Official Nexa 1630mm Junkers JU-52 Transport (Balsa ARF) Discussion Thread

[Alpha]

Nexa Junker JU-52 1630mm (64") Wingspan - Balsa ARF

Product Availability: The estimated time of arrival (ETA) for this product is late-May, 2020. Please click the "Notify Me When Back In Stock" button above to receive an email notification when the product is available for purchase.

We are proud to announce Nexa, Motion RC's in-house Balsa-specific brand that will showcase customer-favorites and new, never-before-seen models in various balsa formats and a wide range of sizes and price points.

The Ju 52 was in production between 1931 and 1952. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 airlines, including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa, as both a passenger carrier and a freight hauler. In a military role, large numbers flew with the Luftwaffe, being deployed on virtually all fronts of the Second World War as a troop and cargo transport; it was also briefly used as a medium bomber.

The Nexa Junker JU-52 is an award-winning .20 size electric scale series transport aircraft with a 1630mm wingspan, constructed primarily from balsa wood and fully covered. This ARF requires assembly and installation of your choice of servos and power system, and includes a two piece wing design with aluminum wing joiner, plastic cowlings, dummy radial engines, flaps, a large battery hatch and pre-hinged and installed control surfaces. A rarity in the hobby, this model would be the talk of any RC airfield.

Visit the Official Product Page HERE

Fully Covered and Detailed The Nexa Junker JU-52 comes fully covered in the Lufthansa Berlin silver and black scheme complete with simulated corrugated duralumin metal skin.

Scale Details Throughout There is no shortage of scale details with this Junker JU-52 including plastic cowlings, dummy radial engines and operational flaps.

Large Hatch The large hatch allows for an incredible amount of space for any battery and electronic requirements.

Award-Winning Model The Nexa Junker JU-52 won 1st place in Flug Model magazine 2016.

FEATURES:

• The model won 1st place in Flug Model magazine 2016
• Fully covered in Lufthansa Berlin silver and black scheme
• Complete Balsa and lite-ply construction for rigidity and durability
• Two piece wing with aluminum wing joiners for easy transport
• Functional flaps for shorter takeoffs and slower landings
• Plastic cowlings and dummy radial engines for added appeal
• All control surfaces come out of the box pre-hinged and installed for convenience
• Large battery hatch allows for your chosen electric setup

INCLUDES:

• Nexa Junker JU-52 1630mm (64") Wingspan - ARF
• Wheels, spinner, plastic cowlings
• Dummy radial engines
• Electric retracts and struts
• Hardware and decals

REQUIRES:

• 6 Channel radio - select a minimum 6 channel radio from our Radio Collection
• 6 Channel receiver - select a minimum 6 channel receiver from our Receiver Collection
• 3x Brushless outrunner motors - we recommend THREE FlightLine 2836-950kV Brushless Outrunner Motors
• 3x Propeller shaft kits - we recommend THREE FlightLine 850mm P-51D Mustang Propeller Shaft Kits
• 3x X motor mounts - we recommend THREE FlightLine 850mm X Motor Mounts
• 3x 30 Amp brushless ESCs - we recommend THREE FlightLine 30A ESC with XT60 Connectors
• 6x standard servos for ailerons, flaps, elevator and rudder - we recommend SIX Freewing 9g Digital Hybrid Metal Gear Servo with 300mm (12") Lead
• 3x 3 Cell 11.1V 1300 - 3000 mAh LiPo Batteries - we recommend THREE Admiral 1300mAh 3S 11.1V 25C LiPo Battery with XT60 Connector
• 3x Electric propellers - we recommend THREE of the FlightLine 9x6 Electric Propeller
• 3 Cell compatible battery charger - select a minimum 3 cell (3S) charger from our Charger Collection

Customer Note
Nexa ARF models are constructed out of balsa wood and plywood. These are not foam models. The assembly of balsa wood ARF aircraft requires basic model building skills including the installation of servos, ESC, and motor (or gas engine).

[Merry Boozer RC]

Yes!!!! Yes! Yes!!!! Always wanted one of these and the price is crazy affordable I’m buying this one ☝️ curious to see the simulated corrugated tin look in person. This is going to be a fantastic flyer. Love the unique planes and lately I’ve had a fascination with bombers and big transport models. 1600mm size is perfect to it fits in the trailer without taking it apart and with all those ESC wires I will definitely try to take the wings off as little as possible. Home run can’t wait to throw my money at you on this bird.

[Twowingtj]

Alpha This is my wife's favorite plane! Since she's got her first multi with the Twin Otter, she will likely get this one now that Motion is carrying it.

I am curious what changes have been made to the Hexa line vs. VQ line.

[Oxotnik]

I clicked on the Coming Soon to Motion page on a whim and saw the Nexa line. Then, I saw the Ju-52 trimotor and my jaw nearly hit the ground. Holy hell! A Ju-52! As soon as the take-my-money-now button is live, I'm clicking it!!!! And, I'm gonna try to buy one before Tony again. :-)
As with Tony, I'm interested to hear how close this to the VQ line. I've only owned one VQ warbird (59" FW-190A-4) and didn't like many of the non-scale-like features that it had. I've heard that folks have loved other VQ warbirds. So, I'm hoping that the VQ FW-190 was a one-off bad experience. In the photos, the Ju-54 looks fantastic!

