Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan

[RichJ53]

O.K. got the maiden plus 3 this afternoon when the wind finally started coming from the south. North at my field is no bueno. Anyway,got video of takeoff and landing coming tomorrow from a friend. As said before, the Robart 3 1/2" wheels are great but cause the plane to be a little tail heavy even with the two extra weights in the front. Nothing to serious but I had to change the trim in flight after bringing the gear up. I also noticed that dropping the flaps with the gear up causes serious changes in attitude however with gear down, no problem on approach. Need to find a small weight to add to the nose to avoid trim changes but otherwise very cool. I can tell it's going to take some more landings to get in the groove but love this plane.:Cool:

Congratulations on your maiden flight!
& Many more flights to come ! :)
Rich

[davegee]

I had someone print up the 3D cockpit parts for me, they came out pretty good. Put them in my F4U-1A bubbletop Corsair with my pilot figure painted up like Lt. Bob Hanson, the top ace in the Corsair in his customary long sleeve camo shirt that he wore on his missions. I also added a little detail work to the gun sight with a reflector glass. I bought the cockpit instrument sheet from Callie, looks very nice.

Looking forward to flying it again. It flies great with the exception (for me) of consistent landings. It has this nasty habit if I don't land it just right of bouncing back into the air sometimes, which makes me do a go around from a very slow speed. Hoping to get better on those, I have bought the bigger tires so that might help when I get a chance to put them on.

[Hardway]

Nice!!! But the Marine WWII camo is just a soft spot for me!!! :):Cool::Cool::Cool: Nice!!!

[davegee]

Thanks, Hardway. You can see Hanson wearing the camo shirt underneath his life vest in this picture.

[Aros]

Awesome! Looks great!

[davegee]

The 3D cockpit files were pretty good. Is the little cylindrical item included with the files an O2 bottle?

[sfmadmax]

O.K. got the maiden plus 3 this afternoon when the wind finally started coming from the south. North at my field is no bueno. Anyway,got video of takeoff and landing coming tomorrow from a friend. As said before, the Robart 3 1/2" wheels are great but cause the plane to be a little tail heavy even with the two extra weights in the front. Nothing to serious but I had to change the trim in flight after bringing the gear up. I also noticed that dropping the flaps with the gear up causes serious changes in attitude however with gear down, no problem on approach. Need to find a small weight to add to the nose to avoid trim changes but otherwise very cool. I can tell it's going to take some more landings to get in the groove but love this plane.:Cool:

Hey, Downwind!!!!

I also have the 3 1/2 robarts and notice the same as you, I added the 2 extra weights to my nose also, I measured CG using my fingertips and it appeared spot on and leveled out perfectly when I measured CG , gears up, (with my fingertips at the correct point, I forget the mm, it's right in between the 2 panel lines mid fuselage.) I'm using the Admiral 5000, battery all the way forward. I also add velcro to the batteries because that strap is great, but the tail end swings around a bit i noticed.

However, With the plane upside down on my fingertips.... I had my son flick the gear switch, (gears down) the plane CG shifted rather drastically to the front and became nose heavy, I don't mind nose heavy, that means you need to be very observant on the elevator and apply a slight elevator as you roll the gears down. (I'm not using a mix) .. But the plane landed great, my first ever attempted resulted in cracked retract casings, which I wrote about a few weeks back. My followup attempts since repair have been getting better and better.


It's really not that bad, to the audience reading this, i might be able to record a video of the gears shifting up and down on my fingers for those interested. That being said, it's absolutely a must that I have the bigger tires, my field is grass, rather rough grass and does not get mowed as regular as it should. The club is very small (24 members) most of which are experienced older gents. I love their company. even at 1600mm scale, taxing out to the runway can get shady, all of this is rather moot after the field is mowed tho..... lol.... i just stepped up to cut the grass more often, since I'm there more.

It's all a matter of getting a feel for the plane. And never cut throttle when you land, as I found out. lol....

