Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[Grossman56]

I hate to say it, but I will not be going this year. Promised the wife we'd do something different this year.....:(

Grossman56

[wrongroad2]

G'day gang,
Unfortunately we took a direct hit from a lightning bolt mid last week and I have lost all of my emails and the like.
Jim H could you please PM me with your email again. I miss our conversations and I have had to go with a new email address myself.
It is not much of a change and if you add 07 before the @ and after the name to the old address you will find us again. .....fe07@g......

Meantime, I had my first drama with the landing gear today when it failed to deploy to my satisfaction during the preflight checks. Working correctly once every ten was not good odds for me
It was all my fault for not cleaning Shangri La last time and I put her away with a bit of moisture in the main gear mechanism. And it all got a bit sticky in there.
A quick squirt of INOX into the mech soon freed everything up but that had to wait until I got home as that was where my can of INOX was.
Of course it was near perfect flying weather.
Next week.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[seaviper]

My initial problem with the broken retract has not re-surfaced. Honestly I think the retract was broken from the factory. The replacements have been good so far. I have a ton of landings on them with no trouble.
I did have a flap servo failure after one weekend of flying. Both flap servos were replaced from my extra Freewing jet servos. They work beautifully now.

Also the P-51 is performing nicely on the 580kv. I can keep up very well with the 1600mm Spitty. But I will be doing the 650kv upgrade soon as I love that motor in the P-40.

And I flew my first late dusk (almost dark) flights ever this week with the P-51. Seeing those nav lights is so cool.

[Grossman56]

They are just an all round good flying airplane. BBD had a flap servo failure straight out of the box, the guys were great about getting it replaced. Also had an aileron servo fail. Landed her with no problem and taxied her over. Ran the controls and no aileron on one side!! Can't tell you when it failed but she flew fine, go figure.
I replaced that servo as well as the elevator and the second aileron with metal servos, the changed all the clevis' to ball link connectors. Went with the aluminum retract sides and she flies like a dream. No complaints at all with a 580kv, just had a spare 650 after converting the P-40 to 6s so, what the heck. It will make a bit of difference, but not a great amount. Have you tried the zip tie mod??

Grossman56

[Shirty]

G'day gang,
Unfortunately we took a direct hit from a lightning bolt mid last week and I have lost all of my emails and the like.
Jim H could you please PM me with your email again. I miss our conversations and I have had to go with a new email address myself.
It is not much of a change and if you add 07 before the @ and after the name to the old address you will find us again. .....fe07@g......

Meantime, I had my first drama with the landing gear today when it failed to deploy to my satisfaction during the preflight checks. Working correctly once every ten was not good odds for me
It was all my fault for not cleaning Shangri La last time and I put her away with a bit of moisture in the main gear mechanism. And it all got a bit sticky in there.
A quick squirt of INOX into the mech soon freed everything up but that had to wait until I got home as that was where my can of INOX was.
Of course it was near perfect flying weather.
Next week.
Regards and respect
Daryl

Still got mine? Glad to hear all good mate.

[wrongroad2]

G'day Shirty,
Nah mate, lost everything and I even have to do all the email addresses for work and everyone that I know.
There was a ten day period where we got a storm every day and we got hit while Dolly and I were at work.
As I have said, we did not change much, just add the 07 between the ..fe and the @. fe07@gm......
It is a real PITA.:Angry:

We had surge protection in the powerboard and it was blown but it all managed to jump even switches that were turned off. So, the TV, DVD, fans, fridge, anything that was on the second circuit. The lights and HWS all survived.
It has cost a bit to get back on top but it is all cool now.

The best part is, all the models are A-OK!
Regards and respect
Daryl

[seaviper]

Flew her yesterday in a good wind with the 580. She was perfect. I have decided that I will not upgrade to 650kv. She just performs very nicely on the 580. 7 minute flights. Just a lot of fun to do touch and go's.

[wrongroad2]

G'day gang,
Just doing some math on 200 flights with Shangri La and some of figures are interesting.
Working a on base figures and average flight times, after the 200th mission, Shangri La had flown a total of 2,280 kilometres. This is factoring in a 15% error rate so the number could be even higher. That is half way across Australia from where I live. Another 200 flights and I will be knocking on Shirty's front door looking for a place to land.
I was a little amazed as to how the numbers were adding up and thinking just how robust these models really are considering the 'problems' that are there with some of the machines.
And really, only for the swap out of the 580 motor for the 650, it is the only real change that was made. The rest of the gear in the model is stock. [I had to replace the left inner gear servo last Saturday after 203 flights and many cycles of 'testing' and showing people how it all works]
To achieve this, the model had 73 days of flying at 2.73 flights per day. That .73 is really hard to do!;)
83% of my flying was done at my home field with the rest spread out over five other fields.
Just thought someone might be interested.

