Official FlightLine RC 2000mm B-24D/J Liberator Thread

[themudduck]

Hey this evening I was plugging the power in, to get things set up. Flaps, elevator mix, getting the ailerons reversed, expo settings, rudder mix, etc.
Then I tried hooking up the motors and ran into some problems. No throttle at all! I went through Pilot Ryan's very useful techniques that he explained on the video a few pages back, to reset factory settings and also calibrate the ESCs.
I did those things... and it seemed to be set correctly. But still no luck. I wasn't getting the entire "ready" sequence when you power up. And, no props turning at all.
Then I figured out what was wrong! The batteries that I was using for testing were at the 50% storage charge setting! And the smart-ass ESCs on this model were preventing the motors from running! :P

Well, once I got some fully charged batteries hooked up, and went through that calibration sequence one last time, everything worked perfectly. Brake off, all four props in sync. Thanks Ryan!!

[Ah Clem]

Two shots of my FlightLine B-24! Great flying machine!

[Pheonix]

mirored How do you like your Xicoy? Thanks for during the meAsurements. You saved me some time; however, I will do again anyway.

[MikeT]

Must be a good day to announce the plane ready for maiden, pending a big weather improvement. Got mine ready to go. CG is just forward a little but just the way I like maiden flights to be. No extra weight added. Can be shifted to tail-heavy with moving the batteries back. Curious if others are coming in around the same?



Turrets are set up on a sequencer.

https://youtu.be/cVm1oV8vBuA

Nice work on the turrets.

Mike

[mirored]

mirored How do you like your Xicoy? Thanks for during the meAsurements. You saved me some time; however, I will do again anyway.

I am still growing trust in it. I get a reading and then did the old tried and true finger balance to verify. I want to be close to right than accurately wrong and not know it. Definitely do your own measurements rather than trusting mine. The weight is accurate and very useful.

[mirored]

Nice work on the turrets.

Mike

Thanks. Now I get to apply that to the 12 foot Don Smith B24 that is still being worked.

[mirored]

Just looked it up... think I'll keep using my fingers lol

I own one and I would have to agree. I am not going to get rid of it but not my wisest purchase.

[xviper]

When it comes to a PNP or even an ARF that has published recommendations for power, ESC, props, etc., I'm not sure how useful it is to know exactly how much the plane weighs. The manufacturer has done those calculations and tests to determine what will fly the plane nicely. We, the consumer can work off what's in the plane when we start to mod. Maybe when we do a custom scratch build, would it be of some use to know how much the plane weights. Regarding the CG and balancing, I've long since abandoned my store bought device. The 2 finger method has worked for me for almost all my planes. I was born with them and I always have them with me.

[donnie]

When it comes to a PNP or even an ARF that has published recommendations for power, ESC, props, etc., I'm not sure how useful it is to know exactly how much the plane weighs. The manufacturer has done those calculations and tests to determine what will fly the plane nicely. We, the consumer can work off what's in the plane when we start to mod. Maybe when we do a custom scratch build, would it be of some use to know how much the plane weights. Regarding the CG and balancing, I've long since abandoned my store bought device. The 2 finger method has worked for me for almost all my planes. I was born with them and I always have them with me.

Me be finger tip guy as well. To do this I put one small drop of hot glue at C.G. location. In this case drops are on top of wing. Am using 4000ma Turnigy Graphene batteries in mine ,but bit heavier then others. Wanting my C.G. AT 3 1/4" did have to add 1.5 OZ. of tail weight which was easy to conceal at rear by opening up, relieving foam to accommodate and resealing opening with original foam.. donnie

[xviper]

Me be finger tip guy as well. To do this I put one small drop of hot glue at C.G. location. In this case drops are on top of wing. Am using 4000ma Turnigy Graphene batteries in mine ,but bit heavier then others. Wanting my C.G. AT 3 1/4" did have to add 1.5 OZ. of tail weight which was easy to conceal at rear by opening up, relieving foam to accommodate and resealing opening with original foam.. donnie

I'm using the Admiral 4000's and Graphene 3000's. Surprisingly, those 2 brands of batteries are only with 10 grams of each other, nearly the same outer dimensions. I think your 4000 Graphenes are closer in weight to 4600 to 5000 non-Graphenes. My batteries are located at the front edge of the wood floor. I would have thought that yours could be shoved further back under that shelve where the servo board sits, thus negating the need for weights in the tail. Maybe the 4000 Graphenes are too tall?

[crxmanpat]

I use Graphene 4000 45Cs as well. They are shoved back all the way to the plastic mount housing the forward wing spar. Maybe a touch nose heavy with them, but they're all I have at the moment that work. Flies just fine.

