I just got the Pitts Special from the Mailman! Will begin build and take lots of pictures.

UPDATE: Pictures are in.

I wasn't expecting this delivered until next week since it showed it arrived in San Fransisco on the 16th and you all know how long US customs takes. Last HK order took 4 days in customs.

The box arrived in one piece and with no damage. The parts were very well protected by lots of bubble wrap and air bags. The plane was cradled inside a maze of foam and tape which allowed it to stay ding-free The box was big; 36 x 16 inches.

With the Pitts, I ordered some spare servos and a Battery Monitor along with the Rx for my 6 ch HK radio.

Assembly was easy but a little frustrating at times since the manual from Art-Tech.cn was pretty useless. The plastic screws that cam in the box were 2 short and 2 long but you need 2 long for the bottom wing and 1 long and 1 short for the top wing so now I need to find a screw that works for the top wing.

The servos were pre-installed and the ailerons pre-hinged. Assemble pretty much consists of installing your Rx, Plugging in the servos, attaching the wings and plugging in your battery. The plane balanced perfectly right away. I had to adjust the aileron subtrim a bit and reverse 2 channels. Pretty damn easy.

The covering is some kind of cheap film and paint on the tail. It's not too bad. The ESC and servo wires were bouncing around the plane so I had to use some double-tape. The connector on the ESC was an XT60 so I replaced that with Deans. The battery compartment barely fits my 1350 mAh Mega Power LiPo. There's another compartment behind the battery one that I'm guessing is for the ESC but since it came soldered already, I just left it inside.

The plane has so much power! I'll bet it can go vertical for a while. Now I have to wait for a calm day to maiden it. I will have video of it.

MANUAL: http://art-tech.cn/english/pdf/pitts.pdf

Yes the Hobbyking pitts looks quite nice will be interested when you post the pics.

PICTURES and 1st update.

The little wrench is to help with installation/removal of propellers.

as for te two screws...who knows? maybe they keep the fuselage from splitting itself apart on maiden?

What type of foam is this...brittle Art Tech like used in the F4U or something more durable like Z or Elapor foams?

Don

Originally Posted by nicoyenny

as for te two screws...who knows? maybe they keep the fuselage from splitting itself apart on maiden?

LOL. I'm thinking they screw into plastic; maybe they are for the landing gear or something... I have to look carefully and read more build logs on this model.

The black headed screws are for the upper end of the interplane struts, and go at the rear of them from the bottom through the strut, and thread into a plastic boss in the wing. At least thats what I see in thier pics at the HK website.
On the older AT Pitts and Christen Eagle the screws went in from above the top wing and into the strut, and didnt have those plastic heads. But this design looks to have changed.

Have fun, you'll like this fun and frolic bipe. A very stable and light wing load.

I received mine about 4 months age - there's a lot of information about them in the forums. The rear compartment is a left over from a previous configuration as far as I undestand. I cut the bottom out of mine and modified it so I can slide a 2100mAh 3 cell lipo in angled toward the front. CG is perfect with this configuration. I can also use a 1320 in the front compartment if I want to go a bit lighter. Either way, it flies great - a bit twitchy which can be expected for such a short coupled plane.
The black headed screws on mine go in the top wing from the top and hold the trailing end of the strut - its a bit of a trick to get them in as they have to be lined up with a very small hole in the rear edge of the strut. I was afraid I was going to break something as I pushed the strut forward enough to get things lined up. But it did go and everything seems very solid.
I'll try to find some pics to post.
enjoy
Murray

forgot to mention - on mine the motor mount screws extend into the batt compartment and could damage the batt on a less than perfect landing (my specialty) so I glued a foam pad over them. Keeps the sharp bits away from the sparky bits.
Murray

Those screws are strange - I didn't have anything like that in mine. It's a good plane - don't know what it's made of, but it's some foam that breaks in big chunks rather than the explosion of confetti

Found some pics

Weird... on mine those are held down with plastic bits pushed through the foam.

One thing I would do on this plane is put some tape on the bottom of the wings - it likes to drag the wing a little bit - it's pretty low to the ground.

A Pitts will be the next step after mastering my Cub. I was leaning towards the GWS but this looks like a nice bird. If it flies as good as it looks you might have changed my mind on the GWS.

Tape on the wings is a good plan - I couldn't believe how close to the ground they are.
Also make sure you go over all the fasteners to make sure they are tight - I found a few loose on mine.
Murray

Does it still have Pitts spelled backwards on the right side of the tail?
That just kills me...