Freewing F6 Hellcat ARF Review

I could not believe what a JOY it is to fly the Freewing F6 Hellcat!
It's a great flying plane in the air with no bad habits.

Why? It is lighter than the same size and style of airplane models, but its modular construction makes it quite strong for a foam plane.

This little jewel will do most aerobatics you ask of it!

Upon opening the box, I found everything well packed as you see above. A quick inventory showed that everything was there even a small amount of glue and a screw driver was included.

Instructions - Actually, the instruction are surprisingly good, there are some occasional awkward translations but plenty of pictures make it easy.

Now, let's charge the battery while I assemble this little jewel.

Step 1: Insert main gear
Step 2: Glue wing halves
A change I made was to use my own epoxy (15 minute) instead of the supplied epoxy (5 minute). The instructions say to wait 3 hours after gluing each wing half on for their glue to set, well hmmm, OK so I'm not that patient. 35 minutes later both wings are in place and I'm on to the next step.
Step 3: attach aileron extension
Step 4: here I installed the receiver and then closed the belly hatch w/supplied adhesive tape.
Step 5: combine vertical and horizontal stabilizers - just stick the rudder onto elevator
Step 6: install onto the fuselage with adhesive tape
Step 7-8: install tail wheel using screws (supplied)
Step 9: install fairing under tail

Range & Control check: Good,

Time to fly - After about 9 feet and a little rudder correction, the Freewing F6 Hellcat lifts with authority and is ready to go hunt a Zero.

I have to admit, I was skeptical about the scale looking supplied 3 bladed prop, but it performed well. No doubt this is a sweet flying plane, with the stock setup it will do anything I ask of it, loops - both inside and out, stalls, precision rolls, you have to keep the speed up and it does take just a little more rudder to keep a clean knife edge. It slows down very nicely and is very gentle in slow speed. Ready to land, it likes ground effect and will float to the ground on a gradual descent to the ground . . . beautiful.

If anything I would say that it feels a just a tad tail heavy in the air, but not bad, a bigger battery may help.
    
Now, with a change of the prop and a 25C battery, this plane can easily hand launch and takes the air with the authority of its real counter-part. I would suggest anyone flying this plane to use the supplied prop first then change it to fit your style later.

Quick and simple to build
Almost complete - this version included everything except the receiver.
Looks great, glides and handles slow speed very well
It will also fly very fast at full throttle - (very handy for ground straffing runs w/machine guns)

Really very few, it is made from foam. So it will, as most all foam planes do, develop marks or small depressions in the foam. But its no big deal!
We have become so accustomed to overpowered airplanes that we may not realize when a plane actually flies like the real thing. Is this plane under powered? No, but with the stock motor, prop and battery it will fly very close to the real thing or like a scale plane (on steroids) tends to. Changing the prop and battery can make a difference if you want more power.
OK, like most scale ARF's, it could use some furniture -like a pilot, cockpit interieor, etc...