FliteLine Sea Fury Build Review

[Corsair 167]

The flap servo will probably have to be replaced, it ain't gonna get better waiting for the maiden.
I really suspect that the mounting plate being reversed was an isolated incidence of 'late Friday brainfart' manufacturing syndrome but won't know until more are sold. If it is problematic I don't envy the warranty issues Motion will have to resolve.

I too had a flap servo which QUIT. Then after crashing it repeatedly, I discovered the motor had UPthrust not Down thrush. My Hobby shop replaced it as Motion would not since I purchased at LHS

[Grossman56]

Hi Charlie,
After your great reviews, I finally have the Sea Fury in my hangar. I still think I will carve out a little of the well to make room for 2.75" wheels. That size seems to have helped the Spit handle the grass at our field. Before I cut, however, I am wondering if you would be willing to share the paint matches that you have figured out, so that I can paint the wells after cutting. I noticed in another thread that you had mentioned that you had made good matches for the SF.
Thanks,
Tom

http://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/electronics-and-rc-accessories/airbrushing-tips-techniques-and-tricks/38537-fliteline-hawker-sea-fury-paint-codes

Here's the paint codes that Charlie posted

Grossman56

[OV10]

Tom,
Be glad to share(the search function also works pretty good too;)) a thread I opened last April.

http://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/electronics-and-rc-accessories/airbrushing-tips-techniques-and-tricks/38537-fliteline-hawker-sea-fury-paint-codes

Best regards,

[NorthernFlyer]

Hi Charlie,
After your great reviews, I finally have the Sea Fury in my hangar. I still think I will carve out a little of the well to make room for 2.75" wheels. That size seems to have helped the Spit handle the grass at our field. Before I cut, however, I am wondering if you would be willing to share the paint matches that you have figured out, so that I can paint the wells after cutting. I noticed in another thread that you had mentioned that you had made good matches for the SF.
Thanks,
Tom

[NorthernFlyer]

Thanks for the insight, Charlie. Unfortunately for my pocket book, that means that I will be adding the Sea Fury to my wish list. There is one housed in the military museum near my house and I love the look of that plane. I didn't realize I liked the look of the RAF planes so much until I added the FMS Typhoon to my hangar, which I think has a fantastic silhouette.
I will likely upsize the wheels as 2.75" - 3"
seems to be a good size for
our field.
All the best,
Tom

[OV10]

Great reviews Charlie. Thanks for posting them. I am considering ordering the FL Sea Fury and have a couple of questions I hope you can answer: how smooth do you keep your field? Ours is 1 - 2" length grass, and mildly rough in the main landing area. Just wondering due to the nose over tendency. Also, have you air anyone else done a wheel mod to make it more grass friendly? Just curious if there is any room in the wheel well for a bigger wheel, such as there is on the FL Spit. I don't like to do much cutting on the wing in order to prevent any sacrifice to the integrity, but would like to add slightly larger wheels if needed without making the space bigger.
Thanks.

Hello NF and thanx for the kudos,
Our club has two intersecting 400ft grass strips that are mowed to about 1 inch and they are moderately smooth because I personally roll them in the spring while they are spongy after the frost goes out with a 1500lb 5ft wide roller with my Kubota BX25.
The Fury wheels are 65mm and the wheel pockets are 70. You could go to a 70mm wheel (2-3/4") with just a nominal amount of wheel pocket sidewall relief needed which in no way jeopardizes wing integrity. You could actually put a 3" wheel and resize the wheel pocket sidewalls without any wing structure issues at all.
The other thing to consider would be shaving a 1/4 off the bottom of the strut cover. The Sea Fury suffers from this much like the Dynam FW-190 strut covers do in grabbing the grass.
You mention the FL Spit, I am using it's spinner in lieu of the Fury's. On the occasional nose over for me, the strut cover grab during takeoff is the worst because you have the motor wound up and the larger diameter spinner backplate of the Fury's is weaker at the outter edge and breaks. The slightly smaller Spitty spinner backplate is more locked into the prop shafts(props are same on both birds) and have never had another issue on prop turf strikes. OH......and the green color of the Spitty spinner matches the Fury's green fuselage perfectly.
Best regards,

[NorthernFlyer]

Great reviews Charlie. Thanks for posting them. I am considering ordering the FL Sea Fury and have a couple of questions I hope you can answer: how smooth do you keep your field? Ours is 1 - 2" length grass, and mildly rough in the main landing area. Just wondering due to the nose over tendency. Also, have you air anyone else done a wheel mod to make it more grass friendly? Just curious if there is any room in the wheel well for a bigger wheel, such as there is on the FL Spit. I don't like to do much cutting on the wing in order to prevent any sacrifice to the integrity, but would like to add slightly larger wheels if needed without making the space bigger.
Thanks.

