Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[Grossman56]

Nice to have a neighbor (neighbour) like that!
(I'm an Ameradian)

Grossman56

[seaviper]

Mustang formation yesterday. My stock bird and another smaller one in formation. From my flying buddy's channel

[Crashcanuck1962]

Grass is generally going to be a little harder on landing gear over the long haul compared to asphalt. Our runway is built on an old garbage dump site and one part in the middle continues to sink. So there is a good size dip you have to try and account for.
I won one of the Rochobby hopped up Corsair's at a flying event last summer. On the third landing which was pretty normal the right side main gear collapsed. I noticed the lights were going on and off as i walked up to it. Turns out something overheated in the retract and fried the wire in the wing, but it also melted the wire for the flap, aileron and wingtip light into a total mess so I know what you mean about quality of products. I'm lucky the whole plane didn't burn up.

[seaviper]

Well I removed my broken retracts today and replaced them. I found that the broken retract did have a bent connecting pin. So I must have hit something on the runway. I think it was an ant pile. Anyway, in all fairness to FMS the retract was not at fault.
Also, whoever at Motion was responsible for getting those retracts to me ASAP is to be commended! <Salute> The 580 motor won't be here till Tuesday. But that's ok. I can fly now.

Hoping to fly Petie this weekend but the temps here are falling fast.

[Grossman56]

Lucky Guy! We have a foot of snow and minus 8 freaking degrees F here!!
I'd recommend the CNC Smallparts metal retract sides if you're going to do some gear work, well worth the price.

Grossman56

[wrongroad]

G'day Grossman,
I can not even begin to comprehend that kind of temperature. It simply does not compute in my brain.
I am sitting here right now with the aircon on and the fan blowing cool air on me.
A cold soft drink with half a glass of ice is just in reach as well. Yes, it has been 38*C here today at 80% humidity. Very sticky and uncomfortable.
G'day Crashcanuck,
Flying of grass depends a bit on where one lives.
Our runway here is grass [I have never flown off a hard track yet] but we cut it very low and the grass is a 'running' type that covers evenly and helps smooth things out even better. You would know the shortness of a golf green, well that is us.
It also helps that we have done a lot of work on our strip by professional leveling, a sand base to aid with no surface water even after the heaviest of rain we can fly within minutes of the rain stopping, and a heavy rolling from a road roller. [cost over 100k all up after bovine vandals had gone to town on our strip]
Add to the fact that we have several hundred tonnes of clean fertile topsoil over the sand base and you can imagine how nice our grass strip is.
This is not just our lot either as us Australians cut our grass really low compared to the way grass is cut in the USA.
Your grass will put more strain on the gear as the US tends to call short about 25 millimetres or so. The grass does not even come over the tyres on the tail wheels of my 1400mm FSM Mustangs.
If you guys in the States would cut your grass lower you would not have as many problems! [please tongue firmly in cheek there, mate]
I used to sell ride on lawn mowers and I know the difference between the cutting height of the US machines and the Australian machines. It is about 3/4 of an inch between the lowest heights. And we scalp the worms!

On New Years Eve, I finally got to put flight two hundred on my Shangri La and adding that to the other two machines [Duchess Arlene and BBD] having well over the hundred and fifty mark each, it is not too bad of going I think. Plus fifty each on my other fourteen models in the hanger. Plus family commitments and work and ....
It should be also noted that the only repairs on this machine have been swap outs. The side frames for the landing gear were swapped out at flight number fifty for the metal units and the 540kv motor was swapped out for a 580 and latter for a 650. Other then that, I have not replaced any item due to crash damage or failure......oh, hang on, I did replace the bearings in the 580 motor after five flights, and I kicked the outer gear door once and broke it, but that was my stupid fault for not looking where I was going.
I also had some bronze phosphorus bearings made for the wheel axles to prevent the e clip from cutting into to the wheels. I did this for all my models.
I then coated them with teflon and now I have trouble stopping the models on the runway. But the take off run meets very little resistance from friction.

All in all, I have a ball with this hobby and I have made some life long friends from it. And this bunch of model flying lunatics has to be one of the best groups of people going around.
So with that, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR and a safe, worry free 2018.

Regards and respect
Daryl R Woolfe

[Grossman56]

One extreme to the other Daryl!
our high is supposed to be 17 F today which is 15 degrees below freezing, for a HIGH. Right now it's supposed to be a balmy 6 degrees! So, staying indoors today:Silly:
Got the 650 kv in BBD yesterday so all my Mustangs are running 650's now. The old motor mount is going toward a Tigercat upgrade.

Grossman56

[Lon]

Expected high today at the field is -1 Fahrenheit.

