Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[AndrewF]

Hello AndrewF
Please follow the manuals direction regarding elevator neutral located on page 14 under "flight setting Instructions"...…………… 4mm upwards

This is because it was known from the get-go by the designers that the "appropriate" CG could not be obtained because of the metal spar on the center wing leading edge stopping any further aft battery placement to allow getting to a non nose heavy CG arrangement. Yeah it goes against all trim practices of neutral but it still flies okay ( inverted can be a buggar though)

Best regards,

Thanks for the reply! Also, I am running two 3,000 MAH packs and flew about 4 minutes and ended with 3.82 volts per cell, is this pretty normal?

[rckruser]

I support OV10's comments. I maidened mine on 10/14/20 (18 flights total now). I set it up 3mm above neutral. I had to trim up quite a bit. The 4mm in the manual is a good start. I measured mine and it looks closer to 5mm after trimming.
I use 2 Admiral 3000maH 4S batteries set about 3/8 inch back from the front of the fuselage. I have been getting 6.5 minutes with 8.4V/cell left at mixed (55-65% for cruising and 100% for maneuvers) throttle.
By the way, the suspesion strut upgrade is awesome. Worth every penny.

Bernie

[msidler]

Elevator failure. On my second flight(maiden went fine) it looks like the horn popped out of the elevator. Unfortunately it was at about 200ft which made for a spectaclur crash. The pilot tried to eject but the canopy prevented his life being spared.

Seriously, anyone heard of this before?
In my case, it appears the elevator horn wasn't glued in very well.
Mike

[DB Cooper]

I have my shiny new Pacific Silver P-38 just about ready to go for the coming season. To take advantage of the 5000 6S packs I already have, I used an external bec instead of the ESCs, flipped a couple wires around on the left motor, ordered 2 pair of the 2 blade spinner kits (to make a pair of normal rotation ones), and switched to APC 11x7E props on both sides. That gives just a little over the motors' rated wattage at full throttle while static (obviously that will unload some in the air), and is well under the ESCs' amp ratings. It'll leave some static thrust on the table with the smaller props, but feels like it should still be plenty.

[AllThumbs]

Howdy! New to the forum, but not to MotionRC airplanes. I'm contemplating ordering a 1600mm P-38, but I want to make sure I get the latest version. Can anyone tell me if the silver or the camo is the latest version? When I purchased my L-39, I ordered the camo version because it was the latest release that had several upgrades that didn't come with the older camo plane. I'm hoping the version I purchase will come with the upgraded spinner backplates. It appears the spare backplates that can be ordered separately are the old style, looking at the pic. Either paint scheme will work for me, since I'll probably put a custom paint job on it eventually anyway. Any inputs would be appreciated!

[MikeT]

This has been out for some time. I really doubt they would have any of the first runs in stock.

Mike

[OV10]

Howdy! New to the forum, but not to MotionRC airplanes. I'm contemplating ordering a 1600mm P-38, but I want to make sure I get the latest version. Can anyone tell me if the silver or the camo is the latest version? When I purchased my L-39, I ordered the camo version because it was the latest release that had several upgrades that didn't come with the older camo plane. I'm hoping the version I purchase will come with the upgraded spinner backplates. It appears the spare backplates that can be ordered separately are the old style, looking at the pic. Either paint scheme will work for me, since I'll probably put a custom paint job on it eventually anyway. Any inputs would be appreciated!

Hello AllThumbs and welcome to the Squawk.
I concur with MikeT comment that there are no more "1st runs" ( or seconds or thirds ) since this bird was released 5 years ago next week and has been very successful.
The sheet metal screwed props into the plastic backplate was not a solid design and did cause more than some issues but most worked their way around it.
It would have been better if a metal fastener (similar to being used on the 1600 Spitty) was upgraded to by the factory but have not seen nothing in regards to a newer version.
I am confused on where you got your information regarding an upgraded spinner backplate from Flight Line.
Regards,

[themudduck]

Also - the two versions (Camo and Silver) are the exact same plane except for the paint and decals.

I've had mine for 2 years and so far no problems with the backplates (knock on wood) - but I've been careful with them.

[Evan D]

See pic...

I am confused on where you got your information regarding an upgraded spinner backplate from Flight Line.
Regards,

.

[AllThumbs]

Maybe I’m confusing the backplate issue with something I read elsewhere. I might have picked that up in the Hellcat forum as a problem on that model. Good to hear that may not be a problem on the p-38. Thanks!

[AllThumbs]

Oops. Made my previous post before I saw Evan D’s. Those pics are what I recall. So does anyone know which backplates come on the latest versions?

[Evan D]

The new, reenforced ones. Motion probably hasn’t updated the pics, they don’t update many times...

[OV10]

The new, reenforced ones. Motion probably hasn’t updated the pics, they don’t update many times...

Thanx for that pic Evan, never have seen that nor heard about it on this or the other forum.
Now the million $ question...…… is the prop still sheet metal screwed to that plastic back plate or is a machine screw/loc nut arrangement like used on FMS props in play or did Flight Line incorporate the metal screw plate cross piece (in this case a tri piece) as was used initially on the 1600 Spitty.

[Evan D]

Other than that the same...

[Spad Driver]

Just ordered my P-38!.
YIPPEE!.
Now for the agonzing wait for delivery.
bought the Pacific silver version. Thinking about Dick Bong's early bird "Down Beat" on the back cover of squadron/signal P-38 in action.
Anyone know if there are any other photos or illustrations of this bird available?.

[Cape Jets]

I have my shiny new Pacific Silver P-38 just about ready to go for the coming season. To take advantage of the 5000 6S packs I already have, I used an external bec instead of the ESCs, flipped a couple wires around on the left motor, ordered 2 pair of the 2 blade spinner kits (to make a pair of normal rotation ones), and switched to APC 11x7E props on both sides. That gives just a little over the motors' rated wattage at full throttle while static (obviously that will unload some in the air), and is well under the ESCs' amp ratings. It'll leave some static thrust on the table with the smaller props, but feels like it should still be plenty.

Im getting ready to order the same plane. Birthday gift from me to me😉 I fly alot of 6S jets and not looking forward to buying more batteries for the P-38. You mentioned that you changed some wires on the left motor. Was that to change rotation of the blade from clockwise to counter-clockwise (or vis versa) If both props are now spinning in same rotation don't you get the thrust pull to left? Did you go with the 11x7 3 Blade props?

[Evan D]

The 2 blade. He used the same prop so he had to reverse one motor. Another choice is to go down in kV and use the stock props to keep the look. It's not hard to find the same motors in lower kV.

[Beeg]

Just ordered my P-38!.
YIPPEE!.
Now for the agonzing wait for delivery.
bought the Pacific silver version. Thinking about Dick Bong's early bird "Down Beat" on the back cover of squadron/signal P-38 in action.
Anyone know if there are any other photos or illustrations of this bird available?.

Spad Driver Do an internet search for "P-38 42-104012" and you'll get a few references. Not to start an argument but author John Stanaway suggests there is debate on whether Bong actually used this particular P-38 "Down Beat" to surpass Rickenbackers record instead of using his own aircraft. Either way it's a good looking scheme.

[themudduck]

Just ordered my P-38!.
YIPPEE!.
Anyone know if there are any other photos or illustrations of this bird available?.

Is this what you meant??

[Spad Driver]

Yippee! ,as in extremely happy!.
but thats a cool bird too!.
Just thought that "Down Beat" is an unusual scheme for a P-38.
As for it possibly not being the bird that Dick Bong flew to beat Eddie Rickenbaucher's score of 27 kills in WWI. It was not unusual for pilots to fly other aircraft during routine combat missions other than their regular assigned aircraft due to maintenance issues or other reasons. And the P-38 was known for multiple maintenance problems as it was one of the most complex aircraft flown during WWII!.
To me that he "might" have flown it at all is the cool part!.
And it is a easy scheme to recreate. Some white and green paint with black grafics from Callie Soden will give me a bird that is easily seen in the air and stand out from other P-38's on the ground.
will add the name Evelyn to the port nacelle for accuracy.