[OV10]

Maybe we can get some pictures or video on Saturday!

Since the field opener is this Sat and the historian should be there, I was thinking of that Stan. Already have a dozen sorties on it now. Yesterday it was pretty challenging because the wind directions were all over the place at speeds averaging about 15mph whereas Wild Bill said I am unconscious because I just about hover landed it with half flaps on one sortie. You know how I pride myself on greasers :rolleyes:

[psustan]

Maybe we can get some pictures or video on Saturday!

[boomer108]

Great recap of your maiden OV 10, you could not have been more informative. Makes me think of getting one.

Roy B.

[OV10]

Warbirds flight review of the FlightLine Sea Fury

Hello pilots, today(4/17) in upstate NY it was 20+ degrees warmer than 2 days ago when I was rolling the club runways when it was 45F so I just couldn't let this day get past waiting for the official club spring reopener to happen next weekend to maiden this bird. So before I get on with the maiden activities let me bounce back for a moment about the build. I had mentioned that the flap servos were not traveling equally whereas I requested and Motion sent me the replacement servo's for the flaps and now the throws are all even after the swap out. One thing that I did not write about was the control surface throws.
I hate, let me rephrase, I detest setting up control surfaces by mm or fractional measurements. I use a deflection gage measured in degrees on all my bird setups which is much more concise and consistent. This inexpensive control surface throw gauge has served me well for years.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__24884__Control_Surface_Throw_Gauge.html
Aileron and elevator throws are set to +/- 15 degrees at 100% with no D/R and expo at 25%. Rudder is set for 15/30 degrees low/hi D/R and expo at 25%. Flaps are on a 3 position switch on the DX9 with mid at 15 degrees and full at 30 degrees.
With this last set up item of the build completed it was now time to "Get R Done" on the maiden.

So I arrive at the field today(Sun 1pm) with 2 birds, Dynam 50" FW-190 and the FlightLine 48" Sea Fury. The winds are varying from the W by SW between 10-15mph. I ALWAYS warm up with a known dependable flyer that has always treated me well with winds above 10 so up goes the FW-190 for a couple sorties checking out the upper layers for varying turbulences with no real issues found.
OK, time to get this maiden done. So there is good and bad news to report. The bad news is that the club historian was not available to take some action pics for me to post here but the good news is that the maiden plus 3 other sorties with the Sea Fury went most excellent. As matter of fact this bird will probably take over the position that the FW-190 held as the 'warmup' bird that checks the flyability status aloft.
The takeoff required no flaps and was airborne within 60-75' with about 60% throttle. The tail lifts up nicely and requires just a touch of up to keep it from wanting to cut some grass. Flaps tended to accentuate this nose over tendency. The P-factor was minimal and just a tad of right rudder was required to hold her straight prior to lift off.
In the air, that 580kV motor on 4S had some pretty respectable performance where mixed throttle usage averaging about 75% was giving 8 min on the 4000mAh Admiral. It doesn't have unlimited vertical but it will get up there far enough that it looks rather small. Rolls are pretty much axial and are rather quick with the 15 degrees of throw which if a pilot thought it to be a little aggressive I am confident that a reduction to 10 degrees will tame it but still be able to roll it with no issue. It can do some really nice big loops without loosing power or inertia near the too side. On the inverted side of things, I knew my CG was pretty much on the spot because I required a smidgen of down for level flight. On the right side up of things there was no trims adjustments required for any of the three axis controls which is a testament to my anal retentive practice of throws and CG setup process.
Setting up the landing is rather straight forward even with winds above 10mph. I was still able to use either the mid and full flap setting with no noticeable ballooning or nose dropping. She came in on a pretty rock steady descent path at about 30% throttle. Upon touching down with full flaps she has a tendency to want to nose over even when holding full up elevator after the air speed has been depleted enough so as not to lurch back up. Just a matter of getting those flaps closed up right after touch down. Taxiing required full up elevator and NO flaps or it will go on its nose. I initially was a little concerned about ground handling and the tail hook and was going to remove it but it turned out to be a non issue so my laziness worked out.
Back in my build review I commented that it was like an upscaled Dynam warbird whereas after some side by side flight comparisons between the FW-190 and the Sea Fury I still stand by that analogy. For another $30 for the FlightLine you get installed flaps(not optional), retracts are little more robust, she had a little more oomph because of that 580kV 12/7 4 blade versus the 500kV 13/7 3 blade on the FW-190 and last but not least the denser tighter celled foam that actually gave an edge to the Seafury for penetration weight(less battery) of 4.2 versus 3.4 pounds and obviously looks nicer too.
So to summarize, it is a really nice performing airframe that provides an alternative choice for those interested in 1200 sized warbirds. I personally wouldn't have bought this because I prefer 1/8 scale size which would put it about 1450mm but having won this, I am happy to provide a hangar for it where it will share the duties with the FW-190 as a turbulence checker because it is friendly in the sky.
Best Regards,

