliberately stalled on a number of occasions, once at quite low altitude, knowing that I would be able to recover.

Landing
Landing was straight forward, I switched back to A mode (not sure why, but I thought it might be easier) she is so stable in the air, there is no chance a wing tip will drop unexpectedly, reduced the power and came in slow, a little flare up kept the prop safe, and she was down.

Battery Life
The stock battery gave me about 7 minutes of flying, but to be honest almost all of that was at full throttle, my next flight lasted 11 mins and that was much more relaxed. The turn around time is only 40 minutes for a battery and it comes with a cigarette lighter charger for 'field charging' I suppose.

Conclusion
One thing that should be said is that this plane is not for beginners, not at all, I would say though that it would make a nice first or second low wing.

Parkzone Spitfire Pros:
Everything you need to fly comes in the box even the batteries for the TX!!!!
Assembly takes minutes, not hours and can be flown in the time it takes to charge a battery.
English manual, no Chinese translation.
Includes true 6-channel receiver and standard three wire servos which can be removed and used in other airplanes.
Looks absolutely stunning.
Made of rigid foam and a plastic chassis.

Cons:
The man in the cockpit doesn't ever smile. Only kidding (I've made him smile) I can't think of any reaon why you shouldn't pick yourself up one of these if you see it on eBay or somewhere. They are such good fun and look brilliant.

A top quality scale warbird.

Well thats all folks, hope its been useful for you!