Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Lon]

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

I have only about 15 flights under my belt with the P-38 now. A good portion of the flights have been in very low wind conditions. So landing with cross winds have been no issue.But i have found out when landing in cross winds 8mph or greater, it can be a real challenge. In these situations, i've aborted the landing and went around to do my approach into the wind, with disregard to the orientation of the landing strip. This is when i've done most of my grass landings with no problems.

[Lon]

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

Ditto's....Nothing to worry about. The vinyl hinges will do the trick!

[Aros]

I haven't had to land in a nasty crosswind yet but I can see how it would be an issue with those big wings at landing speeds...

[Arycon]

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

Non issue. I cracked my rudder clean from the front to the back just below the horizontal stabilizer. I glude it back together and it is no longer connected via foam, nylon hinges only. I flew it yesterday with zero issues. You are fine with just the nylon hinges.

I haven't had to land in a nasty crosswind yet but I can see how it would be an issue with those big wings at landing speeds...

Big wind catches it, in my experience. A quick gust causes wing rock. Not uncontrolable, but really unnerving on final.

Speaking of final...and advice on landing speed? I feel like I am coming in too fast at half throttle with full flaps, but I am really hesitant to drop speed for fear of a stall. My close calls with this plane have worried me and it is showing during final approach. Flight yesterday went fine but I must have made 5 passes at landing (practicing my approaches) to try and make them cleaner and smoother, but I couldnt slow down. It felt too fast at about 50%, but when I slowed down and touched down she bounced and porpoised. It wasnt bad enough for a prop strike but I goosed throttle for a split second (which evens out the plane to reduce the hopping) and she came down no worse for wear. Damn scary though. It is all nerves now.

What speeds are you guys landing at? Throttle %? Obviously this is affected by wind speed and will vary based on conditions, but Im curious. What do you guys do to land? Steady throttle and control altitude with elevator or control with elevator to a glide path, level out/flare and cut throttle?

[TSHobbies]

Had to replace one of my spinner back plates, had a crack in it..so I figured Id add some color this time to New Journey..

[Lon]

Non issue. I cracked my rudder clean from the front to the back just below the horizontal stabilizer. I glude it back together and it is no longer connected via foam, nylon hinges only. I flew it yesterday with zero issues. You are fine with just the nylon hinges.



Big wind catches it, in my experience. A quick gust causes wing rock. Not uncontrolable, but really unnerving on final.

Speaking of final...and advice on landing speed? I feel like I am coming in too fast at half throttle with full flaps, but I am really hesitant to drop speed for fear of a stall. My close calls with this plane have worried me and it is showing during final approach. Flight yesterday went fine but I must have made 5 passes at landing (practicing my approaches) to try and make them cleaner and smoother, but I couldnt slow down. It felt too fast at about 50%, but when I slowed down and touched down she bounced and porpoised. It wasnt bad enough for a prop strike but I goosed throttle for a split second (which evens out the plane to reduce the hopping) and she came down no worse for wear. Damn scary though. It is all nerves now.

What speeds are you guys landing at? Throttle %? Obviously this is affected by wind speed and will vary based on conditions, but Im curious. What do you guys do to land? Steady throttle and control altitude with elevator or control with elevator to a glide path, level out/flare and cut throttle?

50% is too fast. When i make my final turn into the approach i'm at about 40%. I hold that until about 50yds from the threshold(rate/angle of descent is good) and then i will throttle back to 10-15%. I use throttle to control rate of descent so as to not use elevator once the angle and rate is kind of locked in. Now depending on my speed i now see as i'm crossing the runway threshold, i will realize i'm going to flare and touchdown aways down the runway, or pretty quick, depending on my speed. What i have to do, is not let or fly the plane down till i see that "sweet spot" as far as speed to touchdown. Yes, i would rather be a little hot and have to extend the distance down the runway of my flare and touchdown, OR go around and do it again! Don't want to do the bouncy bouncy!! i'm going to avoid elevator use, maybe a little "presure" to hold her above the runway right before flare. And yes, there has been times where wheels are 6" or less above the runway for quite a distance,(let the speed bleed off) and at the last second cut throttle when inches above and she will setdown softly(Yes, i've had my best (greased)landings towards the end of the runway or past in the grass. As you said, there's alot of variables that can effect your ground speed. Experience will give you the eye for that good speed. Another thing mentally that helps me, i'm telling myself to do a "touch and go"..this helps me to keep my speed up... Gee, i've rattled on and on. Hope this can help.

[Flygirl]

Lon wrote, " I use throttle to control rate of descent so as to not use elevator once the angle and rate is kind of locked in."

That right there is the best advice ever to get a good landing.... Same thing applies to full size planes. Right on Lon...!

[Flyer Phill]

Just picked mine up at the post office. Four days from HK to me, impressive!

[Chalredline1]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the quick response. Have it nearly together and just need to hook up a few control linkages and set the throws. Hope to maiden next week when we have some nice weather arriving.

[Arycon]

Grats on the new owners. You guys will love this plane.

Thanks for the landing advice. Normally I control decent with throttle but someone recently told me that was wrong. Control it with elevator. I should have kept doing what I was doing. I will go back to my old landing style and adjust via throttle. I am coming in too hot out of fear for a stall. I think I need to get a few mistakes up and make high dirty passes and reduce throttle to see what % of throttle she stalls at and how she tips in the stall, be it nose or wing. And again...I recognize % will change based on wind speed and overall weather conditions. Air is heavy in Florida, but man if this plane doesnt feel heavy flying sometimes.

