Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[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.

[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]

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]

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

[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]

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]

That's looking awesome Grossman! Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see the finished product...but take your time.

[Grossman56]

Panel lines are super easy, I just use the supplied plastic ruler and run along the existing ones, works great. They also include a dress pattern marker that will put rivets on in seconds. My eyes are a little achy today from staring at it all day yesterday. Its pretty easy actually, check out 'Goodbye to Old Iron Ass' for a complete blow by blow.

Grossman56

[Sky Wolf]

Grossman, I am really looking forward to seeing how your P-51 turns out. I've been considering covering my P-51 in FliteMetal as well. Still toying with whether or not I have the patience to get started and see it all the way through.

Any pics of your progress yet?

[olwarbirds]

Gman, how hard do you think doing panel lines then adding rivets is going to be using that flitemetal ?

[xviper]

Wrongroad, It's almost like our weather this past season has been scrambled. The winter has been particularly mild and dry. We flew almost every day in what we call "winter mode" - anytime the temp was -2C or above, we put on the double socks, boots, insulated pants, several layers of upper wear, big woolly hat and thin leather gloves or fingerless mitts and we go fly. The weather only turned fowl a couple of days ago and we should get it for a couple days more, then back to the nice weather.
Grossman, Vancouver has been my all time favorite road trip holiday but I haven't done that for a couple of years now that I don't participate in the Washington Honda S2000 annual drives anymore. Vancouver has been getting a lot of wet lately. Last weekend, a flying budding went out there for a golf event and he got dumped on. When I saw him last week, he was still drying out and I think he shrunk a couple of sizes. Usually, the wet gets stopped by the Rockies and we get dry by the time the air mass gets to us.
It's been a very productive few days. P-51 ready to go with new motor. Eurofighter ready to go with upgraded fan/motor, SebArt Mig 29 ready to go with new Rx (old AR8000 was causing a servo to twitch badly). Next, repair a couple of sailplanes and a flying wing. Awaiting new Dynam C-118 "Dusty".

[Grossman56]

Hey guys, I can tell you that he DOES live almost directly north of me, so what ever Viper is getting is what we'll get in a couple of hours. Dang, and I moved away from Vancouver BC just to get away from the rain and clouds. Looks like it took it a couple of years but it found me. On top of that, its been nice in Vancouver.
NICE IN VANCOUVER!!!!
This is rainy season there.
Oh Well
started in on covering the FW mustang in Flite Metal yesterday. It really does have a sticky backing! and its not bad to work with, its time consuming. In one video I watched, the guy said to sand it with 320 wet/dry sand paper, don't do this unless you want to spend hours polishing it by hand. I have one half of the horizontal stab done and a couple more passes with Wenol (Left over from DC3 days) which by the way is a excellent metal polish and its waterbased which saved me so many polishing pads back in the day when I was working on the DC3. In hindsight, I should complain about a tiny horizontal stab, beats being up on scaffolding.


Grossman56

[wrongroad]

G'day gang,
Viper, I did not know that you moved house next to me. Or it might be the fact that right now it is raining and blowing the dog off the chain so there was no flying for me today.
I woke at 0600 and looked out the window and went back to bed for a sleep in.
This afternoon I replaced the motor bearings in the 580 fitted to DA and tested the same in the drive way. No more growling noise.
The front bearing was really bad and had heaps of movement and was 'gritty' when I rolled it in my fingers.
The front bearing does take most of the heavy load so it was no surprise to me to see, feel and hear what I did.
I also took the time to replace the blue shrink wrapped landing gear sequencer with an older style six second unit that I had in my spare parts stock.
I was getting to the point where I was starting to mistrust the original unit.
My other other two Mustangs have the older style sequencer and have never missed a beat so it is logical to get the unreliable unit out before it lets me down. Even though I was trying to get the 100 flights up without changing any parts from out of the box. I nearly got there. I just thought that while I had to replace the bearings I may as well change the sequencer as well. All on 99 flights.
The funny thing is that all my P-51 have had to wait on 99 flights before getting to 100 up. At least I am consistent.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[xviper]

We've got a few days of rain and overcast so I'm taking advantage of it to do some mods to a few of my planes. I'll throw the 650kv motor on the P-51 today and fly it on 4s. It'll be a good comparison to the 6s set up with the Olympus motor.

[Grossman56]

My P-40 650kv motor arrived today and I'm pleased to say that the Olympus 550kv motor X-mount fits perfectly. In fact, both motors are designated "4258". So those who wish to go from the Olympus 6s motor to the P-40 4s motor can simply transfer the X-mount.

Good to know Viper, I know I was disappointed when I couldn't fit it on the 580 motor mount, so any info about what does and doesn't work is very helpful

Grossman56

[olwarbirds]

Wintrsol, tks ! nice work brother. X, tks and I will add that info to the first page, along with WintrSol circuit board fix....again tks much, this is what makes this forum rock :)

I am planning on using liquid electrical tape on my circuit boards.

[xviper]

I just ordered the 650kv motor myself. I wish to go back to 4s. I did not order any motor mount. Are you talking about the X-mount? I've got both the stock P-51 X-mount and the Olympus 550kv motor X-mount. Is the "motor mount" for the P-40 motor different from these two?

My P-40 650kv motor arrived today and I'm pleased to say that the Olympus 550kv motor X-mount fits perfectly. In fact, both motors are designated "4258". So those who wish to go from the Olympus 6s motor to the P-40 4s motor can simply transfer the X-mount.

[WintrSol]

Wintrsol, tks and nice idea for the fix...could you post pics of the prob and what you did please.

This is what the defective one looks like - note how the wires are exposed past the circuit board:

The 'good' one has very little wire exposed, and the insulation almost touches the edge of the circuit board, so the wires flex very little. I just pushed some RTV between the wires, so it will harden and keep them from flexing. You can't see where the insulation ends, but it doesn't matter - the RTV is solidly between and over the wires:

[olwarbirds]

Rod, like my brother downunder Shirty said there is endless "Theories" about lipos....and 3.75 is the number, I try to never go below. A couple of proven "for me" practices ....use 3.8v per cell as the storage voltage...never charge a warm/hot lipo. .never leave lipos charged above the 3.80 per cell for extended periods of time...I always balance charge my lipos...I normally cycle my NEW lipos a couple of times before first use, this seems to keep them more balanced during first discharge...Spend the monies and get a good quality charger...If you have doubts about a lipo, dont use it. Get a field lipo tester, I always check my cell voltages before I use a lipo, this practice has saved me numerous times. Most important, handle lipos with respect for their potential danger is huge if you dont. Hope this helped and have fun.... DJ

[Shirty]

There's lots of different stuff on lipos, theories etc but I know one thing to be true. Don't run them down below 3.75 a cell and they'll last a lot longer. :)