Official Nexa 2108mm P-38 Lightning ARF Thread

[Aros]

Official Nexa 2108mm P-38 Lightning ARF Thread

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is a World War II–era American piston-engined fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Allied propaganda claimed it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese. Along with its use as a general fighter, the P-38 was utilized in various aerial combat roles including as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night fighter, and as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks. The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bombers; or even other P-38s, equipped with bombs, to their targets. Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of the aerial film captured over Europe.

The Nexa P-38 Lightning is a .60 size electric or gas option scale series warbird with a 2108mm wingspan, constructed primarily from balsa wood and covered with a fuel-resistant covering. This ARF requires assembly and installation of your choice of servos and power system, and includes fowler flaps, painted pilot, machine guns, antenna and other scale details. The large battery hatch affords ample room for either electric or gas setups. To complete the scale appeal of this P-38, the model includes electric retracts and scale struts. Impress at your flying field with this iconic stunner!

Fully Covered and Detailed The Nexa P-38 Lightning comes fully covered including simulated panel lines, rivets, nomenclature and weathering detail.

Scale Details Throughout There is no shortage of scale details with this P-38 including functional and distinctive fowler flaps, antenna, machine guns, painted pilot, electric retracts and metal main struts.

Prehinged and Installed Control Surfaces All control surfaces come out of the box fully prehinged and installed for your convenience.

Impressive Size To add to the array of scale detail, the Nexa P-38 comes in at an impressive 1/7.5 scale.

FEATURES:

• Complete Balsa and lite-ply construction for rigidity and durability
• Covered from tip to tail in scale details including weathering, functional fowler flaps, printed simulated panel lines and rivets
• Fiberglass cowlings for strength and durability
• The hand-painted pilot is ready for your added cockpit details
• All control surfaces come out of the box pre-hinged and installed for convenience
• Flaps, antenna, guns and more complete the fantastic scale appeal
• Large battery hatch allows for your chosen electric or gas setup

INCLUDES:

• Nexa P-38 Lightning Olive Drab 2108mm (83") Wingspan - ARF
• Electric retracts, wheels and struts
• Fuel tank, hardware and servo trays

REQUIRES:

• 6 Channel radio - select a minimum 6 channel radio from our Radio Collection
• 6 Channel receiver - select a minimum 6 channel receiver from our Receiver Collection
• 2x Brushless outrunner motors - we recommend the Admiral GP5 4220-770kV Brushless Motor Multi-Pack (2 Motors)
• 2x 65 Amp brushless ESC - we recommend the ZTW Mantis 65A ESC with 5A SBEC Multi-Pack (2 ESCs)
• 7x standard servos for ailerons, elevator, rudder and steering - we recommend Hitec HS-425BB Deluxe Ball Bearing Plastic Gear Standard Servo Airplane Multi-Pack (7 Servos)
• 4x standard servos for flaps - we recommend FOUR of the Hitec HS-81 Micro Servo
• TWO 4 Cell 14.8V 4500 - 5000 mAh LiPo Batteries - we recommend the Admiral Pro 5000mAh 4S 14.8V 60C LiPo Battery with EC5 Connector Multi-Pack (2 Batteries)
• EC5 Series adapter - we recommend the BenchCraft EC5 2 to 1 Series Adapter
• 1x standard and 1x reverse electric propellers - we recommend APC 12x8 Thin Electric Propeller - Black and APC 12x8 Thin Electric Pusher Propeller - Black
• 4 Cell compatible battery charger - select a minimum 4 cell (4S) charger from our Charger Collection

GAS REQUIRES:

• 2x .46 -.70 (7.45cc - 11.5cc) gas engines
• 1x standard and 1x reverse gas propellers

[Aros]

I had the VQ version (Legend Models) some years ago. Build had its challenges but she flew magnificently. I honestly cannot comment on what the differences are from the old VQ to these Nexa versions as I simply do not know. I had the silver version which I believe we will be getting eventually, just not sure on any ETA. Sorry, wish I had more information. I'll see what I can find out.

