Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Klikmaus]

Thanks G.G! My plane came with the updated prop hubs so no issue there. I'm about 4 hrs in on assembly so far, doing my best to keep wire management nice & tidy but not having much luck with that lol... It's nice control surface servo wires come labeled but unfortunately the lighting wires aren't labeled so there's a lot of testing and labeling on the fly to be done as I'm getting the little blue box wired up. I'd probably already have this bird built by now if it wasn't for the fact my wife's kitten is obsessed with any project I have going, always getting right up in the middle of things. Damn cat got up in my business a few weeks ago while changing the oil in my truck, got covered in old oil, the little monster turned into Freddy Kruger when getting the sludge washed off yet still persists in "helping" with everything I do around the house.

I *should* have this thing fully assembled this evening. I'm upgrading the rear landing gear right off but I'm going to leave the nose wheel gear stock at least at first to help prevent the props from hitting the ground until I'm accustomed to the landing characteristics of the bird. I have landing tail draggers down to an art, don't have hardly any experience in landing tricycle gear planes but for my understanding they're far easier than tail draggers.

[GliderGuy]

Hi Klikmaus,

Loved the cat story! We have a domestic white turkey that does the same thing when outside projects need to be done.

Regarding the landing, pretend you are doing a main wheel landing with a tail dragger with this bird. Have plenty of speed so you don’t need to apply much up elevator. Let her ease down onto the mains from about a foot up. Avoid dropping her in to avoid bent mains and prop strikes.

If you find you are on final and holding a lot of up elevator, you are about to lose it…stall and fall. AND it happens in a heart beat.

-GG

[Fast N Light]

I designed an alternate elevator control horn for the P-38. The .STL files are available on Thingiverse.

The elevator hinge has a fixed range of travel. Ensure your setup does not allow the servo to drive travel beyond this range!

I suspect that some have experienced control horn failure and/or servo failure because the servo travel was excessive.

[Klikmaus]

Finally finished getting the plane all pieced together. Elevator servo is upgraded and put the suspension gear in, the nose gear was a real headache! If Flightline included a trunion with the nose gear it would eliminate having to deal with those blasted circlips. I'm not in my younger years anymore my eyes don't see tiny bits and bobs very well lol. I found a little powdered graphite in the landing gear smoothed out the spring travel tremendously.

I'm using an 8 channel Spectrum AS3X recoever and a DX8e Tx. When setting up the elevator trim, is it better to adjust the elevator pushrod or use trim settings in the radio?

[Aros]

Adjust manually to find your center and then use your radio trims for all the fine tuning adjustments in the air. Good luck! She's a great flyer, looks fantastic but indeed a bit on the chunky side so keep that speed up and you will do just fine.

[Battleship]

i have realflight 7.5 and im always crashing take off is good i can do two loops but hte third or fourth loop is where i crash or could i still be using tomuch gymbals

battleship

[Evan D]

It's best to have servo arms as close to 90deg to the pushrod as possible. If it's way off you may need to pull the servo and move the servo arm a spline. If not far off use the subtrim to get the arm 90deg to the pushrod. Then adjust the linkage to center the flight surface. Some times the surface horn may be offset from the hinge line and you may want to have the servo arm angled off 90deg to get even throws but it is rare.

[Battleship]

Thanks Evan. But I may just buy the updated version of real flight whatever the new version of real flight rc but I thank you very much for the advice battleship

[Battleship]

[Battleship]

The tomcat f14 is gonna be a long time to save up for the f15 I’m still waiting to renew my ama membership but I’ll always fly on a buddy box with a experienced flying instructor and I’ll fly my f15 at ama flying feild but not a public park even though it’s small enough I’d rather follow the rules of rc airplane flying and I’ve always wanted to fly my own Since I was very young the real picture of the real tomcat f14 I don’t have the funds for the real tomcat f14 but the rc version is better than the real one

[Warbird Nut]

Brand new member today! What a wealth of knowledge on these boards. This subject may have been discussed earlier; I have not read all 227 pages..... I just ordered the silver P-38 for my Christmas present (terrific wife) and have been looking at several videos. I am a full-scale pilot that has some multi experience and question the counter rotating props. On a full-scale twin, the rotation is inboard, toward the fuselage, so that if an engine is lost the plane is still controllable as long as your airspeed stays above blue line and avoids the potential catastrophic critical engine issue. The videos I have seen, all the rotation is outboard or away from the fuselage. Is this correct and if so why? If not correct is there a way to reverse the motor direction with rewiring somehow? Can you lose one engine if one of the batteries dies for example, for whatever reason or do all the electrons from both batteries go to a common location? Going from 40 yrs of nitro to electric and much to learn.

Thank you for your help.

[Evan D]

The full scale p-38 had them going outboard, there is a lot of stuff out there to read about why. It is rare for our models to loose an engine so we really don't think much about one engine performance. BUT... if you do drag a battery down to the point of not supplying power it is only on one motor (not engine) unless you create a wiring harness that balances the batteries. Some have done so, I just am careful about not draining batteries.

Welcome to the squawk!

[GliderGuy]

Hi WBN…Welcome!