Alpha, thank you for bringing another really cool German plane into the US!! I can't wait to add a Tante Ju to my air fleet.

[OV10]

Oxotnik
Twowingtj

Looking at the pics that Alpha posted I will say with very high confidence that this is the same VQ model that I owned prior to the Inferno
ps Chuck........you and TJ beat me to the Pfeil but not on this one.
Photo proof ................at my ex clubs field doing a full flaps show pass for the club photographer.

[Oxotnik]

Danggit! Scooped by Charlie! You liked the Ju-52 and would recommend it? For $210, I don't see how I could go wrong. I probably already have all of the electronics needed to outfit her in my hobby shop; So, the final cost will probably still only be $210!

What spin direction(s) did you use for the props? Outboards reverse of the Center motor, or all three spinning the same direction?

You, TJ, and I have to stop meeting like this. People will start to talk... LOL

[Twowingtj]

Let them talk. We are having fun.

This one won't be mine, although it will be in the family hangar. I will do at least the maiden before my bride takes possession of the sticks.

I too would like your thoughts on set up and flight characteristics Charlie.

[OV10]

Oxotnik
Twowingtj
WOW, digging through my receipts the dates indicate that I built this spring of 2016. Bought the airframe from Hobby People for $160
Here's my set up thoughts to the best of my recollection based on review of my old archived instruction manual(yep, kept all those even from the birds lost)
I ran it on 4S power using a single 4Ah brick with all three ESC's tied in parallel. All three ESC were placed in the belly of fuselage where the wings connect and ran motor lead extensions from them. All three props were standard rotation MAS 9x7x3. There was no need for counter rotation of the outboard motors because the complete cowl/mount for the motors had a several degree factory offset to the outboard sides. At that time I was into FMS motors heavily but they didn't have a motor that I could use so I went with my first time use of Hobby King motors. Used the NTM Prop Drive 28-36 1000kV which is now discontinued but was replaced by the V2 PROPDRIVE 2836 1000kV with same specs. They also require the NTM Prop Drive 28 Series Accessory Pack and the nut bullet looks somewhat scale.
I looked at the now recommended FlightLine motor but unfortunately Motion STILL is not providing motor specs so can't really give a true assessment whether they can haul the 3 blade load.
I used 16g servos for all control surfaces. The main gear is a spring loaded oleo that I shorten about 1/2 inch because it was just to tall in stance. Still had plenty of prop clearance afterwards.
The control surfaces were set to my standard warbird configuration of 15 degrees max deflection for ELE and AIL. The flaps were 15 degree takeoff and 30 degree landing. The rudder was on a low/high rate of 15/30 degrees. The cockpit area was spacious and allowed the brick to be placed without issue to achieve the CG of 90mm which was about right in the middle of the range called out in manual @ 88-94mm.
Flight characteristics require that a pilot should be comfortable with rudder coordinated turns and you don't want to be slouching it on final base turn for landing because of those wedge shaped wings.
Once on final go with full flaps and she settles in rather nicely. Here's some shots of my takeoffs and landings
(click on each pic for a nice large view)




Perfect full flaps 2 point touchdown

[Oxotnik]

Thanks, Charlie! So, you think that 5055 6S motors would be too much??? LOL

I showed the Tante Ju to my wife last night and her comment was, "That's cheap. Most of your planes cost $400." Little does she know that a $400 ARF is really a $1200 ARF. Little things like that aren't really that important for her to know. LOL

I think that I may have close to all of electronics needed to outfit the Ju-52 at home already. So, it may actually only be a $210 out-of-pocket plane. :-)

BTW, the Product Page says that this model has retracts. That should probably be changed. LOL

[Oxotnik]

Let them talk. We are having fun.

This one won't be mine, although it will be in the family hangar. I will do at least the maiden before my bride takes possession of the sticks.

I too would like your thoughts on set up and flight characteristics Charlie.

Kind of a joke between my wife and me is that I'll get a new plane and put a nose-art sticker on it with her name on it, and call it 'her' airplane. When I showed my wife the Ju-52 product page last night, I also flipped through the other Nexa planes coming. She asked, "Why does that one (the P-47 Razorback) say "Touch of Texas" on it? She's a Texas girl. I told her than when I get mine, I'll modify that to "Touch of Texas Sunshine." ("Sunshine" is the pet name that I often call her by). She smiled and said, "That'd be awesome." SCORE!!! I tricked her into giving me permission to buy another warbird! LOL

[Twowingtj]

OV10 thanks for the info Charlie. I'll make notes. It will be a while before this one makes it to the bench. Several others on the wait list ahead of it. We will pick it up as soon as it's available.

