Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Dewey H Lee]

You can also buy the Sheetrock patch sold in the Sheetrock area and simply peel it off of the backing for less than a roll. And the patches I get are not black and enough to do several mods.

[mr.frankenjet]

I used some thin plastic screen patch stuff that was adhesive backed and black, just dab some silver paint on it with a foam brush before applying to the plane, comes out great

[BadBob]

This may be an issue for my TX MFG. Anyway, thought I would try getting the most of my GR-24Pro (Graupner) 12 ch RX and opted to use separate channels for the rudders and steering. I have another plane with this setup and it works out fine. I did the same with the ailerons. However, when adjusting rudder throws in the transmitter (Graupner mz-24) E.P.A. mode, the right rudder in Ch. 4 adjusts fine. Left rudder servo in Ch. 8 will not move thru entire movement from left to right in the transmitter E.P.A. mode but will when I unplug it and plug it into my servo tester, where I centered the servo and checked for proper push rod adjustment. The TX adjustments in E.P.A. Mode are maxed out, but the servo will not move to both end points. I'm wondering if I changed to another channel if this would correct itself. (To tired to do this tonight, try this tomorrow). Don't know why that would be, as it shouldn't make any difference which channel is used for what.

[Flying Trout]

Can anybody help where I can find the Aluminum screen material ( square patches ) for covering the engine cowls and radiators
I appreciate it
Thanks
Eddie

I went to Dollar General and bought a splatter screen ( used to keep grease from splashing out of the frying pan). Very fine mesh.

[downwindleg]

Hey Aros and Alpha, since we are all striving for maximum scale looks on this beautiful P-38, it strikes me that the single biggest improvement that could be made on this plane at this point is to have a retract unit on the nose gear that had a 100-105 degree sweep instead of the stock 90 degree. We've all tried washers and even talked about cutting out the gear door to allow more forward angle on that nose wheel. You guys responded well about the strut upgrades and other issues and maybe this could fall under the upgrade category which I would be more than happy to pay for. Your thoughts?

[F106DeltaDart]

I too would be very happy to have that available as an upgrade. Even more so if it could be a universally swappable unit with multiple trunnions (say 95, 85, 76, 100, and 105 as options?). Then you could market them to a much larger user base than just the P-38, and use then to increase scale fidelity on any future models..

[Alpha]

Hi everyone, keeping costs down involves maximizing the number of "shared parts" each model uses. By sharing the same part, we can order higher quantities at lower cost, and pass much of those savings to the customer. Developing a unique electronic component for a single aircraft can significantly add to the cost of that aircraft. See the 90mm T-45's leading edge slats.

The current 90 degree retract unit for the P-38 is used in several other aircraft. An order for, for example, 100,000 of the same retract which can be used in ten airplanes will cost much less, than, say an order of only 10,000 retracts for a single airplane. Not to mention, the development cost of the unique retract, and the tooling and mold cost of the unique retract. Tooling is a significant cost component of any project.

We've considered your idea in the past, F106DeltaDart, of a modular trunnion and programmable motor/pcb design. It's a good idea! But the costs to even begin are considerable. Perhaps as we grow, and markets mature as it were, we will revisit the idea of implementing such a concept.

[downwindleg]

Hi Alpha, I really appreciate you getting back to me on this subject. I understand the "shared parts" concept and keeping costs down but let me put this in the perspective of the RC guy who loves scale details. This plane started out as a 349 dollar airplane that looked pretty good, flies great, has great performance,and a great price. However, in the quest for more "scale" features, I have spent another several hundred dollars and so have many others. I can't speak for the other guys but I would willingly spend another 75 to a 100 for this particular feature. Historically, on the gear alone, I bought the 1400 mm P-40 struts for the mains, the 1400 mm P-51 strut for the nose wheel, the castle struts for both and am currently waiting for the next shipment for the Flightline P-38 strut upgrades. All of these purchases were made in the interest of simply having the three struts, all with functional oleo struts, and not just shock absorbing. The nose gear forward rake is one of the most prominent features of the P-38 landing gear and adds a level of "cool" that is unsurpassed. If all this development cost you speak of is so problematic, you might consider at least identifying an alternate source for an after market retract unit that has the larger sweep that could be purchased through Motion RC like the glue, batteries, graphics, etc. I am not suggesting bi-passing you, I would much rather support a company like Motion who has shown so much support for us. Thank You so much, Brad

[downwindleg]

By the way, the aforementioned P-38 upgrade struts are back in stock. Brad

[Oxotnik]

Downwind, I respect your opinion and the opinion of everyone else on here. I have just purchased a set of upgrade struts as well. I love scale, but I'll be honest, I'm also sticker-price conscious. As much as I love my P-38, however, I probably would not have purchased it, if it had cost another $75 more. I'm okay with purchasing a nice scale warbird that isn't perfect, then deciding if and when I wanted to perform limited upgrades. I am absolutely an advocate of having upgrade components available, provided that their price is reasonable.