I'm glad you had a good outing as well!

I must say that I'm rather MEH oh the admiral receivers.. Since my last post a few weeks ago, I disabled the gyro and recovery on my Admiral 5000. It gave me more problems than it should. I debating weather I should just rip it out and install a spektrum ar636 I have lying around

[RCAV8R]

Okay so I had my maiden today, and was blessed to have RichJ53 there to accompany me. It was four flights on a gorgeous day with very light winds. I fly on a 600 ft. asphalt runway, and have the old Admiral 5000's. My first flight was on the factory low rates, 20% expo, and the battery pushed all the forward. Winds aloft were a bit gusty and I did require about 6 clicks of right Aileron and 4-5 clicks of up elevator. Subsequent flights I moved the battery aft about a half inch and the plane seemed happy with the original trim still in. Many of my comments are comparing the Corsair to the FL 1600 Spitfire as I have been logging all my time on it since last summer...I think a lot of you guys have it also, so hopefully that is a point of reference.

I found the low rates to be sufficient for my needs. I did a full loop and several slow rolls and I had all the control I needed. I briefly tried a knife edge and there was a surprising amount of rudder for that as well. I did end up adding about 5% more than the low rates for rudder, as I was finding a need for much more aggressive rudder correction on takeoff and landing than on the Spitfire. There was definitely more torque on both occasions!

Landings were very different than the Spit. There was a lot more drag on the Corsair with gear and flaps deployed, and I eventually backed off the full flaps to 28 mm. It seemed sluggish in the turns compared to the Spit so I used much more rudder in my turns and had to compensate for lost altitude. Getting the airspeed right and altitude for landings was kind of tricky. I understand why some have been burned by slow stalls. The Spitfire comes in level and just by decreasing power it gently settles down until the gear touch. The Corsair wanted to drop the nose more (probably due to the change in CG with the gear down) and my tendency was to hold the nose up to try and let the decreased throttle let it settle in. However, it didn't want to lose altitude gently and it slowed to a point of almost stalling too easily. Rich coached me to let the nose drop more aggressively and then rely more on a positive flare right above the runway, and that was far more successful. There was plenty of positive elevator for that and I never questioned that it was going to flare when I needed it to. Even then however, there was also the potential bouncing effect that the real plane suffered from (largely due to too much airspeed). The gear seemed very sensitive to the initial touch on the asphalt, so I have a ways to go to dial in the right airspeed...keeping enough on to avoid stall, but balancing the decreasing throttle and gentle amount of flare to avoid the slightest bounce. The Spit (with the gear in the center) has less drag, so is more predictable on landings, tho the lack of a wide stance in the gear poses its own challenges.

Post flight as I was packing up I noticed some distress around the foam around the aileron servo. I checked the servo screws and found all of them to be far from snug! The servos didn't move, so I couldn't figure out what caused the apparent rubbing on the foam. I tightened the screws, and will have to check when the wing is back on to see if that changed the alignment of the control surfaces, but I would be curious if any of you find the same thing. Is there a reason for having those screws backed off?

All in all, another great model from FlightLine, and a real beauty to watch in flight! I look forward to mastering her characteristics and enjoying a bit of history first hand...thanks Motion!! Rob

[Aros]

Congrats RCAV8R! Great report!

I agree, this bird has a deceptive slow stall point. Lulls you to sleep and then BAM! if you're not careful. My new retracts can account to that. However, I HAVE to have full flaps on a Corsair on final. The profile is too beautiful to pass up. It just means you have to be more generous with the throttle.

I flew her today and she came in with full scale flap mode and she slowed down wonderfully but I was mindful to keep the power on about 1/3 and she landed as soft as a feather. :Cool:

[downwindleg]

Thanks guys. Here's a couple picks prior to maiden. (gulp) All went well, happy to say. Today I added a little more weight to the nose because it was acting a little tail heavy( had to put in 65 out of 100% down trim after the gear were retracted) even with the extra two provided weights. I used two 1/4" dubro wheel collars on each side in the remaining open holes(perfect fit) with a little foam tac in between to make sure they don't go anywhere. This allowed me to take away some down trim and it handles much better.:Cool: Too bad the grass wasn't nicer!;)Who mows this field anyway!:)

[thisguy65]

Do you guys check CG with landing gear deployed? I would image so.


