The Hangar 9 Taylorcraft Giant Scale

The Hangar 9 Taylorcraft is a beautiful scale radio controlled plane offered  either as an  ARF or a BNF. Extensive details of both versions are presented, with photos and price analysis.

Of all the ARF planes available, this has to be one of the best looking and should be a very stable flyer.

This must be the largest airplane offered as a BNF, in the whole world of giant scale airplanes. BNF (Bind aNd Fly) has been almost exclusively used for the smaller electric radio controlled airplanes.

Wing span is 80.5" and the length is 63.5". With a wing area of 1150 sq. in., the total weight should be 14 to14.5lb. Regarding power requirements, 1.0 to 1.6 cu.in. 2 stroke engines or 1.28 to 1.8  4-stroke engines are recommended. If a gas engine is your preference then a 26cc would be ideal.
If you prefer electric planes, then a Power 110 outrunner brushless motor should fly the Hangar 9 Taylorcraft, very well.

I am not quite sure if Hangar 9 have quite got the idea of BNF incorporated here, as the Zenoah 26cc gas engine is NOT installed but is included in the box.

The servos and receiver are installed and everything else is included in the kit!

So to complete and fly the  Hangar 9 Taylorcraft, you must first install the gas engine, then bind your  transmitter to the 2,4Mghz receiver, already mounted in the fuselage.

Construction is of conventional balsa and ply and the covering is from UltraCote. Just take a look at the photos to see what a wonderful job has been done, on this complex color scheme.

The receiver is a Spektrum AR 8000 and the six servos are Spektrum 6000.

Regarding installation of the engine, it is not all that difficult!. Anchor nuts are installed in the firewall and the tank is already fitted, The instructions are very explicit, so if you follow them, you should have no problem at all. The fiberglass cowl has all the holes required for the Zenoah, so it really is a question of bolting stuff together. The spinner and a propeller are supplied so it should not take you very long before you are ready to fly!

I did notice that there is no charger supplied for the radio battery. I suppose that Hangar 9 figures most customers will already have one.

Another feature I did like is that the tail feathers are bolted on. I came across this feature, on another project recently and was really glad of it. A minor accident meant a repair was required on the tail plane. It was an easy matter to un-bolt the tail and fix the problem. It would have been a lot harder to fix if the tail was glued on.

Model Details

The photo above shows a number of features of the Hangar 9 Taylorcraft..

Note the instrument panel and the hinged door. The door is held closed by magnets and also gives access to the radio switch. Note also the full figure pilot. Now you will not have to go searching for a pilot-he is included in the package.

The wing halves are supported on tubes and access to the wing bolts is also through the door.

All the radio gear is located in the fuselage floor and covered with a plate. Magnets are attached to this plate and the seats are attached with the magnets, making a very neat and scale looking installation.

This photo shows the wing attachment system. The black main wing tube can be seen and the wing is pushed up to the fuselage side and then a 1/4"-20 nylon wing bolt is inserted from the inside.

Note also the seat and pilot visible through the top window.

Here we can see the tail wheel assembly. Pretty standard stuff but very good quality components. All of the hardware is American standard sizes, so no metric wrenches are required.

While we are looking at the tail end, remember I mentioned previously that the tail plane and rudder/fin assembly are bolted on? When you come to this step, please ensure that the tail plane and fin are square and true to the wing. If they are not then shim as required to achieve trueness.

This shot of the landing gear and strut assembly gives a good idea of the attention to detail typical of this  Hangar 9 Taylorcraft.

Hangar 9 have done an excellent job in creating this scale plane.

The struts are retained by a quick release snap ring and the they can fold flat against the underside of the wing. The jury struts must be removed to allow this.

Details of items included in the BNF version of the Hangar 9 Taylorcraft

The first item we shall consider is the G26 Air Engine (1.55 cu in) . This is an electronic ignition engine and is lighter than its predecessor and is easier starting. The necessary ignition  battery is already installed in the BNF version.

As we told you before, this unit is not installed and will have to be bolted in position.

Here we take a quick look at the Spektrum AR 8000 receiver. This is an 8 channel unit on the 2.4Ghz frequency. Once bound to your transmitter, there will be little, if any radio interference and no waiting for the frequency pin!

Hangar 9 has this unit installed for you in the BNF unit.

There are 6 Spektrum A6000 digital servos installed in the Hangar 9 Taylorcraft.

These units give 90 oz.in. of torque and a response time of 0.14 sec for 60 degrees of rotation.

Here we have the radio battery. This is a 5-cell NiMH unit. Voltage is 6V and the capacity is 2700mAh

The last item we will consider is a 2 1/2" spinner. Hangar 9 prefers a 2 1/4" spinner but the larger spinner is included with the BNF  Hangar 9 Taylorcraft, as it does not require any slot modification to accommodate the propeller.

If you were to use the smaller spinner, it would need some Dremel tool changes to the slots.

The total price of all the above items is $1311.85. including the cost of the ARF  Hangar 9 Taylorcraft.

The BNF version is listed at - $1279.99  So you can see that the price of the BNF model is a very good deal, especially when you consider that the assembly time for all those components is not included in any pricing!

To sum up all of the above, let us say that after conducting a lot of research to write this page, the Hangar 9 Taylorcraft is one beautiful scale model airplane. It is constructed and covered in a very professional manner and should last a lifetime, if properly looked after.

Please note that this model is no longer available