Official FlightLine RC 1600mm P-38 Lightning Thread

[Lon]

hi guys,my model is bone stock no mods yet other than a little paint here and there. mine made c/g on my c/g machine right side up no drop tanks @ 70 mm with gear down and 66-67 mm with the gear up. i am using the admiral 3000 35c batteries here is the battery location. the vid here said to balance 65-75 mm with the gear down. i most likely wont fly mine with drop tanks. adding the rest of my decals and should maiden sunday if i can sneak away from Easter. =D

Thanks for the info! (Guess what i'm doing here at 12:40am CST)

[crxmanpat]

Got mine all put together today. I love working from home! :D

Now I need to make up some decals.

[Aros]

PlaneCrazy - Fabric black screen with adhesive backing on the intakes. For the radiator scoops (More difficult due to shape and it's a clear opening so not a lot of surface area to grab onto) I'm going to use the metal screens. A bit easier to work with for that area.

tdevince - Thank you for the clarification on the CG. I somehow missed that plus/minus range in the build video. Not sure how but I did. That makes me feel much better. Just to be on the safe side I'm going to keep a few ounces in the nose for the maiden. As we all know, it's better to be nose heavy than tail heavy, especially on a maiden.

jagdpanther9 - That is exactly the location of my 4S 3000's as well...Thanks for posting the photos.

Well, the batteries are all charged up and she's ready to go. Just need to get through my daughter's soccer game in the morning, then I am heading home, grabbing the gal and we're headed out for the maiden.

Oh, did anyone calibrate the ESCs? I never did. They seemed to work perfectly right out of the box. My DX18 has an auto warning when the throttle is at the high position when you turn it on which makes it difficult to calibrate an ESC...I'm sure there's a setting I can turn that off. Any thoughts on calibrating? Yes, no, if so, how did you do it?

[Flyer Phill]

PlaneCrazy - Fabric black screen with adhesive backing on the intakes. For the radiator scoops (More difficult due to shape and it's a clear opening so not a lot of surface area to grab onto) I'm going to use the metal screens. A bit easier to work with for that area.

tdevince - Thank you for the clarification on the CG. I somehow missed that plus/minus range in the build video. Not sure how but I did. That makes me feel much better. Just to be on the safe side I'm going to keep a few ounces in the nose for the maiden. As we all know, it's better to be nose heavy than tail heavy, especially on a maiden.

jagdpanther9 - That is exactly the location of my 4S 3000's as well...Thanks for posting the photos.

Well, the batteries are all charged up and she's ready to go. Just need to get through my daughter's soccer game in the morning, then I am heading home, grabbing the gal and we're headed out for the maiden.

Oh, did anyone calibrate the ESCs? I never did. They seemed to work perfectly right out of the box. My DX18 has an auto warning when the throttle is at the high position when you turn it on which makes it difficult to calibrate an ESC...I'm sure there's a setting I can turn that off. Any thoughts on calibrating? Yes, no, if so, how did you do it?

Turn your Tx on then put your throttle to max, arm Rx and listen for the beeps. I own both the DX-18 Stealth and QQ....works fine.

Phill

[TSHobbies]

Just guessing here...you have checked that the sensor for your voltage is properly plugged in? Also, i was reading there at HK, and it stated "integrated telemetry function can be disabled during binding." the receiver could be binded with the telemetry disabled, and that's why your not getting a reading?

It did pick up the telemetry , its telling me my flight pack has 0.0 volts ..so thats what I wasnt sure about ,is if the control module in the plane might be interfering with the telemetry readings.

as for the CG and gear...when you have your plane on the balance machine..cycle your gear up..and you'll see the need to balance with it up. Keep in mind, the gear goes to the rear when retracting. I too missed that part on the vid about the -75mm . I'll try mine now..getting ready to go fly in about an hour

[Pheonix]

Well, mine arrived late last night (2000) and the UPS driver stated that he had been delivering models all day. Must have been those P-38's. I will do the un-boxing and inspection later today. No chance of flying this weekend. Better late than re-scheduling. I watched the build video several times and should be good to go now. I think I will order the power system now that the build is on hold.

