Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[Fishflyer]

Grossman56 - thank you for the suggestion!thats basically what did the trick!

thanks all! I ended up using my pinkie as a guide in between the wing and the fuselage of the non threading screw after barely threading the other one and after some liberal use of tiny muscles I was able to maneuver the screw in to the hole!

[Grossman56]

Sometimes, when they're new, it takes a bit of wiggling to find the screw holes. I had that with the P-51B, got three, but couldn't get the fourth if you can believe it. Pulled the three good ones out and started with the bad one and eventually got it together. Since then (what, 4 years ago??) I seldom have any trouble, but if I do, I back the screw off and try It again. I think sometimes, its the way you angle the screw in, it misses the anchor point.

Grossman56

[xviper]

Thanks for the quick responses!

fhhuber - the toothpick idea is a good one! its difficult because the intake scoop underneath really creates chaos when i try to eyeball it in manually.

TiredIronGRB - i hope the wings will line up after it really seems stuck in place

xviper - your reply is my biggest concern. i think you may be right. wires are not in the way though, i have the wasp nest secured real well in the wing area with the main 2 main wires easily able to come out into the fuselage when its together. i am worried that the rods are not fully together like you mentioned. if that's the case I have a problem because the plastic screw mounts underneath the wing are already glued together with foam safe ca :Sweating:

Do what TI said. Make sure the screws will actually thread into the "nuts".
I think you'll have to rip that plastic piece off as best you can. Then make sure the screws will actually go into the nuts just using the plastic thing alone. If you yank out that plastic piece, you will likely pull off wing foam with it. Don't bother scraping it clean. Use FoamTac to glue it all back together and the foam bits stuck onto the plastic wing joiner should almost fit right back into the gaps they came out of. Hold together with some clear Gorilla tape and leave it on for extra reinforcement. If you try to pull the tape off, the paint will come with it. Or you can epoxy it and hold it for 5 minutes. But don't do it till you know for sure everything fits and all servos work.
If there is foam pushed into each wing hole, you'll have to reach in with coat hanger and try to clean it out.

[Fishflyer]

Thanks for the quick responses!

fhhuber - the toothpick idea is a good one! its difficult because the intake scoop underneath really creates chaos when i try to eyeball it in manually.

TiredIronGRB - i hope the wings will line up after it really seems stuck in place

xviper - your reply is my biggest concern. i think you may be right. wires are not in the way though, i have the wasp nest secured real well in the wing area with the main 2 main wires easily able to come out into the fuselage when its together. i am worried that the rods are not fully together like you mentioned. if that's the case I have a problem because the plastic screw mounts underneath the wing are already glued together with foam safe ca :Sweating:

[xviper]

It looks like your wing halves aren't completely together. I see a pretty large gap. Check to make sure you have not wires in the way. Also make sure that the rod goes in fully on each side. Do it on each side separately. Sometimes, as you push the rod in, some foam gets scraped off and gets pushed ahead of the rod and won't allow the rod to go all the way into the wing. Measure 1/2 of the rod and put a mark there indicating the middle. The rod must go in at least to that mark on each side.

[TiredIronGRB]

Hi all - I am putting together my P51 and I noticed 2 things I am having trouble with.

1. The wings aren’t centering to the fuselage

2. The rear “wing bolts” will not line up together. I can get 1 but never the other to thread.

anyone else have this experience, any suggestions?

Cheers.

Fish

Welcome to Hobby Squawk :)

I would take the wing loose and make sure the screws will start in the fuse, sometimes I've seen glue in the threads. Once you get all the screws started you should be able to shift the wing around until it lines up.

[quitcherbitchen]

Worth the investment. Go with a hotter ESC and the 650kv. I run a Mantis 85A ESC and the 650, its great!!

Grossman56

I have the exact same set up. Nice, but squeals if I jam the throttle. Does yours do that? I might have to reset the timing to lower.

[fhhuber]

Hi all - I am putting together my P51 and I noticed 2 things I am having trouble with.

1. The wings aren’t centering to the fuselage

2. The rear “wing bolts” will not line up together. I can get 1 but never the other to thread.

anyone else have this experience, any suggestions?

