Official FMS 1400mm P-40B Warhawk Thread

[MrSmoothie]

My second Covid Project -- converting a very used and slightly crashed P-40B into the Hawk 75A... did a complete build log on RCG for anybody who's interested: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...-75-Conversion

[Grossman56]

If the problem is that you don't have enough motor wire lead coming off the ESC to reach the motor, then you'd have to get some lead extensions. If there is enough length, you have to pull the motor and run the leads out the front, connect them all up and remount the motor. The latest P-40's have a hex screw for mounting the motor, the old ones had a cross head.

Grossman56

[Cchrissyv1]

Having just gone through this myself, its tougher than it used to be when they had the original ESC in the plane. What I found is that there is a slot in the forward bottom of the nose that you have to wiggle the body of the ESC into, then the wires will extend out far enough to be removed. Once you have access to the plugs, don't forget that they are taped together so cut the tape. Once the ESC and motor are separated, the fun of getting the ESC body out of the slot begins. Takes a lot of wiggling, but it does eventually come out. So now, you think the worst of it is over and to a degree, it is. The ZTW ESC has long enough wires to extend through to the motor, use a wire or string to pull them through. The trick now is that the ZTW ESC has a thicker (taller) body and won't allow the battery tray to slide over it, so you have to cut a trough under the battery tray to counter sink it. PITA I know, but it does work out in the end. In the old days,(Sigh) the wires coming out to the motor were 3.5 and a Mantis 85A ESC slid in there no problem, the only trick there was that you needed the motor extension wires. When I replaced the motor and ESC in my other P-40 with the motor and ESC from the FMS P-47 to go 6s, it was a ten minute job max.

Thanks for the response, Grossman. I am not sure what you mean though. My experience was a bit different, my ESC was not difficult to remove as it was loosely in place underneath the battery tray. Once I got the wires disconnected from the motor I simply picked it up out of the fuselage.

My problem is now figuring out how to connect the new ESC. I posted a picture below to help show what I mean. I took the wing off and there is that slot that I think you are talking about. It is too small for my hands and without trying to cut the foam at the seams to separate in order to get in there, I have no idea how one would even do this task. So my question is, how does one connect the new ESC wires to the motor wires without taking anything apart? Do I need to consider taking a knife and splitting the foam at the seams and pry it apart to get my hands in there? That seems like my only option at this point and that is probably the last thing I want to do, especially if there is an easier way. Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated. I know I sound like a noob with these questions but I honestly have never modded any of my airplanes before other than gluing them back together from a crash.

[Grossman56]

Having just gone through this myself, its tougher than it used to be when they had the original ESC in the plane. What I found is that there is a slot in the forward bottom of the nose that you have to wiggle the body of the ESC into, then the wires will extend out far enough to be removed. Once you have access to the plugs, don't forget that they are taped together so cut the tape. Once the ESC and motor are separated, the fun of getting the ESC body out of the slot begins. Takes a lot of wiggling, but it does eventually come out. So now, you think the worst of it is over and to a degree, it is. The ZTW ESC has long enough wires to extend through to the motor, use a wire or string to pull them through. The trick now is that the ZTW ESC has a thicker (taller) body and won't allow the battery tray to slide over it, so you have to cut a trough under the battery tray to counter sink it. PITA I know, but it does work out in the end. In the old days,(Sigh) the wires coming out to the motor were 3.5 and a Mantis 85A ESC slid in there no problem, the only trick there was that you needed the motor extension wires. When I replaced the motor and ESC in my other P-40 with the motor and ESC from the FMS P-47 to go 6s, it was a ten minute job max.

[Cchrissyv1]

Okay so scratch my last question. I just found that it does not matter which wires are connected to which, if the motor is reversed simply reverse two of the wires. BUT, onto my next question.

How did some of you replace these wires? If I take apart the prop and the spinner, it is pretty tight for my fingers or even some needle nose plyers. Did any of you actually pull out the motor? If pulling out the motor is what you did, how did you unscrew those screws that attach the motor to the mount? I have screwdriver adapters with the proper bits but the thickness of my screw driver cannot get past the foam plus the motor without starting to mess up my foam. Did any of you actually have to pry apart the foam in order to take off the motor? This seems like a lot of work just to swap out an ESC. But I am too afraid to risk taking this bird up in the air again with that stock ESC. Please help!

[Cchrissyv1]

The Predator motor has 4.0 mm bullets where the ESC that you show has 3.5 mm bullets.
On the old type motors that the P-40 came with, the one you show works fine, you just need the motor wire extensions.
With the 650kv Predator motor, you need an ESC like this one..

https://www.motionrc.com/products/ztw-gecko-85a-esc-with-8a-sbec

The product specs show the 4.0 mm bullets connectors...


Not the only thing is what type of battery connectors you have. If your batteries are Deans (T) connectors like my batteries are, you 'll need an adaptor.

https://www.motionrc.com/collections/battery-to-esc-adapters/products/xt60-female-to-t-connector-male-adapter-admxt60ftconnm

Hope this helps!

Grossman56

Alight so I am finally getting around to replacing the predator ESC with the ZTW Gecko 85A ESC. Problem is all of the connectors are the same color (black). How do I know which connectors to connect to my motor connectors? Or does it matter? The instructions are not specific.

[boomer108]

Looking good Gman! She lives again.

[Grossman56]

Got a few more as the wind died down...

Had to show her off with the sister ship and the P-51 in Flite Metal from a few years ago. Did taxi tests around the driveway and everything seems to be great! Also, I hadn't run up the Flying Tiger since I installed the new prop and spinner.
I ordered the new ESC as I don't want to take any chances with a flight failure. Basically exhausted my spending now, so I guess I'd better be satisfied for a while!!