[AkumaZeto]

I wanted to leave this here for you guys. Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcHNjzD18to

[Sky Wolf]

Very well done video! Thanks for sharing.

[xplaneguy]

B-24 formation flight at the Arizona Electric Festival 2018.

[Alpha]

Great skies for those smooth passes, Tony and Pat! What size was Barrett's B-24?

I thought for a moment that the F-16 was going to join up for a heritage formation pass!

[crxmanpat]

I think Barrett's scratch B-24 is 8' WS. He has done all the classic bombers, B-17, B-24, B-29 and B-36.

[dahawk]

I wanted to leave this here for you guys. Enjoy




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcHNjzD18to

That was very touching. Will share with my 93 rd Bombardment reunion group.

[stu]

Thanks Callie ! That would be mine.

I went with Tupelo Lass from the 93rd Bombardment Group , 409th Bomb Squadron, 8th Air Force. Had an awesome career. Many of the very early arrivals in 1942 were plain Jane's, lacking some of the fancy nose art that evolved throughout the war. The Brits actually flew them in combat before our guys even got there.

My Dad was a Tech Sarge in ground support mainly. Though he flew some missions as crew chief on occasion when needed. Equivalent of what an A&P would be today. Not 100% sure if he actually worked on the Tupelo Lass but seeing as she was in his squadron for his service duration, I'm sure he knew her nevertheless.

I've been inside the B-24 at Pima in Tucson. Hard to imagine what it must have been like with 10 guys on board. Pretty tight getting around.

The 93rd was known as "Ted's Traveling Circus" as they commuted between Hardwick and N. Africa several times. One of the early groups to arrive in April of 1942. Tupelo Lass survived operation Tidal Wave ( Ploesti) where on August 1 they took off from Benghazi and returned safely to Libya. This would be remembered as Black Sunday for the severe losses of that mission. Returning to Hardwick they continued raids on Germany, France and Holland until the end of the ETO operations. On December 11th, 1943, one day before his 22nd birthday, she crashed landed at Hardwick after returning from a bombing mission over Emben/ Danzig. A lot of crash landings there. IMC there most of the time and many came back on a wing and a prayer with barely survivable battle damage. Luckily she was salvaged.


It will be interesting to see how the likes of master modelers Tired Iron and RCjetdude capture the Bombay doors on this model. They were not the normal swing open clam shell type operating like gear doors rather they traveled up and down as part of the fuse. Kind of like the door of an old bread box moving on ways. The bomb racks held (4) 1,600 # bombs per side. A pretty big payload in those days. Add in the (11) 50 cal. machine guns and ammo. And then fly at 300 mph.

Not sure about navigation landing,position or formation lights. According to Taz101(Lurch) over on RCG, there were quite a few lights:

*The landing lights are retractable and situated just in front of the landing gear.

*Nav lights consisted of your normal Red/Green on the wing tips. They where inlaid into the top (And bottom on some models) like the P-38s. And they had white running lights on the outside of each vertical stab.

*Then you have the bomb lights on the back of the plane just under the rear turret. These consisted of a red and a white light.

*They also had the standard recognition/indentification lights.(NOT formation lights as most people call them) The Red/Green/Orange on the bottom of the plane between the front bomb bay doors. And a white light on the upper side of the fuse just near the whip antenna.

*It also had formation lights. These consisted of 4 lights on the horizontal plane (2 on each side of the fuse) and 3 lights on the top of the fuse, the rear most one starting just in front of the tail plane. All of these were blue.

*Then there was also a Red light placed on the leading edge of the left wing in between the two engines. This was called/known as a Passing Light.

Not sure what to do here. Quite a light board and a rats nest of wires to run. Anybody thinking about adding lights? Sure would be a cool adder.

I've been waiting for a foam B-24 a long time as this plane means a lot to me. Can't thank the Motion team enough.

As a current member of the 93rd, I will try to bring her to a reunion event. One of the few legacy USAAF groups around with only a few actual veterans still living. But the group lives on with the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who want to preserve history and carry on the legacy for future generations. There's even an active museum on the property at Hardwick and a couple Facebook groups.

Anxious for tomorrow!

Hawk

I Am adding lights and HELL i didn't know there were so many but has anyone got any photos of all the lights ?? i ordered a sound system that has a bunch of lights with it so will see how that works out

cheers stu

[spec450]

That was very touching. Will share with my 93 rd Bombardment reunion group.

From Castle?? I used to volunteer there a couple years ago before work changed and I wasnt able to keep going

[Pheonix]

I will definitely do my measurements. I started building last night and got as far as the tail feathers before hand fatigue set in. I am taking my time on this one. I might try the moving gun mounts since I have a 14-channel radio.