Well Chuck and Charlie, we're lucky to have some pretty special ladies. Maybe they figure that there are far worse things we could be looking at on-line .

[Oxotnik]

It does say something about us that seeing a sexy warbird will send us seeking emergency medical attention after four hours. LOL

My wife and I often joke about her needing a new pair of shoes or a purse whenever I get a new warbird, or me needing a new warbird whenever she gets a new pair of shoes. We both agree that there are far worse ways that I could spending my time and my money, than on warbirds.

[Oxotnik]

Hearing about a VQ warbird sale, I went to take a look. What caught my eye was the VQ Ju-52. They had both the civvie Lufthansa and Luftwaffe splinter camo. I'd kinda prefer the splinter camo. What surprised me, though, was that the VQ price was $279, as opposed to the Nexa Ju-52 price of $210. I couldn't find anything different different about the VQ version that'd drive it $70 higher (sale price). Any clues why the Nexa Ju-52 is less expensive than the VQ, when both look identical?

https://vqwarbirds.com/product/vq-ju...c2%94-span-ep/

[OV10]

Hearing about a VQ warbird sale, I went to take a look. What caught my eye was the VQ Ju-52. They had both the civvie Lufthansa and Luftwaffe splinter camo. I'd kinda prefer the splinter camo. What surprised me, though, was that the VQ price was $279, as opposed to the Nexa Ju-52 price of $210. I couldn't find anything different different about the VQ version that'd drive it $70 higher (sale price). Any clues why the Nexa Ju-52 is less expensive than the VQ, when both look identical?

https://vqwarbirds.com/product/vq-ju...c2%94-span-ep/

VQ Warbirds price on the VQ line has always been over priced as far as I was concerned and probably a likely reason(assumption) they didn't move very well within that store front.
I have actually dealt directly with Vinh Quang the president of VQ Models and he is a really great person.
He would like to get his hands on older copies of the MAN(ModelAirplaneNews) magazine if anyone is so inclined to help

[Oxotnik]

Thanks, Charlie. As I'd said in an earlier post, I only have one reference point for VQ warbirds, and that was their 59" FW-190A. I ended up really disliking it because the gear stance was horribly wrong and the cockpit/canopy had some really bad scale issues, too. I'm not usually an overly critical scale person, but I kinda am on the FW-190s. I'd also thought seriously about the VQ MC.205, but it looked to have similar scale issues; so, I've decided to pass on it. I've heard really good things about some other VQ warbirds, especially the Dauntless. I'm really looking forward to getting a Ju-52. I wish that Motion was bringing the splinter camo version, but I'll take the Lufthansa civvie version. Trimotors are cool! :-)

[OV10]

Thanks, Charlie. As I'd said in an earlier post, I only have one reference point for VQ warbirds, and that was their 59" FW-190A. I ended up really disliking it because the gear stance was horribly wrong and the cockpit/canopy had some really bad scale issues, too. I'm not usually an overly critical scale person, but I kinda am on the FW-190s. I'd also thought seriously about the VQ MC.205, but it looked to have similar scale issues; so, I've decided to pass on it. I've heard really good things about some other VQ warbirds, especially the Dauntless. I'm really looking forward to getting a Ju-52. I wish that Motion was bringing the splinter camo version, but I'll take the Lufthansa civvie version. Trimotors are cool! :-)

I owned both the VQ Dauntless(1540mm) and the P-39(1580mm) also.
My only critiques of concern for those were the dihedral was inaccurately lacking and the wing joining plywood spar splicer was brittle crap.
The Air Cobra now comes with retracts and flaps whereas my version was fixed gear and no flaps.
I think most likely the new rendition of the Cobra is on my check list if Motion brings it in.

[Rmawer]

Love this plane. I have an old Hobby King one that I've tried to fly twice (and crashed twice - its a horrible flyer as I've come to learn). Needless to say, when I saw this, its added to a gotta have list. Looking over the specs and checking inventories, seems the motors and ESC's are out of stock (everywhere). Anyone know what the motor can diameter limit is for this plane? I have three 3536 (35mm dia, 36mm long) motors from another project. Any idea what the limit is inside the cowls?

[Twowingtj]

Rmawer Welcome to Hobby Squawk! I may be able to let you know max can diameter in a few days.

Aunt Ju has been ordered!

[Oxotnik]

I ended up getting a Splinter Camo Tante Ju from VQ (when the ran a sale last week, dropping the price to be inline with the Nexa Ju-52 price). I wanted to support Motion, for bringing in new and exciting warbirds, but, in this case, I really wanted the Luftwaffe splinter camo version, versus the civvie Lufthansa. It's on the assembly bench now. Doubt that I'll have it completed by this weekend, but probably the following weekend. I'm going with the 2836-1000kv motors that Charlie recommended.

[Twowingtj]

Oxotnik Good on you. Being able to get it for that price, in a livery you want is great.

I think my wife is going to go with the livery in post #2 of this thead, minus the floats. https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/thread...uestion.26952/

What do you think of the one you have on the bench?