Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[TSHobbies]

after swapping out the gear for FMS & FW , I didnt need any weight at all..just 2 zippy 3300s and it flew straight as an arrow...no up 4mm on the elevator either.

[mr.frankenjet]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n39539[/ATTACH] finished pilot and radio room

[MikeT]

Nice work.

Mike

[FLTRI]

Reference CG

Arycon,

We were in the same boat, I did a ton of hand wringing with mine as well. My problems were twofold. First off, I'm using a single 5000 battery that weighs less (531g) than the Admiral's that it was tested with. Secondly, this plane is just hard to CG to begin with, as it's neither a high wing nor low wing plane. No matter if I CG'd it upside down or right side up, it was difficult to tell which way it was really tipping. Also, the CG would move depending which method I used. I too notched the nose and hatch, to move the battery forward. That helped but still showed tail heavy. I did my maiden with 3.5 ounces in the nose. This got my CG to the front edge of the square hole where the wing wires leave the boom, more or less.

She flew great, so I've been removing weight a half ounce at a time. I'm down to 2.5 ounces of nose weight now, and lost some up trim on the elevator. I think this is about right for me. One thing I noticed was I saw NO CG shift when I raised the gear. I was surprised, as the maiden had the relatively heavy Dubro's on the rear, and the stock main wheel on the nose. It appears to me that it's not terribly a CG sensitive airframe.

Aros,

Nope, you're not the only one, see above. As you said, as big and heavy as this plane is, a few ounces in the nose is a drop of water in the ocean. It flies like it could carry quite a bit of weight. I guess we will see when pilots start putting in dual sound systems...


;)

[Arycon]

A very grateful thank you to everyone here with info and input. I am happy to report a successful maiden flight of the P-38 "April Lynn." She flew 3 sorties today. Flight 1 was hairy, for reasons I will get into below. Flight 2 was getting dialed in but still not comfortable. Third time is the charm, and she settled in well as I put her through some light pacing. A vertical climb, loop, barrel rolls and a brief inverted flight.

Flight 1 had a problem. I have warping on the inboard portion of the wings. It took me a bit to realize the problem. The plane wants to bank left and stay that way, despite trim. At 3/4 of the transmitter trim range I brought her down. I forgot some mentioned warping on the wings near the inner edges of the outboard flaps where the wing attaches to the boom/main wing seat. It is a slight downward bend of the wing edge and it is acting like I am constantly applying left aileron. I couldn't correct this issue at the field so I brought her down after some scary trimming. I had a prop strike on the landing, but otherwise perfectly fine. Some pucker factor though. I adjusted the control arms afterward to match the amount of transmitter trim I had used so that I could put the trim back to neutral. Better, but not perfect. Adjusted again and flight 3 needed 3 or 4 clicks and she was flying straight.

Wing warping is definitely something to look out for, and respectfully, you Motion guys should take note of this. It is something I feel should be addressed. It could cause major problems for a less experienced pilot as the plane was difficult to keep level on approach. Luckily, I have a good deal of experience and was able to keep calm and handle the plane to get it safely back on the ground.

Overall a great day. For the record, CoG was 70mm and she would teeter-totter at that range and I couldn't tell if she was tail heavy or not. 2-3mm further back and she tipped nose heavy. She would not balance level for me at all. She keeps tipping all the way forward or all the way back. So I left it at 70mm. I flew with 4mm up elevator as neutral setting. My lipos are 2x4S 3300mAh 30C Glaciers and she seems fine at 70mm. That is with stock struts and Robart 2-3/4 mains and a Robart 2-1/2 on the nose. NO extra nose weight was used. Thanks again for all the help. And thanks to Flightline and Motion RC for such a great flyer. Cant wait for my next sortie.

[dkalwishky]

My lipos are 2x4S 3300mAh 30C Glaciers

What kind of flight time are you getting with these? I'll be using a pair of Admiral 4@ 3600's in mine.

[Sky Wolf]

Huge congrats Arycon on your successful maiden! Any video?

[PlaneCrazy]

Getting back to the neutral position of the elevator on this bird being recommended at 4mm up........I was just reading a review of the FW F104 DF in Model Aviation and the recommended neutral position on that plane is recommended being set at 2 degrees up...........wonder if this is a new trend?

[Arycon]

Huge congrats Arycon on your successful maiden! Any video?

No video, unfortunately. My neighbor was with me, but apparently isn't very camera savvy, hence why part of my head is chopped off when I am holding the plane. The videos he took aren't watchable. They show the plane for a few seconds and then lose focus or lose the plane in the frame. I didn't keep any of them. Will see if someone else will hold the camera next time.