Consider wiring the battery (ESC side of the battery connector) in parallel. Why? If a motor is lost, this bird instantly and rapidly rolls.

She really needs both turning, and parallel wiring ensures both turn if a single battery goes down.

As noted in prior posts, keep her moving on final. She’s not a floater.

Definitely time well spent if you read all the posts on this forum. Good luck on your maiden.

-GG

PS To reverse brushless motor rotation, simply reverse any 2 wires connected to the motor. Doesn’t matter which 2. Prop pitch vs rotation direction will need attention.

[Elbee]

Warbird Nut, Welcome to Hobby Squawk, Sir. Very glad to have you onboard. Terrific wife, indeed, 'tis the Season. Best, LB

[Warbird Nut]

Two things: as per the counter rotating propellors that are both rotating outboard discussion: just educated myself on a few forums and the reason they did this was because the airflow coming toward the center section from two propellors rotating inboard (like conventional twins) was distorted and making controllability problems with the elevator/rudders.

Question on RealFlight sim: landing has been my biggest nemesis during my RC experience. I also only have a grass strip for my runway. It is apparent that while the landing gear is not fragile, it is not robust like the larger/heavier/beefier nitro planes I am used to flying. Bottom line, I need to learn how to land this plane as smoothly as possible so that I do minimal damage to the LG. I have a RealFlight sim that would be just the ticket to practice and practice and practice till I get really proficient. I believe I read somewhere that the new version of RF has this P-38. Is that correct? If so, does anybody know how to upgrade my V9 to current version?

[Warbird Nut]

I just keep having questions. Question: if one would get the high-performance motors, why could you not use a 12x8 3 bladed prop instead of using the12x8 2 bladed prop that comes with the upgrade. I too like the scale looks and actually really like the appearance of a 3 bladed prop, scale or not. In the full scale airplane world, there has turned out to be not that much difference, speed performance wise, between the 2 or 3 bladed prop on most airplanes (Mooney Ovation being an exception). The 3 bladed prop almost universally gives better climb performance and just flat out looks better in most people's opinion. Does the bigger motor get bogged down for some reason with that 3rd blade? Thoughts?

[GliderGuy]

Addressing the grass operations….

The long main and nose gear struts combined with the weight of the plane are going to be an issue.

Two things…1) The clearance in the main wells is fairly tight. Bend the mains much and things get hung up. 2) The nose gear shaft that fits into the servo gets bent fairly easily.

Note: I have the landing gear “upgrades” installed.

Operating only off pavement and making mostly good landings, all this isn’t a problem. But, when I make a less than good landing, she goes upside down on the bench for “unbending” struts and re-alignments so things don’t bind. I can’t speak for grass ops, but tufts and bumps banging into these long and thin struts is not a pretty picture. The torque arm from the wheel to the servo plus the weight = STRESS.

Need to hear from others who do grass ops to get a complete picture. Maybe it’s OK?

For a smooth landing, don’t do a Cub-like landing. You will drop her in. The thin airfoil and high wing loading will bite you. Get too slow and she lets go and drops fast! Carry speed/energy down into ground effect a few inches up. Keep her moving!!! Then, establish her a few inches up and bleed speed until touchdown. This helps avoid any drop-in = bent struts.

But man…a hole or tuft whacking a wheel after touchdown…UGH.

One more tip…Set the ESC brake = ON. CAUTION!!! Remove the props FIRST before programming the ESC to avoid possible injury to yourself.

By setting the ESC brake on, you can stop prop rotation a few seconds before touchdown and avoid breaking a prop. Ground strikes with prop blades will happen.

The instructions for ESC programming are here:

https://www.motionrc.com/pages/flightline-rc-1600mm-p-38-support-page

-GG

[rlcamden]

I have the stock P-38 with the upgraded suspension gear. I only fly off of grass. Remember to keep the throttle up with a little up AOA and you will be fine. I have not had the issue with the upgraded struts bending, but that was my initial thought seeing the way the wire is formed. I tend to cut grass, but no ground prop strikes. I also have had no issues with ESCs or the need to wire them together to run them in parallel. I use two 4S 3000 Admirals to get the right CG. I would recommend reinforcing the elevator clevic as an added safety measure, but mine was glued in pretty good from the factory. Below are some of my flights.

https://youtu.be/ouCQJvItAJo

https://youtu.be/8FptYxHuWWE

[GliderGuy]

Good info rlcamden…

WBN-Now you know.

Still a ton more tips to read about in this forum. It’ll be worth your time to read all these pages.

Software updates/upgrades? Contact RealFlight support. Keep us updated with your progress.

-GG

[Warbird Nut]

I would appreciate so much if there was a way to get this plane (or one very similar) to put on my RealFlight sim. I talked to them yesterday and they said that there is no Motion RC (Flightline) P-38 available which for some reason I thought there might be due to one of the posts a bit back. It seems that somebody said they had "made" one for RF? I cannot find that post so may have misread it a few days ago.. Also, I have been reading with interest posts relating to the upgraded performance motors and possible 3 blade prop combos that would work without cooking the ESCs and or overheating. I am not finding anything definitive except that would need a smaller diameter prop. Anything definitive? I am having trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that the larger motors would not handle the stock 3 bladed props.