Official FlightLine 1600mm P-51D Mustang Thread

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally finished re-powering my "dog" 1700mm P-51. Haven't flown it yet, but will be posting more details in What Did You Fly (or will fly).
Installed an EFlight Power 60 470 Kv motor, replacing the FMS 360Kv gerbil wheel and got some 17X7 2 blade Xoar Props and 16X7 3 blade Xoar Props for it. On the bench, I could hardly hold it down at full throttle.

[Evan D]

12 not including retracts. When I fly I’m always careful the do the gear when I’m not doing much else including flaps.

[nuts-n-volts]

GG, I actually tried a cap 1st. It helped, but not near as much as more power did with the higher current BEC. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking the Caps. i use them on many planes... coming from a suggestion you made a long time ago in a galaxy... er, plane, far, far away!

Just check load restrictions on any ESC. They usually will state - at least they did in the old days - how many servos can be used along with a certain battery. This P-51 has 12 servos (counting retracts)! In my opinion, way too much for what they're using to drive them.

Aros, I just went with the instruction manual that comes with the speed control / and airplane. Read, do beeps, be done, he happy. if you want, I can tell you what items I picked. Need to go down to the shop anyway. The thing I think was the culprit was a setting call Freewheeling. On old FW V1 ESCs it said to disable it, on the new V2 ESCs, it needs to be enabled, or ON.

[paulrkytek]

Gone for the full desert rat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EDAfE7dQVI

[Aros]

I also had a screech coming from the prop/motor whenever I made a power off dive, then coming back into the throttle. Un-nerving it was. I re-programmed the ESC and the now it has not only gone away, but the power is much smoother and quieter. I believe it was either the brake not being set to off or the Freewheeling feature not set to on.

The aircraft is very well made and flys wonderfully.

I have been experiencing that same screech. Very unnerving! What entailed re-programming the ESC exactly?

[GliderGuy]

When I had a main not deploy until I recycled, someone commented about a possible frame loss issue on the P-51.

I immediately ordered some capacitors off Amazon and ended up adding 6600 uF (2 of the 3300 uF in parallel) because I could! In the past, gyros I have purchased came with 3,300 uF.

Since adding these caps to an open port on the RX, no more issues. I was surprised to find the bird’s gyro didn’t have a capacitor in the system. Checking my other MRC birds…some do and some don’t have external caps at the gyro. I’ve added caps to all the birds that didn’t have them. Couldn’t hurt!

And…because I could…I also added RF chokes to the non-motor side of the ESC. Generally, chokes are reserved for use on my high-current EDF jets.

I’ve made a lot of flights since the addition of the add-ons. Rock solid, now. I have equipment that doesn’t monitor frame losses or drops.

-GG

[nuts-n-volts]

I think I'm quoting Evan here... I bought the plane without a gyro and firmly believe it doesn't need one at all. And, like GG said, go easy on the rudder when taking off/landing. It's very effective.

Just a FWIW. I would check your Frame Losses after flying. I was getting over a 100 or so each time flying stock. Bought a 10A ZTW BEC from Motion. Had a feeling the load was high especially near the end of the flight with gear, flaps, etc all working. After installing, the FLs went down to below 20/flight. Just maybe something to keep an eye on.

I also had a screech coming from the prop/motor whenever I made a power off dive, then coming back into the throttle. Un-nerving it was. I re-programmed the ESC and the now it has not only gone away, but the power is much smoother and quieter. I believe it was either the brake not being set to off or the Freewheeling feature not set to on.

The aircraft is very well made and flys wonderfully.

[GliderGuy]

Hi Brian…
The default gyro settings are mostly fine. The Zig Zag on takeoff is pilot induced. Once you get the hang of it…the Zig Zag goes away. I’m on high rates and no Zig Zag.

The secret is don’t touch the rudder and smoothly but smartly go to full throttle. Don’t ease in the power…get after it. She’ll jump into the air very straight with a touch of up elevator at the start.

Ease up the throttle to full power…and you’ll Zig Zag a lot.

Others have posted this trick in prior posts.

I agree with Evan…I like it!

-GG

[BL_41]

"Question on setup of Freewing Gyro for 1600mm P-51".

Sounds like the gyro that came with my Flightline P-51. I also bought the Freewing bluetooth device to communicate with the gyro. I found their Freewing Flight Assistant for Android, but not for iOS devices. I have fifteen flights using the gyro Basic Gain mode. The pitch and roll settings seem good. I had a couple of landings the other day in light gusty winds. The plane was rock solid all the through the landing. I think the yaw may be set a little high. On takeoff the plane has a tendency to zig-zag, regardless of the wind direction. I have reduced the gain on the yaw, but have not had a chance to test it.

Brian

[Davegeee]

I like it. Looks and flies very well. That said I fly my jets more and actually like the Spitfire more.

I'm looking forward to flying my P-51 when I get it all done in a few weeks, hopefully.

The upcoming F-35C should really be a cool airplane, and I have confidence that it will be, with the RC Geek Chris Wolf a driving force behind it. I may get one myself if it turns out in reality as good as it looks on paper!

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
While working away trying to learn my new NX8+ Spektrum from my old Futaba 7c a deceased's friends son gave me his dads like new Spectrum 8, Taranis 9d assist + and a Turnigy 16 with 3-4 rec for each. Not sure if my old mind can figure out this new technology. Felt Humbled to receive these.

Rex

[Evan D]

I like it. Looks and flies very well. That said I fly my jets more and actually like the Spitfire more.

[davegee]

Me, too, on the Cougar. I do like the other mode and will probably do the same with the P-51.

How do you like your P-51 so far, Evan?

cheers

dave

[Evan D]

Sounds like mine. I disabled the self leveling

[Davegeee]

Question on setup of Freewing Gyro for 1600mm P-51

Hi Guys: I am putting my new 1.6m Flightline P-51D together. I opted for the version with the gyro installed on the airplane. I just put the power to it this morning. I have some experience with these gyros from my Freewing F9F-8 Cougar airplane which works great.

The reading material that came with the P-51 talks a little bit about the gyro, but it is different in some ways to the one in my Cougar. For instance, the colored lights on the gyro are different. On the Cougar, the off mode is a white light on the gyro box. The Auto Level gain mode is a blue light on the control box. And when you used the Basic Gain mode, the colored light is green.

Now, on my P-51 with the gyro, with the unit turned off, there is no light, it is dark. In the auto leveling mode it is a flashing green light, and when in the Basic Gain mode, it is a solid green light.

I have it figured out I think that it essentially operates the same as the earlier unit on my Cougar, just different colored lights . I've tested them in my shop by moving the airplane around, and it seems to me that it works ok.

Has anyone else bought the gyro option for the P-51? I just wanted to be sure I'm not missing something as I didn't see any other documentation with the P-51 kit, but it seems to be operating ok, as I am thinking I have the lights correct for the differences with the Cougar servo. They both look identical.

Cheers

Davegee

[xviper]

As a knife, it's much too sharp to carry. There is no sheath. I have cut large pieces of foam with it, like when I made a stand from the shipping box for my AL-37.

[Davegeee]

https://www.amazon.com/MIERE-Surgica...s%2C203&sr=8-6

davegee

Make sure you pick up a blade removal tool.

Removing a used blade without one is an accident waiting to happen.

I sound like my Mom, but I have sliced a layer or two off trying to remove the blades with it.

Best, LB

Good point! I can see that easily happening!

Davegee

[Elbee]

Are you a former special forces member? Just kiddin'...now that's a knife!

[jetfool]

Xviper,
YIKES!
That looks like a sharp weapon, don't think I'd need anything like that. Make a great craving knife though for balsa.
Best Regards, Rex

[xviper]

For serious work, we used to use “autopsy” knives. When the lab closed, I was allowed to take a few home. They come in 3”, 6” and 12”. Just as sharp as a scalpel but used for cutting brain slices. They were strong enough to slice through fish spines.
Here is the 6” I used to use for many years. Now it’s only used for cutting veggies and meat in the kitchen. Wife uses it to cut rhubarb - the acids in that dulls it very quickly.