I wanted my A-1 Skyraider to stand out from all the other ARFs out there, so I decided to
add some additional scale details. First, I started by adding the Turnigy FAA scale lighting
set, which includes two red beacons, two white strobes, one red and one green navigation
light, and two white landing lights. To power the lights, I used a 450mAh 11.1V LiPo, so I wasn’t
drawing off the main battery. I had to use a separate 5A BEC to step down the 11.1-volt
battery to five volts so I wouldn’t burn out the LEDs. Next, I added a scale cockpit and fighter
pilot. Since they were not made for the Skyraider, I had to modify the cockpit area to get
them to fit. To improve ground handling, I induced approximately five degrees of forward rake
on the main landing gear. I accomplished this by adding two two-milimeter nuts to the aft
portions of the landing gear mounts. Unfortunately, when retracted, the gear is slightly raised
out of the wheel well, but it is not noticeable in the air.
To add a little more realism and fun, I decided to install droppable bombs, and two Quanum
RTR bomb systems did the trick. Next on the list was the trademark exhaust streaks, along
with panel lines and weathering. This was all accomplished with an airbrush, no. 2 soft pencil,
and a lot of time. Lastly, this combat naval aircraft wouldn’t be complete without a tailhook!
The addition of these upgrades along with the bigger battery brought the ready-to-fly
weight from 6. 7 to 7. 9 pounds. The Skyraider was built to haul large payloads and this model
is no different. There was not much change in the general flight characteristics, which is a
testament to the engineers who designed this reliable airframe.
With a little time and effort, my already great-looking ARF turned into a beautiful rendition
of a flying legend.
mainly of black and white photos with brief
descriptions of the assembly process, which
is more than adequate to get the airplane
together.
Assembly begins with the wing halves,
which have the ailerons and flaps pre-hinged.
All of the screws are in small separately labeled
bags, making identification a snap. First, the
control horns are attached to the ailerons and
flaps with screws and then the pushrods are
connected to the preinstalled servos. Next, the
main gear retracts are installed. The mounting
holes are predrilled, so they slip into place and
are held in with four screws. A handy three- Y-
lead connector is included to plug in the main
and tailwheel retracts. The wing can now be
joined with the pre-bent wood wing spar; it is
not glued together so it’s easily broken down
for transport.
CONCLUSION
The Starmax A-1 Skyraider is one of the top
scale EPO foam models I’ve seen. The manual
is easy to follow and assembly was quick. The
full-scale Skyraider is big and heavy, and that’s
how this model looks in flight. The Skyraider
mimics that appearance to a tee. Starmax has
set the bar high with this large model, which
has enough scale detail and features to keep
any warbird fanatic happy.
