Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[Brandon Moon]

CG question...............sorry:Silly:
Is the change this drastic between gear up and down?
I'm at 70mm and 72mm with (2) 4s 4000 Gforce Elites.

Alpha recommended to me 65mm with the gear down....it's been flying great, and going on flight 30 or so by now. But anywhere between 70 and 65mm is a good balance point with the gear extended. This plane has a forgiving CG balance range.

[Phatbob]

So my 70mm pic is showing me CG is slightly less and to disregard the retracted balance reaction.
I'll give her a shot where she is set.
Thank you Guys !!!

[Phatbob]

OK!! I have her balanced at 65mm/gear down. (2) 4s 4000 Gforce Elites raised 3/4" up with foam on the rear battery tray so their wires would clear the front battery tray. I did need to grind away small parts of the rear corners but the batteries are going nowhere. I ran all my wiring under the tray and added a longer battery strap. I put my AR7000 on the front battery tray and I did need to add 3/4oz up in the nose of the front battery tray.

[downwindleg]

Hey guys, been reading all this info on RCGroups about this cool plane. Just wondering if anybody has had any luck with the black color. I want to do one in the gloss black as in Big Boss Man and I understand there has been some success using the Minwax clear spray, 3 coats, over the blue with no gatoring but just wondering about the black. I'm all ears!! Brad

[Grossman56]

Hey Downwindleg,
A lot of us started out using Minwax, but found Varathane Spar Urethane to be a superior product. It's water based, made for the outdoors and has a UV protectant in it. If you are going black on your bird, remember to keep it in the shade and real hot days may still be a problem as with all dark colors. I keep my Bearcat in the shade until I'm ready to fly her just to avoid the sun damage.
Grossman56

[davegee]

I maidened my new F7F Tigercat yesterday (actually had a friend do it for me) and today I took the sticks to get two more flights in. I was delighted how well it flew with two Admiral 3000/35C batteries. It was very easy to take off and land, and is pretty maneuverable. It is a great new addition to the Motion RC fleet. I took a few pics today at the field, did a little weathering and engine exhaust streaks, too.

[Dewey H Lee]

Wow Davegee. Great job on the weathering and exhaust stains. Not to much and not to little. Just right of a combination of both. Congrats on your flights. Your cat is beautiful.

[davegee]

Wow Davegee. Great job on the weathering and exhaust stains. Not to much and not to little. Just right of a combination of both. Congrats on your flights. Your cat is beautiful.

Thanks, Dewey. You bring up a good point about the weathering. One of my pet peeves is seeing models that are overly weathered. I was competing at a US Scale Masters once years ago, and the guy had a nice P-51 gasser next to me, but he had totally overdone the weathering. Looked like it had gone through the Earth's atmosphere! It is a fine line determining what level of weathering is proper and realistic. It's a continual learning process for me, and I learn from my mistakes, or try to!

[Dewey H Lee]

That was a great job my friend. I've seen alot posted with some nice work but something always seemed a little off. But your job looked perfect to me. Great work.

[Grossman56]

Looks great Davegee, glad to hear your so pleased with the airplane. I remember Lon telling me that the P-38 was such a dream to takeoff and land due to the tricycle gear and the counter rotating props, good to hear that these characteristics were carried over to the F7F!

Grossman56

[davegee]

Hi Grossman: I only have four flights on the Tigercat but I've had the P-38 for about a year. My impressions so far is that the P-38 seems to be a little faster, and is a little harder for me to land softly as I did the Tigercat so far. But I need to get more flights in to evaluate further. My firm impression of the Tigercat is that it is a very straight forward aircraft to fly with no bad tendencies so far that I've found. Lots of fun!

[Daggerdave]

Maidened my Tigercat a couple days ago. Its such a pretty plane I was a bit nervous but it flew like a sweetheart. Didn't see any bad tendencies at all. Field was very short dirt and the Cat floated a bit long and rolled off the end into mid length grass. It didn't even seem to notice the difference between the grass and dirt.

On CG, to be real honest I really didn't pay a lot of attention to it. With a pair of 3700 I just stuck them in a it flew great.

My only real problem is this is only my second 4S plane. I gotta get more batteries for the Arizona Electric Festival this weekend!

[Beeg]

Welcome to the forum Daggerdave!
Yes, she's a sweetheart. You may experiment with moving the batteries back and forth a bit to see if you like the way it flys with them in certain positions though.

[downwindleg]

Hey Grossman 56, Thanks very much for the info on the varathane. I'm wondering if they make a rattlecan version and would love to see some examples of the finished product.
Thanks Again, Brad

[Grossman56]

I'm not sure on the rattle can situation, I apply mine by brush, so....
But here are some examples, before and after on the Bearcat, My Little Gal I and after repairs on the Pandora.

[Grossman56]

Here' some links to the product.

https://www.amazon.com/Varathane-Water-Based-Exterior-Urethane-250041H/dp/B01NC24DRU/ref=sr_1_23?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1487208348&sr=1-23&keywords=spar+varathane

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-Varathane-Interior-Polyurethane-Water-Based/dp/B01LYH7XTL/ref=pd_day0_201_24?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01LYH7XTL&pd_rd_r=ENST8HGSCHF7WJ2ZY5HE&pd_rd_w=t8ESB&pd_rd_wg=H39ju&psc=1&refRID=ENST8HGSCHF7WJ2ZY5HE

[Sky Wolf]

I'm not sure on the rattle can situation, I apply mine by brush, so....
But here are some examples, before and after on the Bearcat, My Little Gal I and after repairs on the Pandora.

Wow...what an awesomely noticeable difference using the Varathane on that Bearcat. I'll have to try this on my Tiger cat whenever I decide to assemble it.

[downwindleg]

Hey Grossman56,what he said. The Varathane finish makes all the difference in the world!! If what I've read in RCGroups is true, this finish should also make a big difference in the gatoring effect. Hope so but it's going to have to wait 'til I get the A-10 bought and payed for. I'm guessing you know how that goes, Thanks Much, Brad

[Sky Wolf]

Hey Grossman, I noticed on the Bearcat that the wheel fairings are also darker. Did you use the Varathane on those as well?

[Grossman56]

Yep, All the blue got painted. I also painted the struts with Model Mater Chrome and painted the wheel hubs in Sea Blue. Used some left over Flite Metal in the exhaust ports as well.

Grossman56