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

[themudduck]

About to pull the trigger on this bird. Think I'll go with the birdcage.

Anything else I should add to my shopping cart? Haven't had the chance to get through this monster thread yet so if there is some quick tips on upgraded parts or anything like that I should consider, please let me know.

Thanks!

Hey Goober, well there is something else to consider - most of us have gone through retract cases like popcorn, trying to learn how to land this thing correctly. (I finally figured it out). The black plastic case on the retract takes ALL of the force from the landing gear, and will crack if you have a slightly bad bounce. So I would suggest ordering one set as a spare. Don't let this deter you, its a big baby when its brought in the right way, its just a little difficult to get the hang of it (and you'll probably get 18 suggestions here for how to do it, but my way is best haha LOL)

ps what I do is: (a) use full flaps, 80 degrees (b) drive it all the way in with some power and make a 2-point landing, throttle cut at touchdown (c) and I use a little down trim mixed in with the flap setting, this stops it from bouncing up after touchdown. That last point is what solved the problem for me! I went through at least 6 sets of retracts because I was using up trim with the flaps. Don't do that.

[GooberRC]

Hey Goober, well there is something else to consider - most of us have gone through retract cases like popcorn, trying to learn how to land this thing correctly. (I finally figured it out). The black plastic case on the retract takes ALL of the force from the landing gear, and will crack if you have a slightly bad bounce. So I would suggest ordering one set as a spare. Don't let this deter you, its a big baby when its brought in the right way, its just a little difficult to get the hang of it (and you'll probably get 18 suggestions here for how to do it, but my way is best haha LOL)

ps what I do is: (a) use full flaps, 80 degrees (b) drive it all the way in with some power and make a 2-point landing, throttle cut at touchdown (c) and I use a little down trim mixed in with the flap setting, this stops it from bouncing up after touchdown. That last point is what solved the problem for me! I went through at least 6 sets of retracts because I was using up trim with the flaps. Don't do that.

Thanks for the advice. Does it have a tendency to nose over like a Spitfire? I'm guessing not if you are seeing success with down trim at touchdown. Or would it just balloon with flaps otherwise?

[themudduck]

Thanks for the advice. Does it have a tendency to nose over like a Spitfire? I'm guessing not if you are seeing success with down trim at touchdown. Or would it just balloon with flaps otherwise?

Well, like most tail-draggers during takeoff you have to keep a firm hand on the rudder fighting the torque and the tail comes up and it wants to take off quickly, so you have to "hold it down" and keep it going straight.... like the Spit.... then it takes off perfectly once its going. It won't nose over unless you give it down elevator. It doesn't need flaps for takeoff, but you can use a little flap if you're on a grass field to help get it off - the key is to not let it take off too early. It does want to pop off the ground quickly and you have to make sure its up to speed first. So that's a little tricky. but not too bad, because it has good power and will quickly get going.

Now during landing, this is a relatively heavy model and the flaps will help a lot to slow it down. I've never noticed much ballooning with the flaps, it doesn't seem to care much. Of course if you use a LOT of flap you have to keep some power in, because it will slow down too much and fall out of the sky without some power, those big flaps have a lot of drag. When I was flying it during the past year I had just a little up trim mixed with full flaps because I wanted the nose to be up during final approach and landing. I'd come in nice and slow under power, kind of hovering in on the flaps looking for that three-point landing, and touch down with the tail down. Well, unless it was perfect, the model would then bounce several times, and sometimes make 3 or 4 or 5 landings doing the "pogo stick bounce of death" routine that the A10 likes to do. And rip the gears clean off. Or, bounce just one time, and I'd bring the plane back and notice that one gear would be "shuddering" during the retract sequence, which means the case was cracked or the jackscrew was bent. It did NOT like being banged around at all. I'd break a retract virtually every time I took it out! I busted the gears on a flap servo once as well. It was very frustrating. Each time takes more than an hour disassembling the wing to replace the parts, etc. so it wasn't much fun. But what a plane!

So now, when the flaps come down I have just a little bit of down elevator mixed in. I hold the plane up with the stick (because it tends to want to go down) to maintain the glide slope, and when it touches down its a 2-point landing it sticks every time. No bouncing. Its just a tiny bit of down trim, that's all it took - that's what worked for me.

[paulsnapp]

Are you doing it with the plane upside down? This is a low wing plane and should be balanced upside down. Right side up is harder to balance as it becomes very "teetery". Also this plane is quite big and heavy and is very CG forgiving. Measure the book CG and place a mark on the top wing surface on each side, at a convenient distance from the fuse and hold it with your index fingers. You don't need a CG machine or a bubble level. You can easily tell by just looking at it if it's level or not.

