The shape gets your attention. The details hold it. There are period-correct 3D-printed navigation light lenses and a retractable landing light. The gun site forward of the windshield may be obvious, but the gun butts protruding from the upper corners of the panel are not. They can cause a pilot’s lip to curl into a menacing sneer as an imagined enemy (or a friend’s Cessna) enters the crosshairs. The fuselage’s sculpted metal shape is enhanced by the fabric-covered control surfaces. The cockpit and canopy wrap a pilot in metal, canvas and plexiglass. A time machine set for one December day, in 1941, in Pearl Harbor.
Hyperbole? Perhaps. But there is little point in replicating a fighter without replicating the atmosphere. If it’s military paint you want, that can be (and has been) applied to every homebuilt design produced. But paint only gets you so far. ScaleBirds P-36 can get you all the way…or as far as legally allowed. The guns, of course, are neutered. It’s aerobatic capability is not.
ScaleBirds has been showing their two-thirds scale P-36 for a number of years now, taking a deliberate path to market. The prototype, familiar to AirVenture frequent flyers, has logged 60 hours of flight testing, which resulted in numerous changes to the original design. Perhaps the biggest change was the addition of flaps. The team, however, is confident in their changes and has begun a beta-builder program, seeking the input of experienced builders while they perfect the design and manufacturing of the individual parts and assemblies and develop a builder’s manual. The beta-builder program is beginning with a tail kit. However, the ScaleBirds tail kit differs from most. It includes not only the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces, but also a portion of the aft fuselage.
ScaleBirds recognizes that homebuilders are more interested in assembling an airplane than building parts and are developing their kit accordingly. What may surprise some is that they are bucking the trend of providing matched holes in all the parts. Matched holes–holes provided in matching parts so they need only be clecoed together–add to the cost of producing kit parts, save little time for the builder and make manufacturing errors costly and timely to correct.
Build time–a question all manufacturers hate and none can answer accurately for everyone–is estimated at 1500 hours. The tail kit will build quickly–as little as weekend for an experienced builder–but the wing, they admit, will take a while.
Tail kits for beta builder are estimated to be shipping by September 2024. They carry a $6,500 price tag. The cost for a complete kit (less engine, avionics, and upgrades like retractable landing gear, etc.) is targeted for $45,000. “All in” price, which is largely at each builder’s discretion, should be under $100,000.
ScaleBirds P-36 is on display in the Homebuilt Aircraft Display area, booth 632. They can be found online at www.scalebirds.com.
The P-36 looks good on you, Kerry!
It felt great, too! I’ll be watching your progress. As I said during our interview, I feel like your deliberate approach to development is spot on. ~Kerry