I normally pull about 640watts on each motor for a full pack with a peak at 670watts. Are you guys seeing similar performance? Obviously it will vary based on the lipo. Mine are Glacier 30c 3300mAh. Internal resistance gets down to 2.3 or so. Pretty good punch on the glaciers, Id say. I do wanna order some Admirals as my second set to compare.

[Chalredline1]

Just wondering if anyone had any difficulty getting the full 25mm high rate travel when setting up your ailerons per the holes noted in the manual to use on the servo horn and where the ball link is attached on the control horn? I believe I have travel set at 125% on my spektrum and 125% on D/R for high rate and I'm barely getting there. This is the first plane I've set up on a Spektrum as I've always used Hitec in the past. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

edit: Well, just found I can go to 150 on travel. Most times I set up the linkage so I get more than enough travel at 100 and then dial down from there for high and low rates. Anyway, just wondering what others are doing.

[killickb]

When using the "little blue box" for gear/gear doors does the current to the gear door servos shut off at each end of the door travel?

[Delizar]

My Allied Green arrived this morning. Had to wait till the end of the work day to open her up. The outer box took some abuse, not so much as a blemish on the inner Printed box.
I must say I am impressed with the packaging. I have unboxed Lighting Control consoles that cost well over $30K that didn't come close to the quality, thought and care that went into this packaging.
Only found one small blemish after a close inspection of each and every part. Funny thing, you’d think it would be on one of the Big cumbersome pieces…..nope, one bit of green about the size of one of the foam hexes missing on one of the outer Horizontal Stabs. (easy fix after a trip to Home Depot or Lowes, and the very piece I will be taking with me for the color match)
Almost a shame to undo all that boxing artistry, thoughts of just leaving it in there….lasted a good 5 min. But then it passed and thoughts of the build took over.
So far, a big thumbs up to Flightline RC and Motion RC.

[Lon]

Just wondering if anyone had any difficulty getting the full 25mm high rate travel when setting up your ailerons per the holes noted in the manual to use on the servo horn and where the ball link is attached on the control horn? I believe I have travel set at 125% on my spektrum and 125% on D/R for high rate and I'm barely getting there. This is the first plane I've set up on a Spektrum as I've always used Hitec in the past. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

edit: Well, just found I can go to 150 on travel. Most times I set up the linkage so I get more than enough travel at 100 and then dial down from there for high and low rates. Anyway, just wondering what others are doing.

I noticed the same thing when setting up. But since it was high rate, I didn't mess with it, just got the low rates dialed in. Figured working on high rates at a later time after some flights logged in and comfortable with that. Kind of forgot about it till i seen your post. I have been doing some flying on high rates, but yeh, still hadn't recalled the issue. She flys soooo good!

[Chalredline1]

Well, in trying to dial in my ailerons it definitely appears the arm on one of the ailerons servos is off a couple of teeth compared to the other aileron servo.
One comes up centered and the other is angled a bit back towards the trailing edge. On my Spektrum I'm trying to see if I can adjust it out through the Tx but so far I'm not having any luck. One aileron the travel is equal in both directions. The other aileron I'm getting more travel in one direction than the other. Being on a y I'm not sure how to adjust for that. I guess my other option short of pulling the servo and recentering the arm is to run
extensions and put each servo on a separate channel and then use subtrim on the one servo to center it. Of course the wire channel covers have been glued down and I don't think I could feed anything through that mess of wires without removing the covers. I guess I could use the one on the Y as is and then maybe cut the Y and crimp an new connector on the remaining lead of the Y coming from that servo.


Not sure how solid those servos are glued in and if they are easy enough to pull out.

Any other suggestions would be welcome

[TwistedGrin]

Completed my Oleo installation via FMS 1450mm P-51D Oleo struts on all three legs.....I was able to retrofit the nose gear without removing anything from the airframe - but I did modify the FMS Oleo strut so that it would be the correct length and fitted one of the stock wheels for the nose wheel. The mains are a bit soft with 50% compression at rest while the nose gear is spot on. I see no danger of dragging the rudder fins even when the mains are totally compressed. I felt compelled to modify my P-38 since I operate 100% off of grass field....smooth and short Bermuda grass but still way bumpier than roadway cement landing strip. I do like the over-all presentation with the larger wheels...but the real press of my modification was for performance. I do see a little bit of slop in the landing gear compared to the Oleo retrofit.....This is a heavy bird so both mains are indeed loaded up pretty good but I can't see any weak points yet that would cause issue.

TwistedGrin

[dkalwishky]

Lon wrote, " I use throttle to control rate of descent so as to not use elevator once the angle and rate is kind of locked in."

That right there is the best advice ever to get a good landing.... Same thing applies to full size planes. Right on Lon...!

Exactly right, by chance do either of you fly full scale?

[Lon]

dkalwishky...I don't fly full scale. Been just a dream.....

[downwindleg]

Just a few thoughts on dual rates. Over the years I have come to be realize that dual rates are just to cumbersome. Those who fly full scale know there is no such thing as dual rates on a real plane. I find it far less trouble to use exponential instead. Less switches to deal with and you avoid the big change in throws. Also, exponential rates can really help with adrenaline overflow on landings and takeoff. I use about 30% on rudder, elevator, and ailerons but you can " season to taste ". As long as you stay around close to the center on the stick, your throws are mild but if you have to react quickley to a situation or just want to do a tight manuever, the throws are right there without having to flip a switch. Brad

[Chalredline1]

Got the aileron issue figured out. Was able to set Tx to run separate aileron channels and use sub-trim to adjust servo. All seems to work ok. All I need to do now is separate aileron Y and run separate servo lead from the other aileron servo.