What kind of flight time are you getting with these? I'll be using a pair of Admiral 4@ 3600's in mine.

I set my timer for 7 minutes. On the third flight I flew half of the pack at cruise speed...half throttle. The rest of the pack was mixed with some full throttle passes and a full power vertical climb. I landed slightly early (maybe 30 seconds) and had 51% on the pack. Roughly 3.85v on the cells. I would say a full 3300mAh on mixed throttle the entire flight will easily yield 7 minutes. It is possible 8 could be reached, but too early to tell. With highly conservative scale flying I think 9 minutes on 3300's is possible, but it would be 50% or less throttle the entire time.

Best to set your timer conservative on the first flight. I went 6 minutes and then 7 minutes. Now I will probably go to 8 minutes, but likely stay there. No need to push my luck. I prefer to land with juice to spare instead of dead sticking a plane in. Or worse.

[Aros]

Congrats Arycon! Boy she looks good with that weathering!

[PlaneCrazy]

Hey Aros, ordered my Mobius today. Got it on Ebay though. It had the updated lens and the bigger battery for the same price as Motion and free shipping. I'm not much of a camera guy, but this little thing looks like a lot of fun.

[Aros]

Hey Aros, ordered my Mobius today. Got it on Ebay though. It had the updated lens and the bigger battery for the same price as Motion and free shipping. I'm not much of a camera guy, but this little thing looks like a lot of fun.

I will have to check that out...I wasn't even aware of a newer lens and bigger battery version...I'll let the Powers That Be know so we have the latest version. Yeah you will love the camera. Great quality, nearly every bit as vivid as a GoPro for a fraction of the price.

[Aros]

Aros, Nope, you're not the only one, see above. As you said, as big and heavy as this plane is, a few ounces in the nose is a drop of water in the ocean. It flies like it could carry quite a bit of weight. I guess we will see when pilots start putting in dual sound systems... ;)

Okay I just checked and I had 4 ounces towards the front of the battery tray. So I removed 2 ounces. I wish I could go fly now to see how it does but it's cloudy and getting dusk so not the best lighting. I'll go tomorrow. Like mentioned, I do like a little weight to my warbirds but I am curious to see how I like her with no added nose weight.

[PlaneCrazy]

I will have to check that out...I wasn't even aware of a newer lens and bigger battery version...I'll let the Powers That Be know so we have the latest version. Yeah you will love the camera. Great quality, nearly every bit as vivid as a GoPro for a fraction of the price.

Aros,
The difference in the lens is that the "C" lens which Motion carries is about 120 degrees in the wide angle where the "C2" lens is about 130 degrees in the wide angle. You guys say that there is a bigger battery available which gives about 2 hours of recording time and the unit I bought already had the bigger battery. Minor differences but I thought I'd start out with the latest. I promise..............I always check with Motion first.........you guys really rock and get about 95% of my business.
Andy

[mr.frankenjet]

congrats Arycon,thanks for flying report and set up tips, nice to get the maiden done and start to tune.
happy landings

[Lon]

"A very grateful thank you to everyone here with info and input. I am happy to report a successful maiden flight of the P-38 "April Lynn." She flew 3 sorties today. Flight 1 was hairy, for reasons I will get into below. Flight 2 was getting dialed in but still not comfortable. Third time is the charm, and she settled in well as I put her through some light pacing. A vertical climb, loop, barrel rolls and a brief inverted flight."

Arycon, Congrat's on your maiden! And excellent feedback on your experience with the flights.

[mr.frankenjet]

congrats Lon, looks sweet

[downwindleg]

I haven't graduated from picture posting school yet so bear with me. In terms of scale mods, here's one I came up with. It has always bothered me that the machine guns were solid plastic on the business end and granted, it's a small thing but I was compelled to fix it. I don't know the exact drill size I used but I took a drill bit that was slightly smaller than the barrel of the gun that protrudes from the outer heat shield and drilled a hole straight into the end of the gun about a fat sixteenth deep. Don't go any deeper or you won't be able to black out the white plastic hole with a fine sharpie. I put each barrel in a small flat table vise to hold it absolutely verticle and stable and, using a drill press, I drilled them out. This greatly improves the realism of the guns. If you have already glued the guns in ,you might be S O L but you might take a pair of pliers and carefully twist and remove the guns like pulling a tooth. Good luck

[downwindleg]

P.S. You'll have to be absolutely dead center to drill these or you will be ordering new guns with your next purchase from Motion RC !!!

[rtwatkins]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n39539[/ATTACH] finished pilot and radio room

Damn Mr. frankenjet... that radio compartment looks amazing! love the wiring detail

Great work!