[Shirty]

I'm just gonna add about the cg: there's two trains of thought, balance gear down for a neutral bird at landing, or balance gear up for a neutral bird in the air. The change in balance point between the two is usually not much, 5-10mm Max in most foamy warbirds around this size I've found. Personally, I like a bird balanced for flying, so I'm def gear up to get my preferred balance point.

I will add here: the only way to get it spot on and perfect is testing it in the air. As much as a cg balancer or manual will give you a good starting point, every model is different, you may have a slight warp in the foam, the incidence may be incorrect etc etc. And besides, you are trying to get a balance point for when it's flying with wind going over it, not when it's sitting still on the ground. So if you prefer wheels down fly it wheels down and make small changes to your battery position until you have it neutral how u like it. That goes for wheels up as well. Your final position should be decided after flight testing imho. If you are using lots of trim (esp elevator), then you are compensating for a bad cg placement. Try to get it balanced, (whether you prefer wheels up or down), without using tons of trim or its never going to be accurate. If you have very little trim applied and it's still got a large variance, then most likely you have a set up issue, not cg.

The variable is how the gear retracts. It's been noted above the weight shifts forward when extending the gear. (Same as a fms mustang for eg), so this means with my preference of achieving neutral cg for flight (wheels up), I will be slightly nose heavy for landing with gear down. (Which I'm a big fan of with a warbird as it helps me control my decent rate MUCH better for powered landings and I grease it way more often this way, but that's just me).

The guys that balance wheels down, will notice a rearward shift when they take off and retract the gear, and the plane will want to climb slightly. Usually they trim this out to get it flying straight, and then take the trim out after extending the landing gear to get it back neutral for landing. I guess some gear down guys also just fly it a bit tail heavy, so they don't have to remember how many clicks back down to get it neutral again when they land.

Which method you use is what works best for you.

Yes, ALWAYS, a good idea to calibrate your throttle via the esc imo. Most times it's simply as stated above, remove your propellers, turn your transmitter on and push the throttle to max. Then connect the battery to the plane. The esc will emit a series of beeps, then you pull the throttle back to zero. Job done. Important you check your esc's manual, as if you miss the timing of the beeps, you may go past and enter the second menu, resulting in you changing other settings that you may not want, or is advisable. (Like accidently setting engine braking to "on" for example). Read your models esc manual, it's a very good idea to know the esc is set up correct. Not just for throttle calibration, but check ALL the esc settings. I have had foamy warbirds arrive with the esc from the factory having brake on etc. (watt tests I've done show this setting (brake on), will drastically lower the watts available to the motor - something I'm sure you don't want in a warbird. Some esc's have a different method, that's why it's always important to check your manual and don't just assume the esc was set up correctly at the factory. At least if you want to give your new pride and joy every chance of surviving your maiden that is. :). Just my 2 cents.

[tdevince]

Well, the batteries are all charged up and she's ready to go. Just need to get through my daughter's soccer game in the morning, then I am heading home, grabbing the gal and we're headed out for the maiden.

Oh, did anyone calibrate the ESCs? I never did. They seemed to work perfectly right out of the box. My DX18 has an auto warning when the throttle is at the high position when you turn it on which makes it difficult to calibrate an ESC...I'm sure there's a setting I can turn that off. Any thoughts on calibrating? Yes, no, if so, how did you do it?

I calibrate every new model, like Phil said, max throttle, turn on TX, then Rx, then min Throttle...you're good.

I hope to maiden this afternoon as well. Also have obligations this morning, so hopefully I can get her out this afternoon and weather will be on my side.

Got a feeling there's going to be lots of P38's in the air this weekend :)

[2FewDaysAtFlyingField]

Oh, did anyone calibrate the ESCs? I never did. They seemed to work perfectly right out of the box. My DX18 has an auto warning when the throttle is at the high position when you turn it on which makes it difficult to calibrate an ESC...I'm sure there's a setting I can turn that off. Any thoughts on calibrating? Yes, no, if so, how did you do it?

