F6F Hellcat Crespo

[t michael jennings]

Gentlemen,

1)  When was Harry Crespo's F6F-3 Hellcat designed?

2)  Are there differences between Crespo and the Brodak F6F-3 Hellcat?

Thanks for the info.

T Michael Jennings
Knoxville, TN

[Phil Spillman]

Hi Michael, I did  a feature o Harry's Hellcat in Control Line World several years ago. I traded another kit to Harry for his Hellcat in 2007. I powered this plane with an LA .46 and it flew quite well. However while flying it in Hershey, PA after one of the Lebanon swap meets I snapped off the out side wing! I returned it to Harry who repaired the wing and returned it to be at the Brodak FlyIn that same year. Subsequently I mounted a ST G 21 .46 on the plane and it flew even better! However that same wing snapped off once again and Harry repaired it again! Just this past Friday January 24,2020 I was flying that same plane and guess what? That outside wing broke off again! I have placed nicely with this combo in several local contests in Expert Profile and feel that it is a most worthy design! However if I do build another down the line, I'll certainly beef up the center of the wing! With a good running engine it is a fine performer which looks really neat in the air!


Phil spillman

[t michael jennings]

Phil,

Thanks for the key info about the F6F.

Will beef up the wing's center section upon building the kit.

Thanks again.

Michael Jennings
Knoxville, TN

[Elwyn Aud]

Must be one like this one.

[wwwarbird]

Must be one like this one.

 That one appears to be the Sterling kit version.

 I am curious to see what this Crespo one looks like?

[Phil Spillman]

Hi Warbird, Just go to the Brodak web site and pull up the kit. It really looks authentic or as much as any Profile might! As I stated earlier, it does the PA pattern nicely.

That would be flyiin @brodak.com


Phil Spillman

[Tony Drago]

Not a good picture. I borrowed it from the Brodak catalog.
 It is a really good looking plane.  It will catch one's eye at Johns hobby shop.
.

[wwwarbird]

 Thanks guys, I didn't realize the Brodak kit was the Crespo design.

 I built one of the Zero kits from the Brodak Warbird series once. Not sure, but I've heard their Warbird series of kits all use the same wing. I modified my Zero quite a bit, in the end about all I used from the kit was the rib set. It wouldn't have been necessary, it was simply my preference with all the modifications/updates I chose to make during the build. It was a really good flying model with an LA.46, I'm sure the Hellcat would be practically identical.

[Tony Drago]

 Yes Same wings, except for the Lagg3. Its a bit different from what John said.

[Balsa Butcher]

Correction y'all: The  original warbird series (Zero, Mustang, Sea Fury, Me109 FW 190 and Martin Mauler) all had 48" wing spans with 540 inches sq wing area. They were designed by Mike Garmon.  The P-40, Lagg 3, and Hellcat came later. They have approx. 53" spans with 540 to 560 inches sq wing area. They have a different wing than the original series.

I have built and flown the original Mustang and Zero and they flew pretty darn good, kind of like a Nobler. However, having flown the  P-40 I can attest that it flies better than either of them probably due to having more wing area and a  thicker airfoil.  I suspect that the Hellcat would fly very much like the P-40 and would be very competitive in the Profile Stunt event. 

[Tony Drago]

Thanks Pete for the correction

[Phil Spillman]

IMHO the Hellcat flies better than the P-40! Although having flown both considerably the pair have afforded me many happy hours of flying fun! In addition they are both fairly rugged and have stood up to much hard usage! I hope to rebuild my Hellcat someday and will beef up the center section of my original wing or build a completely new wing.

Phil Spillman

[wwwarbird]

 Who designed the P-40 and the Lagg then?

[Balsa Butcher]

I believe that the P-40 is a Pat Johnston design and the Lagg 3 was designed by John Miller with input from John Brodak.  If I'm wrong in this I'll apologize in advance.