Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Oxotnik]

Well done on the recovery, might invest in the upgraded struts. Especially on grass. https://www.motionrc.com/products/fl...-set-flw301089

I installed the upgrade struts before the maiden. I wouldn’t fly without them, especially on our grass field.

[rifleman_btx]

Well done on the recovery, might invest in the upgraded struts. Especially on grass. https://www.motionrc.com/products/fl...-set-flw301089

[GliderGuy]

Nice job on the bounce recovery!

Yep…missed the “crow” reference. My bad.

Looking forward to seeing the final product after your application of Callie graphics.

-GG

[Oxotnik]

Speaking of landing...
I maidened my new P-38 yesterday. The flight went fine. It flew as well as my first P-38. I got a surprise on the landing though. I was going in at a nice glide slope and speed and was expecting a greaser landing, but got an ugly bounce instead. It caught me off guard and I almost didn't get on the throttle quick enough to get her back down in one piece. I forgot to never stop flying until the wheels stop. :-/

I had my hatcam angled down too low; so, I edited out almost all of the flight. I did catch the ugly landing though. LOL

[Oxotnik]

He said reflex with half and full flaps for crow so he is adding reflex to the ailerons...

Yep. Reflexing both ailerons up...which essentially adds some more washout and a little more drag for landing. Sorry if I was being vague.

[Evan D]

He said reflex with half and full flaps for crow so he is adding reflex to the ailerons...

[GliderGuy]

Oxotnik - What do you mean by flap reflex?

Typically, reflexed flaps = negative flaps. The P-38 has split flaps, so "reflex" in the purest sense isn't possible. See below:


Sounds like you'll be a busy man with this set-up.

-GG

[Oxotnik]

My replacement P-38 has been fully assembled and programmed for most of this week. The cruddy weather is moving out with a stable cold-air mass coming in behind. Hopefully, I get my P-38 radio-checked and in the air tomorrow. I'm looking forward to being an RC P-38 pilot again.

I have setup my P-38 with an FrSky X8R and 4-channel SBus expantion. I've given each throttle its own channel and have mixed them with the rudder for differential thrust (on a 3-position switch for no-differential, 15% differential with rudder, and 50% differential (which I'll only use on the ground, if needed, but it won't be, as I never had any trouble with ground steering on my first P-38). I gave the nose-wheel-steering servo its own channel and trim tab, so that it can be subtrimmed and trimmed independently of the rudder. IIRC correctly, I mixed the nose-wheel steering servo with the rudder at 50% of the rudder rate. I can always bump it up or down, if needed. I just don't like for my nose-wheel-steering to be too active, especially since I like full throws on the rudder. I set up each rudder servo with its own channel, too. No real reason that I did that, other than it was easy to do. The aileron servos have their own channels as well and I've set them up to add a little reflex for half flaps and more reflex for full flaps. It's sort of a mild crow, but I didn't go overboard with the full-flap reflex.

I'm really anxious to get her in the again tomorrow. Unfortunately, my Callie graphics haven't arrived yet. So, she'll be flying tomorrow unmarked.

I've also fixed a flaky retract on my FMS F7F and am equally anxious to get the Tigercat back into the air, too. I soooooooooo love twins!! :-)

[GliderGuy]

Sounds like the "old" style stock has been replaced with the stronger backplate design. Excellent!

-GG

[Mark 2]

Yes I noticed the slight change in sound when my backplate cracked, there was a kind of a buzzing quality to it. Luckily I was the only guy flying so I could pick the sound change up fairly easily.
I got my replacement spinners and backplates today and am pleased to see they are the new upgraded type.
Very cheap insurance for a beautiful plane like this, thanks to Motion RC for mailing them out to me so quickly, great customer service guys!

[GliderGuy]

Oxotnik,
I’ve made less than 50 flights on my new P-38. With the old style backplates, there was a very slight change in the sound when a backplate cracked. So far, I have not detected any sound changes with the newly designed back plates.

Once I get about 150 flights, I intend to take things apart and do a close inspection….or when I detect any sound change during a fly by.

I will post an update after the inspection.

-GG

[airotroy]

I just now ordered a new set of hopefully beefed up backplates and elev servo. Although no issues with the originals so far I feel like alot of you its semi cheap insurance especially since the planes cost has gone up almost a hundred dollars since I bought it in March of this year. Good luck on the maiden and like your first one, dont forget to keep the power on her in the turns and landing.

[Oxotnik]

As I was completing the assembly of my new P-38 yesterday evening and was finally installing the props, I realized that the Prop Nuts were missing. Since it was after business hours, I sent an email to Motion CS. A few minutes ago, I received an email response that two sets of prop adapters (which includes the prop nuts) has been shipped. I really, really appreciate no-hassle customer service!! Luckily, I’ve got prop nuts that can be cannibalized from my dead P-38 to hold me over.

I looked more closely at the plastic backplates yesterday evening. They do seem much beefier than the original backplates. Has there been many reported problems of these upgraded backplates failing in flight. I will balance my props before the maiden.

Chuck

[Oxotnik]

I just looked at my spinners again. The backplates do have the re-enforced plastic where the blades screw in; so, they are the upgraded backplates, I guess. I was expecting that an upgraded backplate would have a metal support structure, such as has been done for the 1.6m Spitfire. Hopefully, these backplates will fail less often than the original backplates.

[GliderGuy]

Aros in post 4214 had a comment on this back in June.

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/rc-warbirds/1978-official-flightline-rc-1600mm-p-38-lightning-thread?p=315586#post315586

-GG

[Mark 2]

I’ve just ordered a new set of spinners for my olive drab P38 in the hope they would be the upgraded type. Sounds like I’m going to be disappointed. I’ve already had one backplate develop a hairline crack, luckily I found it before it failed in flight.

[GliderGuy]

No metal added, but additional plastic added. Each prop blade now sits in a channel and the extra plastic reenforces the areas that are prone to crack.

I suggest working this out with MRC customer service.

In the mean time, the non-upgraded backplates are good for about 200 flights, in my experience.

Keep us posted.

-GG

[Oxotnik]

Hi Oxo…

FW “has” upgraded the prop backplate.

My recent purchase of the P-38 included them. You may want to order a new set and specify they be the upgraded version.

-GG

Really? Now that does piss me off. Royally. With my new P-38, I ordered another set of props and spinners. The PNP spinners and the additional spinners are all the non-upgraded spinners. How have the backplates been updated?

[edit] I went back to the posts that you'd referenced. Is the upgrade simply beefed-up plastic, or is a metal piece included?

[GliderGuy]

Hi Oxo…

Thanks for your post.

FW “has” upgraded the prop backplate.

My recent purchase of the P-38 included them. You may want to order a new set and specify they be the upgraded version. See post 4212…photo included:

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc...379#post315379

Additional tips recently offered in;
#4229
#4233

-GG

[Evan D]

Thanks for the update!