Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[Grossman56]

Well, maybe so Boots, but I have 650's in mine spinning the stock 4 bladed props and it works amazingly well. With BBD, I upgraded to 580 and then to 650 and there was an improvement albeit not a huge one. When I went directly from the 540 to the 650 in Shangrila it was a much bigger difference. BTW, I use Mantis 85A ESC's in them all (Don't forget the short ESC to Motor cables if you go this route. Order extensions). I agree that the 6s system from the P-47 would rock in the P-51, its awesome in the P-40. Now, that is the reverse to what you describe because I went from the stock 4 blade prop that powered the P-47 to the 3 blade prop that the P-40 uses. Now, CB changed out his prop on his P-40 because he had some issues with the stock prop when doing a power dive, if I remember correctly.
Bottom line is that all these systems will work on the P-51, just a matter of picking a route to finding your joy.

Grossman56

[jadams812]

Any of these 4258 motors are the perfect upgrade, a virtual drop in with the F3A prop adapter and the higher cap ESC.
The Freewing 4258-580kv and it’s propellor and spinner will fit your FMS Mustang, and the propellor has a broader blade to move more air than the fms prop. See the photo.
I know the 650kv is swapped into the warbirds that have 3 bladed propellors and me thinks the FreeWing 4258-580kv is better matched to the Stang’s 4 blade prop on 4S.
My Old Crow is now sporting the P-47’s 460kv motor, which we already know can spin a 14x8 4blade with authority!

Right with you on the Freewing prop/spinner combo. In addition to the better blades, the blade mounting is more secure and the spinner outline is more to scale than FMS. I did go with the 460kV/6s upgrade, though. I'm doing so much refinish work on this thing I have a feeling my Mustang is gonna' be a portly ol' gal.

[Boots Whirlygig]

Right with you on the Freewing prop/spinner combo. In addition to the better blades, the blade mounting is more secure and the spinner outline is more to scale than FMS. I did go with the 460kV/6s upgrade, though. I'm doing so much refinish work on this thing I have a feeling my Mustang is gonna' be a portly ol' gal.

Yeah, I think the 460kv/6S is the right choice, the Mustang definetly needs to look 100 mph faster than any prop driven adversaries sharing the air space!
i do find it odd that FMS chose 3.5mm bullets though, when their 4S warbirds have 4mm.
:Thinking::Angry:

[JamesonC]

If you want some real speed out of this model, go the 550kv/6s route! Ton of power and fun!!

[jadams812]

Hey Gents, wanted to post a few pics of my FMS P-51D work-in-progress. I am converting this model to an F-6D photo recon version from the Pacific theatre. Pacific Mustangs are not very well represented so I wanted to do something a little different. The particular aircraft I am modelling is "Gonzalez", an F-6D with the 1st Fighter Sq, 2nd Air Commando Group, flying out of Burma. Plans call for a full refinish with modifications to enhance the scale appearance and to add details specific to an F-6D, A scratch built cockpit and panel with a figure that actually looks like an AAF pilot is also planned.

To this point, I have stripped her of all markings and paint. I am also in the process of replacing the stock power system with 460kV/6S set up from the P-47. I have also upgraded the prop & spinner to the Freewing P-51D version. The scale fidelity is so much better than the FMS spinner. I also replaced the FMS drop tanks with the Freewing versions. I'm not sure what scale data FMS designers were looking at when they penned the tanks, but, God, they are just horrible. I also have built tank pylons out of 1/2" balsa and will permanently mount them to the wings.

I have been hanging around this forum since early January and the knowledge I have gained has given me the confidence to take on this project. I appreciate any and all comments and suggestions on my posts.

[prestonowtm]

I will post some pictures of my Redtail when it's done. Since I am rebuilding from a bad crash I decided to try some new stuff. I have been filling in cracks and body lines with a paintable caulk and airbrushing it to match. The front cowl was the worst. I went to the 650 motor and the cowl was back almost a 1/4 inch. I moved it up a lot closer glued it and caulked the gap in instead of using filler. I know the filler would have cracked up there due to vibrations and bumps. We will see how well it works.

[prestonowtm]

Well, maybe so Boots, but I have 650's in mine spinning the stock 4 bladed props and it works amazingly well. With BBD, I upgraded to 580 and then to 650 and there was an improvement albeit not a huge one. When I went directly from the 540 to the 650 in Shangrila it was a much bigger difference. BTW, I use Mantis 85A ESC's in them all (Don't forget the short ESC to Motor cables if you go this route. Order extensions). I agree that the 6s system from the P-47 would rock in the P-51, its awesome in the P-40. Now, that is the reverse to what you describe because I went from the stock 4 blade prop that powered the P-47 to the 3 blade prop that the P-40 uses. Now, CB changed out his prop on his P-40 because he had some issues with the stock prop when doing a power dive, if I remember correctly.
Bottom line is that all these systems will work on the P-51, just a matter of picking a route to finding your joy.

Grossman56

Hey Grossman...what batteries are or did you use in the P51 with the 650 in it? I am using the admirals 2500 and 3000 30c and 35c..damn near ran the rebuilt plane into the ground. I left my timer the same as its been for years at 4.30 low voltage kicked in and I brought it in quick at about 3.3 min..batt was at 10%...HOLY wow. I wasn't flying it that hard either for the maiden. With the old setup I would bring it in at a little more than 4 min with 35 to 45% left.

