Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[OV10]

Shirty,
Yeah, it's a shame you weren't part of this community back in 2015 when I introduced these parts.........but it's great having ya with us now.
Here's where it started:
https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/mo...5520#post15520

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/motion-rc-general-topics/motion-rc-news-and-information/1713-metal-retracts-for-fms-warbirds?p=18955#post18955

[Shirty]

Yeah mate I do now, didn't know at the time 2 years ago and I think they were the first cnc started producing back then. I haven't cracked the side on any of them, but they are good to have. Had I bothered to pull a retract out and check I would have known, now I have 5 spare mustang sets lol. You live n learn lol. :)

[OV10]

Agreed. The cnc plates are worthwhile. My Dallas darling has them, but they wouldn't fit in my petie D model because the retracts are different. (All fms gear, don't know why the petie has a different type, they were bought only a few months apart two years ago). Whilst I haven't cracked the sides on the D, I'd still fit them if my retracts would take them. For a few dollars, it's a bit of good insurance. I bought a whole heap of them thinking I coukd put them in my corsair, 190 and zero as well, but they only fit the mustang retracts so I've got a few spare if I get another mustang ;)

You know he makes the 90 degree rotation plates for the Corsair/Warhawk and any of us(like me) that has the discontinued Hellcat with the 004 retract mod

[Shirty]

Agreed. The cnc plates are worthwhile. My Dallas darling has them, but they wouldn't fit in my petie D model because the retracts are different. (All fms gear, don't know why the petie has a different type, they were bought only a few months apart two years ago). Whilst I haven't cracked the sides on the D, I'd still fit them if my retracts would take them. For a few dollars, it's a bit of good insurance. I bought a whole heap of them thinking I coukd put them in my corsair, 190 and zero as well, but they only fit the mustang retracts so I've got a few spare if I get another mustang ;)

[OV10]

I have not seen the need to do an en masse replace of the trunion's. As they wear in the u-fork area and start to get unacceptable play is when I'll replace one. Have a couple that are getting to that stage.

[Arycon]

I can comment on the CNC side plates cause I'm the one that introduced both of the styles to this forum.
Primary reason for getting the plates is for longevity. No matter how good a pilot you are on landings there is always the lateral stresses induced to the dog ear mounting tabs where they sooner or later fracture at the 90 degree bend and or the metal pivot pin on the trunion pulls out of the plastic side plate hole. All my FMS retracts have been upgraded with the CNC Small Parts side plates and have not had a single issue in 2+ years.
Regarding the 4mm "malleable" strut pin, it is actually not a bad weak link with regards to bending before tearing up the plastic framed retract.
Your decision on investing on an upgrade of metal sideplates/hardened strut pin for longevity is a gonna come down to how long you want to deal with the marginal strength of a stock retract and it's subsequent frustration of frequent tweaking.
Hope I've given you a reasonable foundation to consider about using these excellent aluminum parts from Small Parts CNC.

Some good points, OV. Side plates it is. What about the CNC trunion kit. Have you used that or do you think it is necessary?

[OV10]

I do appreciate everyone being so great with advice. It helps. Im debating if I need to upgrade to the CNC parts made at Small Parts CNC.

As for my gear, part of it is surely me getting used to the plane. This is my first real big plane that isn't a floaty foamy. Agree on the need to fly it in. I do now realize that each time I landed (and tweaked the gear) I ran over and veered into the grass off the strip. I say strip, but it is a regular road in a housing area that never got built. The road is old and cracking. I have maybe 7 to 8 feet of clear tarmac to squeeze down on. I am skilled enough to do it but keeping the plane straight after touchdown is the problem, I think. The grass clumps and bulging road cracks might be the majority of the culprit here.

The gear are holding up well. To be clear, it is the 4mm attachment strut that is bending, not the oleo shaft. The rod is bending between the trunion and oleo strut. That is what I meant by malleable metal.

Im wondering if cutting down a 4mm motor shaft would help here. Maybe a tempered metal would hold up better. I will try that.

Can anyone comment on the Small Parts CNC upgrades? My plastic didnt crack on landing. All looks good. Just seems like the strut attachment rod. Not sure if I need $80 in CNC parts to upgrade the trunions and retract side plates. Would be investing a lot in this model. Trying not to do that with planes anymore. A couple hundred dollar plane quickly ballons into a cash eater.

I will order a new retract and hold off on everything else until I get feedback.

