AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Airfoil: Length: Weight:
R/C sport scale foam
49 inches
symmetrical 37.6 inches 44.4 ounces
Motor: (2) 370-size brushless outrunners ESC:
(2) 18-amp
Battery: Radio:
3S 2200 mAh Li-Po Manufacturer:
PNF with AR600 DSMX RX ParkZone
Dist. by: Horizon Hobby 4105 Fieldstone Road, Champaign, IL 61822 217-352-1913
www.horizonhobby.com
The brainchild of legendary designer Ge- offrey deHavilland, the Mosquito was con- structed mostly of balsa, birch and spruce. This earned it the nickname “The Wooden Wonder.” With two Rolls Royce Merlin en- gines on the business end of this light- weight airframe, performance was very im- pressive. Speeds of over 400 mph led to some Mosquitos running sorties with no defensive armament whatsoever; they were so fast that no Axis fighter could touch them.
The Mark VI Mosquito featured here, MM403, was part of the Royal Australian Air Force’s 464 Squadron. In and around Operation Overlord (the Allied invasion of Normandy) this unit conducted hundreds of sorties. This Squadron used the Mossies for low level bombing attacks, which wreaked
The packaging of the Mosquitois a work of art in and of itself. Everything is very well packed and supported so as to avoid damage. If you are very tight on storage space, the Mossiecan also be disassembled and put back in there.
havoc on enemy lines and gained 464 an ex- cellent reputation. ParkZone has honored the Mark VI Mos-
quito before, offering a popular micro ver- sion. Apparently deciding that the Mossie deserved even more representation, they went ahead and created this substantially larger version. Spanning 49 inches, it is cer- tainly one of the larger models ParkZone has come up with. But enough chitchat, let’s see if this warbird is worthy of the name Mosquito. After briefly looking over the colorful and rather large box, it was time to see what was inside. The packaging on the Mosquito is re- markable in and of itself. Everything is packed in the most compact, efficient way possible, and everything is carefully wrapped in foam to minimize the chance of
damage. There is quite a bit of tape holding the major components down, and care should be taken when removing the tape so as not to accidentally lift off the paint. With unpacking completed, I could now ap- preciate the Mossie. As mentioned earlier, it is a rather large foamy, but not too large as to be unwieldy. The painted finish on the foam is decent overall, but is complemented with some great decals. This Mosquito, MM403, sports the always-attractive invasion stripes on the fuse and undersides of the wings. A pi- lot figure and four .303 caliber machine guns in the nose add some extra detail. This Mossie has the vast majority of the
work already done, with only basic assembly being required. Out of the box, fixed gear and non-functioning flaps are standard, but that can be changed with some drop-in optional equipment, which was provided for this re- view. With that being said, assembly begins with the installation of the retracts. To fit the optional E-flite 10–15 size elec- tric retracts the fixed gear nacelle covers must be removed along with the fixed gear mounts. Next, the manual shows the fixed gear struts being disassembled and a por- tion of them replaced with the included longer retract legs. The problem was that my Mossie did not include these. A quick call to Horizon Hobby had a set in the mail to me quickly. Once the retracts are bolted in place, the retract nacelle covers are screwed down, followed by the engine intake scoops. To activate the optional split flaps, two ex- tra sub-micro servos are required. In my case, I was provided with two ParkZone SV80 servos. To install them, a sharp hobby knife is used to cut through the film covering the servo pockets. The servos can then be in- stalled with double-sided tape. Everything else you need for the flaps is included with the Mossie. Once the control horns and pushrods are installed, the flaps themselves must be cut free on two sides.
The unboxed Mosquitoreveals a low parts count and high degree of pre-assembly. All graphics, including those great invasion stripes, are pre-applied. Extra lower nacelle covers are included if you spring for the optional retracts.
FLYING MODELS
The rest of the assembly goes very quick- ly. The wings simply slide over a single car- bon fiber spar, and each is held in place with a single screw. With the optional flaps and retracts, there are quite a few more leads to snake into the fuse, so care must be taken to
35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68