Cheers.

Fish

Sure the screws are going into the holes and not beside the plastic insert?

See if you can insert toothpicks (or headless screws) where the screws are supposed to go.... then put the wing on using the toothpicks to line it up. Then replace one toothpick at a time with the screws.

[Fishflyer]

Hi all - I am putting together my P51 and I noticed 2 things I am having trouble with.

1. The wings aren’t centering to the fuselage

2. The rear “wing bolts” will not line up together. I can get 1 but never the other to thread.

anyone else have this experience, any suggestions?

Cheers.

Fish

[Grossman56]

Worth the investment. Go with a hotter ESC and the 650kv. I run a Mantis 85A ESC and the 650, its great!!

Grossman56

[fieldofdreamsflyer]

Going to have to save some money and upgrade the motor and esc

[qmmo44]

I found a number or gripes on line about fitting the main wing halves together on this bird. Had to do with the guide tubes in the wings for the support spars not being flush with the surfaces that butt up against each other during assembly leaving a sizeable gap between the two wing halves. Filing those down by hand would take a bit of time and the inside edge of the tube would need the burrs removed afterwards. What I did to work this problem was I took a chamfering tool I use when prepping brass I hand load match grade rifle caliber ammunition into and fit it to a standard 3/8" chuck on a gear driven battery powered drill and gently removed as much material as I needed from the ends of the tubes embedded in the wing in order for the wing halves to butt cleanly against one another. The whole thing took less than 3 minuets of effortless work. The chamfer on the inside of the guide tubes made it a lot easier to slide the wing halves together too. The drill is dated...I got it in the '70s and it is still going strong today. I will use this method going forward as it keeps the tubes round and the ends of the tubes even. The chamfer on the inside diameter of the tube is a bonus - it really does make a difference when first sliding the spars into their corresponding tubes...very little if any binding at all.

[qmmo44]

I ordered the red tail version. It arrived yesterday. I'm on vacation next week. Guess what I'll be doing!! I have the FW190 1400mm on back order. I like these 1400mm planes...just put the Zero together today.

[Maj.Duty]

......regarding Small Parts CNC, I had some very lengthy email discussions with Terry during Sept of 2017 regarding a version of that back plate from his shop at a more affordable price.
He knew of Customs effort and elected not to step on his toes due to their friendly business relationship.
He however was interested in looking at the cross brace used on the Flight Line 1600 Spitty and using that idea for the FMS 1400 Mustang as well as on the FL P-38.
I think I will go ring his door bell again and see if maybe there is a possibility for him to reconsider in light of what appears to have happened with Custom and if he made any progress on the cross brace.;)

Small Parts CNC, TruTurn, a buddy with manual machining skills and a bottle of vodka produced this spinner. TruTurn wouldn't touch the back plate mod, which many of you may know is conical in design for one piece propellers and what is required if using the 4 individual stock blades is a flat back plate. That's where my buddy came in and did on his break time what other companies would not do. Really basic machining. TruTurn should have done it with a waiver they already offer custom slotting which is more involved. Whatever.

Been running the original 6S modification (from that other web site) for about a year now and it is highly recommended. This is one of my favorite flyers out of the two dozen active aircraft. Don't waste your time with cheese ball zip ties. Put a 100A YEP ESC in there and a 4258-KV550 for literally unlimited vertical and don't look back. 150+ flights and still going strong

[fieldofdreamsflyer]

Is Kermit ever going to re-open the museum?

Scaled down museum operates seasonally from 11AM to 3PM Friday-Sunday.

[rifleman_btx]

Man I hope so

[seaviper]

Is Kermit ever going to re-open the museum?

[fieldofdreamsflyer]

[rlcamden]

I'm sure most of you already know, but there could be a Commemorative Air Force wing in your area which offers those flights at various rates. The CAF in my area is pretty reasonable for their flights.

https://generalaviationnews.com/2018/04/06/commemorative-air-force-airpower-history-tour-2018-takes-off-in-m/

[Mad Baron]

Awesome video! This as close as I would get to experiencing a Mustang flight.