Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Beeg]

Has anyone converted their flightline P-38 to a solid Master Air Screw MAS 3 blade prop and if so how did you do it? size prop used, brand of spinner and size, and any mods made to the engine shaft? I lost mine a few days ago as it threw a prop when the back plate broke under high speed maneuvers and I wanted to go to a solid metal back plate and single 3 blade prop to prevent it. It is possible I may have to reinforce the plastic firewall and do bolts vice screws though. Thoughts?

I think Kougar Mark II was the first to do the MAS conversions..

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2580046-FlightLineRC-P-38L-Lightning-1600mm-%2863inch%29/page365#post35844221

[wallacems]

Has anyone converted their flightline P-38 to a solid Master Air Screw MAS 3 blade prop and if so how did you do it? size prop used, brand of spinner and size, and any mods made to the engine shaft? I lost mine a few days ago as it threw a prop when the back plate broke under high speed maneuvers and I wanted to go to a solid metal back plate and single 3 blade prop to prevent it. It is possible I may have to reinforce the plastic firewall and do bolts vice screws though. Thoughts?

[xviper]

Don't ya love it when things finally work the way they should? :Cool: I guess they forgot to put in the addendum sheet on your model. It helps if the instructions are up to date.

[mallen]

With the help of xviper all is working with my lights. I also found out that my landing light would not work without having the power running through my ESC's. When I was building/setting up my plane I kept the ESC's unplugged and was powering my receiver and servos with just a flight pack. So once I used the updated wiring diagram and connected the ESC's all my lights work the way they should! And my landing gear showed up today so I should be able to have my first flight sometime over the weekend.

Thanks for all the help!!!! Mark

[mallen]

Ok that makes more sense. I'll wire them up again and check. Thanks for the Update!

[xviper]

Mine came with an addendum page as follows ...........................

[mallen]

Here is the diagram from my manual.

[xviper]

I don't know what those lights do on the real plane or if the real plane has them in those positions. On the model, I just plugged them in as per the diagram. Lights are 2-pin only, with + and -. Red wire is +. I just checked the manual for my plane and the board diagram shows 4 pairs (not triplets) of pins for the lights. There are 4 plugs for the lights. The 2 tip lights go as per label and the belly triple lights go into the "strobe". The middle wing light is the landing light and goes into "landing light". Now, if yours doesn't come on when the gear comes down, the plug might reversed (wrong polarity). Check that. As I said, there is no need for a Y, however, if the landing light pins are dead, then you can use a Y and pair it up with one of the wing lights and have it on all the time, since you've already tested the landing light in one of the wing light pins and you say it works.
Just in case there's a delay for the landing light, did you wait till all the retracts have deployed for a couple of seconds?

[mallen]

All my lights do work but I get no light to work in the "Landing-Light" port with the landing gear up nor down. Whichever light I plug into the "Strobe-Light" ports stay on all the time and which ever light I plug into the "Wing-light" port flashes. So I figured I was suppose to plug the red and green wing tip LED's into the "Wing-Light" port (which there is only one).

As for the landing gear, I too also wanted it for my landing skills....or lack there of....lol

[xviper]

Hello everyone!

Just purchased a P38-L so I'm new to the group. Just about ready for my first test flight but I want to upgrade the landing gear first since I will be flying off grass so hopefully I'll receive the landing gear in the next day or two. But a question I have is with the controller board and my lights. The port that is labeled "Landing-Light" in the instruction manual seems to be dead. My Red and Green "Wing-light" works (but I wasn't given a y-cable so I can install both at the same time) and I take it that the multi-color lights on the fuse belly goes into one of the "Strobe-Light" ports. My Landing light does work if I plug it into the "Wing-light" port or the "Strobe-light" port. So am I missing something here or is the "Landing-Light" port on my control board bad.

Thanks for any help with this!
Mark

1. Check polarity if a light doesn't work.
2. You shouldn't need a Y to hook up all the lights. There are enough ports on the board to accommodate all of them.
3. The landing light should only come on when the gear is down - ie, when you are landing (or taking off).

The upgrade landing struts are shock absorbing. The tires are the same. Grass operations depend on tire size and the stock tires and struts handle grass (even very bumpy grass) just fine. The shock absorbing qualities help with "less than perfect" landing skills. They won't improve grass operations much.
I have the "upgrade" struts because my landing skills at the time were "less than desired". I started flying this plane with the stock struts on the same grass as when the new struts went on the plane. They made no difference to how the plane worked on grass.

[mallen]

Hello everyone!

