Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[xplaneguy]

Awesome day guys, it was a pleasure flying with you! P-38 formations were a kick. :)

Fantastic photos and we look forward to many more.

Here's one as well.

[Konrad]

Wow, it takes a lot of equipment to market these models!

[OV10]

Awesome day guys, it was a pleasure flying with you! P-38 formations were a kick. :)

Fantastic photos and we look forward to many more.

Here's one as well.

xplane.......damn, those 2 bazookas you have sitting in front of the planes to shoot the pics/vids with looks to be some more serious $ than the birds but I guess that's how come you guys out there in Alpha's neck of the woods always have some great visuals to geek at.

[xplaneguy]

All of that cool gear belonged to Bajora and Alpha.

I promote the hobby using a simple Canon Power Shot SX510 HS......I roll cheap! ;)

[Aros]

Beautiful shots!

[roys001]

Looks great. To bad I arrived at the field after the fun was over. I would have loved to get some pictures as well.
Looking forward to the arrival of the green and gray. I'm going to have someone shoot the maden for me so I can post it here.

[xplaneguy]

Evelyn and I stayed until 5:00pm but the rest of the bunch left around 3:00. Were you flying the Freewing F-5, 64mm F-18 and RocHobby P-39?

[roys001]

Yes xplaneguy that was me. I was a bit late to that party. I'm anxious tu get my hands on the P-38. I've been researching the planes and have chosen Anne to replicate. I've found some pics of her in VE stripes. It's been a long time since I've done scale work.

[xplaneguy]

OK...better late than never and the winds began to calm shortly after you arrived, so all good! :)

You picked a good plane to get back into scale detailing. I looking forward to seeing Anne at Apollo.

[zrooster99]

Hey gents, I'm looking to do some detailing to this bird and wanted to get your read on it. I picked up some robart wheels for her...I went with 2.25 for the nose and 3 for the mains to get the proper size ratio (understand they are not scale for the size of the plane, but proportional to each other). Per Alpha's post, I understand it's not necessary to modify the gear at all to get these wheels on there, but I'm looking at getting the stance right(ish)... So, if I were to shorten the main struts a bit to get the proper rake, do you anticipate any other mods to get the 3" wheels in the wells? Also, does anyone know for sure if zinc chromate was used in the wheel wells? All the pix I've been able to find show the insides of the gear doors and what I can see of the wells to be a dark puter color. To be clear, I'm not a scale nazi AT ALL, I'm just looking for an 80% solution that I can live with, that is doable with my extremely limited skill set (I'm more a flyer than a builder).

Any thoughts or inputs would be much appreciated!

[TiredIronGRB]

Hey gents, I'm looking to do some detailing to this bird and wanted to get your read on it. I picked up some robart wheels for her...I went with 2.25 for the nose and 3 for the mains to get the proper size ratio (understand they are not scale for the size of the plane, but proportional to each other). Per Alpha's post, I understand it's not necessary to modify the gear at all to get these wheels on there, but I'm looking at getting the stance right(ish)... So, if I were to shorten the main struts a bit to get the proper rake, do you anticipate any other mods to get the 3" wheels in the wells? Also, does anyone know for sure if zinc chromate was used in the wheel wells? All the pix I've been able to find show the insides of the gear doors and what I can see of the wells to be a dark puter color. To be clear, I'm not a scale nazi AT ALL, I'm just looking for an 80% solution that I can live with, that is doable with my extremely limited skill set (I'm more a flyer than a builder).

Any thoughts or inputs would be much appreciated!

Here's a bunch of detail pics I took of Glacier Girl when she was living close to me...

[PlaneCrazy]

Alpha, I'm wondering when you go to set the throttle on the dual ESC's, do you have to do it individually or can both ESC's be calibrated together? I've read both and wanted not to mess this up so your advice would be appreciated and instructions as well.
Thanks,
Andy

[xviper]

Alpha, I'm wondering when you go to set the throttle on the dual ESC's, do you have to do it individually or can both ESC's be calibrated together? I've read both and wanted not to mess this up so your advice would be appreciated and instructions as well.
Thanks,
Andy

Not Alpha but ..................... If in doubt, do them separately. During the build process, it's really easy to do separately. However, I've also done the calibration on twins, both at the same time. Even if there's a slight lag from one to the other, there's still plenty of time to bring down the stick before the next set of beeps.

[Alpha]

Hey gents, I'm looking to do some detailing to this bird and wanted to get your read on it. I picked up some robart wheels for her...I went with 2.25 for the nose and 3 for the mains to get the proper size ratio (understand they are not scale for the size of the plane, but proportional to each other). Per Alpha's post, I understand it's not necessary to modify the gear at all to get these wheels on there, but I'm looking at getting the stance right(ish)... So, if I were to shorten the main struts a bit to get the proper rake, do you anticipate any other mods to get the 3" wheels in the wells? Also, does anyone know for sure if zinc chromate was used in the wheel wells? All the pix I've been able to find show the insides of the gear doors and what I can see of the wells to be a dark puter color. To be clear, I'm not a scale nazi AT ALL, I'm just looking for an 80% solution that I can live with, that is doable with my extremely limited skill set (I'm more a flyer than a builder).

Any thoughts or inputs would be much appreciated!

zrooster, whatever you do, it is important to maintain the stock AoA. Do not dramatically change the stance, otherwise you'll have either popping issues (nose low) or premature rotation issues (nose high).

