The ParkZone S.E.5a

There aren't many foam WWI warbirds around but the new ParkZone S.E.5a electric rc airplane is sure to be a favourite with fans of First World War fighter aircraft!

This much loved biplane, the Royal Aircraft Factory (Farnborough, UK) Scout Experimental 5 (SE5) is synonymous with World War I dogfights in much the same way that the Supermarine Spitfire is with WWII, and the S.E.5a has long been a very popular scale subject with aeromodellers; balsa kits of the fighter are widely available. But now ParkZone bring this classic in to the foam electric rc airplane market and it's a very welcome addition to their hugely popular electric powered foam rc plane line-up.

As with other recent rc airplanes from PZ, the S.E.5a isn't available in RTF (Ready To Fly) form but in PNP and BNF only; this is simply because it's not a plane for the complete beginner and so the Horizon Hobby assumption is that anyone buying the model will already have the required DSM2 or newer DSMX compatible transmitter to fly it, notably from the Spektrum range of radios.

The S.E.5a pilot with scarf! At 37.1 inch (943mm) wingspan the ParkZone S.E.5a is a typical 'park flyer' size and it's an excellent recreation of the WWI fighter. The scale detail is very good and the pilot even sports the classic white silk scarf!
Although the foam surface is, as always, a bit of a giveaway to the S.E.5a construction, ParkZone really have done a good job of getting this biplane looking as authentic as possible - the wing-mounted Lewis gun, fuselage stitching and moulded wing and tailplane ribs all adding to the very convincing overall look...

The S.E.5a is powered by the now-familiar 480 size 960kV outrunner brushless motor with power coming from an 1800mAh 3S Li-Po pack, so you can expect the normal flight times of around ten minutes with careful flying.

Here's the official product video: