Great "All in one" review! Gets right down to being able to enjoy this beautiful Pitts without heart or wallet break. Would not want to field assemble either.
Glad to see the second review! I agree with the two servo changes and the battery hold idea. The real Pitts does require some “differences” training, even for experienced tail wheel pilots! Nice work on the video and all the best to you in the New Year! 😁👍
I’m Glad you did a second thoughts on the Pitts. If you need/want more punch. Do the Adam mod for prop.. 16x8 will make you a happy camper. I recommend the Xoar white prop. I also swapped out my ESC for 100amp Avian ( I really like full telemetry). I also spent the extra $$ and replaced all the servos with the FMS Metal Digitals.. she snaps like a shark during a feeding frenzy.. money well spent. It’s an excellent airframe and with the added mods makes it an even better flyer.
We flew ours on a 16x10 previously and it just didn't respond well, nor did it make much of a difference aside from feeling weirder on ground rolls for takeoff and landing. So we kept it stock this time around and flew it almost as-is aside from the servo upgrade for the rudder and elevator.
@@TwoBrosRC 16x10 on the stock ESC would draw to much current IMHO. The coefficient of prop drag due to the increased pitch might actually make it fly worse using the stock motor. 16x8 is actually pushing the ESC a bit long term, which was another reason I went with a 100amp ESC.
Nice one Jon. I had forgotten about how much you fought that thing when the battery tray came lose. I love mine still, but I have a new bi plane you know about I'm more in love with!
Stock prop, 4258-550KV motor from the FMS Beaver (drops right in) and an avian 100Amp esc and it wakes it up. 6S 4500 agressive sport flying gives me a 4 1/2 to 5 Mins flight time. Also Robart low bounce wheels helped on the take off/landings.
Great review. I purchased my Pitts in 2020. Everything is still stock and absolutely no issues. However I did forget to put the battery back in place after I checked it and had a similar issue landing it. There's little channels on the sides of the fuselage that I think a small piece of wood could slip in there and locked in place. Would seem to be a good deterrent from the battery from slipping back. I took faith in the stock servos and they have been working well, however I like the idea of beefing them up for added insurance. I'm not a 3D flyer but I was not aware this Pitts could hover. I didn't think it had enough power. One vertical roll and the plane stops moving upward. I though about just changing out the prop for a wooden one, just the same size. I'm thinking less flex would provide more pull. I see some of you are going with a 16x8. Perhaps I'll give that a try. One question, does upgrading to a bigger ESC help? Thanks!
Good stuff Jon. Regardless of what it needs, I really like this FMS Pitts. It's not really the fault of FMS, you can at least take comfort in knowing that this Pitts shares the exact same flight characteristics as the full scale Pitts. Great review bro, AirHammer out!!
The bouncing is probably more related to the suspension and hard plastic wheels rather than the design of the airframe itself, but undoubtedly there's some overlap between the two.
@@TwoBrosRC thank you for your response. If you have time, I would suggest that you take a look at C. Pitts on YT. He shares your assessment of the landing characteristics of the Pitts biplane.
Reverse thrust on touchdown allows me to land on he mains without getting squirrely. Requires an Avian or Avian Lite ESC upgrade. Good call on the metal servos, buying them now...
I replaced the motor with the sime sized can but 550kv from the Beaver (direct fit) and put a 120A in there so i have options of 6s or 7s. Took off the wheel pants and foam tyres and put FMS supercub 1.3m pneumatic tyres on so it'll handle my grassy field like a STOL plane. Jon do you have Flaps for landings?
Neat idea on the Beaver motor, but not sure it would be much of an upgrade considering that plane isn't particularly powerful either. We used to run a flaperon setup on this bird but it made almost no difference at all - much easier to just land with throttle management in 3 point.
i have the first one, yep change out servo's, always do on any arf. , mod battery slide no need for anything but a screw through the plastic slide. and rubber wheels . other than that its a pitts flies great ,
I used Sunnysky 16x8E prop 50amp max 1185 watts max. installed. FMS prop 15x9 45amp max 1080watts max.. Motor same as my FMS P47, 4258 kv460. max 70amp esc. Pitts has Predator 50 amp esc i.e. 50amp continuous, 65amp burst. I swapped the tyres for Dubro low bounce but found slow 3 pointers are still best way to land.
Yup! 3 point is definitely the way to go here. Unless you're exceptionally skilled, the short-coupled nature of the plane with its stiff suspension just makes it way too much of a pain to wheel land.
I got the pitts for a gift and the plastic servos stripped in the rudder and ailerons on the second pack from tumbles and snap rolls if your ok with buying 4 metal gear servos then this would be a good plane for you
I had just acquired mine when I saw your first review. I changed the ESC to a 60A Avian (bullet adapters required, and possibly IC3/IC5 depending on which 60A model you have). I’ve replaced all of the servos with digital metal gear, and currently hinging all of the control surfaces - the force required to move those pinched foam hinges is ridiculous - especially the ailerons. I stripped a metal gear just testing after installation! Also put a Xoar 16x8 on. So yeah, not a great plane out of the box - but lots of potential if you’re willing to go to the trouble. If FMS fixed the battery mounting problem, hinged the control surfaces, and upsized the motor one size… this thing would easily score 9-9.5. Question: Where did you settle the CG, measured from center of leading edge top wing? Mine is a tad nose heavy with the recommended battery in factory location.
Our first Pitts was upgraded to an 80 amp Avian (the original design, not the new Lite version) which wasn't compatible with the motor. It lost all power and crash landed in a field. Later on, it crashed into a tree line because of the battery shift when Tony (the other half of Two Brothers and a former pilot for the channel) was flying it after the battery shifted to the back of the plane. Then the second battery shift happened as you see in this video in December of 2021. We flew this last on a Xoar 16x10 propeller which definitely didn't do much for it in terms of speed or thrust - it just made it harder to control and even more squirrelly on the ground. The CG balances within the factory recommendation - we never really precisely check this with a ruler though.
Great review, I wish all RC reviews were this good. But my local hobby shop told me FMS is discontinuing this model. Maybe that's not right, but just putting this out there. Really appreciate you telling us what you found wrong with it. Kinda glad I didn't buy it
Thanks. I guess too if they are sending it to you to review, they must be planning on keeping it. I just heard a rumour then, but the plastic servos really turned me off, so I'm actually glad this rumour stopped me from pursing it a few months back. Keep up the great work. Again, really appreciate you telling us the bad along with the good @@TwoBrosRC
All the mods we fly our CZ Cub on are listed in the description of this vid: ruclips.net/video/NgvOC0a_bJ0/видео.html Give it a shot and see how awesome it is!
Is there any way to remove the aileron servos without damaging the foam box? Turns out both of mine are dead as I learned after assembling it a month ago. Just got my radio and LiPo three days ago to learn of this while making it RTF. FMS support in closed for a week in celebration of a Chinese holiday or festival, whatever. I am still covered under the 90 day electric warranty but don't know if I am entitled to new, decaled, bottom wing halves with working servos, or just two new plastic geared servos to install myself. I should not be saddled with any repair jobs in my opinion. Thoughts?
We'd recommend waiting for FMS to return from Lunar New Year holidays so you can get them to send you a pair of 17g metal servos, then pull the existing servos out by the servo arms using a pair of pliers. Gently pull and they'll remove without damaging the wings.
I take this plane to the field in a Rav4, and occasionally a Prius, and I never take it apart. But there is only one path that allows it to go in, and without the proper twisting and turning, it appears to be impossible. It is one of my favorite planes, and when you recommended against buying it, you lost a lost of credibility with me. I'm glad you relented. I did replace the motor with the higher KV FMS Beaver motor, but the tail servos are stock plastic ones. They may break in a crash, but the servo will be the cheapest of all the replacement parts required!
In retrospect, we're happy FMS sent over a new one. It's not perfect. Far from it, even. But beyond the annoyances lies a ton of enjoyment. It's fair to give it a proper review after two years of ownership.
Well that size plane shouldn't be using 9g servos . If they were full size servos plastic gear servos would be fine. You should've seen the servos back in the 70's and 80's with these big airplanes.
Ok gear sucks .... battery tray is trash. Just ordered new cf gear . Tray is modified, and need to glue in rear elevator supports cause they like to fall off .
Nice man!
100% in agreement about the servos and battery box!!
Great "All in one" review! Gets right down to being able to enjoy this beautiful Pitts without heart or wallet break. Would not want to field assemble either.
Glad to see the second review!
I agree with the two servo changes and the battery hold idea.
The real Pitts does require some “differences” training, even for experienced tail wheel pilots!
Nice work on the video and all the best to you in the New Year! 😁👍
I’m Glad you did a second thoughts on the Pitts. If you need/want more punch. Do the Adam mod for prop.. 16x8 will make you a happy camper. I recommend the Xoar white prop. I also swapped out my ESC for 100amp Avian ( I really like full telemetry). I also spent the extra $$ and replaced all the servos with the FMS Metal Digitals.. she snaps like a shark during a feeding frenzy.. money well spent. It’s an excellent airframe and with the added mods makes it an even better flyer.
We flew ours on a 16x10 previously and it just didn't respond well, nor did it make much of a difference aside from feeling weirder on ground rolls for takeoff and landing. So we kept it stock this time around and flew it almost as-is aside from the servo upgrade for the rudder and elevator.
@@TwoBrosRC 16x10 on the stock ESC would draw to much current IMHO. The coefficient of prop drag due to the increased pitch might actually make it fly worse using the stock motor. 16x8 is actually pushing the ESC a bit long term, which was another reason I went with a 100amp ESC.
Nice one Jon. I had forgotten about how much you fought that thing when the battery tray came lose. I love mine still, but I have a new bi plane you know about I'm more in love with!
Stock prop, 4258-550KV motor from the FMS Beaver (drops right in) and an avian 100Amp esc and it wakes it up. 6S 4500 agressive sport flying gives me a 4 1/2 to 5 Mins flight time. Also Robart low bounce wheels helped on the take off/landings.
Great review. I purchased my Pitts in 2020. Everything is still stock and absolutely no issues. However I did forget to put the battery back in place after I checked it and had a similar issue landing it. There's little channels on the sides of the fuselage that I think a small piece of wood could slip in there and locked in place. Would seem to be a good deterrent from the battery from slipping back. I took faith in the stock servos and they have been working well, however I like the idea of beefing them up for added insurance.
I'm not a 3D flyer but I was not aware this Pitts could hover. I didn't think it had enough power. One vertical roll and the plane stops moving upward. I though about just changing out the prop for a wooden one, just the same size. I'm thinking less flex would provide more pull. I see some of you are going with a 16x8. Perhaps I'll give that a try. One question, does upgrading to a bigger ESC help? Thanks!
Collecting every size, my favorite plane
The UMX is a crowd favorite. I fly it in supermarket parking lots.
Wow! the EFlite 850mm Pitts is a dutiful gentleman on takeoff and landing. I do use 30% expo and it just does everything well.
👀
Good stuff Jon. Regardless of what it needs, I really like this FMS Pitts.
It's not really the fault of FMS, you can at least take comfort in knowing that this Pitts shares the exact same flight characteristics as the full scale Pitts. Great review bro,
AirHammer out!!
The bouncing is probably more related to the suspension and hard plastic wheels rather than the design of the airframe itself, but undoubtedly there's some overlap between the two.
@@TwoBrosRC thank you for your response. If you have time, I would suggest that you take a look at C. Pitts on YT. He shares your assessment of the landing characteristics of the Pitts biplane.
Reverse thrust on touchdown allows me to land on he mains without getting squirrely. Requires an Avian or Avian Lite ESC upgrade. Good call on the metal servos, buying them now...
Love the content! Could you do a review on the freewing avanti 90mm v2? thanks
Thanks! Probably not, since it isn't the kind of jet we're interested in. But who knows.
I replaced the motor with the sime sized can but 550kv from the Beaver (direct fit) and put a 120A in there so i have options of 6s or 7s. Took off the wheel pants and foam tyres and put FMS supercub 1.3m pneumatic tyres on so it'll handle my grassy field like a STOL plane. Jon do you have Flaps for landings?
Neat idea on the Beaver motor, but not sure it would be much of an upgrade considering that plane isn't particularly powerful either. We used to run a flaperon setup on this bird but it made almost no difference at all - much easier to just land with throttle management in 3 point.
i have the first one, yep change out servo's, always do on any arf. , mod battery slide no need for anything but a screw through the plastic slide. and rubber wheels . other than that its a pitts flies great ,
dave brown foams , you should try to fly the real plane from the font seat , very tricky
nice flying ,would a 6000 mah pack be out of the question on this bird?, just a thought
That's a ton of weight. Definitely wouldn't recommend it.
@@TwoBrosRC thank you, im doing the servo change you recommended thnx
Very helpful, thanks for this. I wonder if you think that better tires would help with landing bounce for less experienced pilots?
Landing in 3 point is the best way to avoid bouncing. There's not much tires are going to do to help here.
I used Sunnysky 16x8E prop 50amp max 1185 watts max. installed. FMS prop 15x9 45amp max 1080watts max.. Motor same as my FMS P47, 4258 kv460. max 70amp esc. Pitts has Predator 50 amp esc i.e. 50amp continuous, 65amp burst. I swapped the tyres for Dubro low bounce but found slow 3 pointers are still best way to land.
Yup! 3 point is definitely the way to go here. Unless you're exceptionally skilled, the short-coupled nature of the plane with its stiff suspension just makes it way too much of a pain to wheel land.
I got the pitts for a gift and the plastic servos stripped in the rudder and ailerons on the second pack from tumbles and snap rolls if your ok with buying 4 metal gear servos then this would be a good plane for you
That's super unfortunate. Everything we performed on this vid was flown with the elevator and rudder upgrade, but we left the ailerons stock.
I love this sport Pitts biplane, especially for the modest cost. Curious, for more power could you replace the 50A ESC with a 100A ESC with 7A BEC?
ESC changeout wouldn't affect the thrust - but a new motor/propeller would. The next time we feature this plane, it'll be with a couple of upgrades.
@@TwoBrosRC As you say, maybe the folks at large will include these mods like the obvious battery retainer flaw in the future.
I had just acquired mine when I saw your first review. I changed the ESC to a 60A Avian (bullet adapters required, and possibly IC3/IC5 depending on which 60A model you have). I’ve replaced all of the servos with digital metal gear, and currently hinging all of the control surfaces - the force required to move those pinched foam hinges is ridiculous - especially the ailerons. I stripped a metal gear just testing after installation! Also put a Xoar 16x8 on.
So yeah, not a great plane out of the box - but lots of potential if you’re willing to go to the trouble.
If FMS fixed the battery mounting problem, hinged the control surfaces, and upsized the motor one size… this thing would easily score 9-9.5.
Question: Where did you settle the CG, measured from center of leading edge top wing? Mine is a tad nose heavy with the recommended battery in factory location.
Our first Pitts was upgraded to an 80 amp Avian (the original design, not the new Lite version) which wasn't compatible with the motor. It lost all power and crash landed in a field. Later on, it crashed into a tree line because of the battery shift when Tony (the other half of Two Brothers and a former pilot for the channel) was flying it after the battery shifted to the back of the plane. Then the second battery shift happened as you see in this video in December of 2021.
We flew this last on a Xoar 16x10 propeller which definitely didn't do much for it in terms of speed or thrust - it just made it harder to control and even more squirrelly on the ground.
The CG balances within the factory recommendation - we never really precisely check this with a ruler though.
Great review, I wish all RC reviews were this good. But my local hobby shop told me FMS is discontinuing this model. Maybe that's not right, but just putting this out there. Really appreciate you telling us what you found wrong with it. Kinda glad I didn't buy it
It's very doubtful that they're discontinuing it. We haven't heard anything of the sort yet.
Thanks. I guess too if they are sending it to you to review, they must be planning on keeping it. I just heard a rumour then, but the plastic servos really turned me off, so I'm actually glad this rumour stopped me from pursing it a few months back. Keep up the great work. Again, really appreciate you telling us the bad along with the good @@TwoBrosRC
Sick. BTW, just got the Carbon Z Cub. What mods should I do?
buy a fms pittssssss😂😂😂
All the mods we fly our CZ Cub on are listed in the description of this vid: ruclips.net/video/NgvOC0a_bJ0/видео.html
Give it a shot and see how awesome it is!
Did the 17g FMS servo come with hardware ? I have contacted FMS an asked them the same question.
No answer yet .Thanks for all great reviews.
It comes with screws and a couple of servo arms.
Thanks, appreciate the help.
Thanks
No change, but different.😜
???
Is there any way to remove the aileron servos without damaging the foam box? Turns out both of mine are dead as I learned after assembling it a month ago. Just got my radio and LiPo three days ago to learn of this while making it RTF. FMS support in closed for a week in celebration of a Chinese holiday or festival, whatever. I am still covered under the 90 day electric warranty but don't know if I am entitled to new, decaled, bottom wing halves with working servos, or just two new plastic geared servos to install myself. I should not be saddled with any repair jobs in my opinion. Thoughts?
We'd recommend waiting for FMS to return from Lunar New Year holidays so you can get them to send you a pair of 17g metal servos, then pull the existing servos out by the servo arms using a pair of pliers. Gently pull and they'll remove without damaging the wings.
I take this plane to the field in a Rav4, and occasionally a Prius, and I never take it apart.
But there is only one path that allows it to go in, and without the proper twisting and turning, it appears to be impossible.
It is one of my favorite planes, and when you recommended against buying it, you lost a lost of credibility with me.
I'm glad you relented.
I did replace the motor with the higher KV FMS Beaver motor, but the tail servos are stock plastic ones.
They may break in a crash, but the servo will be the cheapest of all the replacement parts required!
In retrospect, we're happy FMS sent over a new one. It's not perfect. Far from it, even. But beyond the annoyances lies a ton of enjoyment. It's fair to give it a proper review after two years of ownership.
Ill let you do the flying . I might hurt someone with that .
👀
😆 try a byron originals pitts
Assuming we could even find one.
Well that size plane shouldn't be using 9g servos . If they were full size servos plastic gear servos would be fine. You should've seen the servos back in the 70's and 80's with these big airplanes.
It's using 17g class servos.
@@TwoBrosRC Ok 👍
Ok gear sucks .... battery tray is trash. Just ordered new cf gear . Tray is modified, and need to glue in rear elevator supports cause they like to fall off .
The tray isn't trash, it just needs reinforcement to stop the battery from dislocating.
Look at your runway. It is relitavly fine till it hits the center crack and it gets nutty every time. Find a better place to fly from.
lol no, we're happy where we fly. The runway isn't the issue.