New E-flite P-51D 1.5

[f4u ausie]

THE PAINT LOOKS BETTER was a bit confused myself ...... so reading between the lines ,, most e flight planes r fms built???

[F106DeltaDart]

Where did you get one of those? Neither Horizon nor FMS even has it listed. Anything different about the FMS version?

I got it off of Aliexpress. The FMS version is sold internal to China only, so it has to be imported. Eflite has the distribution rights everywhere else. Here is where I found it: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...archweb201603_.

[F106DeltaDart]

THE PAINT LOOKS BETTER was a bit confused myself ...... so reading between the lines ,, most e flight planes r fms built???

A good number of them are manufactured by the FMS factory. Most of the Eflite warbirds and jets are at least.

[xviper]

I see it comes with the Reflex, too.

[Evan D]

And Arrows RC, probably others too.

A good number of them are manufactured by the FMS factory. Most of the Eflite warbirds and jets are at least.

[davegee]

I just ordered one today. Being a scale geek, I am going to change some things on it, for the look of the WWII version. One will be replacing the blue camo paint with dark green and OD paint. I'll paint out the invasion stripes on the upper wings, as it would have looked after D-Day.

Another thing I'm toying with is cutting out the triangular fillet between the forward base of the vertical fin and the fuselage. I think it can be done to approximate what Lou IV actually looked like (an earlier version of the D model) but I still have a few concerns over longitudinal stability (probably not a problem on a little model) and/or strength of the vertical fin with that portion of foam cut out. Any thoughts, ideas on this??

Thanks,

davegee

[F106DeltaDart]

Just completed the maiden flight on my FMS version of this plane, and I love it! Flies very well and locked in with plenty of power. The built in FMS reflex gyro was a nice addition and worked great as well. Can't wait to get in some more flights!

[davegee]

Just completed the maiden flight on my FMS version of this plane, and I love it! Flies very well and locked in with plenty of power. The built in FMS reflex gyro was a nice addition and worked great as well. Can't wait to get in some more flights!

Nice Photos! Where did you buy your FMS P-51D? I hadn't seen this one until you mentioned it in this thread. Mine is supposed to arrive in the mail tomorrow, and I look forward to doing the mods on it after getting it all dialed in.

[F106DeltaDart]

Nice Photos! Where did you buy your FMS P-51D? I hadn't seen this one until you mentioned it in this thread. Mine is supposed to arrive in the mail tomorrow, and I look forward to doing the mods on it after getting it all dialed in.

I had to get it off Aliexpress. This version is currently only sold in China since Eflite has the distribution rights for the model everywhere else: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...archweb201603_.

[davegee]

Very cool! Happy Flying!
davegee

[davegee]

I'm starting a repaint thread to my new E Flite 1.5m P-51D. My plan is to make it look more accurate to the WWII version flown by Col. Tom Christian during the late summer of 1944. I'll fly it stock more or less to get it dialed in, then disassemble it for the repaint. I'm going to start with the outer wing panels for now. Removed the stock star and bar stickers for some better ones from Callie. Sprayed some Tamiya primer over the area, light sanding to prep the surface for painting and new decals.

[davegee]

I'm starting a repaint thread to my new E Flite 1.5m P-51D. My plan is to make it look more accurate to the WWII version flown by Col. Tom Christian during the late summer of 1944. I'll fly it stock more or less to get it dialed in, then disassemble it for the repaint. I'm going to start with the outer wing panels for now. Removed the stock star and bar stickers for some better ones from Callie. Sprayed some Tamiya primer over the area, light sanding to prep the surface for painting and new decals.

I got the plane more or less together this evening. Painted out the invasion stripes on the tops of the wings with OD paint. The other colors covering the blue camo are RAF Dark Green. I left the tail section alone for now until I do several test flights and get it dialed in to how I like to fly it. I'm also a newbie with SAFE and AS3X technology. After that, I'll trim the tail down per the early model P-51 that Col. Christian flew, and repaint that area.

[davegee]

Success!! I got my maiden flight in today, plus about 5 more this afternoon. I had a serious directional control problem during takeoff and landing rollouts on the first two flights. I had put on the softer Robart 3.5" tires because I heard the harder rubber stock tires could cause some bounces on landings. So, I switched to Robarts before the maiden. But there was a little slop sideways on the Robarts on the axle, and the plane did some serious groundloops and hard turns off of the runway on landing rollouts. So, I went home, changed back to the stock tires, and see if there was a problem with those, too. Turns out it is much better, for me. I can see where you could get some serious bounce if you don't "nail" the landing on the mains, but I was able to get about 5 consecutive landings that squeaked on with the mains in a two-point, tail low attitude, which is what I strive for on the P-51.

I'll attach a few pics of the plane after the final flight today. It is a project in-work, you can see that there are still some unpainted blue camo areas from the stock paint job. That area will be painted over RAF Dark Green and OD. I am now disassembling it, and will be removing the fairing that goes between the leading edge of the vertical fin and the fuselage. I'm trying to replicate closer to how Lou IV actually looked in 1944, an early model P-51D without that fairing.

[davegee]

Just performed a surgical removal of the dorsal fillet on my P-51D. Went pretty well with a fine razor saw. I glued in a piece of 1/64" thick plywood underneath the top of the hole where the horizontal stab and elevator slide in. When the stab is in place, it is all very solid. i don't expect any structural problems with this procedure. Now I'll be putting bondo to smooth things out, sand smooth, and primer and paint the areas to complete it. Should be done with it next week and ready to fly again. I'll attach a couple of pics I just took. One has the stab installed, the other with it removed.

[davegee]

Been working in the shop most of today trying to get the tail and paint mods completed. Got most of it done for now, still waiting to add Callie nomenclature, more light weathering, etc. That will come, in time. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out, I was fretting just a little bit cutting into the tail like I did, but once commited, things seemed to fall into place. Attached is a couple of pics of the plane in the shop tonight. Hope to fly it next week.

[bchboy1206]

I got it off of Aliexpress. The FMS version is sold internal to China only, so it has to be imported. Eflite has the distribution rights everywhere else. Here is where I found it: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...archweb201603_.

That is awesome, how long did it take for it to get here?

[F106DeltaDart]

That is awesome, how long did it take for it to get here?

Took just under a month. Ordered on Dec 11, arrived Jan 6th.

[davegee]

Been working in the shop most of today trying to get the tail and paint mods completed. Got most of it done for now, still waiting to add Callie nomenclature, more light weathering, etc. That will come, in time. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out, I was fretting just a little bit cutting into the tail like I did, but once committed, things seemed to fall into place. Attached is a couple of pics of the plane in the shop tonight. Hope to fly it next week.

I had some time today to at least spruce up the cockpit a little, I didn't care for the pilot the way he looked all that much, and painted the cockpit Interior Green and put together a K-14 gunsight as well. Just closed up the canopy again, will try flying later in the week.

[davegee]

I had some time today to at least spruce up the cockpit a little, I didn't care for the pilot the way he looked all that much, and painted the cockpit Interior Green and put together a K-14 gunsight as well. Just closed up the canopy again, will try flying later in the week.

Did a flight yesterday with the P-51, after having trimmed down the tail. It flew well, no difference from before doing the mod on it. The vertical fin is also very solid, thanks to the support of the horiz. stab underneath. I think if anyone had a project where they wanted a redo on this plane to an earlier D model like I was trying to portray, it can be done without any issues, if you're careful.

[davegee]

Did a flight yesterday with the P-51, after having trimmed down the tail. It flew well, no difference from before doing the mod on it. The vertical fin is also very solid, thanks to the support of the horiz. stab underneath. I think if anyone had a project where they wanted a redo on this plane to an earlier D model like I was trying to portray, it can be done without any issues, if you're careful.

Did another test flight on the modified P-51D from E Flite. Again, it flew very well in the AS3X mode, very scalelike. I still have some more graphics I'm waiting for from Callie, but I should have it all wrapped up within the next couple weeks or so. I took some pics at the field under better lighting conditions than my workshop.