Managed to get three flights in Last Sunday before the predicted rain and wind came in and spoiled everything.
The wind was a generous 29 kilometre per hour South Easterly AGL with persistent rain showers so it was a bit nasty. Up at about fifty feet or so, it was dead set ordinary and the down wind passes were almost throttle off and an estimated 150 kph. The up wind trip was slower at around the 60 kph mark with full throttle.
My last landing for the day was tricky as the wind was causing heaps of lift over the wing and even with the wheels down, it was difficult to get enough drag and 'down' to land the aircraft. I made three really big bounces before being able to make it stick.
It was that windy, I had trouble turning around to back track to the taxiway.
Then the rain set in so I did not have make the statement that it had become too windy to fly:).
Regards and respect
Dary

[Shirty]

G'day gang,
Another 200 flights and I will be knocking on Shirty's front door looking for a place to land.

ill get the fire trucks ready...
;)

[wrongroad2]

G'day gang,
Another six flights added to the log book of Shangri La on Tuesday. It is good having a four day week [even if it is a twelve hour shift per day to get it] and I have switched back to working Saturdays.
So, I now get to fly on Sunday and Tuesday. Not a bad set up at all.
And, Tuesday saw only two of us at the field [we must have two people at our field when we are flying to watch for low flying full size] and it was really good to have the sky all to ones self.
This when I learn the most and when I can try new 'stunts'.
I was able to use the Moon as a bulls eye and make my loops around it and it made it quite easy to make and hold big open loops.
A reverse Cuban topped off a good set of flights.
It was 27*C with a Southerly wind getting up to thirty kph.
I am now over the hump and heading to Perth if the math is right.
I might do the math on just how many days I would really need to fly a model across Australia and do it for a children's charity. It might be a bridge too far but looking into the logistics would not be too hard. Picking the right time to go across the centre will be the hardest.
I would obviously do more then two flights a day and looking at a ten hour day [weather permitting] and say six flights per hour, sixty a day at an average of six minutes per flight with my current set up, I would make about 600 kilometres per day. Ten days, with inbuilt allowances for stuff ups and bad weather...perhaps fifteen to include fatigue management.
HHHMMM, I might just look into this. Could be worthwhile and something different to raise money for children's cancer and other childhood problems.

Regards and respect
Daryl

[seaviper]

Upgraded Petie to the FMS 4258-650kv motor with the P-40 mounting plate, Beaver prop adapter, a YEP 80A esc and XT60's. Love it.

I gained a bit of speed and a LOT of vertical.

[Grossman56]

Yeah Seavip, helps a lot doesn't it! The one other mod I'm considering is using the prop blades from the FW Mustang ans they have more surface area. Anyone tried that yet?

Grossman56

[spyder1]

which servo do I order for gear door,I know it is a reverse servo

[OV10]

The only reverse servo listed on the spare parts page for this bird is the FMMSER9MGDR

[1horse59]

Hello all, got a question, one of my mains are turned to the right, the other is straight, is there a hidden screw to adjust the wheel so it will track straighter?

[OV10]

Hello all, got a question, one of my mains are turned to the right, the other is straight, is there a hidden screw to adjust the wheel so it will track straighter?

There are two points that can cause the pivot
Set screw at the top of strut that locks on the etract strut pin.
The set screw in the side of the trunnion, that locks on the strut pin.

[Arycon]

Hey, guys. I have been taking my Duchess Arlene out for flights lately after a hiatus. I've been having trouble with roll outs. I keep veering off the runway on take off. I am either not using enough rudder, or end up overcorrecting.

Any tips to improve this? Let me know what rates and expo you are using on take off and any general advice to keep her straight. Thanks.

[OV10]

How aggressive are you with the throttle. More often than not the inability to overcome the P-factor is due to that.
Can't tell ya how many times I have seen pilots just firewall it to get it in the air because they don't have the rudder skills and old bad habits die hard when not kept in check with practice.

[Arycon]

Hey, OV. I don't crank the throttle. I try to make a long, scale roll out. My first thought was throttling up too fast, but it doesn' feel like it. Doesn't mean I'm not doing it though. I know it is pilot error, and I need to get to straight before I tear her up.

How gradual is your throttle up? How much rudder authority are you using?

[OV10]

Most of my tail draggers have about 30 degrees of rudder throw each side. Throttle advance is a firm advance to about 75-80% with instantaneous rudder corrections(no delayed reactions which usually causes overcorrections). Once the tail is up and flying the rudder becomes a lot more useful.
Since you said you've been on a hiatus, might want to grab onto an airframe that your not worried about "tearing up". The only way to get settled with technique is practice.....practice ....practice.