Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Lon]

Great flight XVIPER2 !!!! Suppose to have 35-40mph winds here tomorrow....BUT, Saturday may work out to maiden mine(fingers crossed)

[FLTRI]

Nice flying! Congrats on the maiden, it's a keeper for sure!

[xplaneguy]

Love the factory fresh tribute to Women's Airforce Service Pilots! How cool! However, I beg to differ on the engine inlet screens... ;)

Thanks Aros! :)

Well....the great thing about this hobby, is that guys can beg to differ and customize there models how they'd like. ;)

Both of our P-38's will not get screens. Your photo shows a "round' oil cooler deep inside the outer inlet, and one even deeper in the center, not a screen across the front of all three inlets on each engine. IMHO, the screens are an eye sore that take away from the authentic look of the engine inlets. On a real P-38, you darn near have to stick your head in the inlet to see the oil coolers. Take a look at most P-38 static and flying images, you rarely/don't see a screen or a cooler.

Have fun,
Tony

[mr.frankenjet]

great flight XVIPER, thanks for posting and congrats ! the gear does seen more robust and has less play than my fms planes, that would have bent my P-51 gear for sure

[xviper]

Thanks, guys. BTW, the flights were without a gyro. I'm a proficient flyer but by no means, an expert. This plane is that stable and easy to fly, yet has a great flight envelope.

[Aros]

Thanks Aros! :)

Well....the great thing about this hobby, is that guys can beg to differ and customize there models how they'd like. ;)

Both of our P-38's will not get screens. Your photo shows a "round' oil cooler deep inside the outer inlet, and one even deeper in the center, not a screen across the front of all three inlets on each engine. IMHO, the screens are an eye sore that take away from the authentic look of the engine inlets. On a real P-38, you darn near have to stick your head in the inlet to see the oil coolers. Take a look at most P-38 static and flying images, you rarely/don't see a screen or a cooler.

I love the look of the intakes especially on the later variants with the 3 shown so bold in the nacelles. Yeah, the screen mesh mod is no doubt "sport scale" to put it kindly but I still dig it. I wish I could find some good honeycomb mesh though, to bring it a touch closer to scale but I'm good with it. This isn't Top Gun I keep reminding myself, lol...That's what I love about the hobby, you can geek out on scale mods as much as your heart desires (and is practical) for the warbirds closest to our hearts.

[FLTRI]

My invasion stripes from Callie showed up today, super fast service! I put them the tops of the wing only. I know that's not "correct" but they are there more for orientation, rather than decoration. I put on the rest of the included decals, including the 1,000,000 stencils. This should make a huge improvement in keeping it in sight, and telling top from bottom.

It's gonna rain for the next few days, so maybe Monday for the next sorte. Next mod will be the Freewing P-51 struts, and the Robart wheels.

[TiredIronGRB]

My invasion stripes from Callie showed up today, super fast service! I put them the tops of the wing only. I know that's not "correct" but they are there more for orientation, rather than decoration. I put on the rest of the included decals, including the 1,000,000 stencils. This should make a huge improvement in keeping it in sight, and telling top from bottom.

It's gonna rain for the next few days, so maybe Monday for the next sorte. Next mod will be the Freewing PP-51 struts, and the Robart wheels.

Looks great, did they go on the booms easy?

[FLTRI]

Not too bad. They were flat, not shaped for the booms. Came in two pieces per boom, so I did the outside first. Once I started on the inside, it took some stretching and aligning. The final seam is not perfect, but within 95% of perfect. I cut one white strip off to clear the radiators. I didn't want to cover the factory decal, and I doubt I could have gotten it over them anyway...

Couple more glamor shots...

[Chalredline1]

Looks great. I ordered the California Cutie set with a set of invasions stripes. I'm going to put them on the bottom of the wing and bottom half of the booms as I've seen in pictures. Unfortunately, will have to wait until the plane gets here next month.

[Aros]

Looks really good! Invasion stripes look great on a P-38 but they can be a bit of a pain in the ass to apply. :D

[rtwatkins]

Good news & bad news:

Good news is that my video setup works (minus the head tracking... need the receiver that shows up Monday)

Bad news... I suggest you guys watch out for rocks in the runway https://youtu.be/Ifmt29OHU58

ordering some replacement parts

[xviper]

WOW! That was a really big rock. I'd do a sweep of that runway before using it again or just not use it. That would be a rotten runway for EDFs.

[FLTRI]

Ouch! Man, and I thought my runway was rough. You need a team of scale backhoe operators out there to clear the field... ;)

[rtwatkins]

WOW! That was a really big rock. I'd do a sweep of that runway before using it again or just not use it. That would be a rotten runway for EDFs.

ya, I'll be bringing a broom with me next time :) The runway is what's left of an actual runway.... the field is an old airfield, Evergreen Airport... spent MANY a day there with my dad when he had some planes there.

[Aros]

Oh brutal! Glad it wasn't any worse...I've been guilty of not doing a sweep of the runway before with similar results. Hope she's back in the air soon!

[TSHobbies]

aw man that sucks..definitely not a good runway anymore.

heres the latest on mine...got my new center section in,along with FMS/FW gear..still need to get a Robart wheel for the nose...but heres her new name...I decided to use a noticeably different shade of green on the nose...as if it had been repaired and new paint applied...

[mr.frankenjet]

Yikes RT, glad she will recover, spring cleaning a must !
Journey 2 looks great TS

[Grossman56]

Wow, that sucks RT, looks like a good reason for a work party at the field. Sounds like it repairable which is at least something positive.

Grossman56

[OV10]

Sure does look that runway never had a FOD walkdown. Before flight ops on the carrier, the Air Boss ALWAYS had the deck crew do a Foreign Object Damage walk.
For those that were never a brown shoe in the Navy here's what it looks like.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_070327-N-8923M-157_Sailors_participate_in_a_foreign_object_damage_(FOD)_walkdown_aboard_Nimitz-class_aircraft_carrier_USS_Harry_S._Truman_(CVN_75).jpg

Best regards,