Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[rifleman_btx]

A buddy of mine and I got to talking about how good the tigercat would be for fpv. After a couple years of talking about it, I finally made it happen

[Evan D]

It's about my best FPV platform.

[rifleman_btx]

I 100% agree

[Denniswpb]

Got tired of flying my Tigercat over the past 4 years and sold it to a club member. Of course. the first landing he stalled it right into the runway an busted the struts.

[Elbee]

Denniswpb
Kind of like seeing your ex-girlfriend and she's on a date, but then the new guy spills a soda on her and she breaks a heel on her way to the the Ladies Room.........or maybe not.

Gotta hurt a little.

Best, LB

[Evan D]

What?!?! Crazy....

[Denniswpb]

Denniswpb
Kind of like seeing your ex-girlfriend and she's on a date, but then the new guy spills a soda on her and she breaks a heel on her way to the the Ladies Room.........or maybe not.

Gotta hurt a little.

Best, LB

I know, right?

[davegee]

A buddy of mine and I got to talking about how good the tigercat would be for fpv. After a couple years of talking about it, I finally made it happen

This is one of the best quality cockpit videos I have seen, especially from the perspective of the prop blades spinning. These look very realistic. On other videos there is a bad distortion of the blades somehow giving some really funky looking images of the blades spinning. I'm not sure why some videos do that, but in this one, thankfully, it was not present.

Good job!

Davegee

[Evan D]

His blades stay in a blur when you pause where mine don't so they look a bit odd as you say.


TigerCat 1st HD 11Mar2021

[davegee]

His blades stay in a blur when you pause where mine don't so they look a bit odd as you say.


TigerCat 1st HD 11Mar2021

Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Is it due to a different frame rate of the cameras, or something?

Is that your field, Evan? Looks first rate, very nice! Where is it located? Just curious.

Thanks

Davegee

[Evan D]

Huntersville, just north of Charlotte.

[davegee]

Huntersville, just north of Charlotte.

Thanks. Beautiful country down there!

Davegee

[Grossman56]

Well, it's been a while since this thread was posted on, I noticed today that the Tigercat is not on the list on Motion, so that either means discontinued or, maybe, just possibly, a V2 version!!
First thing to look at would be the props, the B25 prop system is vastly superior and bolts right on to the motors, I believe I replaced the shafts as well though, still, no biggie.
The performance with the 3948 kv760 motors was outstanding. More realistic looking landing gear would have been nice with spring loaded struts out of the box.
Let's face it, I love this airplane and I'm not really willing to pay $100+ for the FMS version with the ugly rivets sticking out of her like a porcupine. One more is definitely in my future if they come out, crossing my fingers!


Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Grossman56]

Rebuilding my Tigercat and so far so good. Will post some pics soon, need to find main gear doors if anyone has some for sale, let me know. Most damage is scuff marks but the wings took the brunt of it, although I think they can be salvaged, time will tell.
Call me crazy but I just can't give up on this bird!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Grossman56]

Don't tell me it can't be done!
I started with this mess, just to convince myself she was really irreparable.

So, I disassembled the sad remains and found that most of the damage, short of broken off pieces was cosmetic. Fortunately, I had a big garbage bag on hand when she augured in and so I got all the pieces that I could find and brought them home. Both wings suffered breakage which I've repaired and am just waiting for some FoamTac to reinstall the flaps. Some broken hinges came off a totaled Bearcat as well as one flap servo. Sanding and filling, sanding and filling....


I have some Krylon Foam Primer coming as well which for some reason isn't on Amazon anymore.
I did a trial assembly to get an idea of what I was looking at, and it doesn't look too bad in all honesty.


A lot more work to be done, I have a complete new horizontal stab coming as the Carbon Fiber rod is snapped in the original and tis glued in. I'll check out Ace Hardware to see if I can find new nacelle attachment bolts as these ones are getting up there and the heads aren't in the greatest shape. The battery hatch survive with no damage as well as the gear as it was retracted when she went in. Good news, the motors survived as did the B25 prop mounts, yeah, I know both props are the same, I correct that later. I found one right side main gear door which give me three good doors and one to hopefully modify to work again.
She's a way from being airworthy, but hey, winters upon us again and I guy has to have something to do!!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Don't tell me it can't be done!
I started with this mess, just to convince myself she was really irreparable.

So, I disassembled the sad remains and found that most of the damage, short of broken off pieces was cosmetic. Fortunately, I had a big garbage bag on hand when she augured in and so I got all the pieces that I could find and brought them home. Both wings suffered breakage which I've repaired and am just waiting for some FoamTac to reinstall the flaps. Some broken hinges came off a totaled Bearcat as well as one flap servo. Sanding and filling, sanding and filling....


I have some Krylon Foam Primer coming as well which for some reason isn't on Amazon anymore.
I did a trial assembly to get an idea of what I was looking at, and it doesn't look too bad in all honesty.


A lot more work to be done, I have a complete new horizontal stab coming as the Carbon Fiber rod is snapped in the original and tis glued in. I'll check out Ace Hardware to see if I can find new nacelle attachment bolts as these ones are getting up there and the heads aren't in the greatest shape. The battery hatch survive with no damage as well as the gear as it was retracted when she went in. Good news, the motors survived as did the B25 prop mounts, yeah, I know both props are the same, I correct that later. I found one right side main gear door which give me three good doors and one to hopefully modify to work again.
She's a way from being airworthy, but hey, winters upon us again and I guy has to have something to do!!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Way to go, Dan! I love the realistic exhaust streaks coming out of the engines on the tops of the wings.

Davegee

[Elbee]

Grossman56

WOW!

Tremendous work and what a great save.

Bravo Zulu, Sir.

Best, LB

[Grossman56]

Thanks guys, a long way to go yet, I discovered a crack in one of the sides of a nacelle which is being worked on. One of the reasons why I tried assembling the parts again, screws aren't lining up quite right. That may be part of the problem.
8 years old and one of my favorite airplanes, here's a couple of my favorite pics with her.
At NEFI in Muncie:

And at the Powel Wings and Wheels event:

[jetfool]

Dan,
Plastic bag always follows me to the field. Your rebuild looks great and probably fly better than new when finished. I am still flying my Tigercat, 3 yrs. now, and love how it handles. Flying weather is almost over for us so my winter will be spent in the skunkworks on modding the Phantom and hope to enter at Toledo in April. Plan to enter my FMS P-47 in the WW2 class.
Keep us posted on updates, please.

Best Regards, Rex

[Grossman56]

Priming sanding filling, you know how it goes.
I had an accident with her a couple of years back and spent a lot of time repairing her then.

To...
And now she's going through her second rebuild

I was flying patterns and decided to roll her. Whoops, lawn darted to the mess you see at the top of this thread.
Today, I solved the problem of the main gear door that had broken its top rear pin off. I drilled a pilot hole in the arm and inserted a self tapping screw of the same diameter as the late pin and then cut the head off the screw. With a little playing around, it made a great substitute for the plastic pin.
So far so good, the Krylon Foam Primer arrived today from DK Hardware. Bought two cans as it seems to be getting hard to find. This company was very good to deal with and with a great response time.
The crack in the nacelle that was allowing the forward end to droop slightly is repaired. I'm using the new Gorilla Glue that is like E 6000 and I like it. I carved out the crack and filled it with glue, then threaded a self tapping screw from one side of the crack to the other and sunk it into the foam, did a great job holding everything in place and I'll probably leave it in for added strength.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)