I had to add the 2 extra weights in the cowl cover (admrial 5000) to get slightly nose heavy at 100mm cg.

[RCAV8R]

Thanks guys. Here's a couple picks prior to maiden. (gulp) All went well, happy to say. Today I added a little more weight to the nose because it was acting a little tail heavy( had to put in 65 out of 100% down trim after the gear were retracted) even with the extra two provided weights. I used two 1/4" dubro wheel collars on each side in the remaining open holes(perfect fit) with a little foam tac in between to make sure they don't go anywhere. This allowed me to take away some down trim and it handles much better.:Cool: Too bad the grass wasn't nicer!;)Who mows this field anyway!:)

Beautiful Brad...the plane and the field!! Rob

[RichJ53]

Okay so I had my maiden today, and was blessed to have RichJ53 there to accompany me. It was four flights on a gorgeous day with very light winds. I fly on a 600 ft. asphalt runway, and have the old Admiral 5000's. My first flight was on the factory low rates, 20% expo, and the battery pushed all the forward. Winds aloft were a bit gusty and I did require about 6 clicks of right Aileron and 4-5 clicks of up elevator. Subsequent flights I moved the battery aft about a half inch and the plane seemed happy with the original trim still in. Many of my comments are comparing the Corsair to the FL 1600 Spitfire as I have been logging all my time on it since last summer...I think a lot of you guys have it also, so hopefully that is a point of reference.

I found the low rates to be sufficient for my needs. I did a full loop and several slow rolls and I had all the control I needed. I briefly tried a knife edge and there was a surprising amount of rudder for that as well. I did end up adding about 5% more than the low rates for rudder, as I was finding a need for much more aggressive rudder correction on takeoff and landing than on the Spitfire. There was definitely more torque on both occasions!

Landings were very different than the Spit. There was a lot more drag on the Corsair with gear and flaps deployed, and I eventually backed off the full flaps to 28 mm. It seemed sluggish in the turns compared to the Spit so I used much more rudder in my turns and had to compensate for lost altitude. Getting the airspeed right and altitude for landings was kind of tricky. I understand why some have been burned by slow stalls. The Spitfire comes in level and just by decreasing power it gently settles down until the gear touch. The Corsair wanted to drop the nose more (probably due to the change in CG with the gear down) and my tendency was to hold the nose up to try and let the decreased throttle let it settle in. However, it didn't want to lose altitude gently and it slowed to a point of almost stalling too easily. Rich coached me to let the nose drop more aggressively and then rely more on a positive flare right above the runway, and that was far more successful. There was plenty of positive elevator for that and I never questioned that it was going to flare when I needed it to. Even then however, there was also the potential bouncing effect that the real plane suffered from (largely due to too much airspeed). The gear seemed very sensitive to the initial touch on the asphalt, so I have a ways to go to dial in the right airspeed...keeping enough on to avoid stall, but balancing the decreasing throttle and gentle amount of flare to avoid the slightest bounce. The Spit (with the gear in the center) has less drag, so is more predictable on landings, tho the lack of a wide stance in the gear poses its own challenges.

Post flight as I was packing up I noticed some distress around the foam around the aileron servo. I checked the servo screws and found all of them to be far from snug! The servos didn't move, so I couldn't figure out what caused the apparent rubbing on the foam. I tightened the screws, and will have to check when the wing is back on to see if that changed the alignment of the control surfaces, but I would be curious if any of you find the same thing. Is there a reason for having those screws backed off?

