Official FlightLine RC 1200mm F8F-1 Bearcat Thread

[Alpha]

My timer is now set conservatively for 8 minutes on the Admiral 4s 4000mAh with my mixed throttle flight pattern. I don't have problem stretching it out to ten if need be. It's just that my legs get tired after 7 or so, ha.

[Grossman56]

I hear you, guess we're all so used to the 5-6 minute flight envelope that we don't know what to do with ourselves with the extra time. As Mike once said,"The longer I fly the stupider I get!"
I tell you what, when we all get together at Nefi next year, what with that huge field, all that extra flight time will be a benefit.

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Last night I finally decided that it was time to get rid of the tailwheel on my Bearcat. I found that the tail retract from the FMS 1400mm Hellcat was almost a perfect fit for this model, and actually looks more scale than the stock tailwheel. Only issue with the mod was redoing the rudder pushrod, since the stock one is a small pushrod coming off of the tailwheel steering horn. Got a few shots in flight this morning, and I am glad I put in the work! I'll post a few more photos of the retract itself if anyone wants them.

[Westsider]

Looks great Delta! That totally makes it. Retract wizard. :cool: Man, haven't taken it out of the box yet. Need to get on it...let us know what you did Ace.

[F106DeltaDart]

Thanks Westsider! Here are a few more shots of the assembly. Installation is pretty simple, just cut the proper sized hole, remove the stock assembly, and epoxy in the FMS unit. I mounted a tray inside to hold the servo for the retract as well. The unit has a steering servo built in, so no need to worry about running more pushrods. Unfortunately, that servo is reversed from the rudder channel, so you will either have to run a reversed Y harness, or use a separate channel. I have both steering and tail retract on separate channels for the moment.

The biggest headache is the rudder pushrod. As I said earlier, the stock setup runs a pushrod to the tail steering horn, and another, shorter pushrod links that to the rudder. You can either replace this with a longer single pushrod, or bind a smaller pushrod to the original one. I did this by overlapping a spare shorter pushrod with the one that went to the steering arm and tightly would thread around that joint. Thin CA was applied to harden and secure the joint, and it is quite solid so far.

FYI, the retract is available here: http://www.bananahobby.com/rear-land...4483-prd1.html. I scoured the internet for some time looking for other sources, but they seem to be the only source. They are a discontinued part so I would get them quickly while they are still available.

[Alpha]

Bravo Zulu, F106DD! The grass crowd would have a tough time with that scale tailwheel but as an asphalt flyer your mod has got my wheels spinning and my finger is on the Buy button at Banana right now! This looks really nice. Paired with your big prop, I really love your setup. It's always gratifying seeing modelers take a mass produced item and really make it their own.

[crxmanpat]

I have a tail wheel on order. Thanks for pioneering this mod!

[F106DeltaDart]

Bravo Zulu, F106DD! The grass crowd would have a tough time with that scale tailwheel but as an asphalt flyer your mod has got my wheels spinning and my finger is on the Buy button at Banana right now! This looks really nice. Paired with your big prop, I really love your setup. It's always gratifying seeing modelers take a mass produced item and really make it their own.

Thanks Alpha and Pat! I fly off a less-than-ideal geotex runway, so things arent as bad as flying from grass, but its held up to our potholes so far. On a side note, there was 7 tailwheels left at Banana when I posted. There are now 3 left so if anyone is on the fence, get them while you can!

[Ron1950]

man I am getting old....ordered a new horizontal tail and installed today...found that the old tail hold down screws were not screwed into the plastic recepticals but just into the foam lol new one looks great and will not come apart ... at least the new one does not have torn hinges,,

[Grossman56]

Man, I wish I had the talent to do this, looks great in the air without the tail wheel hanging down. Maybe when the 1400 mm version comes out, it'll have a retractable tail wheel.... (hint hint)

Grossman56

[Alpha]

If we ever did a 1400mm or larger warbird that depicted an aircraft that in real life used a retracting tail wheel, we'd include that functionality in our model. For the 1200mm class, it's just not in the cards to mass produce at that price point. Horizon, FMS, Durafly and all the others don't do it on sub 1400mm warbirds for a reason. Besides, I think we were all just sitting back and waiting to watch F106Dd do it. HA

Nice hint, Grossman :p

[F106DeltaDart]

The 1400mm version would also get the scale double jointed retracts right? :cool:

[Grossman56]

Don't forget the folding wings!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

And, I understand about the price point. Unfortunately, but I get it. Its the artist in me (right hemisphere) that looks for every detail.
What amazes me to no end is that F4F with folding wings and authentic retractable gear.
I'll bet that there's no one here that wasn't impressed with that, that was really something. But again, I looked at it and thought it was cool, but those panel lines are hideous, so, that's just me.
Beside, I've racked my brain trying to figure out how the heck that gear retracts on a Bearcat in the first place, let alone trying to scale it down!!

Beside, you guys are in the process of building that F7F in 1600 mm........... Aren't you??? (Another hint LOL)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Grossman56

[Alpha]

Keep dropping your hints and maybe one day you'll get one of them to actually hit. I'm dropping myself a hint for a 1500mm Bugatti 100HP. Or heck why not a 2000mm. :)

[Grossman56]

HAR!!, it worked for the Bearcat, maybe a Stutz Bearcat is in the works for you!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

So, if you can believe it, another sunny Sunday in Cody, Wyoming, temp in the 50's, so out to the field we go.
Again, I took Old Crow and the Bearcat, got a flight in with OC and she actually flew well, but the tail wheel doesn't stay straight, the anchor screw broke on it, so I'll have to replace the unit.
So, now I'm up to 14 flights on the Bearkitty as I got 5 flights in today, more or less to discharge all my 4000's and 3600's for Winter, if it ever gets here. We had a skiff of snow the other day and the remains are still scattered about so it was unique to fly with snow on the ground.
Anyway, this Bearcat, well, what can I say that I haven't said before.
WOW!!!!!!
What an amazing plane!! When these are back in stock, you 'd better be planning on getting one because this is a sweetheart!!!
A great transition plane for those who are confident in flipping around in their Pandoras and want to move up. Orientation is a bit difficult if you're just flipping around. When I fly patterns, left hand or right hand, I keep that in mind, so my turns are always to the left or to the right. When I'm flying aerobatics and using Immelmans or Half Cuban 8's to turn it's not a problem.
With this plane, I just remember that the US NAVY decals are on the bottom of the wing if its out a bit far and haven't had a problem with it.
Went for some scale takeoffs today as well, got her tail up and held her on the runway, then a touch of back elevator and she's up, gear up and we're off, like a homesick Angel.
Landings are so much fun, she has this sweet sound when the mains touch the runway, no bounce at all, the best term I can think of is that she'kisses' the runway and for a bird that can get in the air so quickly, once she's down, she's down, once again, no bounce. Reminds me of the Dave Brown equipped planes I have.
"How confident are you in this plane Grossman", you may ask.
Well, I have not flown upside down in any of my planes at least not on purpose!!
With the Bearcat, I rolled her over and heard Ryan's voice in the back of my head telling me to ease some forward elevator to maintain level flight. So easy with this plane and the elevator input is minimal.
The thing I love to do with this plane is to do a reverse half Cuban and build up max speed, come over center field with all that momentum, and pull her straight up, rolling as I go, looks so cool.
If I had to scale down my airplanes, this one would be at the top of my list to keep!

Grossman56

[Ron1950]

landed mine in grass the other day and a clump of weeds took the right main off the wing along with the plastic caseing that holds it in the wing, now the plastic case took about 3 inches of the leading edge with it...new wing ordered....

[flyingiceberg]

Dual Rates???? What settings is anyone using? The settings in the manual or from the Motion build video? They are a lot different. Still need to set mine up!

[Grossman56]

I set mine up on a three way switch, I set mid and low as Ryan suggested and high rates was 100% ailerons, with 30% expo throughout.

Grossman56