Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[Grossman56]

The dang thing gets brighter when you polish it! Just had to try and yep, like a mirror!
Did a couple of panels yesterday and called it quits.
Tips on Flite metal:
Run tape around the perimeter of the area you plan to cover, one or two panels, depending on the size and lay the Flite metal down overlapping the tape and work it down from one side to the other, I just use my finger initially. Once down, I'll use the paper stump on its side to work the Flite Metal right down. Then, starting with the top most piece of tape, I'll hold the Exacto knife at the intersection of the overlap and the tape, then pull the tape back over itself. Once the knife starts the cut in the Flite Metal, the tape will pull a straight line, so you don't have to cut the whole length of the flite metal. Works great, you get better at it as you go along.

Grossman56

[Sky Wolf]

The dang thing gets brighter when you polish it! Just had to try and yep, like a mirror!
Did a couple of panels yesterday and called it quits.
Tips on Flite metal:
Run tape around the perimeter of the area you plan to cover, one or two panels, depending on the size and lay the Flite metal down overlapping the tape and work it down from one side to the other, I just use my finger initially. Once down, I'll use the paper stump on its side to work the Flite Metal right down. Then, starting with the top most piece of tape, I'll hold the Exacto knife at the intersection of the overlap and the tape, then pull the tape back over itself. Once the knife starts the cut in the Flite Metal, the tape will pull a straight line, so you don't have to cut the whole length of the flite metal. Works great, you get better at it as you go along.

Grossman56

Will definitely be giving it a shot!

[Grossman56]

Its a little tricky around the front of the fillet, so you have to do it in smaller pieces. Top of the left wing is done, just have to reapply the paint to the black stripe over the flap. Stock P51's had painted wings so she stay like this

Grossman56

[xviper]

Finally got a chance to fly my 1450mm P-51 V8 with the 4258 650Kv motor from the latest FMS 1400mm P-40. I'm using the stock prop but kept the ZTW 120A ESC from the 6s application (550kv Olympus motor + prop). I must say that this is the way the plane should have come.
In stock form (540kv motor), it was barely adequate in speed and power. (You just know when people say it flies very well "scale", they're secretly saying it needs more power but just being polite about it.) It would not do a good loop from level flight. It had to be started with a full throttle dive. Sudden banked turns were dangerous with no power in reserve to get out of trouble. If you weren't "2 mistakes" high, it's headed for dirt. I always like my planes with that little extra on reserve.
With the 580kv motor and zip tie mod, the plane came alive but could still only be called "adequate".
Now, with the 550kv motor on 6s and the 2-blade prop, it became a speed demon (for such a large plane) and it sounded mean. I recall I clocked it once using GPS onboard at between 90 to 100 mph. Unfortunately, using the stock 4-blade prop, something overheated or over-amped and the motor cut out at the most inopportune moment (like trying to accelerate to come around for a second landing attempt). I prefer the looks of the stock 4-blader.
With the P-40 motor on 4s, this plane can be called very fast and very competent. Loops are easy from level flight and the sound is almost too quiet, although it looks really nice as it whooshes by, just not quite as eerie or spooky as my 1700mm FMS Corsair with the 360kv motor. When I get too used to this set up, I can easily throw the 6s system back in to get my speed fix.
Here's the video. View in full screen at YouTube as it was taken by a Mobius standard lens "hat cam".

[Grossman56]

Looks great Viper, and a perfect landing, just to round out the flight, some days are just like that!
Stormy and windy here today so no flying, BBD is all set to go. I have a 580 and a 85A Mantis in her. Got a brief flight before season end last year. Needed some control throw adjustments, but the wind got up to bad for more flights. From what I did see though, she looked pretty good. Now I can see a path forward from that motor.

I did put the 650 in Old Crow, but haven't had a chance to try her yet.

Grossman56

[xviper]

Looks great Viper, and a perfect landing, just to round out the flight, some days are just like that!
Stormy and windy here today so no flying, BBD is all set to go. I have a 580 and a 85A Mantis in her. Got a brief flight before season end last year. Needed some control throw adjustments, but the wind got up to bad for more flights. From what I did see though, she looked pretty good. Now I can see a path forward from that motor.

I did put the 650 in Old Crow, but haven't had a chance to try her yet.

Grossman56

Let us know what you think of the comparison (580 in the BBD vs 640 in the OC).
Today was the first day of a bunch of beautiful days to come, after a few days of wind, doom and gloom.