[boomer108]

Hey Grossman...what batteries are or did you use in the P51 with the 650 in it? I am using the admirals 2500 and 3000 30c and 35c..damn near ran the rebuilt plane into the ground. I left my timer the same as its been for years at 4.30 low voltage kicked in and I brought it in quick at about 3.3 min..batt was at 10%...HOLY wow. I wasn't flying it that hard either for the maiden. With the old setup I would bring it in at a little more than 4 min with 35 to 45% left.

Did you check the charge on the battery before you put it in the plane.

[prestonowtm]

Did you check the charge on the battery before you put it in the plane.

Always..when I fly its part of my pocket tools. Both batteries were at 98% or 99%...I flew it twice. Once with the 2500, then with the 3000. Little difference at all. Neither battery is old but I did mark them to try them in another plane to make sure.

[OV10]

Hey Grossman...what batteries are or did you use in the P51 with the 650 in it? I am using the admirals 2500 and 3000 30c and 35c..damn near ran the rebuilt plane into the ground. I left my timer the same as its been for years at 4.30 low voltage kicked in and I brought it in quick at about 3.3 min..batt was at 10%...HOLY wow. I wasn't flying it that hard either for the maiden. With the old setup I would bring it in at a little more than 4 min with 35 to 45% left.

Presto............those 25-30 size batts are a small gas tank for the higher amp hog 650 motor.
My 1400 FMS Corsair and Mustang with the 650 uses 4000mAh batts with an on the deck time of 6 min.
Now if you want the extended flight times with more power then do the 1500 FMS P-47 460 motor.
A 4000 6S batt gets you more performance with 8 minutes of flight.:Cool:

[Grossman56]

Hey Grossman...what batteries are or did you use in the P51 with the 650 in it? I am using the admirals 2500 and 3000 30c and 35c..damn near ran the rebuilt plane into the ground. I left my timer the same as its been for years at 4.30 low voltage kicked in and I brought it in quick at about 3.3 min..batt was at 10%...HOLY wow. I wasn't flying it that hard either for the maiden. With the old setup I would bring it in at a little more than 4 min with 35 to 45% left.

I run Admiral 3600 PRO series 99% of the time, Occasionally, I'll run an Admiral 4000 and consistently get great flight times (5 min +), some of my batteries are 4 years old. I've never tried anything less than 3600, I like a fairly large gas tank!!

Grossman56

[prestonowtm]

Suppose its time to battery up again and try it. I flew the BB doll with the 2500 and it came down with 38% at 4.30. That 650 eats battery time I suppose. I did leave the stock 4 blade on it. Are you guys switching out to the 3 blade P40 when you do this mod?

[OV10]

A 3 blade on a Stang :Scared:go rub that tongue on some soapLOL Time to battery up as you said. Reread what I said two posts back on #1150............4000mAh ;)

[Grossman56]

NO! 4 blades all the way, anything else would be sacrilegious!!

Grossman56

[prestonowtm]

Yes...I kept the 4 blades on it. Was a little of a bitch to balance with the 4000 in it but I did get 4 min out of it. That 650 must pull a lot of power..ran the same batteries through the BB Doll that is stock and it dropped in with 47% at 4.30. The good thing so far is the caulk sealing that I did on the wings to the fuse and the underside is all holding up nice with about 10 flights on it now and I think it looks a lot better without those black lines..looks a lot smoother.

[Grossman56]

This pains me to say it, but on Tuesday I lost my P-51B Shangrila:(...
She was flying in her usual great way, I came out of a loop and was bringing her around to drop gear and land when all of a sudden, she was bucking and extremely difficult to control, totally not her. Got the gear and flaps down and tried to line her up with the runway, but man I was fighting her to try to level out, almost like a near stall, but she had plenty of speed. Before I could get her under control, she lawn darted, spun right into the ground a total right off:Crying::Crying:...
This is a bird that I've flown steadily for the past 4 years, the first warbird I ever flew and the first spray paint job I ever did. She meant a lot to me, the most I've replaced on her was the tires last year, talk about a great airplane!!

God knows how many flights I have on her and worse, they don't make them any more!!!
Post crash analysis revealed that the gyro had come loose, explaining why the poor control. I installed that gyro 4 years ago when I originally built her and never paid that much attention to that aspect of preflight checks, but in hindsight, tape does tend to lose its grip over time, so I went through the whole fleet to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Rotten way to lose such a great plane, so I'm passing this on hoping it saves one of you guys from having to lose a great airplane....


By Old Girl, you'll be missed...…

Grossman56

[Lon]

:(Sorry to hear Dan....

[Grossman56]

Definitely sucks!!
I know how CB felt when the OV-10 was gone, jus t stumbled across these from last Fall, this was before My Little Gal got rebuilt....



Now, hopefully, BBD doesn't go down, she's irreplaceable too

Grossman56

[OV10]

Time to start beatin the FL 1600 Stang drum ;)and forget about FMS :P
Remember, they ALL have an expiration date :(

[Boots Whirlygig]

:(:Crying: