P-47 Thunderbolt ARF

I bought this airplane when it first surfaced about five years ago. I had to wait a few weeks because it was backordered. When I finally received it I was shocked at the quality. The airframe was almost completely assembled, and to my surprise there wasn't a single dent in the foam. It took me about three hours to install the brushed motor, gearbox, esc, battery, receiver and two servos. It could not be more simple. ( the model has since been updated to be even more simple and has a two piece fuse. see website). If you have never had an alfa bird before, I'll tell you the best feature is their decals. They are top quality. What your left with when finished is an extremely scale looking warbird.
Flying this ship is way simpler than I had imagined. Handlaunches are done with ease as the light craft leaves your hand with a straight climb. The model flies at a nice scale speed with enough authority to do rolls, loops, and inverted flight. Since it is so incredibly light, it will fly at slow speed without stalling. Landings are made with an approach at maybe one third throttle and and cutting it to idle at about 50 feet away at thirty feet altitude. The model then floats gently to the ground. Keeping it off the ground as long as you can will insure a soft slow drop to the ground.
I flew this plane for a good year and a half, eventually wore the engine out, bought a new brushed 380(so cheap)and flew the heck out of it again. When that engine went, I installed an AXI and jeti esc and it just stepped up the performance.
Finally last fall, after about a good 100 flights, I decided to retire the jug. It had more dents in the foam, patched holes in the wing, cracked cowl and so on. The plane owed me NOTHING! I see it as the model lived up to the reputation of the full size Jug that could take punishment like no other and continue flying. I will be honest, the only reason I retired it is because I noticed that Hobby Lobby introduced an updated Alpha P-47 which had flaps and retracts, so I bought that and took all the gear out of the original and put it into the new one. (You would not believe how much dirt and grass was inside of it!) I thought the first was fun! My house is surrounded by farm fields so I can take off my driveway, fly above the fields and land in my driveway. Truthfully, it doesn't get much better.
The Jug is a great way to fly the scale of a warbird with the ease of a park flyer. Although I eventually upgraded to a brushless motor, the $11.00 brushed motor flew it quite well. I would recommend this bird as a first warbird to anyone.

This plane I bought a few years ago. It was my first small plane made of foam; prior to this plane I was flying .40 trainers. To be honest I wasn't confident and this little plane scared me when I took it to the field. It was very simple to build as most everything was already done. It took a bit of time to find the right place to put the battery to get the proper CG but other than this I wouldn't have any complaints about the building of this kit. The foam is thin so you have to be careful when you store or transport this plane, as you will get dings in it very easily.

For the first flight I had a friend hand launch the plane so I could have both hands on the radio. All the terror and fear I had of this little plane went away instantly when it was airborne. This plane has a wide range of speed. The plane can fly very slow and stable or fast while riding on rails. This p-47 flew so well that 4 other people at the field bought one within 2 weeks of seeing it. Landing this plane was also something I worried about, just to find out it was the simplest thing to do with how slow and easy this plane can fly.