FMS 1400MM P40 BUILD

[seaviper]

Assembling the p40 today.

Do the hub caps come off the wheels and if so how do you get them off without damaging something? Is there a spoked wheel under there?

[seaviper]

Also do you guys fasten that esc with Velcro or anything? Or does it just lay there in the radiator?

[Grossman56]

It takes a small screw driver to pry up the hubs, going through the small slots n the outside of the hub. You can see the small slots in the spare parts picture. Also, you can see the insides of the wheels, they don't look like the real hubs so best to keep the hubs on.
Once you have the hubs off, take the time to put a little foam tac on the clips holding the wheels to the axle. Well worth it, also a great time to consider painting the wheels silver and the hub caps as well.

Grossman56

[seaviper]

Thanks Grossman. What about the ESC? It looks ok to me just hanging in the radiator. I usually velcro those down. I don't think it's going to move much at all as it is though.
I am setting CG about 70mm like the video. Pretty much on that little panel line from the fuselage.

[seaviper]

Here is my battery position and CG. First flight will be tomorrow.

[Grossman56]

I just left the ESC loose as well and yep, the battery positioning is where mine is. Ryan like his all the way forward, with both 3600's and 4000's.
I painted mine up and installed the Smallparts CNC retract sides for the Corsair. They work pretty well, you just need to use a small shim on them. I'm going to make that a winter project, to take them apart and really play with getting them exactly right, but for now they work well.
I also changed out the pilot, added some armor plating behind him and a shield over the instrument panel, got some tigers from Callie Graphics which are better than the stock ones, Ryan did the same but got the blue sideways "V" as well, saw it at Muncie, really cool!

Just came back from checking the field out. Wind sock is straight out. Other than that its a beautiful day!!!

Oh well......

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Gman, your P-40 looks fantastic! I love the weathering and the new tiger. Looks like the factory put the eye on a bit crooked though. I'm sure it will look amazing in the air!

[seaviper]

Maidened her today. Storm clouds in the area. She flew really nicely but was very hard to see with all the greenery we have. Only got one flight due to wx.

If you guys fly with the battery that far up, what does your neutral elevator look like? I'm thinking the CG needs to go farther rearward.
I am assuming you all set the CG with the gear up as it shifts the cg back when retracting. Or is the 70mm value with the gear down?
If so that would explain why mine was a little nose heavy.

[Grossman56]

From the picture you posted, I'd say you have yours right where I put my battery. Personally I CG mine with the wheels up and then check to see how much of a difference there is with them down (upside down of course) It, from what I've observed from opinions posted throughout the Forum, is a matter of preference. Yours could very well be a little nose heavy compared to mine as I modified the cockpit an painted mine as well as installing a gyro. If she feels a little nose heavy, by all means shift the battery back a little. Each battery can weigh slightly different as well I guess, but I know Ryan likes his 3600's all the way forward and he was telling me that he puts the 4000's all the way up as well, I put mine where your picture indicates. Experiment and above all, have fun!!
As for the camo, that reminded me of my first flight and Nefi, I was nervous flying with the likes of all these great guys, and as I was landing, briefly lost her in the background!! Found her pretty darned quick though! It was later in the evening when the wind finally let up, so the light wasn't full on, but whew!!!

Grossman56

[seaviper]

Yeah that camo works. But she looks so nice on a low pass. I made the mistake of flying on a gray overcast day. Just a black silhouette.
Anyway, I am going to move the CG rearward and report back later in the week. Probably Friday or Saturday.

[Grossman56]

Sounds good. If we ever get a decent day out here, I have the P40, the P51B, the P51D, and the Spitfire that I want to get up before the season ends. So far the wind had stopped that and we had a cold day today, about 39 degrees at 4:30 pm. Keeping my fingers crossed for the weekend.

Grossman56

[seaviper]

Grossman how do you get the stickers off the plane without taking the paint with them?

[Grossman56]

Well.....unfortunately, you don't!
I got the tigers peeled off and sat down with some acrylic paints and mixed the colors to match. First, I mixed the green by creating a grey out of black white and green and slowly added green, white and black until I got it, its really a 'feel' thing as I've been an artist for decades and am very familiar with mixing paints. Once I had the green down, I just added some red to it until it matched the brown, believe it or not....
If that's not your forte, then, I'd recommend taking a piece to Ace or Lowes, somewhere where they can sample the color and mix a sample can for you. Just make sure that they know not to push hard on the piece, some get a little carried away. The cans are a lot cheaper than buying Testors or any other kind of model paint.
My biggest mistake is that I didn't paint a swatch so I could have taken it to Ace, I now keep a record of color swatches.
Worse comes to worse, you can get model paint I guess, just take a piece with you.
I'm sure someone out there knows the military colors used.
The one thing about this airplane is that the real ones were literally flying wrecks that would have been thrown into the nearest convenient scrap heap if they were in the States instead of China, so panels that are slightly different in color wouldn't have been a rare thing.

Grossman56

[seaviper]

Yeah I been mixing acrylic paints to work on my T-28 cockpit. I am going to re-do the bird into one with different markings. Someone here I think said to use ice cubes to get those stickers off.
Gonna try that tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I also ordered some decal paper from Bel Decal down in Florida. I have used that stuff in the past with great results. I'll post some pictures when I get some work done on the bird. Thanks for the info. It's been very helpful.

Oh I just bought some spray rubber coating (plasti dip) from lowes. I plan on coating the battery tray with it. Yet another experiment underway.

[OV10]

Oh I just bought some spray rubber coating (plasti dip) from lowes. I plan on coating the battery tray with it. Yet another experiment underway.

I like that idea, real curious to learn how the results of your experiment turnout.

[benjack71]

Yeah I been mixing acrylic paints to work on my T-28 cockpit. I am going to re-do the bird into one with different markings. Someone here I think said to use ice cubes to get those stickers off.
Gonna try that tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I also ordered some decal paper from Bel Decal down in Florida. I have used that stuff in the past with great results. I'll post some pictures when I get some work done on the bird. Thanks for the info. It's been very helpful.

Oh I just bought some spray rubber coating (plasti dip) from lowes. I plan on coating the battery tray with it. Yet another experiment underway.

+1 on that idea.

[Grossman56]

I'm with the guys, that's a really good thought and I could see it working well. I haven't tried the ice cube method, but hey , its worth a try, the results couldn't be any worse than removing the paint anyway. We did start a paint code thread in the painting tips and tricks section, hopefully more people will post the results of their paint scans there.

Grossman56

[seaviper]

Sprayed the battery tray with a pretty good coat. I left the side rails and the areas where the straps come through clear of any spray.
From what I can see on the bench this will work great. I strapped the battery down pretty hard like I always do for flight. Couldn't move it using more than what I consider to be flight forces.

Time will tell if this stuff can stand up to the rigors of heat and abrasion. I should be flight testing it in the next day or two.

[Grossman56]

does it give a rubber like surface or plastic, looks like rubber to me.

I'm going to have to get some next time I'm in Billings.
Thanks for the tip!

Grossman56

[seaviper]

It's kind of rubbery. Not very thick though. They do make a liquid version that I suppose could be painted or poured on. My goal is to maybe flight test this setup later today if all goes well.