Originally Posted by Westwindpilot86

Hey everyone, got mine maidened. I have a total of 2 flights on it. Hopefully I can help everyone out with what I found on my pc-21 to help others with theres.

First impressions.....

1: This thing is huge and is very good quality.
2: The packaging in the crates is the best I have ever seen. Other companies like to wrap in bubble wrap, and stuff everything into as few boxes as they possibly can. Wind RC used 3 crates to package this plane. Everything had plenty of room inside so nothing was rubbing on eachother. Roy had an issue with the cockpit seat coming unglued from the cockpit floor and rubbing on the canopy. I didnt have this issue but it could very well happen to you. Also, please take Roys advice on making a system so your canopy doesnt go all the way over. I used a string method that can be taken on and off with ease. But over-all I was extremely impressed with everything else.
3: Loc-tite!!!! I got the plug and play version with servos and hardware installed. I went over all the hardware and servos and to my surprise everything was loc-tighted. (you dont find that much anymore).
4: Front pins to take off cowl. These pins are fragile. Dont know what kind of metal they are made of but my two front pins broke off trying to get the cowl off the first time. Now its a hassle to get cowl off. I have to take prop and spinner off in order to get cowl off now.

The assembly itself was pretty straight-forward as there is so much done for you. I would say the part that took the longest was turbine placement. I am using the kingtech k-100TP. I saw pictures of other builds and it looked like no modifications or very light modifications where done to get the turbine installed. Mine required quite a bit of dremeling and shimming to get it to line-up. But once enough customizing was done it fit great and looks very clean. I am huge on spinner/cowl spacing and centering and mine is spot-on.

The fuel tank was not an issue but I elected to take it out which is a nightmare. I took out the Wind Rc plug, line, and clunk and replaced with my own style. I used leftover pieces I had from other birds. I do plan on putting a second tank in but will wait a little while longer to do that.

Issues!!!

The two big issues I have had on this plane are the retracts and brakes. The retracts themselves work fine, but the struts on mine dont extend back to the full down position when there is no weight on the aircraft. This prevents the gear going into there wheel wells correctly when being retracted. I know there is a trick where you can install wood dowels to compress the springs a bit more. I have done this but on my second flight the right main still didnt fully retract. So I will need to go in and make the dowel a bit longer.
The brakes are another issue that although my plane stopped before going off the edge of the runway it got close.
Here is an example:
My runway is 700 feet long. I landed 50-100 feet after the beginning of the runway and went to full pulsating brakes. It came to a stop about 75 feet before the opposite side of the runway. That is way to long. I landed at a nice slow speed as well. Fred from Wind RC says he has new brake hubs and I will end up ordering them in the coming weeks and hopefully those help.

Flight characteristics are awesome. I have 32 degrees of flaps and she comes in nice and slow and predictable.

But overall I am very impressed with this plane. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a very peaceful, predictable aircraft to add to there hangar.

Any questions, please ask.