[Grossman56]

If we could somehow join our two fields we'd have it made. We don't own our property its BLM land but we have a paved runway (although it has quite a few cracks, we're in the process of fixing that. We have no grass runways, unless you want to count the sagebrush, and you don't, believe me!
The runway runs east to west for about 500 feet and a small north to south intersecting runway, maybe 100 feet, which leads onto a dirt area hat we've smoothened out so its possible to land on it if you had to. It tends to grow rocks though.
And again, because its BLM land, anyone can use it, which is fine, but the bathroom facilities have been used for target practice and I've seen people letting their kids climb on the tables and jump on them. You tell them to knock it off, but they still do it, its public land.
Fortunately its a few miles out of town, so it doesn't happen too often. Unfortunately, its a few miles out of town so it doesn't draw interested people as much as it could if it were closer.

Grossman56

[OV10]

Dan,
I am so fortunate to be only 7 miles(4 as the crow flies) from this club field. We celebrated 60 years last year, own our property of 100+ acres on a mountain top so no one can chase us away and have 2 intersecting runways sitting W/E(250' long) and N/S(300' long). My only wish is that we could have a paved 30' wide strip down the middle of each runway which are about 75' wide. That would be perfect for my jets.

[Grossman56]

Beautiful field Charlie, dang, how come everyone's field makes me feel like a road trip!!

Grossman56

[OV10]

Am getting really anxious to fly and maiden this Sea Fury.
Getting the club runways ready for next weekends(4/23) spring reopener. The maiden should occur within the week from opener and then my flight review. Only 45 degrees today.

[radioflite]

Really is a beautiful model of the SEA FURY ..wow!
Can't wait to hear from OV10 after the maiden .

[radioflite]

The build video Does show the wing being screwed down without issue , so must have been like was said above , just a goof up before fuse halfs were mated .
I have to laugh watching the whole assembly being done ...
all while wearing a bomber jacket , Ryan I dare you to wear Ray-ban aviator's while doing
the spitfire assembly video when it's released . all in fun ..we love ya buddy.

[OV10]

Wow, I'm wondering if that was just a one time glitch or whether that is something bigger! I'm sure others will be chiming in on that one.

Great looker now that she's finished OV, what did you think of the tail wheel situation, any possibility of making it retractable in your opinion?
(Love that Spitfire as well! I have enough spare motors and ESC'S from the P51s to cover the extras, Hmmm)

Grossman56

Tail wheel is fine as is for this level of aircraft.
No way the tail wheel can be made retractable without some major surgery and using something like the FMS BF109 tail retract assembly.
That Spitty has an FMS 4250-580kV with 85A Gecko turning the FMS Stang 4 blade.

[OV10]

That's the 3rd time I have heard about the flap servo problem.
MOTION R/C has got to be upset with the issues on such a beautiful plane from a new product line launch.
Ryan did not mention the wing bolt issue ?? I don't think he showed bolting the wing on at all ?? I want this plane and ready to pull the trigger but I think I need to hear more about the piece OV10A found installed backwards ...I sure hope that was a isolated problem.
I can't hack up a 200.00 plane comeing out of the gate .
Nice honest review OV10 , appreciated and look forward to your thoughts after a few hours in the air .

The flap servo will probably have to be replaced, it ain't gonna get better waiting for the maiden.
I really suspect that the mounting plate being reversed was an isolated incidence of 'late Friday brainfart' manufacturing syndrome but won't know until more are sold. If it is problematic I don't envy the warranty issues Motion will have to resolve.

[Grossman56]

Wow, I'm wondering if that was just a one time glitch or whether that is something bigger! I'm sure others will be chiming in on that one.

Great looker now that she's finished OV, what did you think of the tail wheel situation, any possibility of making it retractable in your opinion?
(Love that Spitfire as well! I have enough spare motors and ESC'S from the P51s to cover the extras, Hmmm)

Grossman56