Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[Deef]

Does anybody know if the CG of 90 to 95 mm is correct? It looks tail heavy, even with a 6s5100 battery 🤔

[davegee]

Does anybody know if the CG of 90 to 95 mm is correct? It looks tail heavy, even with a 6s5100 battery 🤔

I've flown mine (three of them) for years at the stock CG with no modifications to affect CG position. I haven't had any problems with these airplanes in that area. The 6S battery slides down a ramp all the way just behind the motor and locks in place on a plastic tray, so the position of the battery is steady throughout any normal maneuver that would be expected of this plane with no fear of battery movement affecting CG all of a sudden.

Davegee

[morganjw1]

I just picked up a lightly used P47. The right gear will not retract unless on the ground and inverted. Havent tried inverted in the air. Have also tried very slow speed and cycling the gear with no luck. Im thinking a possible sequencer going bad. Any ideas?

[davegee]

I just picked up a lightly used P47. The right gear will not retract unless on the ground and inverted. Havent tried inverted in the air. Have also tried very slow speed and cycling the gear with no luck. Im thinking a possible sequencer going bad. Any ideas?

Hi morganjw1: sorry to hear of your landing gear issues. I have three of these airplanes that I fly regularly. I've had a few issues, most recently, one where I didn't check one the two set screws to keep the landing gear strut and wheel securely in the mount, and when I was making a landing attempt, saw that the gear was completely out of the mount and hanging sideways by one of the thin landing gear door attach pins. I was able to make a two-point landing with minimal damage to the airplane and flew it the next day in a 10 kt crosswind ok.

I have not come across the problem you stated where one of the gear won't retract unless it is upside down. That's a strange one. Possibly some sort of wiring issue, or with one of the connectors. I looked through my manual on page 8 to see if one of the modules might be bad, or have a loose connection somewhere. Hopefully that is the case and you can get flying again.

Let us know if you can suss the problem out and get it up and flying again!

davegee

[morganjw1]

Will do Dave. I agree, it sounds like a wiring or connection issue

[davegee]

Will do Dave. I agree, it sounds like a wiring or connection issue

I totally agree. Wiring issues can make some weird stuff happen. The P-47 model has a convenient connector on each wing to power everything on that wing, but I have had problems with those, like some crazy nonsensical movement of landing gear, flaps, ailerons, etc. I finally came up with some how to tighten the connection between the wing and fuselage and that finally helped stop those issues. Haven't had them come up since.

Perhaps, jiggling those wires going to that gear that won't retract might find a culprit that won't let you retract that gear unless it is upside down.

I know it's very frustrating. I have a beautiful completely repainted E-Flite 1500mm P-51D that developed so many wiring issues that I just about gave up on it to use for parts and buy another airplane. I didn't want to go through all the brain damage of repainting the new plane in the same paint scheme, but was almost resigned to the fact that this plane could not be trusted to take to the skies again. Fortunately, my friend Dan Grossman who contributes on Hobbysquawk on a regular basis was willing to take a look at it. We found some issues, and a bad inner gear door servo that was causing other things to go crazy. I ended up as an experiment taking the brand new center section from my new purchase, and switching it with the old airplane. Well, once I got those things switched and replaced the door servo, Both planes worked just fine! I think I dodged a bullet there, maybe some luck involved, plus some intuition and experience working on these things.

I'll attach a recent pic of both planes at the field. I guess maybe the moral of the story is : don't give up! Eventually you'll find the reason for the problem and you'll be flying again!


Good luck!

Davegee

[morganjw1]

I totally agree. Wiring issues can make some weird stuff happen. The P-47 model has a convenient connector on each wing to power everything on that wing, but I have had problems with those, like some crazy nonsensical movement of landing gear, flaps, ailerons, etc. I finally came up with some how to tighten the connection between the wing and fuselage and that finally helped stop those issues. Haven't had them come up since.

Perhaps, jiggling those wires going to that gear that won't retract might find a culprit that won't let you retract that gear unless it is upside down.

I know it's very frustrating. I have a beautiful completely repainted E-Flite 1500mm P-51D that developed so many wiring issues that I just about gave up on it to use for parts and buy another airplane. I didn't want to go through all the brain damage of repainting the new plane in the same paint scheme, but was almost resigned to the fact that this plane could not be trusted to take to the skies again. Fortunately, my friend Dan Grossman who contributes on Hobbysquawk on a regular basis was willing to take a look at it. We found some issues, and a bad inner gear door servo that was causing other things to go crazy. I ended up as an experiment taking the brand new center section from my new purchase, and switching it with the old airplane. Well, once I got those things switched and replaced the door servo, Both planes worked just fine! I think I dodged a bullet there, maybe some luck involved, plus some intuition and experience working on these things.

I'll attach a recent pic of both planes at the field. I guess maybe the moral of the story is : don't give up! Eventually you'll find the reason for the problem and you'll be flying again!


Good luck!

Davegee

I also.have the 1.5 P51 and absolutely love it. So much so that Im selling my FMS 1.7 P51. I will definitely be getting into the wiring and servos to see if I can isolate the problem

[Aerosmyth78@gmail.com]

Originally posted by davegee
Well, I got all the new parts for the 1700mm Corsair prop in the mail in the past few days, and added it onto the FMS 1.5 M P-47D razorback, per the inspiration from Spanner 76 who has successfully done this already.

davegee and Spanner76,
I really appreciate your insight and experiences with the modifications you gentlemen have been doing to your FMS P47’s. I have recently upgraded mine with the V3 1700mm Corsair prop and installed a 100amp ESC in place of the stock 70amp ESC. Static ground runs have been good and with the use of onboard telemetry the battery ESC and motor remain in the 105-110 temperature range. I normally fly this aircraft as scale as possible and feel I will have no issues once it is in the air. Wanted to ask both of you are you still flying yours with the 1700mm prop and stock ESC/motor combination without any issues? Thanks in Advance

[davegee]

Originally posted by davegee
Well, I got all the new parts for the 1700mm Corsair prop in the mail in the past few days, and added it onto the FMS 1.5 M P-47D razorback, per the inspiration from Spanner 76 who has successfully done this already.

davegee and Spanner76,
I really appreciate your insight and experiences with the modifications you gentlemen have been doing to your FMS P47’s. I have recently upgraded mine with the V3 1700mm Corsair prop and installed a 100amp ESC in place of the stock 70amp ESC. Static ground runs have been good and with the use of onboard telemetry the battery ESC and motor remain in the 105-110 temperature range. I normally fly this aircraft as scale as possible and feel I will have no issues once it is in the air. Wanted to ask both of you are you still flying yours with the 1700mm prop and stock ESC/motor combination without any issues? Thanks in Advance

Hi Aerosmyth78@gmail.com: I'm sure Spanner 76 will be happy to respond to your query, too, so I'll speak for myself. Actually Spanner 76 is the "bloke from Down Under" who did the original testing and flying of this prop combination, as far as I know. Kudos to him, for sure. When I saw his work posted on Hobbysquawk, we started corresponding back and forth, and I finally got going on the same prop combo that he pioneered.

I have had my three FMS P-47D models equipped with the 1700mm Corsair V3 prop for the better part of this year, now. Have had lots of successful flights on all three. In addition, I did experiment with adding some plastic or vinyl propeller "cuffs" on two of the planes that slide and glue onto the base of each prop, and have had a semi-scale 3D printed Curtiss Electric prop dome made for a bit more realism in the two airplanes that I have that had the CE prop. (Actually, the vast majority of P-47s were equipped with the CE prop versus the Ham-Stand prop while they flew in combat in WWII. ) My other P-47 is the Ham Stand prop configuration.

I did not upgrade my ESC, was cautious at first, but the way I fly my planes at scale speeds and scale military maneuvers, I don't think I have ever encountered anything being an issue with this new prop combination.

Also, I have not had a prop strike (knock on wood!) on any of these three airplanes during normal operations. I did put a new wing on one of the planes recently, and I had some trim issues, along with the wind, which didn't help. I ended up touching down and then going into an unplanned high "bounce" which put me in "coffin corner", too slow to go around, and too high to keep from damaging the plane if I try to land it. I elected to go around, which didn't work out so well. I was only about 3 feet above the ground but it stalled and went in on one wing and the prop hub. The prop hub was totally shattered, but oddly enough, none of the propeller blades got damaged, other than a few scratches that buffed out fine. I've had to order a new prop hub from China, which is expected in today's mail. So, I might fly that one again this weekend. But I want to point out that none of this issue just described had anything to do with the propeller, and I think I have tweaked the ailerons and flaps just a bit so that it should be perfectly in trim for its next test flight, probably tomorrow.

See what Spanner 76 advises, and my suggestion is it is a good one to changeout the props. The little non-scale stock prop works fine, but I was almost embarrassed to fly it the way it looked. Now, my planes really Look like Jugs, even if they are foamies.

Good luck, and please post your results and some pics for all of us to see!

Cheers

Davegee

[Aerosmyth78@gmail.com]

Thanks for the response davegee,
I a few more things to get it ready to fly with the new prop. This aircraft is a great flyer with the original prop but it didn’t look right. The V3 prop makes the difference sitting on the work bench static.
Regards,
Aerosmyth78

[GuitarGuy1144]

Looking for suggestions.
I have the newer FMS Pitts 1400mm and for mods I’ve followed Model AV8R YT channel and used his. With the Xoar 16x8 prop she has plenty of pull. I’ve upgraded the ESC to an 100amp and using Spektrum receiver with telemetry.
What I’d like to do is locate a motor that provide more KV and speed to that airframe. It flies like a dream and is super maneuverable.. I just would like more straightaway air speed.
I’ve heard the FMS Beaver motor is a good choice. Anyone else looked into improving an already great airframe.

thanks in advance for your advice/ideas.
Rick

[flyguysc1]

Got mind ready to go just waiting on a descent weather day.I did add white invasion stripes and painted the ordnance a bit.Hopefully soon.

[Elbee]

flyguysc1 Nice work, Sir. Bravo Zulu. Best, LB

[morganjw1]

Looking for some advice. I love this plane and was able to check the wiring in regards to the landing gear issue. Making sure all connectors were pushed in like they should be corrected the issue. I'd like to get a little more speed of this plane and need some advice. I see that some have used the 1700mm Corsair prop. Is this a drop in fit or do you need mods to make it work? Also, I've read in other forums of people taking the stock 4258 460kv motor and replacing with a 550kv motor. I have an extra 4250 540kv motor sitting around was thinking I might swap it out. I'll be honest, I'm not all that up to speed on motor sizes and how they affect watts, etc. Anybody done anything like this for their P47? Also, Thanks to Davegee for the help on the wiring/gear issue.

[davegee]

Hi morganjw1: glad you got your wiring/gear issue fixed. It's a pain, sometimes! Regarding your prop question, I have installed the larger V3 FMS Corsair prop on all three of my FMS P-47s. I did not change out the ESC or the motor, did not need to with the type of scale flying that I do with these airplanes. You will have to swap out the propeller shaft with the one for the Corsair 1700mm plane, they are not compatible. You can get the larger prop hub through Horizon or someone who sells FMS products. It's fairly cheap, about $12 or so. Uses the same screw holes so it is easy to do.

You can always experiment with a larger motor and ESC. It might provide some more power that you want for your plane. I am at 5,000 feet MSL, and I haven't felt the need for swapping these parts out, yet. I'm satisfied with the scale speed of this airplane, anyway.

Good luck!

davegee

[morganjw1]

Davegee, thanks again for the info.

[davegee]

I finally had time to get my maiden done on my newest 1500mm FMS P-47D razorback. Got three flights on it today, the last one was the best. I will probably get at least 10 flights on it in the totally stock set up, including the shorty prop, and then I'll start taking it apart to totally redo it in the livery of Robert S. Johnson's Penrod and Sam. This was his last P-47 that he flew in the war, notching his last two kills before being sent home. All my other jugs have been in camo, so this will be neat to have a NMF (Natural Metal Finish) model. I'll include some pics of this plane today on a spectacular clear January day where it got in the upper '50s and NO WIND! What a day!

There's nothing wrong with this stock paint scheme, and its pilot was a real hero of the war, but I have had it in my mind to do the other paint scheme, and add the bigger V3 Corsair prop, too.

Cheers

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

As usual davveege. I'm sure when u put your stamp of perfection on it.. it will b incredible.
Looking fward to pics.. I'm not a fan of the stock paint , on this one.. congrats. Maiden

[davegee]

As usual davveege. I'm sure when u put your stamp of perfection on it.. it will b incredible.
Looking fward to pics.. I'm not a fan of the stock paint , on this one.. congrats. Maiden

thanks f4u aussie! I'm looking forward to digging in on the redo in the next couple of weeks. Have to get my list to Callie for the decals I'll need. I think I can keep the stars and bars on the upper left and lower right wing, but everything else will have to come off for the painting and Callie decals.

Howz your summer going down under?

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

davegee,

Congrats on the maiden. Can't wait to watch you re-make this into Penrod and Sam. Hope you show photo's of your make-over to see how you do everything. Hope to get one of these this year.

Best Regards, Rex