All in all, another great model from FlightLine, and a real beauty to watch in flight! I look forward to mastering her characteristics and enjoying a bit of history first hand...thanks Motion!! Rob

Nice report Rob,

Thank you for the opportunity to assist you with moral support today on the maiden voyage. Beautiful job keeping clam during the first passes. You will find the sweet spot on the landing approaches and really start enjoying this bird. I look forward to getting my bird out for the test run soon too :) Maybe next week>?

All the best
Rich

[downwindleg]

Do you guys check CG with landing gear deployed? I would image so.


I had to add the 2 extra weights in the cowl cover (admrial 5000) to get slightly nose heavy at 100mm cg.

You definitely want them retracted when doing the CG. As said before, if it's balanced when gear are deployed, the plane will become too tail heavy when they come up. BTW thanks Rob for the kind words. I'm starting to love this bird. Do the markings look familiar?

[thisguy65]

You definitely want them retracted when doing the CG. As said before, if it's balanced when gear are deployed, the plane will become too tail heavy when they come up. BTW thanks Rob for the kind words. I'm starting to love this bird. Do the markings look familiar?

Thanks, so when do you/do not cg with gear down? I did do gear down, inverted and added the 2 weights in the cowling. Flew fine. and balance slightly nose down.

A member mention before he had to use the extra weights because his was tail heavy (same battery adrmial 5000).

[Aros]

Depends on the way the gear retract as far as CG balancing goes...It makes sense to balance with gear up on the Corsair due to wheels that retract aft of the CG. On some other models the gear retract outward or parallel to the leading edge which doesn't usually effect the CG.

[xviper]

Thanks, so when do you/do not cg with gear down? I did do gear down, inverted and added the 2 weights in the cowling. Flew fine. and balance slightly nose down.

A member mention before he had to use the extra weights because his was tail heavy (same battery adrmial 5000).

Upside down or right side up depends on where the vertical CG is on a given plane. If it's above the balance line, then the plane teeters too much and you have a hard time balancing it because it tends to fall in either direction if nudged. My rule of thumb is: Low wing plane - upside down balance. High wing plane - right side up balance. Mid-wing - which ever presents the most stable teeter totter.
As for gear up or down. It doesn't matter which to me because whichever way you balance it, it will be more likely UNbalanced the other way and you have to compensate manually. Trimming won't work either because as soon as you lower or raise the gear (whichever way you balanced it), it will be out of trim the other way. I look at it ....... Which way do I want it to be UNbalanced most of the time? When flying around with gear up or during take off and landing, which is a shorter time period than flying around? When I'm taking off or landing, those are the times I'm most busy on the sticks, so manually adjusting and "working the sticks" is normal. It's when flying around that there is more of a need for me to know that the plane can fly well "hands off". Some guys, for some reason, fly around with the gear down most of the flight. I don't know why but for them, they should balance gear down. Of course, then there's those who trim like crazy when coming down for a landing after the gear is down, thinking that they can leave the trim like that for the next take off. But then, in many cases, you've got varying degrees of flaps to mess with and that plays with the trim. These same pilots will trim again when in flight when everything is sucked up. Most of my planes, I trim once and that's it. Perhaps a click or two due to a different battery but that's quite minor.

[Aros]

Brad, if I didn't say it before, I will say it now...Your Corsair looks beautiful!

[downwindleg]

Thanks Todd. I haven't really done any weathering or cockpit upgrading except I widened the paint strip at the windscreen/canopy. It looked too narrow to me. I wanted to get a few flights under my belt first. BTW I totally agree with your comments on CG relative to gear retraction direction.:Cool:

[RCAV8R]

You definitely want them retracted when doing the CG. As said before, if it's balanced when gear are deployed, the plane will become too tail heavy when they come up. BTW thanks Rob for the kind words. I'm starting to love this bird. Do the markings look familiar?

Okay, I'm feeling the pressure!! I know it's Ira Kepford's plane...I shared the photos before on the Squawk of the static model built by Larry Horyna (attached)...it wasn't on display in Reno...I give up???Rob :Thinking: