Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Brandon Moon]

I see my problem now, I measured from the leading edge right after the fillet by the cockpit. That is a considerable difference in CG and required several ounces of nose weight to balance. The plane flew very nose heavy the first flight. The next flight, I removed that weight, and kept my 2 admiral 4S 3000s all the way forward and it flew great. Note to self, double check the diagram..

From what I read and saw on the English version of the plans for referencing the CG...is that it's referenced from the front leading edge of the hard plastic plates on the top of each engine boom and then measured back 65mm. That gives a solid indisputable reference point to start from to set the CG to , even though most of us are using 70mm. that is where I measured my CG from, (the leading edge of the plastic plates on top of the engine booms)

[Brandon Moon]

For those interested....Here is a comparison of the 1/8th AOI pilot bust to the Young 1/10th Pilot bust.

Working on painting up this guy and hollowing out his solid insides to lighten him up a bit to fit in my P-38

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n40222[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n40228[/ATTACH]

[Brandon Moon]

Have the TT25 speakers installed....just waiting on the new "Aspire" sound unit from Andrew

[Brandon Moon]

P-38 reference point for setting Per the Flight Line Manual. If you set your CG as Arros posted from the leading edge at the wing fillet...you're actually setting the CG @ closer to 65 or less Milimeters

[Dewey H Lee]

Hey guys. Boy if you really need any kind of selling point to make you want to buy this beautiful plane alll you have to do is go to killer planes .com and watch the flight review that Steve done on it. It was great. I've not seen a vedio of anyone putting a plane through the paces that he did. The whole time all he could do was praise the performance as well as workmanship that went into this bird. Of coarse he had to promote his product on crash proofing but just in general his praise of the plane is outstanding. Check it out out at killer planes.com. He really rips it up with the P-38. I would list the link but to my embarrassment😳 I don't know how.

[PlaneCrazy]

Hey guys. Boy if you really need any kind of selling point to make you want to buy this beautiful plane alll you have to do is go to killer planes .com and watch the flight review that Steve done on it. It was great. I've not seen a vedio of anyone putting a plane through the paces that he did. The whole time all he could do was praise the performance as well as workmanship that went into this bird. Of coarse he had to promote his product on crash proofing but just in general his praise of the plane is outstanding. Check it out out at killer planes.com. He really rips it up with the P-38. I would list the link but to my embarrassment😳 I don't know how.

Here ya go Dewey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NqXu7cTLDY

[Dewey H Lee]

Thanks PlaneCrazy. Steve really runs it out don't he.

[PlaneCrazy]

Thanks PlaneCrazy. Steve really runs it out don't he.

Yes and seems to have fun doing it!!

[JFandL]

better hurry only 7 left,there going fast.

ROFL,

Toooo!!!! Late, however next time in stock I may get another. This P-38 can be the very best foam airframe of any P-38 ever with a few adjustments to Skin and retracts!!!

John

[downwindleg]

I have to " fes up" to a misadventure this weekend. On flight #15, the worst happened. I was making my usually approach for landing and still about 2 feet off the runway when a sudden burst of crosswind from the port side hit the P-38 !! Before I could react, the port wing lifted up and the starboard wing dipped into the ground causing a nasty and spectacular cartwheel !!! The nose pod was torn off, the two wingtips slightly damaged, one main gear torn forward and structural damage to the starboard boom and lower verticle stab. After assessing the damage and unbunching my boxers, I thought about just ordering a whole new plane but they were already out of stock. Drat!!! They told me at Motion RC that they had like 400 more P-38s coming in two weeks but I decided to go ahead and get some replacement parts and see if I could Frankenstein it back together. Also this would avoid repainting all the invasion stripes and Callies' Graphics, except the nose art. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? I hope to have it back in the air in two weeks. Hope everybody else's weekend was better, Brad

[stitch]

hey arycon i use the eagle tree guardian 2d 3d stabilizer like em so much i got 5 of them now they work great faster than the eagle one,s motion has i tried both the guardian works great i no longer crash when i fly at all try one!

[Dewey H Lee]

Dang Brad
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Those gusting winds are crazy. We have a ditch that's 20' wide and 20' deep bordering our runway and when the wind is blowing from that side it creates almost like an updraft flipping planes not carrying enough power while trying to land. Also bad for picking up wings on takeoff. Hope your back up soon.

[Arycon]

I have to " fes up" to a misadventure this weekend. On flight #15, the worst happened. I was making my usually approach for landing and still about 2 feet off the runway when a sudden burst of crosswind from the port side hit the P-38 !! Before I could react, the port wing lifted up and the starboard wing dipped into the ground causing a nasty and spectacular cartwheel !!! The nose pod was torn off, the two wingtips slightly damaged, one main gear torn forward and structural damage to the starboard boom and lower verticle stab. After assessing the damage and unbunching my boxers, I thought about just ordering a whole new plane but they were already out of stock. Drat!!! They told me at Motion RC that they had like 400 more P-38s coming in two weeks but I decided to go ahead and get some replacement parts and see if I could Frankenstein it back together. Also this would avoid repainting all the invasion stripes and Callies' Graphics, except the nose art. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? I hope to have it back in the air in two weeks. Hope everybody else's weekend was better, Brad

Dang, man. Sorry to hear about your luck. That royally sucks. This plane really is big and sometimes just catches the breeze. You describe what happened to me before my belly landing. Luckily I was able to level out cause I was high enough, but I could not prevent the wing from rocking hard...like 12 inches of vertical movement from level position. Scary. Tough break, man. I hope you get her back in the air soon.

This is exactly why I want to try a gryo. For wind correction, not full on stabilization...just want enough to counter sudden wind changes. This big bird really catches gusts with her profile.

I confess I am scared to program a gyro and install it. I would be devastated to put one in and it cause a crash because it was miscalibrated. I have bad luck with equipment.

@Stitch

I have looked at the guardian but something bout it was steering me away. I think it was because it didnt have a three position switch capability. Like off, 2D and 3D. I think it is constantly on, right? If I risk trying the gyro, I want to be certain I can take off with the gyro in off mode and not adjusting surface control. That way I can go 3 to 4 mistakes up and turn the gyro heading on. If it screws up and is causing a loss of control I can switch it back off and land safely.

My other concern is having some deflection on my ailerons. I have a few mm of right aileron going up and a few mm of left aileron going down. It is the only way to counteract the left bank that my P-38 keeps wanting to perform. And I can set a plane well. All my surfaces were dead neutral and checked with an incidence guage. For the life of me though, my P-38 constantly banks left without the above aileron deflection mentioned.

The overall issues have me worried about adding a gyro to the mix.

[Arycon]

@Motion guys

Hey...since you guys have flown this plane so much...is it possible a slightly misaligned rudder is causing the left banking I experience? I watched that Killer Planes video and he says in one bank that it was all rudder and no aileron. My rudder doesnt look off, but if it is that sensitive it may just need some adjustment to the right. Curious what your experience is. Thanks.

P.S. I dont believe it is my rudder. They look fine. Not out of alignment enough that would cause banking. I did notice I have a droopy inboard flap. The flap is flush on the center and right side but the left is warped down. I have tried gently realigning it but it wont stay in position. Any ideas if that may be the culprit? I am on the way to the field for sortie #5. Just trying to determine the cause of the banking left I experience.

[Delizar]

Arycon

As far as a gyros go...I know the Guardian can be set to a switch 2d-off-3d. Pg 9 of the manual. What I would do is put it in a plane you know well to learn using it. Then move it to your P-38.
That being said I'm a rookie in the rc world. This approach comes from the IT world for implementing new technology. There I'm not such a rookie.

[Flyer Phill]

Ordered a Green P-38 from RC-Castle on Monday and tracking is now showing that its arrived in Aus...hopefully it will be in my hot little hands within a couple of days!

[Aros]

Looking forward to seeing your new pilot painted up Brandon, and love the sound addition! Thanks for clarifying the CG as well. However I am sticking with mine because it's flying great right now and I don't want to mess with it, lol...

Ah bummer downwindleg! Sorry to hear about that! So are you saying I should watch out for crosswinds when I get a chance to fly at your beautiful field? :D

[downwindleg]

Thanks guys for all the support regarding my mishap. I'm out of my funk and starting the repairs, the last repair being the broken boom. New wing center section arriving Monday so I should be back in the air by the following weekend. And Aros, not usually but last Saturday we had an onshore flow in the area which is rare but when it happens it can be dicey. Unfortunately the wind changed pretty suddenly and I didn't notice the windsock before final...... my bad!! At least when you crash an R.C.plane, you don't die right? You just feel like someone shot your dog. Cheers

[Chalredline1]

I got mine yesterday and have a question about the rudder hinge line. I see the 3 hinges in the rudder but the foam hinge is completely severed on one of the rudders. Should this be of any concern and/or what, if anything, should I do to reinforce this? The hinge for the other rudder appears intact. Thanks

[TiredIronGRB]

I got mine yesterday and have a question about the rudder hinge line. I see the 3 hinges in the rudder but the foam hinge is completely severed on one of the rudders. Should this be of any concern and/or what, if anything, should I do to reinforce this? The hinge for the other rudder appears intact. Thanks

The foam isn't actually the hinge, there's small vinyl hinges in there if you look closely.