Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[ICM]

Thanks for the help and advice!

[Beeg]

I'm about to acquire an assembled FL P-38 from a local private seller. Comes with upgraded metal spring LG, 2 Admiral Pro 4s 2500 50c lipos which per specs weigh 588 with EC5 connectors all around, but no RX. I will be flying on my DX9 off a well kept 1/2" -3/4" grass club field. In preparation, I have several questions which the seller can't answer because he got it from the original purchaser but never flew it:

1. Any particular issues with this plane or its flight characteristics I should look out for?

2. I normally measure cg gear up. It appears accepted cg is around 70mm +/- from the leading edge at the "wing root", but its not clear (to me at least) where exactly that is? Is there some panel line or other imprint on the wing to use for cg? Will I be able to get cg with the 2 Admirals Pros?

3. Assuming scale flying with some loops and rolls, what flight time should I expect from this battery setup?

4. How easy is it to remove the outer wings for transport/storage?

5. I need a 6ch RX. Considering Spektrum AR620(no gyro) or Admiral RX600SP(gyro). Many here and on RC Groups seem to think gyro isn't necessary on this plane, but couldn't hurt. I lean towards Spektrum only because that's all I've flown and never had an issue. Any advice on one vs the other?

I know this is a bit lengthy. Forgive me, I'm anal and thanks for any help or advice offered.

It flys beautifully. Just keep it fast when doing maneuvers but lands very easy and smooth. I fly off geotex and also grass and as expected taking off on grass requires a little more runway. I get about 6+ minutes on a single Glacier 5400 with plenty to spare and I fly it pretty hard. If it has stock props and hubs be careful of any prop strikes as the hub is on the weak side. On takeoff, always be ready to chop throttle and land straight ahead if a hub breaks and you throw a prop. Its easy enough to fix and replace if you don't crash or crash too hard. I've had mine since they came out with many flight, two prop failures and some bad landings and it's worth it to repair and it keeps on giving me loads of fun. Great looking plane in the air! If I ever really crash it I'd buy another in a heartbeat.
I never takes the wings off mine for transport but it's fairly easy.
You can download the manual here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/10...compressed.pdf

I use a Spektrum radio (DX18) and have used Spektrum, Yellow and Admiral receivers in all my foamies so whatever you like would be fine. No gyro necessary as this is a pretty stable platform unless you just really want it. You can always turnoff the gyro if your receiver has it.

[ICM]

I'm about to acquire an assembled FL P-38 from a local private seller. Comes with upgraded metal spring LG, 2 Admiral Pro 4s 2500 50c lipos which per specs weigh 588 with EC5 connectors all around, but no RX. I will be flying on my DX9 off a well kept 1/2" -3/4" grass club field. In preparation, I have several questions which the seller can't answer because he got it from the original purchaser but never flew it:

1. Any particular issues with this plane or its flight characteristics I should look out for?

2. I normally measure cg gear up. It appears accepted cg is around 70mm +/- from the leading edge at the "wing root", but its not clear (to me at least) where exactly that is? Is there some panel line or other imprint on the wing to use for cg? Will I be able to get cg with the 2 Admirals Pros?

3. Assuming scale flying with some loops and rolls, what flight time should I expect from this battery setup?

4. How easy is it to remove the outer wings for transport/storage?

5. I need a 6ch RX. Considering Spektrum AR620(no gyro) or Admiral RX600SP(gyro). Many here and on RC Groups seem to think gyro isn't necessary on this plane, but couldn't hurt. I lean towards Spektrum only because that's all I've flown and never had an issue, but the Admiral seems to be well liked. Any advice on one vs the other?

I know this is a bit lengthy. Forgive me, I'm anal and thanks for any help or advice offered.

[Twowingtj]

Well done on the repaints on both birds Flyman!

[Elbee]

Good eye, Sir. Peer to peer review, both brutal and enlightening. Best, LB

[Flyman]

FM, She looks gorgeous. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Good Hunting. Best, LB

Thanks Captain! By any chance is that a Phantom in the background of your Avatar picture? My father was a C-130 pilot during his career. I was told when he passed by his Colonel that he had the most hours in the aircraft history which is why the AF wanted him to retire. Vietnam and Cambodia, yep, we know he was there but not cause dad told us, his Colonel did.

[Elbee]

Just a little update with pictures this time. Paint is complete on the P 38. Now I am ready to go to war!

FM, She looks gorgeous. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Good Hunting. Best, LB

[Flyman]

I seem to have a hard time finding a paint I could shoot on EPA foam. I ended up using a white latex with black vinyl stripes. I did this on my Carbon Cub S after painting it with a roller and enamel drab green. The paint was fine but the stripe tape seems to be lifting from the paint. The plane looks great otherwise. I am still a little new to this but I have gone back into flying again with my brothers. The paint on foam is a real experience.

Just a little update with pictures this time. Paint is complete on the P 38. Now I am ready to go to war! I used latex on the P 38 and it worked great. Cost? $4.42, time, a weekend, no coffee at all, rainy, windy weekend. That works.

[Corsair nut]

Help!!! Can somebody with the upgraded oleo struts measure the nose and main strut lengths from the base of the struts..to the axle? Id really apeeciate it!

