Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[Grossman56]

Rushed home today because, well, today is Tigercat Day!!
Sure as heck, she was there waiting for me!!

So, not to bore you with Grossman enthusiasm, let's skip to the finished product!!


Note the difference between the Bearcat and the Tigercat colors? That's the same color, just with a few coats of Spar Varathane, incredible difference.
Anyway, take a good look 'cause she won't be that color for long. I assembled it and made sure everything was functioning. This weekend, I'll remove the wings and start the paint job.
First impressions, this thing is BIG!!
First comment out of the wife, bless her heart.
When next you see her (the Tigerkitty, not the wife!)
She will be La Patrona.


Grossman56

Hey, she's 7 years old today! Good thing I'm still the same age!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Yay!! I finally have the second prop shaft on order. My big question, when the B25 came out, was whether the prop shaft was compatible with the Tigercat motors and more importantly, with the780 kv motors that I want to reinstall. The props on the B25 are more robust than the stock Tigercat and since I'm convinced it was a prop blade that let go and put her in the ground...

Now that I have her rebuilt and have flown her with the stock motors, they just don't cut it at 5,000 feet.
However, without a better prop system, I resigned myself to using her as a pattern flyer. I managed to get one prop shaft (last one in stock) about a month ago and lo and behold, yesssss, it fits!!
So, once everything arrives, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Everything came in stock so I ordered one more motor shaft, two sets of props and two spinners. A much better system of locking the props onto the prop shaft! I also reinstalled the 3948 kv760 motors. I ordered one in from Porcupine Hobbies (Hong Kong). Turns out its a Predator make and as I would prefer two of the same motors on the airplane (duh) I pulled the 760 out of my Bearcat and put it on the Tigercat. The Bearcat got the Predator motor, so she's happy! I refined my method of drilling the new holes for the motor mounts as well. Used the same centering device, carefully lined it up to what I considered the best position and drilled the two bottom holes. I then pulled the centering device (which is anything that will nicely fit in the hole of the nacelle)

and enlarged the two holes slightly, then screwed the motor mount to the nacelle. This gave me a definite pattern for drilling the two upper holes. Removed the motor mount and reinstalled it on the motor, using Gorilla Glue to ensure the dang thing stays tight! GG has this great product for doing detail work, it's excellent. I also put shims on the back of the motor mount on the two lower arms to vertically increase the angle of the motor as she looked like she flew nose high in the last flights, again GG comes in handy to hold those pesky shims on. All said and done, everything went smooth as butter. Prop clearance is great and it retains the stock appearance only now I'll have the old power back. From stock 600's to 760's made all the difference. Now she moves out like a racer/fighter, even at 5000 feet.
This is a fairly cheap mod for your Tigercat and a much better way of mounting props, sure beats that one tiny screw holding the whole thing on. Now, all the screw does is hold the front half of the spinner in place.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Mods to the Tigercat

The motors getting modded. Pushrods on the cylinders, letting the glue dry.


Grossman56

[Elbee]

Grossman56, very clever and great looking detail touches. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[Grossman56]

Thanks Elbe, here's the finished product...


And here it is installed



The wire is packing slip wire I collected over the years, the ring is tubing interveineous days. and the pushrods a small wooden dowlings. Stuff you see laying around that usually ends up in the garbage but does great detail work.

Grossman56

[davegee]

Thanks Elbe, here's the finished product...


And here it is installed



The wire is packing slip wire I collected over the years, the ring is tubing interveineous days. and the pushrods a small wooden dowlings. Stuff you see laying around that usually ends up in the garbage but does great detail work.

Grossman56

Looks great, Dan! Amazing all the stuff we have around our workshops to use for detailing projects like this!

Cheers

Davegee

[Grossman56]

I've always got my eyes open for interesting shapes in the same scale as the planes. I'm really blown away by the difference from stock to customized motors, well worth the effort.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Had the Tigercat out at the field today, first flight on the upgraded motor and B25 prop system.
She SCREAMS
The method of attaching the prop to the prop shaft is so superior to the stock method, well worth the investment. The item numbers on the props are one number off, so I check and sure enough the blades are the same as the stock ones, it's just the hardware that's different. Good news all around.