[boomer108]

G'day WrongRoad and Happy New Year!

I wouldn't mind some of your Aussie weather right now it's currently 1degree Fahrenheit with a -11 wind chill here. No flying for awhile. Good flying!

Roy B.

[Shirty]

Grats on the big 200 Daryl. Buggered if I know how these blokes fly in snow weather, anything under 16 Celsius is too cold for me, 16F not a chance lol.

[wrongroad]

G'day Shirty,
We just have had a huge thunderstorm just now and it has cooled the place down to 30*C.
I have flown in a low temp of -5*C and after bringing the aircraft straight out of the warm car and flying almost straight away, I actually came back with ice all over the canopy. That day did warm up to a nice 22*c.

G'day Grossman, Lon and boomer, nup, I just can not get my head around those temps. At a midday temp of 18*C here, we are all walking around like we are going to the South Pole. Heavy ski type jackets and gloves..........below zero in either C or F is no place for my mother's little boy.

This is one of the many good things about living in Australia, we can and do fly all year long. No winter break for us! Jealous yet boys????;):)
And where I live, bikini's on the beach year round!:Cool:[married not blind]

Lets see, I have a week off and, well, I might go flying tomorrow!! 30*C is the forecast!
Just rubbing it in.!!!LOL
Regards and respect
Daryl
Have a great day and stay warm and safe.

[Shirty]

You better be blind or I'm telling dolly. My silence can be bought though lmao ;):)

[OV10]

You better be blind or I'm telling dolly. My silence can be bought though lmao ;):)

LOL

[condor]

On New Years Eve, I finally got to put flight two hundred on my Shangri La and adding that to the other two machines [Duchess Arlene and BBD] having well over the hundred and fifty mark each, it is not too bad of going I think. Plus fifty each on my other fourteen models in the hanger. Plus family commitments and work and ....
It should be also noted that the only repairs on this machine have been swap outs. The side frames for the landing gear were swapped out at flight number fifty for the metal units and the 540kv motor was swapped out for a 580 and latter for a 650. Other then that, I have not replaced any item due to crash damage or failure......oh, hang on, I did replace the bearings in the 580 motor after five flights, and I kicked the outer gear door once and broke it, but that was my stupid fault for not looking where I was going.
I also had some bronze phosphorus bearings made for the wheel axles to prevent the e clip from cutting into to the wheels. I did this for all my models.
I then coated them with teflon and now I have trouble stopping the models on the runway. But the take off run meets very little resistance from friction.

All in all, I have a ball with this hobby and I have made some life long friends from it. And this bunch of model flying lunatics has to be one of the best groups of people going around.
So with that, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR and a safe, worry free 2018.

Regards and respect
Daryl R Woolfe

[/QUOTE]

I also fly off a dirt/close cut grass mixture strip, but the only levelling is with a push mower! Gear on our birds lasts a few months then needs replacing due to frequent straightening of oloe legs to enable gear to fit in wheel wells. Wish I could fly as good as you! My birds crash about once every 30 or so flights, mainly because they fly level only for a few seconds at a time. I seem addicted to throwing them around at too low a level! Getting good at repairs, though. 650 motor is as great motor. Happy new year.

[wrongroad]

G'day condor,
I read somewhere that the average model airplane lasts an average of thirty flights.So, you are right on the money.:Cool:
The dreaded six second flight has also visited me along the way. You know the one, rotate, go up, stall, go down, crunch! We have all been there I think.
We have put a lot of work into our runway and when people ask what it looked like before we started, I simply point to the cattle paddock surrounding the strip just two metres off the edge. An out landing is not a good option for us but it does make us good at deadstick landings and getting the best out of a glide. I would say that ninety percent of our deadsticks make it back to the runway.
It measures up at 150 metres long and 18 metres wide and is as hard as a cricket pitch. For my overseas mates, that is really hard, almost like concrete.
The best part about our strip is nothing to hit for three hundred metres in three directions and if you hit the trees to the south, that will be your own fault as they are six hundred metres away.
Our nearest house is three kilometres away, there are no power lines or anything else to run into.
It is a perfect place to fly the FMS Mustangs and all other planes and as our weather is usually very benign, we get to use the field a lot right through out the year. In the four years that we have been there, I think we have lost ten days of scheduled flying due to the weather and a couple of those days being because the road was cut because of flooding.
If you want to have a look....
www.graftonmac.com
will get you there.
Regards and respect
Daryl

PS, Shirty, when we are driving on the Gold Coast, Dolly often points the bikini's out to me...Of course I am always too busy driving to take any notice;):)

[condor]