[wrongroad]

G'day blokes,
Managed to get two flights in today with the Duchess Arlene and the first one took her to the one hundred flights and the second flight finally cracked the landing gear housing.
This is the first time I have had that happen with any of my FMS machines and the other two Mustangs have over one hundred flights each and plenty on the other models as well.
So based on a survey of three, FMS parts are designed to last one hundred flights.
When you consider, [a stat that I read somewhere] that model airplanes have an AVERAGE life span of thirty flights, the equipment has lasted three times longer that a model usually does.:p
Now I have put the 100 on all three P-51's, it will be time to get serious about getting some 650 kv donks and go the upgrade to those motors.
It is cheap enough to do and good insurance considering that the other motors do have ten hours of use. That is a lot of use for a small, high revving electric motor of relatively dubious quality.
Regards and respect:angel:;)
Daryl

[olwarbirds]

X tks for the vid, thats the performance I was hoping for with the 650. I am with you in wanting to use the 4 blader on my stangs. When I have a need for real serious speed I will just break out one of my 100mph plus pylon racers..... Daryl, that is an impressive record of trouble free flights. It does show 2 things, first is the credit due you for keeping up a superior account of your flights and obvious excellent maintenance and how well the FMS components have held up congrats brother...I do hope mine do as well.... DJ

[Grossman56]

Hey Viper, we're getting you weather from yesterday today. Sun's out and its actually not windy (SHHHHHH) I might get some flying in today!!!
YEAH!!!

Grossman56

[xviper]

Looking at the sat weather map, our weather pattern and yours look very similar today. Between us is a big cloudless void. I'm heading out in a few minutes. It should be one of the best days this year. Calm, warm but not too hot.

[wrongroad]

G'day blokes,
I managed to replace the side plates on the landing gear mechanism on the Duchess Arlene today and found that that there are two different styles of side plates. The Duchess had one set of each.
The one that broke was held together by counter sunk Allen head [cap screws] screws and the slightly heavier unit was held together by counter sunk Philips head screws. The Philips head unit was slightly thicker and shows absolutely no signs of cracking or other abnormality and that is after one hundred and one landings.
However, the cap screw unit was very badly cracked and one plate fell into eight pieces when I unscrewed the unit from the wheel well. It was also thinner by .55 of a millimetre. There were cracks right through the entire structure and I consider myself lucky not to have had a landing prang because of this. Failure was a hairs breath away. Well, it had failed but I must have been landing soft enough not to make it fall apart altogether.
In fact I struggled to get the C clip on the thicker unit and had to use some multi grip pliers to squeeze the unit together enough to get the clip back in place.
I actually had problems getting the tee bar actuator to fit in the thicker unit as well because the original set up had the tee bar going past the end of the channel and the tee bar had broached about one and a half millimetres of plastic away from the channel in the gear down position. Rather powerful motor driving the mechanism, I do think.
This cause me some grief and I may have uttered some swear words like %$%$ and &^*( and maybe $#@! until I decided to do some problem solving and have a look at what might have been causing the unit to not go back together as easily as the first.
The solution was simple and I simply wound the tee bar forward two full rotations and the parts went together just like they were supposed to!!
After the first test [and I expected this to be so] the thicker unit was a bit stiff and did not allow the wheel to come all the way into the wheel well. So, out with my trusty can of INOX and a few more cycles and the wheels do just what they are supposed to do every time.
I have no photos of the housings as my camera was making a lousy job of showing the detail black on black on black.:@
One last thing before bed time, if you are having trouble with aligning the wheels with the grub screws on the oleos, remember the knuckle where the wire for the outer gear doors goes. This also allows for wheel alignment and is much better then the grub screw for finer movement.
In conclusion, I have always believed that there may have been two styles of side plate for the six second gear. Today I confirmed it on the one model that was stock until last Sunday and was fitted with two different types of plates.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[Sky Wolf]

Got in a late flight this evening on the V1 Red Tail. Reached for the moon in the unlimited vertical flight!

https://youtu.be/e29om1wiShU

[moodg16]

I'm a little late joining the party as I just pulled the trigger for my first FMS 1450 P-51D (Duchess Arlene Red Tail). I also ordered two 4s 3600 Admirals for power. I know my questions probably have addressed here and there in the various forums but any help will be appreciated. I have other 3 cell batteries (4-Admiral 2600s & 4-Admiral 3300s). I am considering using my 3 cells for (In series) with a harness making them into 6 cells (22.2 volts). Will the stock motor and esc handle 6 volts with moderate throttle without damaging the system? The airplane and the two 4 cell batteries I just ordered put me way over budget so I am not in a financial position at this time to put a lot into motor or esc upgrades at this time. I want to make use of my extra batteries on hand but not at the expense of damaging my new plane. Any advise or suggestions will be appreciated.

[OV10]

Hello moodg16,
Welcome to the Squawk.
The short answer is NO WAY. 6S(22.2) is a quick death by smoke for one or both the stock motor and ESC. There is a ton of stuff written about the same question you asked as well as a bunch of viable upgrade options to use 6S power over on the other forum but not much here on the Squawk.
Best regards,

[Flygirl]

Got in a late flight this evening on the V1 Red Tail. Reached for the moon in the unlimited vertical flight!
https://youtu.be/e29om1wiShU

Nice flight! Great landing! I don't know how you manged to keep orientation. It was dark!

