Seagull Models/Legend Hobby P-26A Peashooter

Colorful between-the-wars classic

It’s not every day you come across a stunning early warbird like the Peashooter and in ARF form, the Seagull Models P-26A from Legend Hobby will turn heads wherever it goes. There are only two original full-scale Peashooters left today, a handful of reproductions, and only one that is still flying with the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California.

UNIQUE FEATURES

The P-26A Peashooter comes double boxed and extremely well packed. As you unpack it, you quickly realize this model is sizable

and the build quality is excellent. The kit includes all assembly materials and hardware as well as fiberglass wheel pants and engine cowl painted to match the color schemes. This model comes in the Army green and red of the 94th Pursuit Squadron or the blue and yellow civilian colors of the last flying Peashooter.

Assembly of the Peashooter is straightforward, and the manual is clear and easy to understand. Take care with the wings as they support the intricate fixed landing gear setup. In installing the landing gear, it’s important to ensure that the landing gear mount is very securely glued in place. Also, I chose to reinforce the strut installation blocks with carbon and through bolts in a few locations. Ensure the forward gear strut is secure and fitting well before lining up the aft strut. Once the aft strut is aligned, tighten all gear bolts well and add some thread lock for good measure. Double check the axle fit before removing the aft strut. Lastly, the fiberglass wheel pant fits over the front strut and turns into place, leaving room for the aft strut to be inserted from below before screwing

everything together. It can be a little tricky to install, so take your time with this step and you’ll be rewarded with strong and beautiful fixed gear. I used Du-Bro 4.5-inch inflatable tires in place of the factory wheels to provide a little more cushion on landing.

The rest of the assembly was exactly as described in the manual. Hitec 5085 servos are a perfect fit for all servo mounts. The engine mount can be drilled to fit a number of gas motor options, or electric as was the case here. A Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 6374-192KV fits perfectly onto the

supplied motor box and fastens with bolts and blind nuts that are also supplied with the kit. The motor mounting plate is adjustable to suit various motors and engines. To fit the Turnigy motor, I positioned the mounting plate at the aft part of the slotted box, and this provided the perfect prop to cowl clearance.

Flying wires are supplied with this kit and provide an incredible scale appearance. There are 16 wires in all to connect. The three on the underside of each wing that connect the wing to the wheel pants will not need to be removed. However, the rest of the wires will need to be attached each time the wings are connected. Care is needed with the included springs and wires to ensure that tension is maintained on the wires. The Peashooter namesake comes from a gunsight mounted in front of the pilot’s windshield. I easily made one out of some brass and aluminum tubes and fit it to the removable cockpit that doubles as a big battery and gear hatch. Also, I 3D-printed a dummy engine that I painted and installed on the cowl. It dresses up the front cowl beautifully. There are so many unique features on the full-scale Peashooters!

IN THE AIR

The P-26A Peashooter has the proportions of a Gee Bee; that is tall and narrow fixed landing gear and a short tail coupling. That is part of the charm of the Peashooter, but it also can make ground handling and landings a bit more challenging. In the air this plane excels with plenty of power for large scale maneuvers and fast passes. With throttle management, flights of more than five minutes are easily achievable on 6200mAh batteries.

GENERAL FLIGHT PERFORMANCE

Stability: With large wings and a huge chord, this plane is very stable in the air. From full throttle to slow flight, it holds very well and shows little to no pitch change with flaps. Be sure to use high rates on elevator and rudder at slow speeds when flaps are down so you maintain full control on the tail.

Tracking: The Peashooter tracks very true in the air, especially at high speed.

A neat feature is this automatic servo connection in the fuselage when you install the wing panels.

The Peashooter comes with a rugged, shock-absorbing tailwheel assembly.

Here you see the fully assembled landing gear with rigging wires installed. Notice the offset flap hinging.

The motor installation is very straight forward and provides good airflow for cooling.

Fully assembled, the Peashooter awaits its first test flight.

The model includes a plastic radial engine cover. However, to make this model really pop I assembled a 3D printed scale radial engine and fitted it around the electric motor. (Credit to Damon Atwood for the 3D engine model.)