I can comment on the CNC side plates cause I'm the one that introduced both of the styles to this forum.
Primary reason for getting the plates is for longevity. No matter how good a pilot you are on landings there is always the lateral stresses induced to the dog ear mounting tabs where they sooner or later fracture at the 90 degree bend and or the metal pivot pin on the trunion pulls out of the plastic side plate hole. All my FMS retracts have been upgraded with the CNC Small Parts side plates and have not had a single issue in 2+ years.
Regarding the 4mm "malleable" strut pin, it is actually not a bad weak link with regards to bending before tearing up the plastic framed retract.
Your decision on investing on an upgrade of metal sideplates/hardened strut pin for longevity is a gonna come down to how long you want to deal with the marginal strength of a stock retract and it's subsequent frustration of frequent tweaking.
Hope I've given you a reasonable foundation to consider about using these excellent aluminum parts from Small Parts CNC.

[Arycon]

Yep. One n the same. The grass next to my strip is very bumpy from the kangaroo holes, too far near the patch in the middle (which I was in this landing), and it's almost guaranteed a bounce if I land out there. Hence the "jump" at the end too with not nearly enough speed to cause lift. Not my best effort, but no issues - which is all we can ask for. Judging by what you've written, I'd say you have a good understanding of the process (esp using throttle), and you just need to get a few more flights up to get familiar with it. If ithats as hard as it gets - no you shouldn't have issues with the gear. Hope it helps mate. ;)

Ps: I wouldn't worry about clogging up the thread, what we're talking about is relevant to flying the plane, and you'll find plenty of ppl with good positive opinions here that are only too happy to help.

I do appreciate everyone being so great with advice. It helps. Im debating if I need to upgrade to the CNC parts made at Small Parts CNC.

As for my gear, part of it is surely me getting used to the plane. This is my first real big plane that isn't a floaty foamy. Agree on the need to fly it in. I do now realize that each time I landed (and tweaked the gear) I ran over and veered into the grass off the strip. I say strip, but it is a regular road in a housing area that never got built. The road is old and cracking. I have maybe 7 to 8 feet wide of clear tarmac to squeeze down on. I am skilled enough to do it but keeping the plane straight after touchdown is the problem, I think. The grass clumps and bulging road cracks might be the majority of the culprit here.

The gear are holding up well. To be clear, it is the 4mm attachment strut that is bending, not the oleo shaft. The rod is bending between the trunion and oleo strut. That is what I meant by malleable metal.

Im wondering if cutting down a 4mm motor shaft would help here. Maybe a tempered metal would hold up better. I will try that.

Can anyone comment on the Small Parts CNC upgrades? My plastic didnt crack on landing. All looks good. Just seems like the strut attachment rod. Not sure if I need $80 in CNC parts to upgrade the trunions and retract side plates. Would be investing a lot in this model. Trying not to do that with planes anymore. A couple hundred dollar plane quickly ballons into a cash eater.

I will order a new retract and hold off on everything else until I get feedback.

[Shirty]

Yep. One n the same. The grass next to my strip is very bumpy from the kangaroo holes, too far near the patch in the middle (which I was in this landing), and it's almost guaranteed a bounce if I land out there. Hence the "jump" at the end too with not nearly enough speed to cause lift. Not my best effort, but no issues - which is all we can ask for. Judging by what you've written, I'd say you have a good understanding of the process (esp using throttle), and you just need to get a few more flights up to get familiar with it. If ithats as hard as it gets - no you shouldn't have issues with the gear. Hope it helps mate. ;)

Ps: I wouldn't worry about clogging up the thread, what we're talking about is relevant to flying the plane, and you'll find plenty of ppl with good positive opinions here that are only too happy to help.

[Arycon]

Ummm. I've never bent the gear in some 500+ landings, personally I think they are pretty sturdy as far as retracts go. (Electronically, not so much tho lol). I'd suggest a bit of practice, and keep a little throttle authority on touchdown, and your best chance to grease it is on the mains, 3 pointers usually result in a small bounce im my experience. Mustang vids (both Tarmac and grass), are on my YouTube and all have landings with very little or no bounce, (apart from the Dallas darling one lol). Watching these might help.
;)

Are you Shirty Films on YouTube? I just found a video there of the FMS Dallas Darling. Early touchdown, hops the tarmac, flares, touches down in grass and bounces lightly a few times. That it is pretty much how I landed yhis afternoon. Not violent. Not hard. Not greased for sure, but not terrible. Im not saying it isnt my piloting. Humbly trying to get better here, not to blame gear. It may also be the surface Im landing on. Years old street/tarmac with cracks and areas overgrown with weeds. It is hairy trying to come down just right.

