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

[t01ga]

Nice plane t01ga! Nice weathering job.'m

Thanks Boomer, nice one!

[Spirit Of "76"]

That is one awesome looking warbird. The colors are truly realistic down to the rusty grease stains on the hinges! Super job and thanks for sharing.

[t01ga]

That is one awesome looking warbird. The colors are truly realistic down to the rusty grease stains on the hinges! Super job and thanks for sharing.

Oh, it is my pleasure. Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate it.

[Tim K]

I have about 25 flights on my Corsair and am having a lot of fun with it, with one complaint. In the air the plane is outstanding, but the landing gear seem pretty week compared to other planes like the FL Spitfire. Admittedly I am not the smoothest all the time but even mildly bumpy landings seem to result in either the jack screw getting bent or the gear case cracking which leads to the gear folding up on landing. The Spitfire gear are essentially the same gear mechanism from what I understand and I have never had any issues with them. Is anyone else having problems? And has anyone come up with a solution? Other than landing better, of course It seems to me the slot in the sides of the case is a weak spot, has anyone tried to reinforce that?

[themudduck]

I have about 25 flights on my Corsair and am having a lot of fun with it, with one complaint. In the air the plane is outstanding, but the landing gear seem pretty week compared to other planes like the FL Spitfire. Admittedly I am not the smoothest all the time but even mildly bumpy landings seem to result in either the jack screw getting bent or the gear case cracking which leads to the gear folding up on landing. The Spitfire gear are essentially the same gear mechanism from what I understand and I have never had any issues with them. Is anyone else having problems? And has anyone come up with a solution? Other than landing better, of course It seems to me the slot in the sides of the case is a weak spot, has anyone tried to reinforce that?

Tim, several of us have had the same observation here. It seems to be the thing with this model. My opinion is that a lot of the stress on the landing gear is transferred straight into the plastic case of the retract on this model. I don't know what the solution is. Maybe it needs a heavier (stronger) retract.

For me, I have been practicing making better landings, and I have found that its smoother if I don't let the model slow down quite as much. The slower it comes in, the more it bounces...but if I drive it in to a wheel landing (tail up) it seems to be a lot smoother. But that doesn't always work, and each time I land I worry I'm going to damage something....

[Aros]

Well I have already replaced my gear once but that was due to getting her too slow a few feet up on the approach. My fault 100% but I was surprised by how the gear collapsed like that. Landing her with speed is critical. I always keep at least 25% to 30% power on the approach. Landings have been a non-event ever since.

[Hardway]

Fly it in like a warbird! With your bigger girl, you will have to do that kind of approach, or you won't get a second chance to try it again!!! Big ole draggy Corsair and we love it that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

I have about 25 flights on my Corsair and am having a lot of fun with it, with one complaint. In the air the plane is outstanding, but the landing gear seem pretty week compared to other planes like the FL Spitfire. Admittedly I am not the smoothest all the time but even mildly bumpy landings seem to result in either the jack screw getting bent or the gear case cracking which leads to the gear folding up on landing. The Spitfire gear are essentially the same gear mechanism from what I understand and I have never had any issues with them. Is anyone else having problems? And has anyone come up with a solution? Other than landing better, of course It seems to me the slot in the sides of the case is a weak spot, has anyone tried to reinforce that?

I've had the same problem with the jack screw getting bent but haven't had any issue with the plastic housing. (knock on wood).
One thing that may help is to remove the tiny phillips screw that limits the travel of the inner strut, remove the spring inside and lube it with some dry lube. replace the inner strut and spring and work it in and out a few times.Can't hurt.

Tom

[paladin]

I am using all the flap I can get (50-60 degrees) and it lands like a *****cat. i'm assuming you r using flaps, if so you need to spend some time tooling around down and dirty to see how slow it likes to fly and what throttle settings sustain down and dirty flight. then all those strut problems should go away.

joe

[Aros]

Fly it in like a warbird! With your bigger girl, you will have to do that kind of approach, or you won't get a second chance to try it again!!! Big ole draggy Corsair and we love it that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AMEN!!

Full flaps all the way for me with Corsairs! Just manage the throttle accordingly and you should be rewarded with beautiful landings every time!

[xviper]

AMEN!!

Full flaps all the way for me with Corsairs! Just manage the throttle accordingly and you should be rewarded with beautiful landings every time!

That is a really hard thing to learn to do. It's taken me till just the end of last season to do this. It's a bit counter-intuitive since you are trying to land the plane and when doing so, it's normal to reduce throttle and to even shut it down and glide it down. This is a big mistake with planes that have aggressive flaps deployment. The thing just falls out of the air because it goes too slow with the flaps hanging down. On some planes, it's easier to land with no flaps or just take off flaps. I think it's because in these scenarios, the perceived stall speed is easier to ascertain. I learned by repeated landings with no flaps, then with 1/2 flaps. It's like a 3-step "stop smoking" program.

[Aros]

Absolutely. Not something I would recommend for beginners. You're right, it is counter-intuitive yet absolutely mandatory. Even a seasoned flyer like myself learned the hard way when I got complacent and hit stall speed with her 3 feet off the ground. That cost me a new set of retracts. If you are using full flaps deployed (especially with max throw like I like) you have to drive her with fair amount of power to the ground or you will pay. I just love the Corsair fully dirty on approach...Such a sight second-to-none in my book that it's worth the added power all the way to the ground.

[Spirit Of "76"]

I am so pleased to see you guys sharing your bumps and bruises and how you’ve overcome them and are sharing your methods of flap use on approach and touchdown!
Hoyt

[xviper]

I'm not ashamed to admit that those lessons learned came at the cost of many busted retracts and broken prop blades.

[RichJ53]

AMEN!!

Full flaps all the way for me with Corsairs! Just manage the throttle accordingly and you should be rewarded with beautiful landings every time!

Yup
love this plane and understand when it is in the dirty configuration...… it needs power or be diving in converting altitude into airspeed :)

Rich

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

An early flair with full flaps will also create an impending stall. Try to keep the nose down a few degrees until the flair with some power.At least this has helped me in smoother landings.

Tom

[Aros]

Yep. Premature Flare is a condition I have been afflicted with more times than I care to count in this hobby I am embarrassed to admit.

[hilldebrandt]

Yep. Premature Flare is a condition I have been afflicted with more times than I care to count in this hobby I am embarrassed to admit.

You would think they could make a blue pill for that too!!

[Hardway]

Bam✌️

[paladin]

in pappy Bonington's book he goes into great length about how he taught all his students to wheel land, only! but when he realized that the old man (Claire Chennault) was there he was going to put on a show with his P-40 and while flaring it stalled and he was quite embarrassed, even trying to avoid Chennault. so if wheel landings are good enough for pappy they are good enough for me.

Joe