[boomer108]

We (the Early Birds Lelystad Holland) restored a P51 Mustang former air racer at Reno "Miss Ashley" we brought her back after a painstaking 7 years to a original P51 D Mustang i as meccano partley restored the Packard Merlin (lots of work)
The P51 is painted as "Trusty Rusty" the color sceme from the late ace Bob Winks stationed at Leiston airflield in England.
The maiden flight was februari 1998 all went well.

http://www.vroegevogels.org/

That's a beautiful restoration Werner. Nice work!

[Twowingtj]

Sounds like you've got it figured out. I have used latex as well. Share some pics when you're done.

[Flyman]

Welcome to Hobby Squawk Flyman!

I took the easy way out for invasion stripes on my silver P-38. I wanted a little better visability and just added them to the underside of the wings. I just masked off a large section of the outer wing panels and shot satin white. Then masked the white off for the two satin black stripes. Did a similar thing on the A-10.

The wing tabs on mine are a real tight fit as well. You have to kind of start one tab and twist a little to get the other tab in. Not sure why.

Last night I started the paint after several hours of pinstriping. A couple of things I found. First, Lowe's in my town sells 8 oz sample paint or any color Valspar has for $4.00 each. So I started with white semi gloss latex primer over the existing paint. It came out flawless. I used white pinstripes for the tape lines that will stay on the plane. This way when I foam brushed it, if you get a little on it, you clean it off. Next came black pinstripes for the stripes. Measure, mark an pinstripe black (really narrow tape by the way). The fuselage took most of the time. I used a narrow pinstripe that would allow bending to be straight to the eye and make the curves and stay flat. Three coats for white and two coats for black over it. Looks really good on the wings this am.
The two things, once the pinstripe tape goes on, its strong enough to pull the paint off to the original EPO if you pull it off.
Secondly, latex will not harm EPO, foam brushes leave no lines and you have no overspray to protect the rest of the plane from. By this weekend I will be putting in the new landing gear upgrade....I hope....I will share some pics when its done. Just a little update.

[Werner van der Zel (Brewster)]

We (the Early Birds Lelystad Holland) restored a P51 Mustang former air racer at Reno "Miss Ashley" we brought her back after a painstaking 7 years to a original P51 D Mustang i as meccano partley restored the Packard Merlin (lots of work)
The P51 is painted as "Trusty Rusty" the color sceme from the late ace Bob Winks stationed at Leiston airflield in England.
The maiden flight was februari 1998 all went well.

http://www.vroegevogels.org/

[themudduck]

Glad to know that all of them are tight. I think you nailed the problem as to why but I have to be real careful when putting this together since the parts are rather frail. I considered just putting a tiny bevel with a dremel tool on the top leading edge to help start the guiding. Its the machinist left in me that thinks that. We did that when we had tight tolerance parts. As they are now, there is a pretty sharp 90 deg edge. I don't think that will effect its effectiveness or tightness either. It would just help guiding it in. Thanks for the advice.

I agree, I think that's n excellent idea! Rounding off the edge will make it able to slide in a bit easier and won't have any affect on the way the parts lock together.

I'm going to do that with mine!

[Flyman]

I think the tightness of the wing tabs is because the tabs and sockets are level, but the wing has dihedral. In other words the "thrust line" of the tab and socket is not in line with the wing, so it doesn't match up perfectly until after its plugged in. But that's just my guess.

Glad to know that all of them are tight. I think you nailed the problem as to why but I have to be real careful when putting this together since the parts are rather frail. I considered just putting a tiny bevel with a dremel tool on the top leading edge to help start the guiding. Its the machinist left in me that thinks that. We did that when we had tight tolerance parts. As they are now, there is a pretty sharp 90 deg edge. I don't think that will effect its effectiveness or tightness either. It would just help guiding it in. Thanks for the advice.

[Werner van der Zel (Brewster)]

[Werner van der Zel (Brewster)]

Most of the time, I use yellow FROG Tape. It's a little less aggressive adhession wise. As for paint, I find Krylon or Rustoleum rattle can works pretty good. Do several light coats rather than heavy coats.

Hi Twowingtj
i used less aggresive
masking tape for spraing the fuselages and black and white tape for the wings,be carefull with removing the masking tape as the original paint comes very easy off!
excuse for my bad English,i live in Holland.

[themudduck]

I think the tightness of the wing tabs is because the tabs and sockets are level, but the wing has dihedral. In other words the "thrust line" of the tab and socket is not in line with the wing, so it doesn't match up perfectly until after its plugged in. But that's just my guess.

[Flyman]

Most of the time, I use yellow FROG Tape. It's a little less aggressive adhession wise. As for paint, I find Krylon or Rustoleum rattle can works pretty good. Do several light coats rather than heavy coats.

Thanks, great advice. I originally had to paint my Carbon Cub after a sanding to get it smoothed out after filling. I experimented with several paints but found those couldn't be sprayed on raw foam. I did find it was OK after enamel was put on first. I will use some Krylon black for the stripes. It should be safe from any solvent now that its painted with the white. Thanks for the advice and your birds look great.

[Twowingtj]

Most of the time, I use yellow FROG Tape. It's a little less aggressive adhession wise. As for paint, I find Krylon or Rustoleum rattle can works pretty good. Do several light coats rather than heavy coats.