Regarding wheel well color, P-38s varied depending on the variant, and also down to the unit level or even per aircraft at the field. Olive Drab, Interior Green, and Neutral Gray were the most common, with the latter two moreso (OD was a cockpit color for early H models, etc). The Alcad didn't require priming, either, so there are examples of bare metal wheel wells. Sometimes they got sprayed in theater, sometimes they didn't.

We went with the Interior Green (different from Zinc Chromate), since it matches the cockpit color.

[PlaneCrazy]

Not Alpha but ..................... If in doubt, do them separately. During the build process, it's really easy to do separately. However, I've also done the calibration on twins, both at the same time. Even if there's a slight lag from one to the other, there's still plenty of time to bring down the stick before the next set of beeps.

Thanks xviper! One other question....once the ESC's have been calibrated can you re-calibrate them and how?

[xviper]

Thanks xviper! One other question....once the ESC's have been calibrated can you re-calibrate them and how?

Just making sure you're talking about the throttle limit calibration. This can be done as many times as you like, just before you fly or just once for every bind. If you never change RX or ESC, once is generally enough for the ESC to learn where zero throttle is and where max throttle is.
Make sure TX is bound to that RX. Turn on TX, move throttle stick to max. Plug in flight battery, wait for initial tones (just before going into programming mode). As soon as you hear the tones, move throttle to MIN position. Done. Do this for each ESC (in a multi) or both together, whichever you feel good about. On a multi, you'll hear a slight stagger between the tones (like an echo). Wait for the last one to finish before pulling stick down. If there is a huge difference in stagger between the ESCs, something is not right. Figure that one out first. You can still do each one by itself but you really should find out why there is so much difference in response time between the two.
PS. If you wait too long and the ESCs go into programming mode, you just unplug the battery without moving the stick and start all over again. You need to know what the first tones are that tell you the beginning of programming mode. If you go into that mode, you can open up another big can of worms. Just unplug before doing anything else.
PPS. The throttle calibration is a must but is also something that many pilots don't do. They make the assumption that the ESC just knows. Sometime it does, sometimes it doesn't. It can make the different between a plane being able to get off the ground efficiently or being able to do a nice, comfortable loop, especially on EDFs. If the ESC doesn't know where max throttle is, it won't always give your 100% of what the motor can put out.

[PlaneCrazy]

Just making sure you're talking about the throttle limit calibration. This can be done as many times as you like, just before you fly or just once for every bind. If you never change RX or ESC, once is generally enough for the ESC to learn where zero throttle is and where max throttle is.
Make sure TX is bound to that RX. Turn on TX, move throttle stick to max. Plug in flight battery, wait for initial tones (just before going into programming mode). As soon as you hear the tones, move throttle to MIN position. Done. Do this for each ESC (in a multi) or both together, whichever you feel good about. On a multi, you'll hear a slight stagger between the tones (like an echo). Wait for the last one to finish before pulling stick down. If there is a huge difference in stagger between the ESCs, something is not right. Figure that one out first. You can still do each one by itself but you really should find out why there is so much difference in response time between the two.
PS. If you wait too long and the ESCs go into programming mode, you just unplug the battery without moving the stick and start all over again. You need to know what the first tones are that tell you the beginning of programming mode. If you go into that mode, you can open up another big can of worms. Just unplug before doing anything else.
PPS. The throttle calibration is a must but is also something that many pilots don't do. They make the assumption that the ESC just knows. Sometime it does, sometimes it doesn't. It can make the different between a plane being able to get off the ground efficiently or being able to do a nice, comfortable loop, especially on EDFs. If the ESC doesn't know where max throttle is, it won't always give your 100% of what the motor can put out.

xviper, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your help and yes we are talking about throttle limit calibration. I have been in RC for over 35 years and almost all of that was with glow. I have slowly been making the transition to electric but to me it is a sharp learning curve for an old boy of 73. I'm pretty familiar with electronics as I made my living in the aerospace industry designing integrated circuits and print circuit boards but seem to be having a hard time picking this all up. I just bought a great power supply and charger so for the long run, I'm commited.

Once again thank you very much for your help,
Andy

[xviper]

PC, yer welcome. I'm only a few years behind you I fly with a fellow who is 80. He started flying 4 years ago. We're best flying buddies. We help each other as best we can.

[zrooster99]

zrooster, whatever you do, it is important to maintain the stock AoA. Do not dramatically change the stance, otherwise you'll have either popping issues (nose low) or premature rotation issues (nose high).

Regarding wheel well color, P-38s varied depending on the variant, and also down to the unit level or even per aircraft at the field. Olive Drab, Interior Green, and Neutral Gray were the most common, with the latter two moreso (OD was a cockpit color for early H models, etc). The Alcad didn't require priming, either, so there are examples of bare metal wheel wells. Sometimes they got sprayed in theater, sometimes they didn't.

We went with the Interior Green (different from Zinc Chromate), since it matches the cockpit color.

Thanks! I'm a P-38 nerd, but not where it comes to scale details...pretty new to detailing aircraft in general. As for the stance, I'll leave it alone... The stance I was going for would have increased the AOA...taking a plane off (or it coming off on its own) that isn't ready to fly is BAD NEWS...so I won't be doing that!

[zrooster99]

Here's a bunch of detail pics I took of Glacier Girl when she was living close to me...

Thanks! Some great pics on there. What's the deal with the 20mm cannon? It kind of looks funny to me in these photos...