Just purchased a P38-L so I'm new to the group. Just about ready for my first test flight but I want to upgrade the landing gear first since I will be flying off grass so hopefully I'll receive the landing gear in the next day or two. But a question I have is with the controller board and my lights. The port that is labeled "Landing-Light" in the instruction manual seems to be dead. My Red and Green "Wing-light" works (but I wasn't given a y-cable so I can install both at the same time) and I take it that the multi-color lights on the fuse belly goes into one of the "Strobe-Light" ports. My Landing light does work if I plug it into the "Wing-light" port or the "Strobe-light" port. So am I missing something here or is the "Landing-Light" port on my control board bad.

Thanks for any help with this!
Mark

[CessnaDriver]

I got this answer to my question posed to Motion RC about the failure of the nose gear to extend on the P38 "Sometimes the radio signal can cause a problem has to do with wave length or pulse width and the gear wont see it and when you hit it again they will all work, sounds like what happened to you."
I am not really sure what it means, but I have asked for clarification. I discovered the failure during ground testing in prep for my maiden. I am delaying the maiden until I have a better handle on this issue, the 30% gear failure is to great to risk my Lightning.

I hope this is helpful to those of you with this problem!!!

[flyAA]

It could be luck or perhaps the motors/ESC are overbuilt. Nevertheless, running them up with a watt meter will show you how close you're coming to failure. I've taken chances like this in the past (a little careful now) where I've increased battery size by 1 cell and changed nothing else. The motor lasted 2 circuit before it smoked and I had to dead stick it in. I've also had an ESC burn up and nearly ignited the plane. Luckily, it was still on the runway before take off. Just taxiing out from the pits did it.

Dang! Yea I definitely don’t want to plow this plane in. I spent a lot of time repainting it. Definitely going to get a watt meter on it.

[xviper]

I see what you’re saying. A few months ago i researched it and people were surprisingly not having problems with the stock motors or escs.

It could be luck or perhaps the motors/ESC are overbuilt. Nevertheless, running them up with a watt meter will show you how close you're coming to failure. I've taken chances like this in the past (a little careful now) where I've increased battery size by 1 cell and changed nothing else. The motor lasted 2 circuit before it smoked and I had to dead stick it in. I've also had an ESC burn up and nearly ignited the plane. Luckily, it was still on the runway before take off. Just taxiing out from the pits did it.

[flyAA]

I found those connectors on Amazon. Just do a search like XT60 male to EC5 female. Or male/female the other way around. Seems they have access to tons of RC stuff.
actually needed a couple for my Grand Trundra.

I have a bunch of single adapters. But wouldn’t i need something like this?

In the product description on the motion site they say if you’re going to use a single 4S battery you need a “EC5-to-two-XT60-connector adapter”.

[flyAA]

Going to MAS props alone may not do it. The size and pitch may have to be reduced quite a lot so as to not fry the motors, which will run on 50% more voltage and rpm? The stock motors may not be built to operate under such increased parameters and might not live long. The ESCs might survive but they may be stressed on 6 cells and burn up.

I see what you’re saying. A few months ago i researched it and people were surprisingly not having problems with the stock motors or escs.

[FLTpilot]

Hey thanks! I’ll check them out.

For 6S you’ve got to go with MAS props, new spinners and a new prop backplate I believe.

I found those connectors on Amazon. Just do a search like XT60 male to EC5 female. Or male/female the other way around. Seems they have access to tons of RC stuff.
actually needed a couple for my Grand Trundra.

[xviper]

Hey thanks! I’ll check them out.

For 6S you’ve got to go with MAS props, new spinners and a new prop backplate I believe.

Going to MAS props alone may not do it. The size and pitch may have to be reduced quite a lot so as to not fry the motors, which will run on 50% more voltage and rpm? The stock motors may not be built to operate under such increased parameters and might not live long. The ESCs might survive but they may be stressed on 6 cells and burn up.

[flyAA]

You can generally find every manner of battery adapter at HobbyKing. However, it seems their site is down right now. Give it a try a bit later. If that's all you need, it might not be feasible to buy it from HobbyKing. I don't know what they would charge for shipping for something that small. For me in Canada, they only send either from Hong Kong warehouse or they only use FedEx from their Oregon warehouse. For Con US, they might just mail it from Oregon.

Curious what you're doing to the plane so it will survive 6s.

Hey thanks! I’ll check them out.

For 6S you’ve got to go with MAS props, new spinners and a new prop backplate I believe.

[Lon]

Hey thanks. Unfortunately i looked on eBay and couldn’t find those sellers.

here's a couple searches on ebay: prices include shipping....i haven't looked for a week, but Hobbyking was out of stock

https://www.ebay.com/p/RC-Aircraft-Xt60-Female-to-Male-Ec5-Style-Connector-Adapter-Cable-Converter-D196/15022841104?iid=123663457938

https://www.ebay.com/i/141459577233?chn=ps