MY ESC Calibration Procedure:

When I calibrated mine with both ESC's plugged in together (Receiver and Power) at the same time, I noticed that my left motor started a few milliseconds after the other. I don't remember which ESC was plugged in first etc during my power up sequence etc. I didn't put propellers on to check the RPM's to see if there were differences but I did do the following to make them start simultaneously.

My setup is two separate 2500mah Admiral Pro LIPO batteries that will plug into each ESC separately. I am also using both ESC's BEC's so I have not removed a red wire from either of the ESC Throttle/Servo connectors.

1. REMOVE PROPELLERS! REMOVE PROPELLERS! REMOVE PROPELLERS! Did I mention to remove propellers? Get in this habit when you dink with radio settings on a fully armed electric model airplane. There are those that HAVE gotten a hand into a propeller and/or destroyed an airplane on the basement wall and those who will someday!
2. Unplug ESC Power and ESC Throttles from the Y-Cable (I will refer to the ESC servo connection as the ESC throttle)
3. Make sure your receiver is bound to your radio already and you have the Y-Cable plugged into (Channel Three on Futaba) of the Receiver.
4. Turn on your transmitter and advance its throttle to full throttle.
5. Plug in the LEFT ESC Throttle into the y-cable.
6. Plug the LEFT ESC Deans Connector into one of the Admiral Pro LIPO's. You will hear a series of beeps and the motor should NOT be spinning. After a pause in the tones, reduce your throttle to its minimum setting. You will hear a series of tones. After a short pause if you advance the throttle it should be smooth and increase across the entire range of throttle movement. Congratulations, the LEFT ESC is calibrated to your radio's range.
7. Unplug the Admiral Pro LIPO from your LEFT ESC.
8. Unplug the LEFT ESC Throttle from the y-cable
9. Plug RIGHT ESC Throttle into the Y-Cable.
10. Make sure your transmitter is still on and advance the throttle to full.
11. Plug the Right ESC Deans Connector into (I used the same LIPO) the Admiral Pro LIPO. You will hear a series of beeps and the motor should NOT be spinning. After a pause in the tones, reduce your throttle to its minimum setting. You will hear a series of tones. After a short pause if you advance the throttle it should be smooth and increase across the entire range of throttle movement. Congratulations, the RIGHT ESC is calibrated to your radio's range.
12. Unplug the Admiral Pro LIPO and Return your transmitter to its minimum setting.
13. Plug the LEFT ESC Throttle back into the Y-Cable.
14. Plug in the Deans Connector for the Left AND Right ESC's into their Prospective Admiral Pro LIPO's.
15. You will hear your typical 4 cell beeps from the Right and Left ESC's in (Stereo) with tiny delays between them.
16. When you advance your throttles both ESC's will start simultaneously and both will smoothly increase RPM across the entire range of throttle movement.
17. Decrease throttle to min setting and unplug Deans connectors from both ESC's.
18. YOUR DONE!

Hope this helps!

SIDE SAFETY NOTE:
I assign a safety interlock to the throttle on every one of my airplanes. About a year ago I was changing settings on a powered and fully armed super sweet Christian Eagle biplane and accidentally fat-fingered the 14SG's little selector pad and reversed channel THREE instead of FOUR. It resulted in a full power throttle to the plane that ended up smashed to bits on the wall in my basement. Luckily I wasn't in front of the plane at the time. Now, I setup EVERY plane so that I have to physically rotate one of the dials past its halfway point in order to advance the throttle. It has worked fantastic. I still remove the propeller(s) every time I make radio changes on a powered plane! If anyone is a Futaba 14SG user that wants details on how to do this just let me know and I can put something together and post it.