Grossman56

[Denniswpb]

I have a lot of slop in all 3 retracts on my Tigercat. It's not the struts, it's the trunnions on the retracts. So far, the retracts have not collapsed, which with the amount of slop forward and aft, I'm amazed each time I land. Has anyone experienced this, and is there anyway to take out the slop, or are the retracts just getting worn out?

[Elbee]

I have a lot of slop in all 3 retracts on my Tigercat. It's not the struts, it's the trunnions on the retracts. So far, the retracts have not collapsed, which with the amount of slop forward and aft, I'm amazed each time I land. Has anyone experienced this, and is there anyway to take out the slop, or are the retracts just getting worn out?

Hey Dennis, I am just finishing the electrics in my FlightLine Corsair. It has zero flight time and trunnion slop is beyond the pale.

I've thought about how to reduce this, but without redesigning the case, I don't know what it would take to minimize the play.

I have an older set of Dave Brown mechanical retracts. These are aluminum cased with nylon trunnions, and have over a 100 flights in my .60 sized Chipmunk. These are still tight.

It is a matter of cost, no doubt.

Best, LB

[jetfool]

Dennis,
My FL Tigercat has the same slop and I'm just getting the first ten flights on it and no damage or problems with them. Some landings have been bounced in yet no problems.

Best Regards, Rex

[Denniswpb]

Dennis,
My FL Tigercat has the same slop and I'm just getting the first ten flights on it and no damage or problems with them. Some landings have been bounced in yet no problems.

Best Regards, Rex

Same here... I have probably 30 flights on it and never had one collapse yet, but it sounds like a bucket of bolts when taxiing out to the runway!

[Denniswpb]

Hey Dennis, I am just finishing the electrics in my FlightLine Corsair. It has zero flight time and trunnion slop is beyond the pale.

I've thought about how to reduce this, but without redesigning the case, I don't know what it would take to minimize the play.

I have an older set of Dave Brown mechanical retracts. These are aluminum cased with nylon trunnions, and have over a 100 flights in my .60 sized Chipmunk. These are still tight.

It is a matter of cost, no doubt.

Best, LB

The Corsair retracts are terrible! I have several posts in the Corsair Forum about the retracts.

[ICM]

Anyone else think that Motion should just offer the Tigercat with the upgraded landing gear struts installed and charge an extra$10-$20, thereby saving buyers the time and effort of ordering, waiting for delivery, removing the stock struts and installing the upgrades? After all, the Corsair, Spitfire, B-25 and Bronco come stock with suspension gear.

[Evan D]

That would be great but why charge more, after all they are trying to make happy customers not make money.

Seriously, I have been very happy with the stock gear.

[ICM]

I have both the silver and olive green P-38's and fly off a decently kept Club grass field. The green P-38 has stock struts and the silver upgraded suspension struts. On less than perfect landings, I find the green will bounce while the silver absorbs the shock and will bounce only on MUCH less than perfect landings.

[ICM]

Sorry, double post.

[Evan D]

I agree upgrading the P-38 struts, at least the mains is a big improvement.

[Grossman56]

I guess I have a hybrid, my nose gear is the upgraded, but the mains are stock. I recently replaced one retract mechanism and when I tried to install the strut, the hole was too small, it felt like a typical 'bur' or something and I fully expected it to finally drive home. No such luck. Now its in so tight I can't get it out, but the good news is that it works fine, I figured a couple of landings would knock it into place but so far, no such luck, that's how tight it is. Now, I have a set of upgraded main struts but I had trouble with the set screws always backing off, so I went back to the stock struts. I've doctored the upgraded struts so that now I wouldn't mind trying them again, but I'd have to replace that retract again, which is just a p.i.t.a. so she's staying the way she is. Frankly, I've flown it for over 90% of her life with the configuration I have now and I'm fine with it.



Grossman56