Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[JFandL]

Rudder? Yes, in turns, not down the runway I just let it crab. It was stupid windy. We have a microphone fuzzy that eliminates wind noise and you could still hear it in places. We were slated to work on other projects that day but it was a blow out. The P-38 photoshoot kept the day from being a total wash, hence the teaser since it was really too nasty to make a good video.

On the other hand the P-38 handled it beautifully. The size and weight gave me the confidence to take her up. I maidened in that junk! lol

Yes she fly's well, I'm glad to hear you didn't use the rudder down the flight line as that was a lot of crabbing.

John

[F106DeltaDart]

what size are the fms wheels ,they look great, similar weight ?

Similar weight, and about a 3" diameter.

[mr.frankenjet]

Similar weight, and about a 3" diameter.

sweet, on order with a few extra prop blades

[Aros]

Extra prop blades? What kind of jungle are you pushing her through? ;)

[mr.frankenjet]

here is how it works, if I order them they will never be needed, If I don't 3 years from now they will be impossible to find :rolleyes:
Just in case we are adding 1500 square feet to our runway this spring if all goes well :D Keeping all the bases covered !

[FLTRI]

Just a small Teaser for the HobbySquawk gang.

Man, I always Love your videos! Always great shots, and I just dig how much fun you have! Great job guys, can't wait for the full release!

[FLTRI]

I finished my build today, took it slow and careful to check and double check everything. I used a Lemon 7-channel Rx with stabilization and a satellite. The satellite fits nicely in the front wheel well. I had to build a pad for the Rx to sit on, so I used foam from the box. Soldered up a Y-harness for the 5500 and 5000 batteries I'm using. I was still tail heavy, so I notched the front of the battery bay and the canopy, to allow the battery to sit a bit further forward. I still ended up adding 2.0oz of lead to get it to balance. I guess my single battery is just lighter than two 3000's that most are using. I also soldered up a Y-harness for the single battery.

Removed and painted the struts and one rear wheel, and shimmed the front for rake. I choose not to shim the rear, as it's a little light on the nose gear already, and leaves a longer stance for taxing and landing. I test fitted some 3.00" Dubro Low Bounce wheels to the rear, and 2.75" on the front. They fit, but were a little tight. I could have removed some foam from the rear wheel wells, but didn't want to ruin the nice green paint. The front wheel was too fat, and interfered with the gear door, even after I swapped the linkage from the rear of the door to the front. I settled with 2.75" Dubros for the rear, and the stock rear moved to the front.

I'll get my maiden in before I apply any decals and do any more detailing. I'm probably going with a set of the stock decals, rather than Callie, just lazy I guess. I'm thinking Battle Ax looks pretty cool, and I like the name. Here's a few pics, nothing as crazy cool as some of you are doing, but I'm getting there. I had a maiden planned for tomorrow, but the wind disagrees. Maybe this weekend. Maiden video to follow...

[Starck Mad]

My comments on the flap servos... both the inner & outer flap servo arms were way out of position on mine. The connecting rods on the outer servos BARELY fit, and even then I doubt they would have held... little pressure and the ball link end came right off. As for the inner, they just wouldn't reach at all.. were off by about 1/2"+. I tried subtrimming the flaps, and even full subtrim the inners wouldn't reach.

So, I ended up zeroing the subtrim again, modified the longer inner rods to work on the outer servos, and went to the local hobby store to get some threaded rod to make some connecting rods for the inners. Took a lot of work (hobby shop didn't have the same diameter rods, so I had to go a step bigger) but I've got the flaps working proper.

LOVE the model... but ya, think FlightLine/Motion needs to look at the flaps a bit ;)

I didn't have this problem at all. Not sure what transmitter you are using, but with my DX 18...or really any Spektrum Transmitter above a DX6i when you go to the flap menu...you can initially adjust the position of the servo arms so they are pointing back towards the flaps in the rear most position as your starting point flaps up. The pushrods easily reach from there and you adjust each down position from there.

