Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Flygirl]

I bet it was the same way when the control line and free flight guys first saw a rc plane. I can hear it now "Son that ain't flying"

Hahaha!!!! Too true FF!!!

[Grossman56]

Great video, Xviper2, I for one really appreciate it when someone takes the time to pass on information like that. A tip of the hat to all who take the time to document their mods and tricks, that's what make this site so great.

Grossman56

[mr.frankenjet]

yup when I started flying I was all electric (NiCad and brushed motors :^)) and the club was all gas, I would not even go there(just flew at the local park) Now been in the club for 5 years or so and there are only a few left flying wet. So much less to go wrong,clean.......... the list goes on. Just glad electric has been embraced and has gotten so much better over the years. Great time to be in this hobby for sure.

[downwindleg]

Hey Tired Iron, excuse my ignorance but where is your build thread on the gear upgrade?

[RRHandy]

Hey Tired Iron, excuse my ignorance but where is your build thread on the gear upgrade?

Here you go

http://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/propeller-airplanes/35457-tired-iron-s-p-38-build

[Grossman56]

I have a lot of friends who are flying glow and nitro and they have their reasons, one of them being that they are flying some pretty big airplanes, but the biggest thing, from what I hear, is flight time. One of these days we are going to have a battery that will give us fifteen minutes of flight time, a Super LiPo so to speak. That, to me, will propel us into the 'big' league to stay. I mean, think about it no muss no fuss and fifteen minutes of flight time, sounds perfect to me!!
Can't wait to see what the Vendors at NEFI have to show us, a vision of the future of Electric Flight maybe.....

Grossman56

[FLTRI]

I have a lot of friends who are flying glow and nitro and they have their reasons, one of them being that they are flying some pretty big airplanes, but the biggest thing, from what I hear, is flight time. One of these days we are going to have a battery that will give us fifteen minutes of flight time, a Super LiPo so to speak. That, to me, will propel us into the 'big' league to stay. I mean, think about it no muss no fuss and fifteen minutes of flight time, sounds perfect to me!!
Can't wait to see what the Vendors at NEFI have to show us, a vision of the future of Electric Flight maybe.....

Grossman56

Interesting you bring this up.

I have the HK Avios Sea Fury. Motor and ESC are stock, but I'm flying it with a much more efficient prop & spinner from the 1400mm FMS P-51. I built it about the same time the P-38 came out, so I was very interested in using the same battery in both planes. The recommended battery is 3300-4000 4S, but I stuffed a 5000 in it and crossed my fingers on maiden. It was definitely on the heavy side, but CG'd perfectly and flies well.

I have my timer set for 7:00 and when I land, I was only putting back in ~2000mAh. I decided one day I was going to change my timer from count down to count up, and fly it until I hit LVC. Yes, I know this is hard on batteries, and not particularly smart. I went to an area I seldom fly at that is far from the world, and no one but me was around. I knew the risks, so no lectures please.

I started losing power at 17:30 and landed without issues...

The funny thing was, at about 10 minutes I started to get bored, and began to lose concentration. We all know it takes your full attention to fly a warbird, and that long flight was almost exhausting. It was interesting to see how long I could milk the battery, but it just wasn't fun to fly that long. I have the timer set at 8:00 on that plane now, and that's plenty long enough for me. I like to take a break between flights, and setting up a perfect landing approach is half the fun of R/C for me anyway...

[downwindleg]

I couldn't agree more. I flew fuel planes for 30 years and , outside of powered gliders where you just go up and ride thermals as long as you can, 8 minutes is about as long as I ever flew anyway, regardless of fuel capacity. As you say, the level of concentration it takes, especially if your going for a realistic scale flight, is just to exhausting to maintain effectively. What I would like to see in the future is bigger high quality foam ARF warbirds- I'm talking two meter at least. I have the LX two meter P-40 and it is a joy to fly. The quality is nowhere near as good as our little P-38 but, as some of you no doubt know, the bigger planes are easier to see, easier to fly more realisticly, easier to land, and less risk of losing orientation at a distance. Someone once said small planes flit, large planes fly. I know allot of people are intimidated by the larger planes but I have let a number of people fly my P-40,and once it's in the air, they are amazed at how nice it flies. Now, imagine a plane like the FL P-38 with that level of quality and attention to detail in an 80" plane. That's what the industry needs to focus on in the future and less on trying to keep the price under $500 in my humble opinion. Your six is clear, Brad

[tdevince]

Topic: Retract jamming and not deploying for landing. Possible explanation and fix.

...
When a retract jams up and won't come down, one way to get it down so you can work on it is to grab to tire/strut assembly, while bracing the retract body, and pulling up on the strut so unbend it a bit. Then push down on the strut near the retract base to help it go just a little bit further so the next deployment cycle can begin.

What I do to get it to deploy when stuck so that I can work on it is to just loosen the screws that mount the retract a little. Then cycle the gear. Once up, retorque the screws then I bend the struts like your video talks about.

[xviper]

What I do to get it to deploy when stuck so that I can work on it is to just loosen the screws that mount the retract a little. Then cycle the gear. Once up, retorque the screws then I bend the struts like your video talks about.

On my field, I'd have to do that after each flight or 2. It's just easier to bend the strut a little while it's retracted while holding the end of the retract body down. Bending it just a little will allow the retract to deploy. When it's out, then bend it as much as needed. The better trick is to just give it a pre-requisite bend after landing, before retracting the gear. A bumpy take off roll is not usually enough to jamb it up for the landing on the same flight.

[tdevince]

The better trick is to just give it a pre-requisite bend after landing, before retracting the gear. A bumpy take off roll is not usually enough to jamb it up for the landing on the same flight.

That's a better idea. My field also is bumpy, but I only have two sets of batteries for it so I only get two flights on it per day before I go to another airframe.

[Aros]

Man I am into this bird 30, 40 flights or so and the love affair just grows by the day. Anyone else?

[farmflyer]

Hey Aros how are you unless I misunderstood you had an accident or something. I hope you're ok.

[Aros]

Accident? No I am okay thanks for the concern though! Just been crazy busy with our new website and a bad cold but other than that I still walk amongst the living, lol...

[farmflyer]

Great to hear I think there was some confusion. Grossman apparently confused you for someone else on Facebook.

[mr.frankenjet]

pretty stoked about my P-38 here Aros, I only have a handful of flights so far but she is everything I had hoped for. She has yet to surprise me, really stable and a thing of beauty for sure.

[Flyer Phill]

groan.....no maiden for me this weekend. The Minister for War, Finance and Calendar events had other plans!!

[farmflyer]

Lol Wife said no!

[Flyer Phill]

To be fair we are building a house so we did have few places to visit over the weekend. I have been slotted in for next Sunday tho.

[farmflyer]

It sucks when life gets in the way of our having fun.