The Xicoy CG Meter has three electronic pucks that the plane rests on. It is done in the same manner as they do full size aircraft, but this device is small and made just for RC aircraft. So it is used with the plane right side up and is very stable. The issue is the CG results will vary if the plane is not at its level flying position. It is much more accurate that balancing on your fingers and no dimples in the foam wing from using your fingers. Every plane has a leveling location but I just do not see an obvious one for this Corsair. I have eyeballed it and sure it is close. I was just hoping somebody on the forum had used a more sophisticated leveling device and could share the leveling location. Anyone??

[GooberRC]

Well, like most tail-draggers during takeoff ... that's what worked for me.

Thanks for all the great info! Makes pulling the trigger a lot easier, which I guess is a good thing right? 😂

[Hugh Wiedman]

Well, like most tail-draggers during takeoff you have to keep a firm hand on the rudder fighting the torque and the tail comes up and it wants to take off quickly, so you have to "hold it down" and keep it going straight.... like the Spit.... then it takes off perfectly once its going. It won't nose over unless you give it down elevator. It doesn't need flaps for takeoff, but you can use a little flap if you're on a grass field to help get it off - the key is to not let it take off too early. It does want to pop off the ground quickly and you have to make sure its up to speed first. So that's a little tricky. but not too bad, because it has good power and will quickly get going.

Now during landing, this is a relatively heavy model and the flaps will help a lot to slow it down. I've never noticed much ballooning with the flaps, it doesn't seem to care much. Of course if you use a LOT of flap you have to keep some power in, because it will slow down too much and fall out of the sky without some power, those big flaps have a lot of drag. When I was flying it during the past year I had just a little up trim mixed with full flaps because I wanted the nose to be up during final approach and landing. I'd come in nice and slow under power, kind of hovering in on the flaps looking for that three-point landing, and touch down with the tail down. Well, unless it was perfect, the model would then bounce several times, and sometimes make 3 or 4 or 5 landings doing the "pogo stick bounce of death" routine that the A10 likes to do. And rip the gears clean off. Or, bounce just one time, and I'd bring the plane back and notice that one gear would be "shuddering" during the retract sequence, which means the case was cracked or the jackscrew was bent. It did NOT like being banged around at all. I'd break a retract virtually every time I took it out! I busted the gears on a flap servo once as well. It was very frustrating. Each time takes more than an hour disassembling the wing to replace the parts, etc. so it wasn't much fun. But what a plane!

So now, when the flaps come down I have just a little bit of down elevator mixed in. I hold the plane up with the stick (because it tends to want to go down) to maintain the glide slope, and when it touches down its a 2-point landing it sticks every time. No bouncing. Its just a tiny bit of down trim, that's all it took - that's what worked for me.

Marc, my EXACT experience, you laid it out nicely. I also used to try to do a 3 point landing and almost never worked out, bounce or crushed the retracts. After going through several retracts (I cornered the market on them early on and still have 8 in stock) I learned to land like themudduck described, leaving power on and landing perfectly level on the 2 mains. Since then, maybe 60-70 landings, all quite good and my stock of retracts is getting cobwebs on them. The only difference I think for me is that I keep the throttle at 40% (I know that sounds high) on the glide slope and only reduce it just as the mains get 1" off the grass. The reason my throttle needs to be that high is that I like to come in with landing flaps at ultra-max, 45 mm deflection instead of the 33 mm the manual recommends, only because it looks cool coming in like that. I then need about 3 clicks of up elevator on the landing flaps (and it still assumes a slight down attitude at neutral stick and need to hold it up like Marc) and I have 0 up elevator trim on take-off flaps, although I don't use flaps on take-off and work to keep it on the ground as long as possible to get up to speed. This, like the Spit, will easily lift off before you've reached V1 and immediately stall, so holding it down is imperative.

With all that said, this is my favorite WWII tail dragger! It's has more than enough power, will cruise at 50-60% throttle and perform WWII fighter plane acrobatics all day long and on a 5000 mah battery, you will easily get 7 minutes of flight time!

[Aros]

Really good analysis boys and I agree. I sold my first one to fund another project but I am anxious to get another one. My ESM 85" Corsair should be coming home (been between two builders for two years) this Saturday but she won't see the field too often. I need an every day Corsair to fly! Between my three favorite all-time warbirds (P-51D, P-38, F-4U) I have to give the slight edge to the Corsair. Just something about that gull wing bird and flap/dirty profile on final approach that is unbeatable.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Aros I saw your short video from 2018 on the ailerons and flaps some time ago, so it is still in the build process? Thank God it didn't take this long to manufacture the real thing in WWII or there may have been a slightly different outcome. This is a 60CC gas powered beast, no?

