Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

I can go through the 108 pages to find posts of hub failures but I'm not inclined to do so atm. I will say that in most cases I read that loctite was involved. I just purchased the Tigercat but prior to me hitting the buy button I read most of this thread.
I just purchased the P-38 in May and have no issues with the backplate. From what I read about the P-38 the backplate has been upgraded since the earlier releases.
I hope to have hundreds of flights on both the P-38 and the F7F-3 Tigercat.

Tom

[davegee]

I know you know... Be careful with loctite around plastic, it is corrosive to it. For things like the prop screw on this even though the screw goes into metal I use the white tube glue that comes with many FW/ FL airplanes.

Good point, Evan, thanks for the reminder. I was careful to just put a drop on the screw and not get any on the plastic parts. Been there, done that, school of hard knocks!

Cheers

davegee

[Evan D]

I know you know... Be careful with loctite around plastic, it is corrosive to it. For things like the prop screw on this even though the screw goes into metal I use the white tube glue that comes with many FW/ FL airplanes.

[davegee]

At 1:29 you can see the whole prop assembly come off. That does not look like a hub failure. Maybe if the person over tightened the center screw to the point of cracking it internally. The hex on the motor fits into the hex on the hub. The screw is lightly tightened just enough to hold it on and not like a standard nut were the nuts force on the prop stops the prop from spinning.

Do you have any other failures you can link to? While I have never heard of one on the TC (and the hub on this is much more robust than the P-38) there may have been some, I've just never heard of one. I would think a prop blade broken at the root would happen before the hub fails.

I'm on my third TC, sold the first after hundreds of flights, crashed the second due to a gyro failure on it's third flight and have hundreds of flights both LOS and FPV on #3. On the one that crashed the prop roots broke, no hub failure.

I also never had a spinner hub failure on my P-38 and that was one of the originals with the weak hub.

On my first Tigercat, during its first static power runup at my house, both blades spun off and went flying into a bush! They weren't damaged, but obviously I didn't snug down the screws enough as I had thought adequate. I use a little bit of Loctite now, and a standard preflight for me is checking each screw for snugness before flying. I have a second plane now (sold the first, undamaged after many flights) and haven't had another incident like I described above. That was just operator error, no fault of the design of the hubs and props, IMHO.

davegee

[Evan D]

At 1:29 you can see the whole prop assembly come off. That does not look like a hub failure. Maybe if the person over tightened the center screw to the point of cracking it internally. The hex on the motor fits into the hex on the hub. The screw is lightly tightened just enough to hold it on and not like a standard nut were the nuts force on the prop stops the prop from spinning.

Do you have any other failures you can link to? While I have never heard of one on the TC (and the hub on this is much more robust than the P-38) there may have been some, I've just never heard of one. I would think a prop blade broken at the root would happen before the hub fails.

I'm on my third TC, sold the first after hundreds of flights, crashed the second due to a gyro failure on it's third flight and have hundreds of flights both LOS and FPV on #3. On the one that crashed the prop roots broke, no hub failure.

I also never had a spinner hub failure on my P-38 and that was one of the originals with the weak hub.

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

On the P-38 the issue with the backplate was addressed by flightline beefing up the backplate.
Here's one example of the hub issue on the tigercat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mULarZp5B4c&t=99

[Evan D]

Not on this plane, you sure you are thinking the Tigercat and not the P-38?

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

I've read a few pilots having a prop fly off because the hub broke. Is this a common problem?

[Grossman56]

Mine, which I thought was a total loss, is one front fuse and a nacelle away from flying again, all the other parts are rebuilt and looking great. I agree with Dave, you really miss it when she not there.

Grossman56

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

Great! I think you'll like it.

davegee

Yes, me too. It will go well with my 1600mm Bubbletop F4U Corsair and the 1600mm P-38 I have.

Tom

[davegee]

I just pulled the trigger on one.

Excited!!
Tom

Great! I think you'll like it. I had one a few years ago. Got bored with it, and sold it. But then, I started missing it. A few years later I got a new one, and still really enjoy flying it around the patch.

davegee

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

I just pulled the trigger on one.

Excited!!
Tom

[Evan D]

Yes.

[I-fly-rc-aircraft]

Does MotionRC still stock this plane ever?

[Spad Driver]

Oops!. Internet went down during upload.
second try!.

[Grossman56]

Sounds great! Any pictures??

Grossman56

[Spad Driver]

Gentlemen!,
may I present from the mountains of Utah U.S.A!.🇺🇲
New from the Wallsburg Warbird Works.
My version of F7F -3P Tigercat (BuNo 80457) assigned to VMD-354 at Cherry Point North Carolina 1949.
I wanted my plane to look like a restored modern warbird.
Acrylic paint used from Home Depot, apple barrel, and model masters. Minwax polycrylic gloss finish on top Bare metal foil is applied to the wheel rims.
the ADF antenna is scratch built using a 1/48th scale drop tank, two bamboo sticks and some millie put epoxy and is removable. The drop tank is a Freewing A-6 center tank with seams filled with lightweight spackle. A seam of .030 × .060 strip styrene tacked around the middle with foam tac. A Freewing F-16 armament mounting set is used to attach to airframe to make it removable.
Callie Graphics where applied for the markings.

maiden will happen soon 👍🤩

[Grossman56]

Okay, so I finally got around to seriously checking out La Patrona to see what was salvageable and what was not.
Turns out the wings can be repaired, one was broken in two sections but the rod running through the wing was fine, easy fix with some Gorilla Glue.



The flaps were knocked off but with some Foam Tac I reinstalled them. Some of the hinges were snapped so I used some off an old Bearcat wing.
The tail was still attached to what was left of the fuse, but surprisingly, by cutting away at the joint, I managed to get the whole piece out intact!


Rebuilding the hatch/cockpit was a matter of gluing the three pieces back together again. I used a roll of tape to help spread the piece until the glue sets up.


So, it looks like a new fuse, one new nacelle, cockpit glass and a nose gear retract. Not bad for a bird I thought was a total right off. Soon it will look like this again!!




Grossman56

[CzechSix]

With the UV protectant it helps with the bubbling. My Tigercat was near perfect while the cockpit area was bubbly. My Bearcats are great and here in Wyoming, it gets hot and dry in the flying season. Spar Urethane helps to seal on the decals as well. Right now the Spitfire is probably the darkest /oldest plane flying in the fleet and so far so good.

Grossman56

Great advice - I will definitely use the urethane. The decals I made are outdoor sign vinyl so they should stick pretty well compared to the factory version. I have some time to do the work, as I had to request a replacement spinner from MotionRC - the one I got had a stress fracture and it cracked when I tightened it down. Slightly unsettling, actually. But as usual MotionRC was awesome and sent a replacement, they are a great shop.

[Grossman56]

With the UV protectant it helps with the bubbling. My Tigercat was near perfect while the cockpit area was bubbly. My Bearcats are great and here in Wyoming, it gets hot and dry in the flying season. Spar Urethane helps to seal on the decals as well. Right now the Spitfire is probably the darkest /oldest plane flying in the fleet and so far so good.

Grossman56