We have put a lot of work into our runway and when people ask what it looked like before we started, I simply point to the cattle paddock surrounding the strip just two metres off the edge. An out landing is not a good option for us but it does make us good at deadstick landings and getting the best out of a glide. I would say that ninety percent of our deadsticks make it back to the runway.
It measures up at 150 metres long and 18 metres wide and is as hard as a cricket pitch. For my overseas mates, that is really hard, almost like concrete.
The best part about our strip is nothing to hit for three hundred metres in three directions and if you hit the trees to the south, that will be your own fault as they are six hundred metres away.
Our nearest house is three kilometres away, there are no power lines or anything else to run into.
It is a perfect place to fly the FMS Mustangs and all other planes and as our weather is usually very benign, we get to use the field a lot right through out the year. In the four years that we have been there, I think we have lost ten days of scheduled flying due to the weather and a couple of those days being because the road was cut because of flooding.
Regards and respect
Daryl

Howdy, Daryl. I can only dream about a strip like yours! There are only 3 of us in our group, and we use the bottom section of a paddock, owned by one of our group. Took a bit of work levelling (?) it, but it's OK for us. It's 95meters long and 13meters wide. Fences across both ends and high voltage lines across the predominant approach end smarten us up, particularly when aerobatting over the strip. Had to but an arrestor barrier across the western end to capture my 1700 P-51 and 90mm F-18 Hornet when wind is zero (about 1% of the time) if I land a little long. It's fine for the 1400mm and below birds. Hand mowing it, every 5 days this time of the year, is a pain in the neck. We've all hung birds up in the power lines and engaged the fence on the odd occasion - great strip for the Mavic and other quads! Pic of the strip below. Fields around us are full of waist high poppies at this time, which makes finding a downed bird difficult..
Cheers

[rifleman_btx]

Looks great!

[wrongroad]

G'day condor,
I think you blokes have a great set up for what you have to work with.
I am just having a chuckle when you say your group is three strong. So you get 100% of your club to working bee's. I bet many other clubs would like that kind of roll up:).
I am in a club of around fifty and if we get three to a working bee, we think we are going great!
I am one of three who mow the runway and pit area. And the same three tend to take care of most of the dramas. To be fair to one more, he used to mow and do a lot but the dreaded Parkinson's is taking its toll there. This gentleman did not get a life membership to the club because he sat on his backside while everyone else did something. He still serves as our treasurer and is a good all round person. I actually took over the mowing job from him to help ease the work load and the others now help me out in summer when I am doing a twelve hour shift.
You know [and this is for everyone] we would not have that much to talk about in these forums if we did not have people willing to get out and mow the grass, shovel the snow, chase the cattle and clear away the OLM's. [Never heard of OLM"S?????- - - - - Organic land mines. Run over one with a model and see what damage even a fresh will do!!!]. Ask me how I know and the aroma in the car all the way home is interesting as well.
I had a letter published in the state newsletter where I made comment about the 'someone' in our clubs. The someone who cooks the BBQ, the someone who cleans the toilet, mows the grass, writes newsletters, cleans up the rubbish, so on and so on.
I recommended 'someone' for life membership to all clubs. In condors case it is easy, three life members!
Of course there are those who never show their faces at a working bee but have plenty to say at a general meeting but never allow themselves to be voted onto the committee. Funny that.
I think condor and the other two have done a sterling job and it you know their location, I can pretty much say that they would rarely have a calm day into which to fly. But look at the view.
Condor, it that looking out to Bass Straight or towards the South Pole?
Either way that is a fantastic shot.
Regards and respect
Daryl
PS...29* C today, no cloud, no wind, low humidity and I was not able to go flying:Angry:
But I did spend all day with my little boy and tomorrow we are off to his first airshow!
I love it.:):Cool:

[seaviper]

At our field, it's not the height of grass that's an issue. It's the fire ant mounds, armadillo digs, etc. I am convinced an ant mound broke my P-51 gear. Flew with it that way all day and didn't notice till I got home. But I remember hitting something on landing. I heard it but didn't see anything. This theory was further strengthened when I found the broken gear had a bent connecting pin. I'm going to start walking the runway to knock down those things before I fly in the winter.

I quit counting flights on my birds. Too hard to be accurate in the fog of battle. I do keep track of total time on airframe (TTOA) with a persistent timer for each aircraft model on the radio.

Anyway, still waiting on my 580kv motor that ordered back on Dec 27. Flew with the stock motor in some pretty good wind the other day. Didn't like that much.

[Patrnflyr]

At least the all the animals around us at the field aren’t deadly! Seems like every nature TV show I watch concerning The Aussies is about another type of animal that wants to kill you. From foot wide spiders to salt water crocs to great white sharks to killer jelly fish? I’d much rather be higher up the food chain in America