[Aros]

Hugh Wiedman tell me about it!!

The real kicker is I am not one known for my patience. No she's all electric. 25x10 Biela 3 blade being swung by a Rimfire 65 brushless (I think it could power a riding lawnmower lol). I will be powered by at least a couple shots of whiskey in order to get the nerve to maiden her.

[paulsnapp]

Which is more likely to damage the retracts - a mowed grass strip or a paved runway? I have both available and will be doing my maiden soon and will have to learn the landing technique you all have been discussing.

[Aros]

For me personally I have always found pavement to be less forgiving for retracts on a hard landing, although if the landing is bad enough, grass will do just fine in destroying retracts.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Which is more likely to damage the retracts - a mowed grass strip or a paved runway? I have both available and will be doing my maiden soon and will have to learn the landing technique you all have been discussing.

I'm proud to say I've managed to crush a few Corsair retracts on both grass and asphalt, all at the beginning of my trials with the Corsair when trying to learning how to land it correctly with power, level and only the two mains touching first. Every time I tried to 3 point it or "flop" it down, time for a new retract. So bottom line is that if you don't land it "scale like", either surface will bite you in the rear! Grass is "slightly" more forgiving on landing, but a bad landing on asphalt would yield most likely the same result on grass as well. Taking off on asphalt may be easier with the Corsair however because grass has a tendency to cause a little more drag on take-off that could result in a nose over if you advance the throttle too quickly, so on either surface, you need to be pro-active and efficient with both the rudder (steering right to counter the prop wash effect), the throttle and the elevator surface to keep it level. On grass, I actually found that keeping the nose about 3-5 degrees down allows me to lift off when I'm sure it's reached sufficient take off speed without stalling. Same with the Spitfire, although not has significant.

[f4u ausie]

Spare set of retracts also ...

I think

[paulsnapp]

Is there anyone out there who has successfully maiden and flown this Corsair without breaking a retract?

[xviper]

Is there anyone out there who has successfully maiden and flown this Corsair without breaking a retract?

I have NOT broken a retract on this plane yet. I had lots of practice breaking retracts on my FMS 1700mm.

[paulsnapp]

I have flown many retracts and never broken any of them on planes that were not a Corsair. But, none were rotating retracts. Is this the problem - that the design for RC rotating retracts is inherently weak?

[themudduck]

I have flown many retracts and never broken any of them on planes that were not a Corsair. But, none were rotating retracts. Is this the problem - that the design for RC rotating retracts is inherently weak?

No, it has nothing to do with the rotating function. Its just the physics, all the force of a (bad) landing is transferred directly to the plastic case and the plastic isn't strong enough. Something has to give. The part of the LG that makes it rotate is not the part that is breaking, it is the actual plastic case and the jack-screw. Truth be told, this particular retract probably would have few problems if it was a little beefier. But since it isn't, one needs to not be rough with it. It doesn't have any problem handling normal landings or grass fields.

[paulsnapp]

No, it has nothing to do with the rotating function. Its just the physics, all the force of a (bad) landing is transferred directly to the plastic case and the plastic isn't strong enough. Something has to give. The part of the LG that makes it rotate is not the part that is breaking, it is the actual plastic case and the jack-screw. Truth be told, this particular retract probably would have few problems if it was a little beefier. But since it isn't, one needs to not be rough with it. It doesn't have any problem handling normal landings or grass fields.

With as many replacement retracts sold you would think the manufacturer would beef up the plastic and jack screw or make a metal case to improve their product. But I guess they make more money selling the replacement parts.

[f4u ausie]

I did not brake any 4 first 10 or15 flights. Not matter what to me. These r awesome 4 the price. U bought a new car recently. Junk!!!!

[paladin]

the secret to good landings is landing with lots of flight time left on the battery. if something goes wrong, GO ROUND! till you are familiar with the plane.

please keep in mind you should not pop the flaps up on a go round. so you have to be patient. in my case 1 out of 4 GO ROUNDs the plane touches down before taking back off, but once committed you have to stick with it. keep the flaps down, go to 3/4 throttle and wait (count to three,seconds) and by then the plane will be climbing on its own (with out u adding E).

pavement on new planes leads to scuffed wing tips. its not the grass its the sink rate that damages retracts, if its not right GO ROUND.

Joe