[Tsmith]

I installed the upgraded struts and have about 10 flights or so on them. I fly on a grass runway with some bumps and the new struts definetly have made a noticeable difference. However, after my last landing I noticed the plastic scissor strut on the nose wheel broke. See pic 1 below. I was disappointed that the only replacement part was a whole set of new struts. Well, I just happened to notice that my Old Crow P51, recently purchased and assembled, had mains with a similar scissor strut. After quickly scanning the parts list of the P51, sure enough, there was the exact part I needed for $2.90. See pic 2. I believe the main issue with the plastic part breaking was losing the small screw (see pic 3) that holds part of the top of the scissor strut. New screw is locktighted in...I suggest any of you guys upgrading to these struts locktight every screw as most of mine have come loose.

[downwindleg]

Great info on the scissor, Tsmith. I haven't received my upgraded struts but I could tell, just from the picture on the site, that the scissor was kind of cheesy looking so I'm glad to know there is a way of improving it. As I mentioned before, I'm only going to use the nose strut from this upgrade and use the mains from the Castle upgrade. It's a long way around the block, but it's the only way I'm going to get scissors on all three gears. With the Castle upgrade, the mains look great but no scissor on the nose and the Flightline upgrade has a scissor on the nose, but not on the mains!! Very dissapointing. Also, the offset fork for the nose gear is kind of blocky looking with no taper or rounding like you see on just about every other main gear strut for P-51s and so on including , especially, the real P-38. As you may have guessed, I'm kind of a detail guy, so I'm actually considering grinding and polishing this offset fork to look more scale instead of something made from leggos. It's just me, Brad

[downwindleg]

Just a follow up comment, Tsmith I see from your pictures that the replacement scissor also appears to be plastic but at least it's silver instead of white. Also, in checking the old crow parts list , I noticed that they also have a replacement offset gear fork that looks much better than the Leggo one. For 2.90 I might get one on my next order just to see if it would work to upgrade the upgrade instead of modifying the existing fork. Just thinking out loud, Brad

[xviper]

Just a bit of clarification please. Lately, there's been some posts about the "upgrade" struts. FYI, there are 2 suppliers of these. One is from RC Castle and the other is from Flightline as sold by MotionRC. I have the RC Castle ones and the "C" clip business for the nose gear is problematic. Now, someone just recently posted that the Flightline one also has a "C" clip issue. Is this the case or have these people gotten their strut brands mixed up. I thought the Flightline ones were "drop in", without any further messing around.

[Lon]

xviper....I'm have both the Castle & Flightline. The Flightline was a drop in. I have the Castle installed on the Silver 38, and the Flightline on the Green 38.

CORRECTION! After i posted this, I had a flashback with the nose strut installation. It is not just a "Drop in" installation.

[Lon]

Just a follow up comment, Tsmith I see from your pictures that the replacement scissor also appears to be plastic but at least it's silver instead of white. Also, in checking the old crow parts list , I noticed that they also have a replacement offset gear fork that looks much better than the Leggo one. For 2.90 I might get one on my next order just to see if it would work to upgrade the upgrade instead of modifying the existing fork. Just thinking out loud, Brad

FYI: The Castle scissor parts are metal and i did some measuring. The metal ones will work to replace the plastic FL upgrade.

[T-CAT]

My nose gear installation of the FlightlineRC suspension struts were not a drop-in installation so to speak. The location of the C-clip groove on be new struts weren't high enough on the strut shaft once installed through the trunion to allow the C-clip to be reinstalled. I had to dremel out quite a bit at the center/valley section in between the fork area of the trunion to allow the C-clip to go in the C-clip groove of the strut. I had the first run of the struts though, so this may have just been several of us that had this issue, all of us of the first run, and maybe the second run of struts may require no modification whatsoever.

Just a heads up to MotionRC, please check on this issue with Freewing (if that's who is manufactuering the struts). I don't want customers calling and being angry that the struts aren't a complete drop in fit.

[xviper]

Interesting. I guess there is some variation in product with the Flightline units. I asked only because a flying buddy has the P-38 and is thinking of getting upgrade struts. I was going to recommend the FL ones but now, not sure.

[T-CAT]

Personally, I think the quality of the FlightlineRC is better, and the spring tension is right on the money. It's still worth it to get the FlightlineRC struts, even if the nose gear strut trunion still needs modification. Even if the RC-Castle (Top Design) struts were purchased, those I believe need the modification to the nose trunion too. So, if you have to modify either one, minds well buy one you like more (or your friend at least and if he's okay with the modification needed) and you feel is of better quality.

[downwindleg]

Hey Lon, Great info on the interchangeable scissors but I'm wondering if you are borrowing them off the
Castle unit or can you buy this scissor separately from Castle? I have the Castle units on the mains and I see what your talking about but interested if you know about buying them, the scissors. Thanks, Brad