[FLTRI]

I didn't have this problem at all. Not sure what transmitter you are using, but with my DX 18...or really any Spektrum Transmitter above a DX6i when you go to the flap menu...you can initially adjust the position of the servo arms so they are pointing back towards the flaps in the rear most position as your starting point flaps up. The pushrods easily reach from there and you adjust each down position from there.

Agreed. I think folks with the "short" flap control rods are attaching it the to the servo, with the servo centered. That's the correct way to do it for ailerons, rudders, and elevator servos, but not flaps. You have to move the servo to it's rearmost position (or close to it) then instal the control rod. Then use your radio to set deflection...

[Aros]

here is how it works, if I order them they will never be needed, If I don't 3 years from now they will be impossible to find

Amen to that!

Nice job on the build there FLTRI. Looking forward to the maiden report.

Just flew sortie #3. It was a bit breezy but nothing crazy. I now think she is a bit tail heavy with gear up. I have those Robart diamond treads that I am sure have added a little bit of weight, changing the CG. Currently my CG is around 72mm. I think I need to change it to around 68mm or so. Rather the nose be dipping with gear down than the tail be dipping with the gear up, ya know?

I'm curious to know where everyone else's CG is at. Please let me know...

[rtwatkins]

Agreed. I think folks with the "short" flap control rods are attaching it the to the servo, with the servo centered. That's the correct way to do it for ailerons, rudders, and elevator servos, but not flaps. You have to move the servo to it's rearmost position (or close to it) then instal the control rod. Then use your radio to set deflection...

After I wrote that, I saw your post a few pages back regarding this FLTRI. Flaps are working well as is, but I've gone ahead and ordered a new set of rods ;) when they show up I'll disconnect them & check things out.

[FLTRI]

Right on, it always works that way. I usually end up finding that oddball part I couldn't locate after 2 hours of searching, right after I order another one...

[mr.frankenjet]

I finished my build today, took it slow and careful to check and double check everything. I used a Lemon 7-channel Rx with stabilization and a satellite. The satellite fits nicely in the front wheel well. I had to build a pad for the Rx to sit on, so I used foam from the box. Soldered up a Y-harness for the 5500 and 5000 batteries I'm using. I was still tail heavy, so I notched the front of the battery bay and the canopy, to allow the battery to sit a bit further forward. I still ended up adding 2.0oz of lead to get it to balance. I guess my single battery is just lighter than two 3000's that most are using. I also soldered up a Y-harness for the single battery.

Removed and painted the struts and one rear wheel, and shimmed the front for rake. I choose not to shim the rear, as it's a little light on the nose gear already, and leaves a longer stance for taxing and landing. I test fitted some 3.00" Dubro Low Bounce wheels to the rear, and 2.75" on the front. They fit, but were a little tight. I could have removed some foam from the rear wheel wells, but didn't want to ruin the nice green paint. The front wheel was too fat, and interfered with the gear door, even after I swapped the linkage from the rear of the door to the front. I settled with 2.75" Dubros for the rear, and the stock rear moved to the front.

I'll get my maiden in before I apply any decals and do any more detailing. I'm probably going with a set of the stock decals, rather than Callie, just lazy I guess. I'm thinking Battle Ax looks pretty cool, and I like the name. Here's a few pics, nothing as crazy cool as some of you are doing, but I'm getting there. I had a maiden planned for tomorrow, but the wind disagrees. Maybe this weekend. Maiden video to follow...

could you please tell me the weight of your batteries ?, I'd like to go with 1 but need to be Shure she is heavy enough to balance

[FLTRI]

could you please tell me the weight of your batteries ?, I'd like to go with 1 but need to be Shure she is heavy enough to balance

The 5500 is 532g and the 5000's are 531g, per the manufacturers specs. I had to add weight to the nose, about 2.0 oz to get close to the recommended CG. the CG "looks" like it's about right, but I won't know until I maiden.

Can someone that is successfully flying theirs chime in on how CG sensitive this plane is, please?

