Little T'Bird kit by Richards Custom Mod

LAST EDITED ON Apr-19-03 AT 01:29 PM (CDT)
 
Little T'Bird by Richards Custom Model Kits
Kit Instructions: (1-5 - 5 is best) 4

Larry makes a kit that is the equal to Veco's original kits, only done better. The kit includes a copy of the original plans/instruction sheet. Probably thousands of T'Birds, large and small were successfully built using these plans/instruction sheets. They are not the same as the current instruction books included in some kits, but totally more than enough to satisfactorly complete the kit.

The Little ThunderBird spans 46 inches, with 410 sq. inches of wing area. Otherwise it's almost identical to the larger T'Bird.

Materials & Packaging: (1-5) 5

The kit came double boxed. It survived shipment through the postal service without a mark. Richard mailed the kit out to me at 10 AM his time, it arrived at my Post office at 9 AM the next day, exactly 24 hours after he shipped it. Great fast service by both Larry and the Postal Service.

Upon opening the box, the first thing that struck me was how it was packed. He used a lot of bubble wrap to fill out the box so the parts wouldn't shift and possibly be damaged, a nice touch. The second item I noticed was that all the parts were individually bagged and marked. They are well protected and easy to I.D. the individual parts. The quality and selection of the wood is excellent. This kit is made with the loving care and attention that is exhibited by the best of scratch builders in creating their own kits. The parts upon examination seem to be very accurately cut. there shouldn't be any need to re-fit the parts.

All in all, an excellent job.

Ease of Build & Finish: (1-5)

I won't begin this kit for a while, I'll update these following sections when construction begins.

Design & Appearance: (1-5) 5

The classic Palmer design. The kit is true to it's roots.

General Flight Characteristics: (1-5)

Little T'Birds I've seen fly have been very good. I'll comment more about it when I get to that part.

Performance Capabilities1-5) 5.0

Pilot skill is the determining factor here.

Maintenance & Repair1-5) 4.5

As per most full fuselage designs, no surprizes.

Comments:

I am so impressed with the quality that I wanted to share my happiness with Larry's products. I will build this plane and continue with the review as it progresses. You won't be unhappy with the quality of Larrys kit offerings.

Build Tips: See comments as build progresses

Setup Tips: Same as above.

Power Tips:

Veco suugested a Veco .19 when the kit was released. In todays world, I would suggest the same, if you can get one. Other engines that would work would be the earlier OS offerings in the "S" series. .20 or .25 would be perfect. The older Fox .19 or .25 would also work fine. These are all relativly light weight engines and would probably balance the plane well without too much added trim weight. Newer engines such as the .25LA though heavier would work, but you might consider shortening the nose a bit for the heavier engines.

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?

LAST EDITED ON Apr-19-03 AT 05:16 PM (CDT)
 
John,

I echo your comments about the Larry Richards kits. I have seen two of them so far, including the one I have. Both have been of excellent quality with good wood, excellent parts cut and fit, and plans.

I have the Micchia designed P-40 as kitted by Midwest. Larry has improved upon that kit by adding thicker, lighter wood for the ribs as well as straighter, lighter wood for the shaped leading and trailing adges and that large plank fuselage.

After I get back to my work shop from my latest assignment, I hope to build this one. I will probably, since I'm a bit of a dinosaur, power it with one of my OS Max-S .35's or Max-H .40's.

It should make a decent flyer---probably considerably better than the original kit built plane did, due to the fact that, I believe, it will build several ounces lighter.

Thank you John for the nice review. I hope you enjoy building the little bird as much as I enjoy cutting them. I'd also like to thank "old sourdough" for the review on the P-40. I'm currently cutting two of those now, with the entire warbird list to go! It's really nice that this forum lets everybody know what's going on in this hobby, good or not so good. Nothing is BAD, it's only a hobby.