Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Rcfiddy1]

Lost a prop blade while flying yesterday. Second time. I have really come to dislike the plastic back plates. I love Flightline aircraft, except for the dang plastic back plates. The blade was shed at WOT, of course, almost directly in front of me. Didn’t feel that I could glide through multiple turns for a downwind approach; so, I let it glide way down range before setting down in relatively rough grass. Bent some struts (probably should’ve opted for a belly landing) and broke a wing tip. Easy fixes. Just frustrating to loose a prop in flight. (The props were not over tightened, and I inspect the back plates every few flights).

Try a make a metal plate for front of blades and thru bolt it with lock nuts or locetite.

[SoLongSidekick]

The solution most speculated about and tried over on RC Groups is using a MAS semi-scale tri-blade prop. I posted in their P-38L thread asking what the most recent consensus on it was about 2 weeks ago and got no response of course. I'd gladly sacrifice a tiny bit of scale detail in something like a prop for the ease of using a 1-piece prop.

[kerrydel]

I am assembling one of these and found that the arm on one of the flap servos is not positioned correctly (the flap will not retract all the way). How do I remove the servo to reposition the arm? I emailed Motion RC, but am still waiting to hear from them, so any assistance will get me going sooner.

Thanks
Kerry

[rifleman_btx]

If you are still having a problem when I get back to the house I'll shoot a pic and show you what needs to be done

[boomer108]

I am assembling one of these and found that the arm on one of the flap servos is not positioned correctly (the flap will not retract all the way). How do I remove the servo to reposition the arm? I emailed Motion RC, but am still waiting to hear from them, so any assistance will get me going sooner.

Thanks
Kerry

Welcome to the Squawk Kerry! What I've done with a a few of my planes when the servo arm screw is below the wing surface is to take a long shaft phillips the same size as needed for the screw, and heat up the tip and lay it on the foam at an angle to the screw and make a slot in the foam just enough to access the screw. You can then get the arm off to adjust and not have to remove the servo. Just touch up with matching paint and your done.

[rifleman_btx]

That's actually what I was gonna show ya. So yes that's the way to do it.

[kerrydel]

Unfortunately, its in the center section. Guess I'll have to remove the boom to get to it.
This is the first plane I've ever purchaced that had the servos in place and unremoveable (my first foamy).

Thanks for the help.
Kerry

[Beeg]

Kerrydel, does your radio have sub trim? Instead of mechanically moving the servo arm I just used sub trim in mine to reset zero on that servo, Works great for me.

[rifleman_btx]

I take it you ran out of threads on the ball link socket as well?:Confused:

[fhhuber]

Kerrydel, does your radio have sub trim? Instead of mechanically moving the servo arm I just used sub trim in mine to reset zero on that servo, Works great for me.

Sub trim is a double-edged sword.

Its pretty good for small adjustments that are needed when you are up to 1/2 spline of servo arm position off. But it can add up and leave you with no available control movement one direction if you don't clear model memory before setting up new airplanes.

Sub trim does not change the mechanical servo travel limit so you have a servo with uneven throw limits. (not as much up as down for example)

****************

Make sure in your flap programming that you are not using 0% as flaps fully retracted if using a Spektrum radio. 0% is servo center. One extreme (full up or full down ) should be a negative value.

[SoLongSidekick]

Now I'm starting to get stupid with my ideas. The gimbal I run on my camera drone is a FeiyuTech Mini 3D Pro, and it's perfectly happy in the hanging configuration (as it is on my drone), the vertical configuration (with the base mounted to a lower surface and the camera directly above it), and the forward configuration (with the base mounted to a vertical surface and the camera out in front).

My first idea was flatten off a replacement nose and be able to snap the gimbal nose on whenever I wanted to, but then I realized I wouldn't be able to capture any of the plane in the forward configuration. So I figured buying a new cockpit and sanding a flat surface onto the top in front of the canopy and mounting the gimbal in the vertical configuration would be best. It would suck for aerodynamics, but I would be able to pan the camera around a full 360º and capture beautiful shots of the plane in stabilized 4k (this gimbal can be continuously rotated without issue). That way I would just have 3 cockpit sections. One for LOS, one for FPV, and one for stabilized beauty shots. This gimbal also has routing built-in for transmitting the GoPro's signal. So I could still fly the plan in FPV when using the gimbal. This gimbal is such an amazing bargain, I couldn't believe how full-featured it was for the cost.

Thoughts? Obviously I would have to significantly strengthen the attachment system for the cockpit, as well as the rigidity of the section of foam itself. The gimbal weighs 167g and a GoPro 4 Black weighs 87g, for a combined total of 254 grams or about .56 pounds. That's just shy of an Admiral 4S 3,000mAh which weighs 306 grams. I wonder how much that weight and aerodynamic drag would effect flight times.

[kerrydel]

Motion RC said that the servos are just glued in with contact cement and that I could remove it if necessary. I did so and moved the arm. I glued it back in with hot melt. It seems secure.

Probably have a maiden soon. Fingers crossed.

Thanks
Kerry

[rifleman_btx]

Should be just fine. You will love how it flys.:Cool:

[SoLongSidekick]

That is incorrect. I'm extremely disappointed with the way that mine currently flies.

[Hardway]

That is incorrect. I'm extremely disappointed with the way that mine currently flies.

You said yours was mostly still in the box.... When did you maiden?? My P-38 flies great.

What is wrong?

[Twowingtj]

That is incorrect. I'm extremely disappointed with the way that mine currently flies.

Mine flys very well too. Having "heavy metal" warbird experience is a plus for sure. What issues are you having?

[rifleman_btx]

Heck what did you do glue the wing on backwards? Mine flys like a dream even with 2 4000mah packs in it which is well over the recommended size, and I it will land smooth as a freshly felted pool table. More over I normally do a tail drag low pass just because I can. Mater of fact I need to repaint the tail tips just a bit do to that. Dude you have me confused as to what's going on with yours. This being my second 38 and both flew really great, the old version and the new with the all in one plug in wing connector.

[Hardway]

:)

[SoLongSidekick]

Yeah... I guess taking out of the box would probably make it fly better. Thanks for the tip.

[Oxotnik]

Over on RCG there’s a lot of discussion on this topic, and the general consensus (with at least a few dissenters) is that this P-38 will fly much better once it’s assembled, rather than when it’s in the shipping box. But, that is RCG, so take it with a grain a salt. :)