Official FlightLine 1600mm P-51D Mustang Thread

[Davegeee]

I think you'll like it a lot. The plane truly flies perfectly. No bad habits. I need to get some scale mods done on mine, then it'll get the final re-paint.

I sure hope so! I've had three of the 1.5M E Flite P-51s and they flew great, once they got into the air! Ground handling problems were always present, both for takeoffs and landings. They improved somewhat when I changed out the hard rubber tires for softer Robarts 3.5" hollow diamond tread tires. Helped a lot, even with the "bounce" that was common with the hard tires. I've sold two and have one in a "semi-retired" status after 100 flights hanging from the rafters of my garage. I'm really keen to take this new Flightline 1.6M plane up as soon as I can, probably late next week!

Cheers

Davegee

[nuts-n-volts]

I think you'll like it a lot. The plane truly flies perfectly. No bad habits. I need to get some scale mods done on mine, then it'll get the final re-paint.

[Aros]

Looking fab as always Davegeee

[Davegeee]

Love the 357th! And, one of my favorite color schemes, Dave. Really great work on a beautiful model. Well done!

Thanks, Nuts -n-volts! I've done other P-51 schemes before but never something from the 357th. I wanted to do something not quite "off the rack" with this model even though the paint scheme is very cool and guys have done some wonderful jobs on theirs. This was Pete Peterson's second of I think five P-51s that he flew, all named for his wife's closing of every letter she sent to him while he was based in England. I decided to go with this one as it wasn't all OD and grey, and had a litle character in it with some of the OD and Neutral Grey removed on the bottoms of the wings and sides of the fuselage. I look forward to flying it maybe late next week.

I've ordered the powered pylons so I can practice dropping tanks and/or bombs for grins. Decided to go with RC Castle in China as it is taking forever for MRC to get their shipments in. Should be fun. I've already got it "plumbed" and bench- tested for dropping the ordnance, so it should install very quickly.

Cheers

Davegee

[nuts-n-volts]

Love the 357th! And, one of my favorite color schemes, Dave. Really great work on a beautiful model. Well done!

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Looking fantastic. Looking forward to hear about the test flight.
More rain here although we have been getting 1 day a week of flying but only with our sport planes because shifting gusts have been up to 20 mph. Getting P-47 ready to fly once the weather gets better.
Best Regards, Rex

[Davegeee]

I've made some good progress on my Hurry Home Honey P-51D that was flown by Major Richard "Pete" Peterson in WWII. He was one of the top aces from the 357th Fighter Group in WWII that sported notables like Chuck Yeager and Clarence "Bud" Anderson.

Callie's tailored graphics came out perfectly and I have for the most part got it done for now to do the maiden next week sometime. I"ll be leaving out of town for a few days but I look forward to seeing how it flies. I'm encouraged by all the positive feedback on HS that other pilots have reported about their new airplanes.

Here's a couple quick pics of it, still in final preparation for eventual flying. Danger Dan Gross has been working hard painting up my 3D printed pilot which should look much better than the OEM one. I'm not putting the OEM bust down, I think they did a pretty good job on it. but I'm looking forward to having a more accurate pilot in its place. Just my preference. I couldn't get more than the top half of the pilot to fit into the cockpit, but that's ok.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

You guys go to great lengths to figure out the best flyability for those of us that have less talents, for that I thank you.
Best Regards, Rex

[Evan D]

I flew mine today with freewheeling off, smooth no whine.

[Elbee]

nuts-n-volts

Great debrief.

Thank you for taking the time.

Best, LB

[nuts-n-volts]

So... This morning, I double checked my past work on the Mustang. I re-programmed the ESC, again keeping a record. I set the Active Freewheeling to OFF/Disabled. Tried a quick power up and back down on the bench. Nice and smooth. Then went thru the beeps again and set Freewheeling to ON/Enabled. This time, on the power up and back down, the motor shuddered a bit like a brake just before it came to a stop. OK! That's a bad sign. Re-set Active Freewheeling one more time back to OFF. No shudder. Went out and flew 3 flights with all kinds of power off in the vertical down leg, then powering up at the bottom. Smooth all the way. Never a screech.

Active Freewheeling should be set to OFF.

Freewing really needs to get a solid ESC Programming Display for ALL of the different ESCs made so one can see what is actually in there before-hand, and/or then program as needed. I would also recommend that Freewing update their ESC Manual and describe exactly what Active Freewheeling is for and when to use it or not. Again, in their V1 Manual, Active Freewheeling default is OFF. The V2 Manual, the AFW default is ON. Confusing... and ON is certainly wrong for this bird.

And, please don't misinterpret me. I think this Mustang is most definitely one of the best planes Freewing/FlightLine have put out. The retracts and shocks are splendid. The scale lines seem to be right on the money. The speed is just above scale and what I consider perfect. The fighter flys exceptionally well. There are always ways to modify more, and that is left to the consumer. Oh, maybe release a B model or at least this one in base gray. (Reno Racers... you know) But, all in all, another big win for FlightLine.

Current Set-up
1. Brake Type - Disabled
2. Brake Force - Low
3. Voltage Cutoff Type - Soft
4. # LiPo Cells - Auto
5. Cutoff Voltage - Disabled
6. Start Up Mode - Normal
7. Timing - Medium
8. Active Freewheel - Off
9. Search Mode - Off

Note: The plane is so quiet, I hear very light, yet constant up & down type sound in the ESC/motor as you move the throttle or even as the flight speed changes. Not the screech. The only thing I can figure is causing this sound is possibly the big prop affecting the ESC/motor. I'll have to re-listen to the FL Corsair & Spit the next time I fly either of those.

[nuts-n-volts]

I'll keep working on the correct settings as well and let you know. It bugs me not knowing.

[Evan D]

I think I’ll leave freewheeling off and fly it and then turn it on at the field and see the difference. May be able to do it Sunday.

thanks

[nuts-n-volts]

Great! So after that long post, I go to Motion again (after I called about the issue) and looked for a FreeWing Programmer... with a display. They have one. The 2 reviews both say it doesn't work. The response back agrees that there is still something not quite right!

[nuts-n-volts]

Evan, I set mine to ON as from what I remember. And, I logged it it my book. Logged as a V2. Here's the confusing part that I discovered recently. There was a V1 Freewing ESC that also has the feature, yet, looking at its manual, the Freewheeling default on that earlier unit was set to OFF. This newer V2 says to set it ON. I can't help but wonder if the factory got the settings confused, then printed them wrong in the manual? Either way, I turned mine ON and it went away. Here's the rest of the parameters and my settings:
1. Brake Type - Disabled
2. Brake Force - Low
3. Voltage Cutoff Type - Soft
4. # LiPo Cells - Auto
5. Cutoff Voltage - Disabled
6. Start Up Mode - Normal
7. Timing - Medium
8. Active Freewheel - On
9. Search Mode - Off

Now, you have me wondering as one cannot see the current programming in the unit without a display. Or you just do it again... and fly it again to troubleshoot. Crazy.

Not to keep guessing at this, but there is also the brake. I'm sure it should be disabled. But, its possible that units were shipped to customers with it in Low. The V2 manual says the default is low because it is also set to reverse. I say this because when asking Martin at Motion, he mentioned to also check the brake. I did not think mine was the problem, however I still set it to OFF in "Type". So, maybe that is confusing things.

...Just called Motion... could not help with the issue. Sorry, but I gonna have to order a programmer display to be sure.

[Elbee]

davegee.

You can decrease the layer height in Prusa Slicer.

More layers better resolution.

See below.

Originally posted by Grossman56 View Post
Dave just sliced off his lower end.
The print is a little rough but doable. Is there any way to increase the resolution?

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Reply Post by Elbee.

Dan,

1. Post processing FDM prints with acetone works wonders, though some detail can be lost if you go too far.
2. Reduce the layer height in Prusa Slicer
3. Slow the print speed which can also help reduce artifacts in the prints.

I have done all of these things depending on the print and each has it's own effectiveness.

Best, LB

[Davegeee]

Dave just sliced off his lower end.
The print is a little rough but doable. Is there any way to increase the resolution?

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Hi Dan: I just saw your post on 19 June. I don't know of a way to make the print resolution better. There might be some way to do that, but I don't know how to do that, if it is even possible. Can you make it work as you have it now?? I think it is still probably better than the OEM bust that comes with the kit.

Thanks,

Dave

[Evan D]

OK, I turned active freewheel on and on the bench the motor clunks when giving initial throttle off no throttle. So I then turned off active freewheeling and it's nice and smooth when giving throttle. Does yours do the same?

[nuts-n-volts]

Revisiting the screech. I have a sound system so I never noticed it. But listening for it now I hear it. Just enable freewheeling?

Yes.

[Elbee]

Dave just sliced off his lower end.
The print is a little rough but doable. Is there any way to increase the resolution?

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Dan,

1. Post processing FDM prints with acetone works wonders, though some detail can be lost if you go too far.
2. Reduce the layer height in Prusa Slicer
3. Slow the print speed which can also help reduce artifacts in the prints.

I have all of these things and each has it's own effectiveness.

Best, LB