[xviper]

My comments on the flap servos... both the inner & outer flap servo arms were way out of position on mine. The connecting rods on the outer servos BARELY fit, and even then I doubt they would have held... little pressure and the ball link end came right off. As for the inner, they just wouldn't reach at all.. were off by about 1/2"+. I tried subtrimming the flaps, and even full subtrim the inners wouldn't reach.

So, I ended up zeroing the subtrim again, modified the longer inner rods to work on the outer servos, and went to the local hobby store to get some threaded rod to make some connecting rods for the inners. Took a lot of work (hobby shop didn't have the same diameter rods, so I had to go a step bigger) but I've got the flaps working proper.

LOVE the model... but ya, think FlightLine/Motion needs to look at the flaps a bit ;)

After looking at your video of your flap deployment, I can't tell if you have the correct amount of flap deflection. I haven't gotten to that point in my build, so I haven't read what the amount of deflection should be. However, it doesn't appear to me that the amount of movement is very pronounced, especially 1/2 flaps. They look like they barely move and since it looks like you went to full flaps and back up again in one motion, I can't tell just how far down they went on full flaps. It still doesn't look like very much but it could be poor lighting and camera angle in your video.
When you set up the servo for connecting up the rod on the inner flaps (or any of them for that matter), did you use a servo tester to ensure that the servos arms are starting out as close to the flap horns as possible before sizing up the rod length? You may not have the full amount of possible deflection if you didn't. "Zero-ing" the flaps (full up position) is done through the TX later. You can use "travel", sub-trim and finally, % defection in the flap menu". It doesn't always have to say, "0, 50, 100%". It can say some really goofy numbers at times. It's whatever it takes to get the measured deflection you want at each position.

[tdevince]

I'm curious to know where everyone else's CG is at. Please let me know...

I'm also at 72mm gear down. I haven't checked, but do you know your CG gear up? I wonder how much change in CG the heavier mains make.

[tdevince]

TD...........I was thinking that you could cut the wire strut with a dremel tool with a cutoff wheel and not worry about removing the strut from the retract trunion...........that won't work?? I haven't done mine yet but was thinking ahead. If that's possible then it would be a lot less work.
Cheers,
Andy

Andy,
That could work, but it would be much easier to take it off the retract rather than try and dremel it off in place, especially if you want to grind a flat for the strut grub screw to clamp down on. Its not much work to remove the trunion and NG together.

[Alpha]

Can someone that is successfully flying theirs chime in on how CG sensitive this plane is, please?

I regularly swap between 5000, 5200, 5800, and 6000, always pushed as far back in the bay as they'll go, and I don't see any difference in pitch sensitivity when I'm flying around. I don't even re-trim between any of those batteries.

[Alpha]

For those of you having trouble with short flap control rods, I have a question for you: When in the "Flaps Up" position, are your flap servo arms 90 degrees to the wing, like an aileron/rudder/elevator arm would be? My flap servos arms in the "Flaps Up" position are facing aft ~45 degrees. I set this up by centering the servo electronically, then positioning the servo arm facing rearward and screwing it in at that position. The flap servo arm facing aft shortens the required length of the control rod. I haven't had any issues with any of my four P-38s in this regard. When my flaps are down, the flap servo arms are almost 90 degrees to the wing.

[pmisuinas]

For the "rivets", I use the small screw driver included with FMS planes, look at photos of the real aircraft for reference, and just go to town.

This is what you need, a pattern wheel. Can get it at a fabric store, this is one of the more expensive ones ($5). Vary pressure to control rivet size, and if you press hard on the back of the foil through the backing paper, you can have non-flush rivets--example on my Beaver float.

As to P-38, hoping to get some paint on it this weekend but weather looking really iffy. I ran into a problem no one else has mentioned yet, one of my inner flaps was painted shut. Had to cut it open, and now I am going to have to repaint that side. Anyone know what the paint color match is? Just a standard zinc chromate? Pete M