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Excellent work Gman, really looks fantastic in all that bare aluminum!

[Hardway]

Wow!!! Great job bud!!! Happy for you and thanks for the kind words my brother!!! Jerry
She sure looks good!

[Grossman56]

Hey guys!
So, I dropped Horizon Hobbies a note to tell them of the fubar in the manufacturing dept of FMS.
In the meantime, the decals from Callie arrived yesterday so, as I wait for the danged wind to die down, I got them on, for the most part. The only thing missing is the "U.S. ARMY" decal as I want to check out some pics for the positioning. They'll take a bit of work because of the servo arms, no biggie. Took her outside to get a few pics, it was a pretty quick photo shoot due to the fact that she wanted to taxi on her own.

DANGED WIND!



Pardon the fingerprints, it's going to be something I'll have to live with. I have several sets of cotton gloves that I'll have to start wearing when handling her I guess.

Once again, I'd like to thank Hardway for his incredible generosity, Jerry, if it hadn't been for you , this plane in all her glory would still be just a dream in the back of an old guys' brain!

Appreciated so much more than words can express!!!!!!!!:handshake::p40:

Grossman56

[daisydank]

Got all the controls hooked up and ran across the same problem that some of the guys have been reporting. The rudder moves opposite to the tail wheel. I compared the old P-40 servo setup to the new and guess what? Someone has installed that white servo mount backwards! In the old P-40, the servos are mounted on the starboard side and the center, the new one has the elevator servo against the port side and the rudder in the middle, there is a third servo mount position, but its not hollowed out enough to accept a servo. Also the servo arms in the new one are at the three o'clock position where the old P-40's are at the nine.
So, out with the Dremel tool and I hollowed out the third position and installed the rudder servo into that with the arm facing the nine o'clock position, I just reversed the elevator servo within my radio. Fired her up, works like a charm. Must have hired a new guy on the line and he/she is putting that piece in the mold backwards:thumbsdown:

Grossman56

[daisydank]

hi
I was just on Small Parts CNC and they have released new aluminum sides for the P-40B. I have the Corsair sides on mine but they take a bit of shimming and I wasn't 100% wih them, so I ordered in a set of the new ones. Anyone who has had difficulty with the FMS retract sides, this is the way to go!!

First brought to our collective attention by Warbird Charlie a while back in regards to the FMS P-51's, these were some of the most sought after mods from the group at the time. Now they're available for P-51's. F4U's and P-40B's, As stated before, you 'll break the wing before you break these retract sides. Good deal for $19.95 a side.

[Grossman56]

Couldn't agree with you more! What with the troubles that the Predator ESC has been causing and then such a blatant mistake in manufacturing. You can't tell me that the people who have put literally tens of thousands of servos into these P-40's didn't notice that all of a sudden they were putting them in backwards. I had a suspicion that maybe they installed the servo in backwards, but no, you can clearly see the two cut aways for the servos are on the wrong side. It's an easy fix with the right tools but its something that shouldn't have to be done to a brand new bird.

Grossman56

[OV10]

Got all the controls hooked up and ran across the same problem that some of the guys have been reporting. The rudder moves opposite to the tail wheel. I compared the old P-40 servo setup to the new and guess what? Someone has installed that white servo mount backwards! In the old P-40, the servos are mounted on the starboard side and the center, the new one has the elevator servo against the port side and the rudder in the middle, there is a third servo mount position, but its not hollowed out enough to accept a servo. Also the servo arms in the new one are at the three o'clock position where the old P-40's are at the nine.
So, out with the Dremel tool and I hollowed out the third position and installed the rudder servo into that with the arm facing the nine o'clock position, I just reversed the elevator servo within my radio. Fired her up, works like a charm. Must have hired a new guy on the line and he/she is putting that piece in the mold backwards:thumbsdown:

Grossman56

Good analysis Dan, that piece of info should be highlighted so that other unlucky new owners don't have to wonder what the HAY.
With FMS dropping a lot of the fleet to team up with the E-Flite label some strange things have been occurring.:astonished:
This is the time that Flight Line needs to just take that 1400mm market from them with a 1600 Hellcat, P-40E, Zero, P-39 and so on

[Grossman56]

Got all the controls hooked up and ran across the same problem that some of the guys have been reporting. The rudder moves opposite to the tail wheel. I compared the old P-40 servo setup to the new and guess what? Someone has installed that white servo mount backwards! In the old P-40, the servos are mounted on the starboard side and the center, the new one has the elevator servo against the port side and the rudder in the middle, there is a third servo mount position, but its not hollowed out enough to accept a servo. Also the servo arms in the new one are at the three o'clock position where the old P-40's are at the nine.
So, out with the Dremel tool and I hollowed out the third position and installed the rudder servo into that with the arm facing the nine o'clock position, I just reversed the elevator servo within my radio. Fired her up, works like a charm. Must have hired a new guy on the line and he/she is putting that piece in the mold backwards:thumbsdown:

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Got the walkways and the chrome painted parts done, really starting to come together!

Can't wait for the decals to come, she'll really look awesome then. Stay tuned.........

Grossman56

[Hardway]

[Grossman56]

So, she's actually on her wheels now, so out with the camera for her maiden photo shoot!
Of course, the cats had to check her out as well, my little helper in the bottom of the pic. She's always right there when I'm working on airplanes, making sure I get it right!! As you can see, I painted the control surfaces with silver, it gave it a real fabric like look. The gun bay on the top of the fuse is yet to be painted, I did a rough coat of silver on the main gear doors, but they'll get toe chrome paint treatment as well. Lots of little things to take care of yet such as the walkways and some small additions of tape in some overlooked areas.

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Looking good Gman!