Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Lon]

@ any of the Motion guys

Have any of you tried 3600's or higher in the P-38? I've measured the battery area and 2 Admiral 3600's should fit. Really hoping you guys can tell if the P-38 can handle the extra weight. 760g compared to 620g for the 3000's. Would be appreciative of your thoughts on this and if you can confirm the 3600's will fit. I need some spare props so may grab those lipos while I am at it.

Thanks

I had the same thought last night. So I went into my Mancave and grabbed a couple Admiral 3600's. I placed them in the plane and they fit, but would have to use a different strap setup or velcro to secure. And, duh...thinking now, i never did attempt to put the battery hatch on. Reason on that is the 3600's is the same width as the 2500's I have. Will do some more checking on this option later today after work.

[TiredIronGRB]

Is it easy to get to the springs for the adjustments? Will stretching do or maybe a small piece of tubing to take up the excess compression. I'm doing the same mod so would appreciate a walk-through on the mod.

Thanks,
Andy

Yes, it's easy to take the strut apart, remove the pin that the P51 gear cover connects to and the small phillips screw next to it then remove the pin (also phillips head) that rides in in the slot which keeps the lower strut aligned.
There's more detail about this in my build thread.

Tired Iron,
What wheel are you using for your nose gear ? Looks good!

Robart 2.5" Diamond Tread.

Don't stretch the spring, they'll just sag again after a couple of landings. Instead, add a spacer. I had the same issue with my PR bushwheels 1/4 scale cub shock struts. Adding a small spacer solved the problem.

Phill

I don't want to use spacers because it will limit travel, I will stretch the springs on the ends where the coils are tighter then test them here in the shop. If they sag after testing I will change them out, I have a bunch of springs I've rat-holed over the years.

[crxmanpat]

This was posted by ryramZ (MRC video guy) on RCG yesterday:

"For the record the Admiral 3600 4s packs fit inside together. I flew her that way once."

[RRHandy]

Yes, it's easy to take the strut apart, remove the pin that the P51 gear cover connects to and the small phillips screw next to it then remove the pin (also phillips head) that rides in in the slot which keeps the lower strut aligned.
There's more detail about this in my build thread.



Robart 2.5" Diamond Tread.



I don't want to use spacers because it will limit travel, I will stretch the springs on the ends where the coils are tighter then test them here in the shop. If they sag after testing I will change them out, I have a bunch of springs I've rat-holed over the years.

TiredIronGRB,


How did you handle the bend in the 38's main gears to add the 51's mains.

Thanks R.



Never mind I looked closer and the 51's main is offset.

[crxmanpat]

Here's some pics of how I did the screens for the radiators.

Step 1 - With a very sharp knife, cut away the plastic leading edge of the radiator scoop.

Step 2 - Use the plastic leading edge to draw a template on paper.

Step 3 - Cut out the paper template, then trim the inner curve to match the boom.

Step 4 - Use the template to cut out your screen.

Step 5 - Trim the screen as necessary for fit, then glue to the plastic leading edge. I used medium CA.

Step 6 - Reattach the plastic leading edge to the radiator scoop. Since I had CA on the plastic part (which still had some foam inside it), I simply sprayed the scoop with kicker and pressed the plastic in place until the CA kicked off. Touch up paint as needed (I had not done that yet in the last pic).

I used black fabric screen material, but painted it silver so that it showed up better.

[TiredIronGRB]

Nice, I wish we could find some honeycomb screen.

[crxmanpat]

So the supercharger intakes have an opening on the front. It's not a perfect solution, but looks better than just solid silver!

[Aros]

Nice job Pat! Great idea and I was wondering when someone was going to carve a hole out of the front of the supercharger intakes! How did you cut out such a clean hole?

[Alpha]

I don't think he cut into it, Aros. Looks like he painted a black dot/decal where the hole would be. Nice and quick, and effective! I like it!

I dremeled mine out, took a few seconds. But the black dot idea has the same effect for even less work.

[Chalredline1]

I'm contemplating pre-ordering one but would like to know how easy is it to remove the wings for transporting? It looks like the biggest issue would be disconnecting and then reconnecting the wires.
Thanks

[TiredIronGRB]

Very easy, two screws and unplug your wires and you're good to go. Plenty of room in the cavities for the plugs and the screws have metal threads so no wear.

[FLTRI]

I'm contemplating pre-ordering one but would like to know how easy is it to remove the wings for transporting? It looks like the biggest issue would be disconnecting and then reconnecting the wires.
Thanks

You're absolutely right. The mechanical part is easy, four machine screws. The servo and light wires are kind of a pain. You hook them up, and then delicately and careful tuck them in a tiny hole, while you slide the wing on. A bid tedious trying to not unplug the plugs, not pinch the wires, and get the wing fully seated. Especially if you are on your knees. Bring a stand and table to the field...

The up side is I can fit it in my wife's mid size SUV, with the wings on. Just barely makes it, sitting sideways. We'll be swapping cars when I fly...

[Mightywarhoover]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAy5FcXMUWo Nice morning flight of the P-38

[Alpha]

FLTRI is right, bring a stand to the field and invert the bird to reattach the wings. I can reattach both wings completely in 90 seconds total.

[Alpha]

Great flight, Chris! What a beautiful backdropped flying area. Smooth rolls and nice big loops! Maiden? Flight 2?

[rtwatkins]

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.

Thanks Viper. It's highly probable I've ##$@ up the settings when I did the flaps, I didn't setup the flap system in the radio until after I bound to the radio and did my connecting rods... so I imagine you and FLTRI are right. I made it a point to set wing type when I setup the AR636, but when I centered my servos I don't think the radio was set to the proper wing type :)

I didn't set my flaps to go full travel in the flap menu however, there's usually enough wind here that I don't need full. (nice steady east wind is very common, thanks to the Columbia river gorge ;) ) so, as with pretty much all my planes that have flaps... I dial in the flap travel based on what the conditions are. (on the rare day when there's no wind, I'll usually adjust my endpoints.... but by default I only use about 50%/60% travel for max)

I ordered a set of replacement linkages.... will go over them again when that arrives ;) For now, boss said we're leaving early today to fly some RC... so I'm going to get ready to maiden!

[Chalredline1]

Thanks fellas. Looks like I will be placing my order.

[Aros]

Nothing beats a P-38 sortie on your lunch break! :D

[crxmanpat]

Nice job Pat! Great idea and I was wondering when someone was going to carve a hole out of the front of the supercharger intakes! How did you cut out such a clean hole?

Alpha was correct, just simple decals that I worked up in about 5 minutes.

And hooray for Callie Graphics!

[crxmanpat]

FLTRI is right, bring a stand to the field and invert the bird to reattach the wings. I can reattach both wings completely in 90 seconds total.

Yeah, well, you've had lots of practice! :p