Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Lon]

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

I measured my Castle, which are in use on the silver. And from measuring them, they should work. I haven't researched yet, to see if you can purchase the Castle metal scissors. Going to do that now.

[Tsmith]

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.

My FL upgraded struts were purchased just before they went out of stock again with motion so probably a later production run. I did NOT have to make any modifications on the nose wheel strut to get the C clip on. When I first tried to put the c clip on it looked like a tight fit...I was able to loosen a grub screw and raise the post up a bit to easily get the C clip on.

[Lon]

I measured my Castle, which are in use on the silver. And from measuring them, they should work. I haven't researched yet, to see if you can purchase the Castle metal scissors. Going to do that now.

I haven't taken the scissors off of the Castle set. I'm flying my silver 38 with the Castle setup. Green with the FL upgrade set.

I did some searching of no avail to purchase just the CNC metal scissor. I even emailed Castle and got a quick response that they do not have those parts(scissors) available for sale.

[BadBob]

My FL upgraded struts were purchased just before they went out of stock again with motion so probably a later production run. I did NOT have to make any modifications on the nose wheel strut to get the C clip on. When I first tried to put the c clip on it looked like a tight fit...I was able to loosen a grub screw and raise the post up a bit to easily get the C clip on.

TS, I have the same Staggy you have there. I haven't even balanced it yet. I also installed the "down and locked" L/G. I have been practicing on the R/F sim with it. Trying to get used to the 3 point landing.

[T-CAT]

My FL upgraded struts were purchased just before they went out of stock again with motion so probably a later production run. I did NOT have to make any modifications on the nose wheel strut to get the C clip on. When I first tried to put the c clip on it looked like a tight fit...I was able to loosen a grub screw and raise the post up a bit to easily get the C clip on.

That's interesting because then that brings up another thought on the matter. It may have to do with the new strut or potentially the actual trunion on the nose gear that could differ in the manufacturing process, etc.

[Grossman56]

Beware of Lock tite around foam!!
Foam-tac will also do the same job and much safer.
I hate melting foam!

Grossman56

[downwindleg]

By the way Oxotnik, as I was reviewing the various posts on the subject of the functional oleo struts, it dawned on me that you listed 23 planes in your hangar......WOW!!! Do you actively fly all those planes, or is this a list of all planes, past and present? Anyway, I'm lucky to keep 3 or 4 planes flyable through any given season with work and honeydews. Brad

[xviper]

Beware of Lock tite around foam!!
Foam-tac will also do the same job and much safer.
I hate melting foam!

Grossman56

It's bad on foam, too? I know it causes plastic to get brittle and crack. I've been using FoamTac a lot lately for metal screws that are close to plastic.

[Aros]

Took the girl for a dusk sortie last night. Darkest sortie yet...LEDs made it a breeze! Still treating her like the queen she is...

[Lon]

Great pics Aros....I've done a couple of those dusk sorties with mine. Of the planes I have the 38 is best for these conditions.

[Oxotnik]

By the way Oxotnik, as I was reviewing the various posts on the subject of the functional oleo struts, it dawned on me that you listed 23 planes in your hangar......WOW!!! Do you actively fly all those planes, or is this a list of all planes, past and present? Anyway, I'm lucky to keep 3 or 4 planes flyable through any given season with work and honeydews. Brad

Brad, I've been flying seriously for a tad over a year. So, none of these planes are old. A few of them are in the repair shop, and one is completely dead (UMX Beast). All of the other ones are flying. I have a special affection for the warbirds, but I do still try to find time to fly the civvy birds. I also fly indoors once a month;so, I've been picking up ultra micros that'll fly indoors. The 3S-450 and smaller birds can be flown at my house.

Hi, my name is Chuck, and I'm a modelairplaneaholic. Thanks for asking. LOL

[Tsmith]

Great pics Aros....I've done a couple of those dusk sorties with mine. Of the planes I have the 38 is best for these conditions.

I couldn't agree more...I looked forward to those dusk sorties all summer long...I especially loved the landing light coming in to land...looks like the real thing!

[Tsmith]

It's bad on foam, too? I know it causes plastic to get brittle and crack. I've been using FoamTac a lot lately for metal screws that are close to plastic.

I learned my lesson on lock tite and plastic...my first spinner fell off on the third flight this spring so I lock tited both spinners...BIG mistake...plastic became brittle and fell apart. I think it took me 4 sets of spinners to realize what was happening. I kept thinking I was over tightening the screws.

[T-CAT]

Where plastic meets metal (like after I fully tighten a screw, or when a C-clip is installed, grub screws, etc), I add a very small amount of FoamTac glue and it works fantastic as a preventive measure and added security. Very cool stuff.

[stitch]

hey anyone try the 4258 650kv motors vin these?? same they use in the p-40,lol i measured it and it is so close i may try some for the speed increase.keep the 3-blade props i like those look much better,but i tried one in my iron ass p51 goes pretty dang fast. just thought i have some laying around may give it a go.just need to shave a little off sides.be cool if it is faster than the speed setup they are showing for it now.

[stitch]

hey downwindleg i have 24 in my house lol got 4 in box,s not put together yet,and no i don,t fly them all waiting till i master flying i have some nice planes and got all on sale or i could not have them.that is how you get them wait till sale time.

[Oxotnik]

I just finished installing the Upgrade struts. The Mains were straight drop-in, as everyone has already said. The nose gear took a little effort to get the gear housing pulled apart and the CClip removed. However, no modification of the upgrade nose strut was required. New struts installed and working perfectly. The slightly larger tires are welcome lagniappe, especially for flying on my grass field. Another dusting or two of clear coat on the light prop blade, and the prop should be perfectly balanced and ready for Reinstallation. I'll be headed to the field in a few hours. Can't wait to get this bird back in the air!!

As a side note (and hopefully just restating the obvious), make sure that you balance your props. The prop blades differ vastly in weight.

[xviper]

hey anyone try the 4258 650kv motors vin these?? same they use in the p-40,lol i measured it and it is so close i may try some for the speed increase.keep the 3-blade props i like those look much better,but i tried one in my iron ass p51 goes pretty dang fast. just thought i have some laying around may give it a go.just need to shave a little off sides.be cool if it is faster than the speed setup they are showing for it now.

Do let us know. I've thought about this myself, however, I just thought that an increase of 50kv may not be noticeable in performance. I did this swap on my P-51 but that was an increase of 110kv. I also wish to keep the 3-blade stock prop.

[T-CAT]

I know this is off topic, but I have received a notice of "Notification" like the one I'm going to described and is pictured below many times before. However, I have no idea what it's implying. It essentially says that a forum member and -1 others have posted on your subscription. Now, how can someone post on my subscription without allowing me to click anything below the notification to find out what that post was? Ha-ha! There is simply no button to push to go to any thread, etc. Secondly, how do I have "-1" others who posted on the subscription? Are these bugs in the forum software? I've had this happen many times and I just have to "dismiss" it via the button to make it go away.

I know Aros is on this thread, so I was hoping he could shed light on what this notification means.

[xviper]

I think that's just a redundancy. I've got 14 notifications at the top of my page. I never even look at those because I get an email for every notification anyway. If I paid attention to everything that tries to get me to do something, I'd never get through the day.