PM me if need be. Dont want to overload the thread.

[OV10]

Hello Arycon,
I'm right there with Shirty on his opinion..........practice, practice, practice with power and none of the dead stick throttle cutting that is inherently learned from the high lift wings of trainers like the Apprentice.
Have never damaged a trunion on any of my birds including the FMS ones and once in a great while have bent the mounting pin from the strut to the retract due to being stupid by not maintaining enough speed to fly it to a two point landing.
I always get a charge out of these guys that post a video of their landing that looks like they just dropped a 7lb block of wood from 5 feet and then complain about crappy retracts and not the lack of their flying skill.
Too many are trying to fly them in at a crawl because they have read comments from the misinformed using proverbial quotes such as "lands at a walking pace" or some nonsence like that.
Warbirds just aren't gonna float on in, you got to fly them in. The Mustang is however one of the easier airframes to use as a "tool" to work on advancing your skill set for landing techniques.
Just keep working it and it will come to you if you use the mindset of power and not the elevator to control your descent for approach to landings. ;)
Best regards,

[Arycon]

Ummm. I've never bent the gear in some 500+ landings, personally I think they are pretty sturdy as far as retracts go. (Electronically, not so much tho lol). I'd suggest a bit of practice, and keep a little throttle authority on touchdown, and your best chance to grease it is on the mains, 3 pointers usually result in a small bounce im my experience. Mustang vids (both Tarmac and grass), are on my YouTube and all have landings with very little or no bounce, (apart from the Dallas darling one lol). Watching these might help.
;)

I will check them out. I touched down on the mains and bounced a few times. It didnt seem at all like a hard bouncing/landing either, and several people commented to that fact, but it was on tarmac. I cant judge how hard it actually was though since this plane is bigger than my usual fleet, but dang.

I did land on the mains by the way, but I didnt slam down on them by means. I was coming in slow and steady and bled off speed. I know to juice the throttle to level out a bounce and did. That has always worked well and saved this landing from being potentially really bad. No other damage. No prop strike. It really didnt seem bad at all. Regardless, gear bent backward ever so slightly and are jamming. One retract doesnt work now.

This is going to get frustrating fast if this keeps happening. These retracts arent cheap.

I will keep practicing.

[AkumaZeto]

I snap the trunions or should I say used to till I got some billet ones made up. now the trunions are rock solid. The stock trunions are white metal and I can snap them in my fingers.

[Shirty]

Ummm. I've never bent the gear in some 500+ landings, personally I think they are pretty sturdy as far as retracts go. (Electronically, not so much tho lol). I'd suggest a bit of practice, and keep a little throttle authority on touchdown, and your best chance to grease it is on the mains, 3 pointers usually result in a small bounce im my experience. Mustang vids (both Tarmac and grass), are on my YouTube and all have landings with very little or no bounce, (apart from the Dallas darling one lol). Watching these might help.
;)

[Arycon]

So I need advice.

Second flight of my P-51 today. She flies great. Stable and good slow speed character. I spent the entire flight doing landing runs. I do that on all new planes to get a feel for them.
Problem is the actual touch downs havent been greased. I damaged one retract and need to replace it.

I know a lot of the problem is I need to land more gently, but these gear tweak and bend what seems like way too easily to me. They seem way too soft and malleable. Is this a common problem for the gear, or do I need more practice? Lol.

[Dewey H Lee]

Cool Shirty be eagerly looking forward to them.
.

[Shirty]

Hey mate. Just had a busy year, RC vids have taken a bit of a back step lately. Did a couple of new turbines ones though, which are on my you tube. Just search "Shirty films" in YouTube, subscribe if you like and you'll see whenever the new ones are done. I've got 5 more Im working on ATM, but gotta find the time to get em finished. One will be epic, it's for my club with a bit of everything in it, lots of giant scale stuff in it. (Taking bloody forever to edit tho... lol). I'm hoping now things have settled down a bit with work I can pump out a few this year. thanks to motion, there'll be at least some new ones of the avanti, a10 and the spitty...

I am thinking of getting a new bluenose though. Mines 2 years old and over 300 flights, and she's got a lot of hangar/transport rash. If I get a new one I'll definitely make some more vids of it though. Cause as we all know, blue nosers fly best. ;)

[Dewey H Lee]

Hey Shirty haven't seen any videos lately. Whats up!!!:Confused: l all ways really enjoy them alot.

[Aros]

Official thread now...

[Shirty]

Grats on the maiden mate.