Yellow Hammer - Well, keep your ear to the ground and your eyes open because the current owner of the company is ferociously working to get the kit back into production. He has been actively moving forward for the last 3-4 years. Making new tooling parts for the airframe is his current project. Cheers!
Yellow Hammer - If you want more info, go to the current company owner's website: Stewart51.info LOTS and LOTS of info about where he's at in getting the kit up and running again. I think he said he is aiming to have a formal presence/booth at Oshkosh (AirVenture) in 2017. (Update as of Jan 2018: Spoke with the S-51 company owner a few days ago and he said he now plans to have a booth/formal presence at OSH 2019. Pls go to his website and you can see the progress he is making on resurrecting the kit.) Cheers!
I give credit to the Titan 51 guys for creating a highly successful kit but there is no question the S-51 is a nicer looking, and higher performing, Mustang replica. Numbers and lines don't lie. Period.
Is that "Hurry Home Honey" up in Visalia? If so, he's in the middle of a very rigorous test program right now and I'd been told he was offered $400K for it.
@ Jack L - I'd say that depends. If you have the money for the real one, that answer is probably "no". If you don't have the money for the real thing then that answer is most likely "yes". It's all a matter of what you value: authenticity or sitting on your living room couch. I will say this, though, a guy named Brad Hood who was a very experience P-51 pilot (the real thing) bought a turbine-powered (turboprop) S-51 and said when he was done making some minor tweaks on it, it flew almost like the real -51. Cheers!
+Paul Gould No, contact Jan Fronk. All his contact info is in the video. If I'm not mistaken he was considering making a batch of gear-related parts, though I don't know if that included more inner gear doors.
No. I was active duty Air Force for 24+ years. Couldn't get a fighter like I wanted out of UPT so I did the next best thing; I hung out in AETC (Air Education and Training Command) for all but 2 short tours in C-130s. I taught for 3 years in T-37s and over 13 years in T-6s. Mighty proud that out of my 5,250+ hrs of Air Force time, only about 1,000 was in heavies, everything else was in fighter-type aircraft: T-37, T-38 and T-6s. Beat workin' for a living!
Nice work sir. I really value what Stewart has done by keeping the mustang alive. They are the masters in my book.
Yellow Hammer - Well, keep your ear to the ground and your eyes open because the current owner of the company is ferociously working to get the kit back into production. He has been actively moving forward for the last 3-4 years. Making new tooling parts for the airframe is his current project. Cheers!
Twister051
Thanks for the info Twister. Ill be looking into what you said.
Yellow Hammer - If you want more info, go to the current company owner's website: Stewart51.info LOTS and LOTS of info about where he's at in getting the kit up and running again. I think he said he is aiming to have a formal presence/booth at Oshkosh (AirVenture) in 2017. (Update as of Jan 2018: Spoke with the S-51 company owner a few days ago and he said he now plans to have a booth/formal presence at OSH 2019. Pls go to his website and you can see the progress he is making on resurrecting the kit.)
Cheers!
Twister051
Roger that. I would love to get up to Oshkosh next year. I have been on their website, thanks for the info!!
The S51 is so much more appealing than the Titan 51
I give credit to the Titan 51 guys for creating a highly successful kit but there is no question the S-51 is a nicer looking, and higher performing, Mustang replica. Numbers and lines don't lie. Period.
The gear didn’t sound like it locked down during the emergency free fall check. A solid sound at the end of the gear extension is is reassuring.
a few roll motions side to side would make them lock in place.
Thanks for sharing this, great stuff!
Bravo guys
Love it!
What kind of hydraulic power pack does the airplane use? The one in the video sounds like one out of a King Air.
There’s a just completed Stewart 51 in California that’s for sale for 600,000
Is that "Hurry Home Honey" up in Visalia? If so, he's in the middle of a very rigorous test program right now and I'd been told he was offered $400K for it.
Is a scale down replica more appealing than full size?
@ Jack L - I'd say that depends. If you have the money for the real one, that answer is probably "no". If you don't have the money for the real thing then that answer is most likely "yes". It's all a matter of what you value: authenticity or sitting on your living room couch. I will say this, though, a guy named Brad Hood who was a very experience P-51 pilot (the real thing) bought a turbine-powered (turboprop) S-51 and said when he was done making some minor tweaks on it, it flew almost like the real -51. Cheers!
How much does a S-51 run total with the added inner gear doors?
Jan 2021: Last I heard from the kit company owner is that a complete firewall aft kit was probably going to be in the $200K range.
Any chance you can provide enough information that I can contact you..
+Paul Gould - What is it you need?
+Twister051 do you sell the inner doors and sequencing equipment?
+Paul Gould No, contact Jan Fronk. All his contact info is in the video. If I'm not mistaken he was considering making a batch of gear-related parts, though I don't know if that included more inner gear doors.
Here is how it works on a P-51D:
ruclips.net/video/-46CQ--UD7Y/видео.html
So, you were a fighter pilot?
No. I was active duty Air Force for 24+ years. Couldn't get a fighter like I wanted out of UPT so I did the next best thing; I hung out in AETC (Air Education and Training Command) for all but 2 short tours in C-130s. I taught for 3 years in T-37s and over 13 years in T-6s. Mighty proud that out of my 5,250+ hrs of Air Force time, only about 1,000 was in heavies, everything else was in fighter-type aircraft: T-37, T-38 and T-6s. Beat workin' for a living!