[xviper]

I'm a little late joining the party as I just pulled the trigger for my first FMS 1450 P-51D (Duchess Arlene Red Tail). I also ordered two 4s 3600 Admirals for power. I know my questions probably have addressed here and there in the various forums but any help will be appreciated. I have other 3 cell batteries (4-Admiral 2600s & 4-Admiral 3300s). I am considering using my 3 cells for (In series) with a harness making them into 6 cells (22.2 volts). Will the stock motor and esc handle 6 volts with moderate throttle without damaging the system? The airplane and the two 4 cell batteries I just ordered put me way over budget so I am not in a financial position at this time to put a lot into motor or esc upgrades at this time. I want to make use of my extra batteries on hand but not at the expense of damaging my new plane. Any advise or suggestions will be appreciated.

The stock motor will not survive on 6s. I had my 1450mm P-51 on 6s for the past year. All it takes is money. The one way you can do this is to get the 550kv motor and prop from the FMS Olympus. If you wish to use the stock 4-blade prop, you must increase the size of the ESC considerably. I was using a 120A ESC and with the stock prop, after repeated high throttle runs, the ESC would over amp and shut down. I would suggest going at least 130+ amps. (HobbyKing has a 150A ESC on sale at the moment for about 50 bucks.) Otherwise, stick with the Olympus prop and you can fly the whole battery (I used 4000mah, 6s) at high throttle.
I got bored with the high speed of the 6s system. It was very impressive but I longed for the scale look of the stock 4-blader. Given that desire, I have recently gone with the motor out of the new FMS P-40 and fly it with a 4000mah, 4s battery. I kept the 120A ESC and the P-51 flies very quickly, just not as fast as on 6s. If you go with the P-40 motor, I think you can stay with the stock ESC but just don't do too many full throttle runs. Have a back up RX battery (like the Scorpion back up guard) just in case the ESC shuts down. Usually if it shuts down, reducing the throttle to zero will reset it and get you power back for a well managed landing - that is, if you don't panic and forget what to do.

[wrongroad]

G'day moodg16,
If your dollar situation is not so good [and I hear you on that one, brother] do not go to the six cell option with the stock gear unless you can buy the magic smoke that WILL come out of every electronic part of the model and get it back into the fried components.;)As said by OV10.
The best option for four cell batteries is the 650kv motor if you want oomph. If you are looking for a nice upgrade for 4S go the 580kv motor.....no, on second thought, if you are going to upgrade for 4S batteries, go straight to the 650kv.

I have the 580kv donks in my FMS 1400mm P-51D's [three of them] and they fly very well and handle nicely for good, safe six minute flights with 3300mAh batteries.
If the 650 motor was around when I did the change from 540 to 580, I would have gone straight to the 650 and I will be doing that in the very near future as soon as I can save enough folding stuff to do so.
I will be doing this for all my models that will accept the bigger motor.

As Viper mentioned, the 550 route is the go for 6S batteries but make sure you upgrade the ESC....more dollars.

I flew my Shangri La model today for her 113th mission and she started life completely stock but I upgrade to the 580 after the seventh flight. I have not uprated the ESC but I would not discourage you from doing so. In fact, it would be wise.

The simplest and least expensive way to upgrade [if you have 4S batteries] is the 650kv option.
If you have 6S or can series 3S then you need to go with the 550 option and definitely upgrade the ESC to 100 amps or bigger.
Just balance what you have to what you need to change for the best $ to flight ratio.

Regards and respect
Daryl

[moodg16]

Thanks for the advice, everyone at the Squawk has been most helpful. Is the 650KV motor a direct "drop in" fit for the 1450 P51 or do I have to get a different motor mount, motor shaft, or any other adapters for proper spacing and mounting.

[wrongroad]

G'day moodg16,
You need to get the cross mount for the P-40 and the propeller adapter from the FMS Olympus.
The 650 come fitted with a prop adapter but is thicker that the Olympus one by about three millimetres and that, in turn, takes the prop out further by three millimetres. If that does not worry you, use the P-40 adapter.
If you have access to a lathe or milling machine, then the problem is not an issue either.
Now there is some talk that it might be a bit of a lucky dip with the prop adapter along the lines that the thinner one and the thicker one are wearing the same part number. This is my take on the discussion and I could well be off the track but I am thinking that is what I read.
I would recommend that an email to your chosen supplier with help solve the issue.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[flyingiceberg]

So I am on the fence between the Freewing P-51 Old Crow with sound or the Red Bull Corsair. ( if I buy another one now) I have an FMS Marie V8 1400 I bought used. Have not flown it yet but it has T Motor AT 3530 kv570 in it. Needs a little work. One retract not working. I consider myself a beginner to intermediate pilot I can do loops and rolls but have not messed with inverted much. Learned on the Apprentice, have the eflite T28 1.2 and a Pawnee as well, as a few micros. I like the idea of the sound on the Freewing and the AS3X. Cost is about the same but I would have to buy a reveiver for the Freewing. Any thoughts?