[TSHobbies]

this sucks..decided to cancel my flying today..it was suppose to be <5 MPH winds today...guess they changed it lol got to the field and the flag is slappin like crazy..checked the weather..its showin 1 MPH ....BS ... more like 10-15 ..not something I want to maiden a plane that Im not familiar with in...so another day..suppose to storm tomorrow too...maybe next weekend....this sucks.....

[OV10]

Oh, did anyone calibrate the ESCs? I never did. They seemed to work perfectly right out of the box. My DX18 has an auto warning when the throttle is at the high position when you turn it on which makes it difficult to calibrate an ESC...I'm sure there's a setting I can turn that off. Any thoughts on calibrating? Yes, no, if so, how did you do it?

Hello Aros,
On both my DX8 and DX9, I get around the high throttle warning by just turning the Tx on with the throttle in lowest position and after it has initialized on the model selected then give it full throttle. After that I then plug the ESC/LiPo together listen for the repeating beep-beep(or whatever ESC brand initializing cal beeping) and then lower the throttle to lowest position which you then should hear the standard cell count beeping and your good to go. Can't imagine why this wouldn't work for your DX18 since all the newer Speks seem to function the same except for channel quantity.
Best regards,

[Aros]

Thanks fellas. I have been so used to having the throttle on high THEN turning on my radio to calibrate (with my old DX7, old habits die hard) I forgot the obvious and simple step of turning the radio on first then advancing the throttle even though I've done just that before. Early Alzheimers or what? LOL

Okay, 2FewDays, thanks for the steps...I'll get them calibrated, fine tune my CG and throws and it's maiden time in a few hours!

[crxmanpat]

I calibrated mine yesterday as the motors were not coming on until 1/3 throttle. All I did was use a single battery for both plugs (I had already made up a harness for my B-17), and did both at the same time. Taxi tests in front of the house last night showed it went perfectly.

[Aros]

The Build

Since there's plenty of info on the general build I will highlight areas I encountered of note. It's packaged extremely well. I found no "shipping rash" (dings, dents on the foam) which was a nice way to get things started. I followed Alpha's Comprehensive Build Video (link here) which was a blessing to have. Not that I couldn't have figured it out on my own using the instruction manual but it's awfully nice to follow along with someone who was integral in the Research and Development of this P-38 Lightning and who quite literally knows the ends and outs of this bird better than anyone else not working for FlightLineRC.

I've heard some have issues with missing screws or wrong screw sizes but I did not encounter this issue. I was able to use every single screw that came in the bag, in the places they were meant for as far as I can tell. The quality of engineering, parts fit and excellent size are self-evident. Everything went together right the first time for me, which I can't always say that.

By far the most "Pay Attention Or Else" portion of the build is the wiring, which is no surprise, especially on a twin. The channels deeply carved into the main wing section is a major bonus which makes the "herding of the noodles" manageable, versus hair-pulling. Still, it's vital you take your time. I screwed up the LED wiring which I didn't realize until I had already snapped and screwed on the booms. I had two wires that had the wrong leads on the wrong side of the boom. No excuse, just didn't pay close enough attention. I had to unscrew that boom and I was able to reverse the wires and then everything was peachy.

Once you have all the servo leads going where they should be going (pay attention to the diagram in the manual of the controller) and feed everything through it feels like a small battle has been won. Of course, you will want to bind and check that all of your controls, throttle, gear, flaps, doors and lights are working before moving on. I am happy to report everything worked for me the first time.

The rest of the build is spent getting all the pushrods/clevises put together. Pay close attention to the sizes of the pushrods. It's easy to put the wrong pushrod on the wrong control surface as some of them are less than half of an inch apart in length. If you get it wrong (ask me how I know) you will quickly realize it once you are screwing the clevises on while centering the control surface.

There is one area that I think needs to be looked at by FlightLineRC. It appears the pushrods for the inboard flaps are about a 1/4" too short. As they are now, I cannot get the inboard flaps to fully close. I tried adjusting the throws but it doesn't seem to help. Either twice as long of a clevis there, or a bit longer pushrod would make this a non-issue. I will have to customize or find some pushrods that are the length I need to get those flaps to close completely shut when not deployed.

