Exquisite Single Seater is Powered by Seven Cylinder Verner Radial Engine

ScaleBirds Honcho, Sam Watrous, has confirmed that their P-36 replica has now flown a number of times and outside of the usual teething pains (baffling, cooling, yada yada), the P-36 looks to have a very bright future.

Overall controllability appears promising and the ground handling also appears to be on target. Instrumentation was a little off, so performance numbers are not yet available. The first flights were conducted by a respected member of the test flying community, Eliot Seguin, noting that “...you have a great little airplane here!”

The single seater looks pretty much like the original, but unique, P-36 and may also serve as a test bed for a future rendition of the P-40 (Jimmy WANTS!), but one of the best assets this bird offers is a true radial sound/feel in terms of the use of the seven cylinder Verner Motor.

“It is a Verner motor, seven cylinder, it can also handle the five cylinder. Verner does five, seven and nine right now,” Watrous notes. “The engine is a radial engine, direct drive cruise 1800 rpm, throaty rumble. Lots of torque, 124 hp that acts like a 135 or 140 hp engine.”

The aircraft is destined for kitting and Sam hopes that the birds will allow for, “Completed airplanes will be about $65,000, but the average build would probably be about $75-80,000, with normal avionics, nothing crazy.”

The aircraft is now undergoing the post-test flight 'tweaking' process and flight testing is due to resume shortly, with an appearance at Oshkosh in the cards... where we expect it to be standing room only. ANN's Jim Campbell has been invited to participate in the flight test program down the line and he's looking forward to it. More info to come.

FMI: http://scalebirds.com