Which one first? The 1600 FL Spitfire or FL Tigercat

[8416w]

I am on the fence about which plane I should purchase first. Before anyone suggest it, I do plan to purchase both eventually. I am a Spitfire fan due to the Battle of Britain movie, but I have never owned a twin rc plane thus the interest in the Tigercat. I have read about both aircraft in the forums, and they have their pluses and minuses. I enjoy scale flight and my favorite part is the landings. Landings are also my favorite part when I am flying full scale aircraft. My flying locations are grass and occasionally dirt. I would like input from those who have flown and or own both aircraft, as to which one they would purchase first. . Thank you for your input.

[rifleman_btx]

I can only tell you about the tigercat. That plane is just awesome and such a kitten to fly. Very smooth and predictable, and has the power to go with it. To me you can't go wrong with either, but my vote cause it's what I have and know will be for the tigercat.

[8416w]

I read in the Tigercat forum that you like the FMS Tigercat over the FL version. Does the FMS fly better and is it more durable?

[rifleman_btx]

Well it has its pluses, however I went with the flightline. The bigger plane will fly more stable, and it comes with oleo struts standard on the fms. Also being alittle bigger obviously better detailing can be had. If I remember correctly the fms model outer wings are removable instead of the entire wing like the flightline. Depending on your storage and transport situation that might be an important factor. The down side is you pay $200 more for the fms, and you're running more expensive 6s. As for durability, they are made of the same foam so that would go equal to both planes. All in all after weighing all the factors I personally couldn't justify the cost of the fms. So I went with the flightline.

[RMatteson]

I have both the Flightline Tigercat and the Flightline Spitfire, both are excellent, but totally different planes in there flying, setup and battery needs. The Spitfire uses a 6s lipo and the Tigercat 2 4s. Both fly great, Spitfire has shock struts come with it, while the Tigercat offers a option package to replace stock gear. You can take off each wing half on Tigercat and assemble it at field pretty easy. I left the Spitfire wing together and bolt on at field. You can't beat the sound of a twin in the air and Flightline's is a great choice. FMS's Tigercat has super scale landing gear, bigger then Fl's, but is 200.00 more and for the money Flightline is a better choice. You can't go wrong with either.

[xviper]

If I remember correctly the fms model outer wings are removable instead of the entire wing like the flightline.

Mine is in the car about to go to the field for its maiden this morning. The wings are complete from the fuse to the tip. You may be thinking of the P-38, where the wingtips come off. I decided on the FMS because I wanted those beautiful retracts and 6s power. With my Flightline P-38, I felt it needed more power so I didn't want another plane with the same power system for the size of plane and I didn't want to mess with 2 batteries on yet another plane. I was fearful that my B-24 was going to a bit lethargic but as it turns out, on 4s, it's got sufficient power with those 4 engines.
PS. I rarely fly "scale". I want power for get up and go. With a somewhat short, very rough grass field, I hate "adequate" powered planes that might run out of runway.

[8416w]

Thank you for the responses and suggestions. I like flying scale, but having enough power to punch out of a problem is great. My super ez is underpowered, which can be frustrating to do basic aerobatics. Let me know how your maiden flight goes.

[xviper]

Ended up unable to do maiden due to poor range test. Just drove it around to test the ground handling. Was fine. Suspension worked really well. Unfortunately, one retract got stuck in the deployed position. Something is sticking on it as it worked when I "helped" it. This was the same thing that happened with my Flightline P-38 (both retracts got stuck and wouldn't come down for the landing). I'll oil it up and put in a different RX for Monday.

[rifleman_btx]

Yikes! And btw I do have both the flight line P38 and flight line tigercat. For some reason I sworn someone said that the FMS one came apart at the nacelles. But I was wrong thanks for the correction, sucks you didnt get it up in the air today. I was looking forward to hearing how she would do. I'm gonna try my luck with my 2 new birds tomorrow morning. I got my P38 replaced and my seawind. One died due to a dead cell in the battery and the other was the beginning of my fiasco with my old DX8 that ended up with me getting the horus x10. So slowly but surely I will change the reciever in my entire fleet and replace all my losses. One step at a time!:Silly:

[xviper]

I likely won't say too much about it when I do get to maiden it. This thread isn't about the FMS and thread about the FMS has disappeared.

[rifleman_btx]

Indeed

[OV10]

I likely won't say too much about it when I do get to maiden it. This thread isn't about the FMS and thread about the FMS has disappeared.

XV.........there's two threads on the FMS 1700 Tigercat

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/propeller-airplanes/52416-fms-1700mm-tigercat

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/propeller-airplanes/82764-fms-f7f-tigercat

There never was an "official' thread for it like there are with some of the older FMS birds.;)

[xviper]

Charlie, thanks for those links. For the life of me, I could not find those threads with the search and I'm even subscribed to them. :Confused: