Official FlightLine RC 1200mm F8F-1 Bearcat Thread

[borntoolate]

Hi: when balancing the bearcat, do you balance with gear up or down?. Thanks nick

I did mine with the gear down.

[Grossman56]

To be honest, I took Ryan's word for it and flew with a 4000s all the way forward and she flew great. The only thing I kept aware of was to make sure that the blue box and the gyro were sitting at the CG point.

Grossman56

[Ron1950]

did not like the blue box so put everything on Y's and flys great also...now I have to wait for the winds of spring to dye down some

[Grossman56]

Prop/motor and ESC weekend coming up !!
Got the 1400mm Corsair prop, the 650 kv motor and a Mantis 85A ESC for the Bearcat and a 650kv/85A Mantis ESC for My Little Gal II. Also got the tail wheel replacement for Old Crow so we're all set for the Spring to begin!!
Now, if the winds would die down and the temp would come up, it would be perfect!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Got the new 650 kv and Mantis ESC in her last night along with that big Corsair prop!!
Looks great an with the battery back a bit, it looks like a CG at 81mm, right where she was. I'm not wild about the honkin' Blue nose, so that's got to go, hey Bob, what did you used for a nose cone? Hard to tell from the pics.
You'd have to stand her up a fair amount to dig the prop into the ground , which is great, but this is such a great flying bird, I'm hoping she stays that way. I have to admit, that prop looks totally awesome and sooooo right!!
It's a pretty simple swap out, the motor mount holes have to be redrilled as it won't fit into the original holes which are positioned at 12, 6, 3 and 9. The six position will hang down below the firewall, so it has to go on in an 'x' manner. The floor board of the battery compartment comes out with four screws and its super easy to swap everything out. The only problem comes with the fake radial, you have to lose a lot of the center hub in order to get it to fit over the 650 and also allow cool air to flow, so I have a little more trimming to do
In the meantime, I'm just going to use a washer and nut to retain the prop rather than the big blue nose until someone gives me an alternative.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Holy Crap!!
Just got all the bugs worked out of the Bearcat, nothing major had to widen the opening on the fake radial and cut a small groove into the backside of it to allow for the fins of the 650kv.
Put the prop back on, straddled her and ran her up!
Holy Crap!!
I didn't even hit full throttle and she was screaming and the wind was unreal!!!
This could be what you'd call unlimited vertical
prop clearance


as you can see is pretty good you'd have to land at this angle before she'd touch her prop, which is pretty tail high.


got rid of the dorky blue nose and just went with the straight washer and bolt, looks more stock that way.

Grossman56

[boomer108]

Just paint the washer and nut black or dark blue and it will look original.

Roy B.

[Grossman56]

Sounds good

[Grossman56]

Well boys, got her in the air today with the 650 kv / Corsair prop, 85A ESC and a 4000 battery.
The battery had to go back a bit to the end of the wooden tray to hit the cg, but Holy!!!!!!
Hold on to your hats boys 'cause you ease (and I mean EASE) that throttle up and correct for torque and the cat's literally out of the bag. Boom, up in the air, gear and flaps up, 100 feet, just like that at 2/3's throttle!!
The stock Bearcat is great, with this upgrade, she's amazing. Of course, I had to see what she'd do, so I opened her up and pointed it her heavenward. She was a speck before she ran out of wind!
Just simply amazing!!
The beautiful thing is that she doesn't lose any of her slow flight greatness either, she lands slightly heavier, but that's okay, just follow the rules and she's the dream she always was.
I had Old Crow out with her, she has the same motor ESC in her so I was interesting to compare a bird that weighs a few pounds more. This is definitely the way to go for the Freewing Mustangs, puts the snap in her that we all wanted in the first place without having to sacrifice the scale fidelity of a 4 bladed prop.
I'd highly recommend this mod in either plane,well worth the cents. Just don't forget to order the motor mount with the 650.

Grossman56

[fieldofdreamsflyer]

I put a retractable tail wheel in mine

[Grossman56]

I'm thinking of that as well, hopefully one of you guys who has done it will post a detailed direction on the method.

Grossman56

[OV10]

I'm thinking of that as well, hopefully one of you guys who has done it will post a detailed direction on the method.

Grossman56

They did but the details were by pics that DD posted.

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/propeller-airplanes/44849-official-flightline-rc-1200mm-f8f-1-bearcat-thread?p=51319#post51319

You've been at this long enough that a knife and some fiddling that you can do it too without step by step destructions ;)
Since then, what ever stock that was left remaining on the now defunct FMS 1400 F6F tailgear has been depleted. :(
If I had that F8F in hand I would go this route........ :Cool:( a real nice simple square rectangular pocket and fish two servo wires.......easy peazy)

https://www.motionrc.com/products/fms-1400mm-bf-109-retractable-rear-landing-gear

PS........I happen to have one of them in spares inventory for the day when I do get a Bear at my usual below market acquisition discipline LOL

[gack]

Here's mine all together now, minus electronics and decals...Mods include 16" prop (from 1600mm Skyraider), FMS 4250-KV580 motor, ZTW Mantis 85A ESC, and BF-109 retractable tail wheel...will be flying with 4000mAh batteries...will be installing gyro as well...

[OV10]

Hello gack and welcome to the Squawk,
That HSD Skyraider prop just looks sooo good on there :Cool:(get that hub painted thou :))
Post some pics please of the 109 tailwheel mod so that Gman can get a look of what I suggested in post#502

[F106DeltaDart]

Looking good! Mine is in repair right now after an aileron servo failure, but I can't wait to get it back up. You will definitely love the scale appearance with that prop!

[gack]

Hello gack and welcome to the Squawk,
That HSD Skyraider prop just looks sooo good on there :Cool:(get that hub painted thou :))
Post some pics please of the 109 tailwheel mod so that Gman can get a look of what I suggested in post#502

I'll have to take some pics of the retract tonight and I'll post them...get that hub painted? Are you talking about the nut and washer holding the prop on? It is painted...flat black...

[gack]

Looking good! Mine is in repair right now after an aileron servo failure, but I can't wait to get it back up. You will definitely love the scale appearance with that prop!

Mine probably won't fly for a couple weeks yet...finishing the plane won't take long, it's getting the weather needed for a maiden flight that's going to take the longest...it's been so dang windy! Glad to hear yours didn't get totaled when your servo went bad...that can be disastrous!

[OV10]

I'll have to take some pics of the retract tonight and I'll post them...get that hub painted? Are you talking about the nut and washer holding the prop on? It is painted...flat black...

Was only messin with ya.........the majority of the full scale(well about a 60/40 split) had a silver/aluminum colored hub and the others with the black and an occasional red. ;)

[F106DeltaDart]

Mine probably won't fly for a couple weeks yet...finishing the plane won't take long, it's getting the weather needed for a maiden flight that's going to take the longest...it's been so dang windy! Glad to hear yours didn't get totaled when your servo went bad...that can be disastrous!

I know the feeling! I've got an LX F-117 that's been waiting for a calm day to maiden since November... I was lucky on the damage for sure, but mostly lucky I didn't hurt myself. It was about 40 ft up in a tree, and I ended up climbing it and pulling it down. And it was not a very thick tree.. That prop is pretty hardy though! Even flying into a thick branch hardly seemed to scratch it.

[gack]

I know the feeling! I've got an LX F-117 that's been waiting for a calm day to maiden since November... I was lucky on the damage for sure, but mostly lucky I didn't hurt myself. It was about 40 ft up in a tree, and I ended up climbing it and pulling it down. And it was not a very thick tree.. That prop is pretty hardy though! Even flying into a thick branch hardly seemed to scratch it.

I probably won't mind flying in the wind once I've flown it a few times and gotten used to the feel, as long as it isn't too windy, but for that first flight I want it as calm as possible....good to hear about the prop, hopefully I won't have to find out how sturdy it is ;0)