Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Tsmith]

The prop decals on the right side all came off. Could this be to imbalance or motor issue?

my water slide prop decals came off and then I reordered more and they came off again. I ended up having Callie make me some. She sent me a bunch for only $4 and they stay on nice.

[crxmanpat]

Since the prop decals are water slide, I use a decal setting solution to help keep them on. I forgot to do that on the set that came with the kit, but made my own replacements and put it on them. They have stayed on very well since then.

[Oxotnik]

At the rate I break props, I can't afford to keep applying new prop decals. 0:-)

[joelpo]

I had my maiden for the P-38L Pacific Silver this weekend -- went well! I used 2 x 3000mAh for a comfortable 6 minute initial flight, and could have went longer. I like the feeling of no torque on take-off and rolls. The plane slows down well for landing; in this video, I'm only using take-off flaps:

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

[Tsmith]

Very nice maiden! Looks like your landing light was on the whole flight.

[Oxotnik]

I especially loved the never-seen-before-straight-and-level flight. :Cool: Your buddy on the bullhorn cracked me up. Nice flight. Great maiden landing.

[miatateer]

Trying to bind Spectrum AR8010T. No luck. Maybe somebody can help.
So lets start with the fact that I had a Orange R820X bound up and working fine. A very experienced friend poo-poo'd the Orange big time. Now he's a Lemon guy, but I'm not sold. Let's ignore the Lemon vs Orange for now.
I decided to get a AR8010T. And yes, I am binding it with the sat receiver attached. I can attach the receiver to another ESC/Motor and it works great. I hook it up to the P38, throttle only, and after the bind completes, both ESC are continuously beeping. I disconnect, move throttle stick full up and reconnect. I get a different beep pattern, but still no joy.I tried binding with only one ESC, still nada.
Anybody using a AR8010T?
Any ideas?
Thanks

[Beeg]

What transmitter are you using?
What I've found is sometimes you have to be a little ways away from a Spektrum Rx to get it to bind and not around any large metal. Try stepping at least 6-12 feet away then try and bind.

As for Orange and Lemon:
If you are using a transmitter with DSM2 the Orange work great and is your most economical choice. If you are using DSMX the Lemons are a good choice. I know guys using Orange with DSM2 for years with absolutely no problems. I've only been using a couple Lemons for about a year and so far they have been trouble free after talking with guys that also have been using them for some time with no troubles.


And just to be certain these are the instruction from the manual.

"Binding

The AR8010T/AR9030T/AR9320T receivers must be bound to the transmitter.
before they will operate. Binding is the process of teaching the receiver
the specific code of the transmitter so it will only connect to that specific
transmitter.

1. Connect the remote receiver and any telemetry sensors to the main receiver.

2.Push and hold the bind button on the receiver while powering up the
receiver. Release the Bind button once the orange LED starts to flash
continuously, indicating that the receiver is in bind mode.

Tip:
It is still possible to use a bind blug in the BIND/BATT port if desired.

3. Put your transmitter in bind mode.

4.The bind process is complete when the orange LED on the receiver is solid.

NOTICE: If using a bind plug, remove after binding to prevent the system
from entering bind mode the next time the power is turned on.

5.After you set up your model, always rebind the transmitter and receiver to
set the desired failsafe positions. See FAILSAFE on the next page."

[miatateer]

Thanks for the comments. Sorry that maybe I wasn't completely clear. The AR8010 is binding to my DX9 just fine. Its the darn beeping ESCs that are confounding me. Also note that I did try binding with all control surfaces connected and they operate perfectly. I did take a look at the generic FreeWing ESC doc on montiionRC's site, The most closely matching pattern is supposed to indicate that I don't have the throttle channel at its lowest setting. I will double check that this evening, but I know I had the trim down nearly the entire range.

[F106DeltaDart]

Have you calibrated the ESCs? If not, try this procedure. Move the throttle to the full open position and plug in the battery. You should here a beep from that ESC acknowledging a read of your full throttle position. Then, move the stick to the closed throttle position. It should then beep several time, then arm. Repeat this for each ESC, and you should be good to go.

[miatateer]

Yep, tried that. Beeps in a different pattern. Pull throttle to low, beeps again. Pauses, the starts up with the constant beeping.

[xviper]

1. Is your throttle trim tab on the TX as low as it will go? On a new model memory, they always start in the middle. That's for gas engines. Electrics don't need to idle and some ESCs read throttle trim on certain TXs differently and may not like it because it thinks it's too high.
2. Have you tried reversing the throttle servo in the servo menu in the TX. Maybe it's backwards to what it's supposed to be for that set up.
3. Check that all 3 ESC wires to each motor are solidly connected. Sometimes, when putting that big wing together, all those wires get pulled and it's possible for one or more of those wires to get disconnected.

[Plastic_Aviator]

Yep, tried that. Beeps in a different pattern. Pull throttle to low, beeps again. Pauses, the starts up with the constant beeping.

I had a very similar issue and almost gave up on this bird. I tried checking all throttle trims and it still was not working. With nothing else to try and I decided to just completely undo and redo all the central wiring under cockpit. After that, it worked. I can only assume I had something wired incorrectly but now I've had no problems. I would suggest just doing the same if its no trouble for you.

Also create a Throttle Cut and completely eliminate the throttle. See if it stops and configures.

As mentioned already, just make sure your Throttle trim is at its lowest, you might have it up a few clicks so the TX thinks the motor is armed. Also make sure Throttle is not reversed.

[miatateer]

I got it! So I had to go into the Servo setup and adjust the throttle channel travel "bottom" end lower. Not by much, but some. Even using the throttle-cut didn't take it low enough.

Before I started, when I looked at the "Monitor" screen the throttle would bottom out at -130 and the throttle cut would drop to -135 (these number might not be exact, old-timers memory!) I went in to Servo Setup and increased the "bottom" number of the throttle channel from 100 to 115. This had the effect (back on the Monitor screen) of extending the lower range down to -140 and the throttle cut to -145 (again, not sure these are exact, but it gets the idea across...I hope).

Thanks all for your suggestions!

[Plastic_Aviator]

Sweet!!! Glad you got it going. :Whew:

:Cool:

[Sky Wolf]

I got it! So I had to go into the Servo setup and adjust the throttle channel travel "bottom" end lower. Not by much, but some. Even using the throttle-cut didn't take it low enough.

Before I started, when I looked at the "Monitor" screen the throttle would bottom out at -130 and the throttle cut would drop to -135 (these number might not be exact, old-timers memory!) I went in to Servo Setup and increased the "bottom" number of the throttle channel from 100 to 115. This had the effect (back on the Monitor screen) of extending the lower range down to -140 and the throttle cut to -145 (again, not sure these are exact, but it gets the idea across...I hope).

Thanks all for your suggestions!

Glad to hear this! Will try it on my AR9350. Having the same exact issue trying to bind it to my Freewing A-10 Twin 80mm. Will try going down that same road when I get back into town. Fingers crossed!

[Kato742]

Alpha, Am happy that you never had problems with your retracts. My experience has been a bit different. Long story short, I have installed the sprung Oleo Upgrade, but also replaced the stock retracts with e-flite 25-46 Tricycle set after multiple failures of the stock gear. Took a bit of surgery for the nose gear, but the model design made it easier than I expected

Gear door sequencing now has me at a loss. When the gear is extended, the doors close on the struts and then won't close when the gear is retracted. Somehow the sequencing is out of synch. I tried unplugging the gear and LG doors in various sequences, battery on/battery off...reversed servos, etc. but cant get them back into sequence with the stock electronic mixer. I have just added an aftermarket Turnigy Gear and Door sequencer with the same results.

I am hoping this is a simple fix but haven't come upon the correct procedure to put the sequencing back to normal. Any suggestions? Perhaps a new "little blue box"? PS: Just ordered one, just in case.

I am extremely happy with the model, with exception of the inop retracts. BTW, Motion RC has already replaced one unit very quickly.... great customer service. I called later regarding the sequencing problem and the rep couldn't help me.

Would certainly appreciate some guidance regarding gear and gear door sequencing.

[OV10]

Alpha, Am happy that you never had problems with your retracts. My experience has been a bit different. Long story short, I have installed the sprung Oleo Upgrade, but also replaced the stock retracts with e-flite 25-46 Tricycle set after multiple failures of the stock gear. Took a bit of surgery for the nose gear, but the model design made it easier than I expected

Gear door sequencing now has me at a loss. When the gear is extended, the doors close on the struts and then won't close when the gear is retracted. Somehow the sequencing is out of synch. I tried unplugging the gear and LG doors in various sequences, battery on/battery off...reversed servos, etc. but cant get them back into sequence with the stock electronic mixer. I have just added an aftermarket Turnigy Gear and Door sequencer with the same results.

I am hoping this is a simple fix but haven't come upon the correct procedure to put the sequencing back to normal. Any suggestions? Perhaps a new "little blue box"? PS: Just ordered one, just in case.

I am extremely happy with the model, with exception of the inop retracts. BTW, Motion RC has already replaced one unit very quickly.... great customer service. I called later regarding the sequencing problem and the rep couldn't help me.

Would certainly appreciate some guidance regarding gear and gear door sequencing.

Hello Kato and welcome to the Squawk,
You may not get a response from Alpha for a while because he's been rather busy over in China but there are a lot of folks on here that are knowledgeable of many things. ;)
I suspect the culprit is the e-flite retracts internal controller board being 180 out from FL/Freewing type retracts.
SImple check.....hook the FliteLine's back to the gear sequencer control board and I'll bet the doors will work properly.
If that is the problem and your set on using the E-flites then a servo reverser to the door servo's controller will be required.

PS...the reason for my suspicion is I mixed FW nose retract with FMS main retracts on a VQ P-39 project and I had to add a reverser to the FW retract to get them to operate together

[Kato742]

Thx, OV10, will give that a shot. Awaiting Fedex and USPS for my Turnigy servo signal reverser to dig into your proposed "Fix". Appreciate the tip, will let you know how this turns out.

Pics below show her as an F-5B (photo recon) in French AF livery, serial #268223, flown by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the day he went missing, 31 July 1944, off the coast of Marseilles. Nacelle mirror borrowed from bottom of a Red Bull can, coated w/ clear nail polish.

[Kato742]

If that is the problem and your set on using the E-flites then a servo reverser to the door servo's controller will be required.

WOOOOHOOOO, OV10 ! Thanks for the tips. Solution was a new gear/gear door sequencer AND signal reverser from Turnigy. After a few initial disappointments, I finally bit the bullet and did a flow analysis sheet on the Boolian logic (something I had not done in 30+ years). Sequencer plugged into the Motion "blue box" with the signal reverser on the GEAR servo lines instead of the DOOR lines. Success is sweet, bittersweet because it's pissing down rain here in Nashville at the moment.

Saint-Exupéry will be back in the air as soon as the ducks quit drowning.