The wing tabs when you go to lock the wings in place do not line up perfectly. At first I panicked, thinking the wing spar was hitting something unseen within the cavern of the mid wing section but I quickly discerned the tabs were not aligned with their holes perfectly. To remedy this, simply eye-ball/position each tab as close to the respective hole as possible, and wiggle it in. Worked just fine for both wings.

Another issue that is being reported and I noticed as well on mine (and probably you will too) is the servo wire tape is peeling away from the surface. You can use your thumb or fingers to press it back down smooth but after some time it starts to peel again. A very small issue that can easily be dealt with using your own tape or tiny dabs of glue to keep the edges from peeling back up.

Finishing up the build is the cosmetic stuff like adding the guns, antenna, counter-balances, etc. Do yourself a favor and take a sample part with both colors (OD and off-white if it's Allied Green, I used one of the elevator ends) to the local hardware store and get them to paint match so you are ready to deal with the inevitable hangar rash, dings, dents and scratches that any warbird deals with when used regularly. It cost me like $4 bucks per small can. The match is about 98.9% accurate which is close enough to the human eye.

Another tip is to get a screen mesh repair kit (either black nylon or wire, I have both) at the local hardware store and you can easily create a very cool scale effect by adding it to the cowl intakes (and radiator scoops if you feel froggy!). It's easy to do and really bumps up the scale factor.

I have the Robart diamond tread upgrade wheels I plan on swapping out after the maiden. I have heard people are having problems removing the hex nut from the wheel collars. Some are stripped or become stripped when you try to loosen them. Some I hear have had to drill them out completely which requires new collars and hex nuts. I bit of a bummer but I don't fault FlightLineRC for making sure the hex nuts are secure on the collars...I don't think they realized how many of us were planning on swapping out the wheels.

All-in-all, the build went quicker than I expected and that was even with me really taking my time. The build ran approximately 2.5 hours from taking the parts of the box individually to taxi test including calibrating the ESCs.

As some of you read, I had an issue with the CG. At the recommended, I came in very tail heavy with my two Admiral 4S 3000's. I was confused because I had not heard anyone mention the need for any weight at all with the recommended Li-Po's. Then it was pointed out to me that there was a range that Alpha mentioned in the comprehensive build video which I somehow missed. So you have as far back as 75mm if needed or wanted. This serves as a good reminder to make sure you watch every moment of the video because you never know what crucial information you might miss.

As for livery, I haven't added decals yet as I am still contemplating whether I am going to choose one of the chosen 4 decal sets included, or if I am going to go "Callie Custom" and do, say, Tangerine or Thoughts of Midnite. I'm still debating.


The Maiden

Location: Local Junior High School - Soccer Field
Time: 11:00AM PST
Conditions: Calm, mostly sunny, slight crosswind from the South
CG: 70MM
Throws: A few MM above recommended
Batteries: 2x Admiral 4S 3000 35C
Radio: Spektrum DX18
Receiver: Spektrum AR7000
Camera: Mobius Wide Lens (mounted on H stab)
Total Flight Time: 3 minutes, 35 seconds
Hot Babes Watching: Zero. Sigh.


It was time for the maiden. I was delighted to see that she fit with wings on easily in my Ford Flex. Okay, truth be told that was my number one deciding factor in buying that vehicle in the first place - How much room does it have for my planes? You know what I'm talking about.

I was hoping to maiden in the school parking lot which has a long paved runway, or the track which has a nice rubberized floor. Unfortunately there was baseball practice going on so I didn't want to be too close to that for a maiden so I elected the soccer field which has plenty of room (650 feet from corner to corner) but it is very bumpy, full of divets. Still, I felt it was good enough conditions.

I put 8 ounces of weight in the nose which counteracted the weight from my Mobius Wide Lens camera that I mounted on the H stab. This put my CG around the 70MM mark. I opted to maiden with tanks on but as you will see in the video, the decision to take them off was made for me by the bumpy runway conditions.

Once I removed the tanks, the takeoff roll began and she was airborne with ease within 50 feet or so. I quickly retracted the gear which then made her a bit tail-heavy, but nothing major at all. I needed a few clicks of right and down trim for straight and level flight. I mainly cruised the circuit around half power, just taking in her majestic lines and presence. I didn't want to push her too much with the baseball practice behind me, and a full parking lot with people milling around to the right of me.

I kept the entire flight on low rates. My rates are a few MM's higher than the recommended. I performed one roll and she was nice and responsive. She flies absolutely wonderfully. Full power is brisk and pleasing. Personally I don't feel the need to push beyond scale speed but it's nice to know we have that option with the optional power system. I just can't get myself to put 2 blades on a P-38 for a few extra MPH. I think I might break out in hives if I saw 2 blades on this beauty.

I kept the flight short (just over 3-and-a-half minutes) because I didn't want to push my luck, and I don't like maidening aircraft when people are in the vicinity. It was time to deploy the gear. A gentle noticeable shift of a slight dip to the nose. I forgot to mix some down elevator in with my flaps so she ballooned quite a bit once flaps deployed. I had to really manage the down stick which relaxed as a dropped power on base and final.

The flaps REALLY slow her down very, very nicely. The flaps make landings ridiculously easy. Even without flaps this bird will not challenge you for landings given the nice wing area, dihedral and tri-gear.

The landing was a non-event...Let her coast a bit in ground effect, eased into the back pressure for the flare and easy peasy. She bounced just slightly due to the bumpy ground (couldn't have been the pilot??) but nothing unexpected given the ground surface.

I am so proud to be a small part in the team that helped bring this bird into fruition. I have flown nearly every foam P-38 ever made and none of them compare to this one in overall size, quality, scale fidelity and just plain good ol' fashion WOW factor. I still marvel at the $350 PNP price point. For what we get for that price? Incredible. What a glorious time to be actively engaged in this hobby of ours. Now get out there and fly this marvelous beauty!

[crxmanpat]

Nice job on the build report and maiden! Yeah, surprised your flaps didn't give you issues. I had no problems with my control rods. In fact, I really had to screw the ball link snaps down on the rod to get them to be correct.

[fuelsguy]

Well, I got my Silver P-38 yesterday evening as promised. Spent the morning looking it over and then tried to put things together as a trial fit.
Surprise, Surprise, the wings don't fit!!!
It looks as if the carbon tube is offset in the outer wing and is keeping the two rectangular blocks from entering the holes in the wing. If I line up the aft block, the front block is off by 1/32" and nothing is going to move. It's the same story on both sides.
Has anyone else seen this problem??
What to do next??

[PlaneCrazy]

Aros...............beat ya to the punch...........already got my "Thoughts of Midnight" graphics from Callie!!!! :D I bought the spinners from the Silver P38 so I wouldn't have to paint the red on the base, just cover the silver tips with OD. Haven't had a chance to play with it yet.............garden tractor broke and I need to spray weeds so that's what I'm doing today. I did order a bunch of spare parts this morning while the parts were available...........I'm set for awhile. After the plane is flying, I'm going to see if I can install a MR RCsound system in it. Alpha suggested that there may be room aft of the firewalls on both booms for the install of the tranducers........we'll see.

Later,
Andy

[TSHobbies]

had the same issue with mine..theyll fit...just gotta work that tube while inserting the blocks (lining them up)

[TSHobbies]

Nice flight Aros..thanks for the rundown..wish the weather had worked for me..looks like the winds calm down now..may go give it a try.

[roys001]

I got my plane yesterday. I was going to put invasion stripes on it before the maiden but I've changed my mind. I've found a lot of photos of the plane without the stripes. So far it's going together well. I'm almost done with the wiring. Too bad it's Easter weekend. I have to split my time between getting ready for the grand kids and finishing up the plane. I should be ready to maiden by Tuesday or Wednesday. It depends if I can get some backup on one of those days.