Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[downwindleg]

Can someone tell me how you dealt with the wheel collars on the Robart wheels being to big to allow the spoked hub caps to go on?

Hey WW2rcpilot, I didn't know about the heat gun trick when I did mine so I just ground down the wheel collars, a little on each side, 'til the hub cap fit. Not sure I would have wanted to take a chance on wrecking the hub cap but it sounds like it worked. BTW you will want to set CG with wheels up, or you will get tail heavy when they do come up. :Cool:Brad

[WW2rcpilot]

Thanks man, I hesitated to use the gun but I tested the heat with my hand. I placed it over a block of wood with a hole in it big enough to allow the spokes to flex downward Then heated it while pushing down with a piece of dowal. I'm pumped to fly her just hope our field is smooth enough.

[downwindleg]

Thanks man, I hesitated to use the gun but I tested the heat with my hand. I placed it over a block of wood with a hole in it big enough to allow the spokes to flex downward Then heated it while pushing down with a piece of dowal. I'm pumped to fly her just hope our field is smooth enough.

I hear ya' on the field conditions. After a couple of months flying off grass, I changed out the gear on mine for the functional oleo struts and that makes a huge difference on a not so smooth field,Brad

[Twowingtj]

Finally got to maiden the "Irish Angel". Using 2 4000mah Admirals. Wing loading is up there a bit. She had a long take off roll and scale rotation. Required zero trim on any surface. Really nice large scale manuevers on mid rates. Used take-off flaps for landing.

Landing rollout went into a little longer grass and noticed that the right wingtip dropped. Found that the gear mount block had pulled out of the foam. Inspection showed no foam cells attatched to the block and very little glue had actually made contact with the mount pocket. Thankfully there was no damage to anything including gear doors or the bottom of the boom. Checked the other gear mount and found the same thing.

The gear mount block is designed well with lots of support webbing. Just needed to be glued well. Now glued propperly. Nose gear was fine.

Looking forward to the next sortie. THE nicest foam Forked Tail Devil out the for sure:Cool::)

[OV10]

TJ.......I had the exact same issue with mine last year after a couple flights, the main gear pockets pulled out due to minimal use of glue:Scared: and you n I know how turf increases those shear stresses.;)
Well Bull :Poo: on that noise is what I said LOLand Gorilla'd those pockets in and not a problem since.
I don't like flexible adhesives like FoamTac being used on high impact loaded areas like this thus the Gorilla.:Cool:
Last year I flew mine with a single 6000mAh batt with the standard 4mm up elev(neutral) trim. Am going with two 4000 this year and I also added 2 ounces of lead to the tail to help mitigate the well documented 4mm neutral back to a more normal standard so that so much down pressure is not required during inverted flight. Looking forward to testing that out in the coming mod re-maiden sorties that are being lined up.

[Aros]

Has anyone braved sans gear yet? I am debating it. I know, weird with such a nice model but she needs to go on a diet. I love flying her but she's overweight. I am thinking removing the gear and tanks and seeing what I think. Anyone else?

[Twowingtj]

Has anyone braved sans gear yet? I am debating it. I know, weird with such a nice model but she needs to go on a diet. I love flying her but she's overweight. I am thinking removing the gear and tanks and seeing what I think. Anyone else?

She's a "Lead Sled" for sure. The gear don't really add that much weight. You likely could sans the gear and tanks. Then go with a single lighter battery and remove the 4mm up elev to balance where it should be. It might be a little peppier then. Trying to hand launch with full up weight would require the arm of a Major League PitcherLOL. She's rock solid in the wind though.

[Aros]

Yeah I am used to chucking big girls...I used to hand toss my Freewing V1 90mm F-18...Most didn't think it was possible. Oh it's possible, but you have to have a running start and throw it like your mad at it. LOL

Sans gear this one wouldn't be nearly as difficult to hand toss, IMO. It's just getting brave enough to dump the gear and try. LOL

[Oxotnik]

This is my heaviest plane, with a few pounds to spare. Every time I pick it up, it's as if I'd forgotten how heavy it was. But, man, it flies nicely with the weight. On marginally windy days, I'm pulling out the P-38. :Cool:

[rifleman_btx]

Absolutely!

[Aros]

That's what I loved about the E-flight P-38 from years back. Smaller but good scale fidelity and a terrifically low wing load. Brittle but a fun bird. This girl is much more robust. Cuts through wind like a champ! I still wish she was lighter though.

[F106DeltaDart]

Yeah, its is a bit porky, but the flaps are so effective on it! I've slowed the P-38 down to speeds that most other models of similar size/weight could never get to on a few low passes. That is one of the things that I really like about the higher wing loadings, that flaps really become effective. A few of my lighter planes have flaps that hardly slow the plane at all, and seem to be there more for looks than function.

[downwindleg]

Has anyone braved sans gear yet? I am debating it. I know, weird with such a nice model but she needs to go on a diet. I love flying her but she's overweight. I am thinking removing the gear and tanks and seeing what I think. Anyone else?

Ya'know, I have to say, coming from a heavy prospective, I don't mind the weight at all. IMHO And there is nothing like the taxi back to the pits and shutting down the engines, sallloowwwly. The penetration in the wind with a heavier plane is not to be overlooked either. I watch numerous guys at my field wallow in to a stop in the grass and I don't say anything, but it looks kind of pathetic...........not like the proud bird we all love. Just sayin', Brad

[WW2rcpilot]

O.k did my maiden and I love this bird! Everything everyone has said is tru. Couple of things though. As soon as I retracted the gear she shot almost straight up as soon as I dropped the gear again she flew fine. I have the 4 deg of up elv and CG at 70mm. I am using a 50000 mah single battery and needed to add 21/2 oz of nose weight to balance gear up. I returned the elv to normal and the next flight she flew level only every time I went to full throttle she shot up straight again, so much so it went vertical. So any thoughts on the CG or settings?

[Oxotnik]

O.k did my maiden and I love this bird! Everything everyone has said is tru. Couple of things though. As soon as I retracted the gear she shot almost straight up as soon as I dropped the gear again she flew fine. I have the 4 deg of up elv and CG at 70mm. I am using a 50000 mah single battery and needed to add 21/2 oz of nose weight to balance gear up. I returned the elv to normal and the next flight she flew level only every time I went to full throttle she shot up straight again, so much so it went vertical. So any thoughts on the CG or settings?

50,000mah... that's a killer battery. LOL
I think that you're crazy nose heavy. The plane is already nose-heavy, thus the up elevator for neutral. With a lb and a quarter of added nose weight... wow! I fly the Admiral 4S-5K batt, pretty much pushed as far aft as i can get it. I'd recommend removing the added nose weight and flying again.

[WW2rcpilot]

Okay it's a 5000 milliamp battery and I only had it two and a half ounces of nose weight not sure where you got pounds anybody else experience the problem that I'm having with the aircraft climbing nearly vertical when going to full power

[downwindleg]

I think Oxotnik mistook your 2 1/2oz. for 21 1/2 oz which would be about a pound and a quarter. And when you wrote 50000 mah.......I figured what you meant dude.:Cool:I'm not familiar with the single battery setup but with the twin 3600mah battery setup, I had the batteries back about 1/2" from the front, not 2 1/2" or 21 1/2"LOL and no nose weight and the 4 degrees up on the elevator. Flies great with gear up or down. Brad

[Oxotnik]

I think Oxotnik mistook your 2 1/2oz. for 21 1/2 oz which would be about a pound and a quarter. And when you wrote 50000 mah.......I figured what you meant dude.:Cool:I'm not familiar with the single battery setup but with the twin 3600mah battery setup, I had the batteries back about 1/2" from the front, not 2 1/2" or 21 1/2"LOL and no nose weight and the 4 degrees up on the elevator. Flies great with gear up or down. Brad

Yep. I was just joking about the 50k mah battery. I knew it was a typo. And I totally misunderstood the '21/2 oz,' taking it to mean 21.5 oz. Sorry for the confusion.

I still doubt that the P-38 needs any nose weight. In fact, if we could push the battery back further, to drive the CG a bit farther back, I think that many of us would.

[mr.frankenjet]

Every time I pick it up I think she is too heavy to fly, flight is great, landing is heavy. I'm thinking of ditching the robart front wheel and going with one of the new FW 65x22 mm up front. Not only would this save a bit of weight but I could run a more aft cg as droping the gear produces a pretty large weight shift which means the cg has to be set with the gear up (worst case). A lighter front wheel would let me run a little more aft cg, I have seen some landings and she will flair a bit, mine feels nose heavy and tends to drop pretty fast when I pull the ele on final. I wonder if the cg can go far enough back to get a more neutral cg without making her tail heavy , snappy :o)

[mr.frankenjet]

My 5K TP puffed a little over the winter :o( sent it back, around 1 year old so hopefully they will help me out, these packs usually hold up pretty good for me