Looking for first warbird

[Flyman]

No, I'm referring to the E-flite P-39 Airacobra. OP said he was considering a P-39 or P-51 as his first warbird. The P-39 has flaps and I use them depending on wind. Little to no wind, full flaps; moderate wind 1/2 flaps; 10 mph +, no flaps; 15+ mph, I reconsider flying

Like yourself, rather than battle winds, I opt to go to something else. I know we will have crashes, I just don't want to set the example of dumb things I did with my brothers one day. They can so all of that all by themselves and I will fix what they damage. I appreciate the advice, sounds along the lines of my thoughts as I am careful about stall speeds and flaps increase that risk. Russ

[Flyman]

I use flap all the time 40-55 degrees of flap (any less invites ballooning on landing), in wind I come in with more throttle and once tickling the grass w my wheels I relax the E to set her down. once I have wt on wheels I kill the flaps and the T, tail slams down and the fun part is over.

p-39 was my first warbird although mine was a jemco fun scale, covered with silk spun coverite and a McCoy .35 for power. all of which most of you know not of.

both (p-39 and p-51) are good stable platforms with good ground handling, though the p-39 gets a + for being a trike.

Joe

Hey Joe, I was a paper and dope plane guy back in the day. We were no a rich family back then so wood was what we did. Which is why only one plane is left after I wrecked mine on a windy day. I think it was Cox 049 engines we used. Most times we couldn't fly because the engines would not start. Boy was it fun back then....said no one who did the walk of shame after a crash.
The reason I asked about the flaps, is the P 38 has a long rudder that extends close to the ground. It means to me that angles matter. If I pull it up too quickly, it will drag the tarmac. If I land with too much angle from the flaps, again, they might scrape again. I need for some of the P 38 flyers to weigh in on it as I am going to really try to keep this plane clean. Too much flap, the plane noses up so I need to play with it while flying. The B-25 in the simulator has the same problem but I land it without flaps. I take it off fairly level though and I don't think I have scraped the bottom with hot landings. Just trying to learn the ups and downs, thanks! Russ

[WAYNE888]

No, I'm referring to the E-flite P-39 Airacobra. OP said he was considering a P-39 or P-51 as his first warbird. The P-39 has flaps and I use them depending on wind. Little to no wind, full flaps; moderate wind 1/2 flaps; 10 mph +, no flaps; 15+ mph, I reconsider flying

F4 Wildcat is a shoulder wing design.....very easy to fly. Grumman F7F....while hardly a trainer, it almost flies like one. Another shoulder wing

[Flyman]

F4 Wildcat is a shoulder wing design.....very easy to fly. Grumman F7F....while hardly a trainer, it almost flies like one. Another shoulder wing

Would a P 38 constitute a shoulder wing design as well? Just looking at the model, I would describe it as the same and add the wingtips are angled up as high as the cockpit.

[paladin]

Hey Joe, I was a paper and dope plane guy back in the day. We were no a rich family back then so wood was what we did. Which is why only one plane is left after I wrecked mine on a windy day. I think it was Cox 049 engines we used. Most times we couldn't fly because the engines would not start. Boy was it fun back then....said no one who did the walk of shame after a crash.
The reason I asked about the flaps, is the P 38 has a long rudder that extends close to the ground. It means to me that angles matter. If I pull it up too quickly, it will drag the tarmac. If I land with too much angle from the flaps, again, they might scrape again. I need for some of the P 38 flyers to weigh in on it as I am going to really try to keep this plane clean. Too much flap, the plane noses up so I need to play with it while flying. The B-25 in the simulator has the same problem but I land it without flaps. I take it off fairly level though and I don't think I have scraped the bottom with hot landings. Just trying to learn the ups and downs, thanks! Russ

some planes rotate nose down with the addition of flap (fw190, me109, spit, hurri,p-51, p-47) they need very little trimming between clean and dirty. then there are those that don't rotate when dirty (t-28), the t-28 requires 16 clicks of down E with 45 degrees of flap to continue flying level. I have no idea which group the p-38 falls into but one thing is for sure it has to rotate towards the nose to keep the lift vs mass equation balanced so tail boom strikes on landing should be a low percentage. again not knowing the p-38 very well I see it had tail boom strike skags under the rudder, I would assume those come into play when taking off fully loaded (extra gas, bombs, or bullets).

like everything else in life you pay your money and hope it works out! good luck.

Joe

p.s. we used to use a propane torch heat the head up with it a squirt of fuel in the exhaust port and spin the prop and away she goes every time. then the went to aluminum heads (glow plugs) and they did not survive the torch.

[Flyman]

some planes rotate nose down with the addition of flap (fw190, me109, spit, hurri,p-51, p-47) they need very little trimming between clean and dirty. then there are those that don't rotate when dirty (t-28), the t-28 requires 16 clicks of down E with 45 degrees of flap to continue flying level. I have no idea which group the p-38 falls into but one thing is for sure it has to rotate towards the nose to keep the lift vs mass equation balanced so tail boom strikes on landing should be a low percentage. again not knowing the p-38 very well I see it had tail boom strike skags under the rudder, I would assume those come into play when taking off fully loaded (extra gas, bombs, or bullets).

like everything else in life you pay your money and hope it works out! good luck.

Joe

p.s. we used to use a propane torch heat the head up with it a squirt of fuel in the exhaust port and spin the prop and away she goes every time. then the went to aluminum heads (glow plugs) and they did not survive the torch.

Well, dad didn't have any propane torches in his tool arsenal for us to use. With 4 brothers and a sister, money was a bit tight. We used to do odd and end jobs to buy the planes and motors for them. LOL, the first plane dad bought us was a Stuka, string controlled. Fly in a circle, get dizzy, crash, fall down.

[WAYNE888]

Would a P 38 constitute a shoulder wing design as well? Just looking at the model, I would describe it as the same and add the wingtips are angled up as high as the cockpit.

a twin is a bad place to start....especially an expensive one like a P38 or the F7F. They do not bounce well. Like a Cub....everyone seems to think they are like a trainer....they are NOT. Scale Cubs take a bit to fly well. More to it than just the wing. Stay as simple as possible

[Flyman]

a twin is a bad place to start....especially an expensive one like a P38 or the F7F. They do not bounce well. Like a Cub....everyone seems to think they are like a trainer....they are NOT. Scale Cubs take a bit to fly well. More to it than just the wing. Stay as simple as possible

I have been flying a Carbon Cub for about a year. I fly it most Sunday mornings before church. I spent at least a thousand hours on a RF 8 simulator before I even took it up in the air. The only crashes I had, I mentioned the tap on the ailerons came undone, it crashed, and the battery falling out of the battery door after the strap failed. I had been flying acrobatic maneuvers all morning so both I think were because of that. I have never crashed it because I made a mistake. Maybe choosing to stunt with the plane and it was not meant for it. This is the reason I moved up to the P 38. I know it will be faster than what I fly, but I will limit it till I am totally comfortable with it. I have flown a "Lipesh?" jet my brother has and was the only one to have flown it now. Now it was fast. I landed it on the grass on its belly and didn't have landing gear to try. I did cut the speed of the jet to make it easier to handle so I think I can do the same with the P 38. Bouncy? I added the upgraded landing gear. As I mentioned, I don't have experience with flaps yet so that is very new to me. Honestly, I get bored with the Carbon Cub even in the expert mode. I figured its time and gambling on it. Russ

[WAYNE888]

Would a P 38 constitute a shoulder wing design as well? Just looking at the model, I would describe it as the same and add the wingtips are angled up as high as the cockpit.

Just had a thought......I recently bought a Cessna Skymaster O2A It is a twin, and certainly a Warbird....used in conflicts from Vietnam to Africa. I am doing mine to match the NKP A 26Ks from Thailand. They were used for everything from leaflet drop, to precision bombing. VC quickly learned that taking a shot at one of these was suicide. There was usually a gunship working with them...… VQ models.... SEAGULL O 2A ….aka Oscar Deuce. There are even retracts for it....complex and require some building skills, but they exist.
An awesome Skymaster is flown by Redbull at airshows....Google the Redbull Cessna.....some pretty fancy flying too

[Freedom Flyer]

Ok I have a couple questions to ask first is regarding FAA license can somebody tell me when this will happen and what will it require? Second is the TMA p51 looks like it has good landing gear that absorbs shock of impact does the eflite p39 and the eflite p51 offer the same shock absorption

[Flyman]

Ok I have a couple questions to ask first is regarding FAA license can somebody tell me when this will happen and what will it require? Second is the TMA p51 looks like it has good landing gear that absorbs shock of impact does the eflite p39 and the eflite p51 offer the same shock absorption

Good point, when I actually received my P 38, it had hard gear on it as well. After watching several videos of flyers doing the taxi runs it looked odd how much wiggle the plane was doing. So I went to Motion here an found they had an upgrade kit with springs. This is the pic for the P 38 what I put on it. Its got springs. and moves which is good. If the tires are too hard, those can be upgraded too.

[Freedom Flyer]

Thanks for that info and it was supposed to be FMS not TMA

[Beeg]

Ok I have a couple questions to ask first is regarding FAA license can somebody tell me when this will happen and what will it require?

I wouldn't worry too much about a recreational UAV "license" if and when it's implemented. Having taken many specialty courses that the FAA requires for various airspaces I would venture to guess it will be some sort of "open book", multiple choice type of online course. I also would guess they are just after a basic knowledge of applicable airspace and "see and avoid" of other aircraft and then you'll be able to print out some sort of card or certificate stating you "passed".

[Freedom Flyer]

Thanks for sharing that info

[Steelon Steel]

Well, over the weekend I found some time to start tuning the P 38. I limited it to taxi since I have to be able to get it lined up. It was windy in the Carolina's and too wet at a soccer field I use. Parking lots can be found. Its straight and the tail is true as well. The rest will have to be in the air. I did that upgrade to the landing gear so my purpose was to see if there was any of the gear askew. All went well. The new gear have springs in them so this will be good since we normally have wind to deal with and I knew hard gear would not suffice for that without risk. Sometimes I come down on just two wheels since take off direction varies. Did you ever use the simulator from RF/HH? Be curious to how accurate it is to the real thing. I know it helps develop control skills but wasn't sure about how good it is for practice.

Nope. Only used some free download on my iPad. Not a great sim but it does develop the proper memory of controlling the plane headon and going away. That really is the biggest hurdle to prevent a dumb thumbs crash. Making the sim fly close to the foam plane is a great bonus.

[Flyman]

Nope. Only used some free download on my iPad. Not a great sim but it does develop the proper memory of controlling the plane headon and going away. That really is the biggest hurdle to prevent a dumb thumbs crash. Making the sim fly close to the foam plane is a great bonus.

I started using the simulator in January last year and have used it everyday at lunch for at least 1/2 hour. Since I use the same transmitter as on the plane also on the simulator, I have gotten past many hurdles. One, I rarely ever crash a plane. I try to have an old standby, a carbon cub and a B 25 they have but on most days I try a different plane. As an example, I have been flying jets for the past two weeks and do pretty well with them. Discussing with one of my brothers, who has the fly bug, a friend of his showed up at his private field and watched me fly the Carbon Cub through two batteries. He asked my brother who taught me how to fly like that? My brother told him on a simulator. When I landed, the guy, who is an AMA instructor said he would meet me in a couple of weeks and buddy up to my transmitter and help me fly my P 38. (He heard me say I was not ready to fly it yet) So now I have to join AMA. I am excited he would do that with me to make sure I build confidence with the new plane. He told me I did a fantastic job flying the Carbon Cub and said my approach and landing was excellent. After I saw the huge planes he had in his truck, the man is no spring chicken to the art. LOL

[Jets and Wings]

Good point, when I actually received my P 38, it had hard gear on it as well. After watching several videos of flyers doing the taxi runs it looked odd how much wiggle the plane was doing. So I went to Motion here an found they had an upgrade kit with springs. This is the pic for the P 38 what I put on it. Its got springs. and moves which is good. If the tires are too hard, those can be upgraded too.

Did the same upgrade on the F7F-3 Tigercat from FlightLine. Lands really nice with them. Here is a link to a flight video.

https://youtu.be/G6TlBCPGgeM

[Flyman]

Did the same upgrade on the F7F-3 Tigercat from FlightLine. Lands really nice with them. Here is a link to a flight video.

https://youtu.be/G6TlBCPGgeM

I'd say it was a good investment. I will have to fly from a grass strip here where I live and at the flying club. But, I have two hard runways about 85 miles from here where my brothers fly. When I taxied with the hard gear, it just bounced like crazy as the grass at the grass field was rough. My maiden flight will be in two weeks I hope.
Nice flying between the windmills. LOL, but I have to take off and land around soccer goals. Flight hazards I guess. Nice flying!

[Jets and Wings]

I'd say it was a good investment. I will have to fly from a grass strip here where I live and at the flying club. But, I have two hard runways about 85 miles from here where my brothers fly. When I taxied with the hard gear, it just bounced like crazy as the grass at the grass field was rough. My maiden flight will be in two weeks I hope.
Nice flying between the windmills. LOL, but I have to take off and land around soccer goals. Flight hazards I guess. Nice flying!

Hi Flyman. Thanks, yes this is the airfield of my flying club where I fly and it is really nice to have such a paved strip. But I also fly a lot on airfields with only grass strips. The upgrade works perfectly on grass. All the best for the maiden.