Here's some shots of mine...I did a bit of customizing to make it more scale including having more detailed turbos printed, adding mesh to the intakes, Aces of Iron pilot, etc... While it won't be confused for a Yellow Aircraft or Ziroli, it was the next best balsa/composite P-38 I could find on the market.

[Twowingtj]

It's good to see the thread started for this one. This one has been on my list for a while. Can't have too many P-38s. One question....does it come with gear doors? Some pics show them, others do not. If it does, what is needed to make them operational if anything?

Aros What was your powered with and how big of a prop could it take?

[Aros]

I'll see if I can find out about gear doors, I would be surprised if they didn't come with them. I believe mine were servo-activated. I used two Dualsky 470Kv motors swinging Master Airscrew 16x10x3 counter rotating props with Castle Edge 100A ESCs and 20A Pro Amp BEC with a Spektrum AR9020 9ch rx. Proved to be a nice setup, flew very scale with authority.

Miss that bird! I sold it to fund another giant scale project and wish I hadn't. The guy that bought it from me proceeded to hit Low Voltage Cutoff on the maiden, destroying it. Could not believe it.

[Twowingtj]

Aros Your power choice seems much better than the recommended set-up. With it being a 16lb+ plane, 1200 watts will not power it well. The .60 size https://www.motionrc.com/collections...rushless-motor on 6S seems like a better choice.

Yours looked great!

A search of the spare parts does show gear doors for the booms and center pod.

[Aros]

I agree. Also, here is a random list of information I gathered while preparing for the build...I forget who offered this info, I believe it was taken from a build thread somewhere, possibly RCG. It's rather disjointed, I had it saved as a .txt file....

Hopefully someone can find some elements helpful as they prepare for the build.

-- Wikipedia says the wingspan was 52 feet, so an 83" model would be 1:7.5 scale. A plane restoration site lists the prop diameter at 11'6", so that same scale comes out at 18.35"

-- Make sure ESCs have a soft cutoff!

-- Prop size confirmed, clearance of the props were pretty tight, 16" to the ground on level The wheel sizes were 27" for the nose and 36" for the two mains. using the 7.5 scale calc above that's a 3.59" nose and 4.78" main, so basically 3.5 and 4.5 inch wheels.

-- If you want "scale" retracts, you will need 110 degree unit for the nose and 105 degree for the mains. All the gear are swept forward when in the down position.

-- The display plane with our retracts, gear, Dualsky 610Kv motors, motor standoffs, ESC's, 50oz servos (9)x, and 4500 4S batteries (stock spinners but no props) weighs in at 15.2 lbs. With this setup and a three blade 14x9x3 you've got a thrust to weight ratio of 1.35 to 1 and 166 Watts/lb.

The 470Kv on 5S puts you up to 16.4 lbs. On a 16x10x3 prop you'd have about the same top end speed but the thrust to weight ratio increases to 1.80 to 1, and the over 240W/lb. It would be more capable in flight but would increase take off and landing speed.

-- One thing all the electric builders will want to know is that the battery tray doesn't fit quite right out of the box. The bulkhead that is designed to hold the fuel tank will need to be opened up to accept the battery tray. The bulkhead in the middle of the bay will also need to be trimmed or the tray slotted to fit. Once you locate the position of the tray you'll want to glue in some supports to the bulkheads. All in all I'd guess it's an hour or two of work. We'll get this fixed in the next production run!

-- E-Flite 30cc for main, and 60-120 105 degrees for nose. (retracts to consider)

-- 2x E-Flite 30CC main retracts: $160
1x E-Flite 60-120 nose retract: $90
1x Robart nose strut (663L): $55
2x Robart mail 1/2" strut: $96
2x 4.5" wheel: $36
1x 3.5" wheel: $17
2x RIMFIRE 1.20: $280
2x CC EDGE 100: $230
10x HS5485HB servos: $190
1x HS645MG steering servo: $30

Total: $1,184. Not including the plane, receiver, batteries, and other hardware as needed...

Mains:

http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/De...dID=EFLG60195R

http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/De...dID=EFLG60195L

http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/De...rodID=EFLG1100

http://robart.com/collections/robost...ight-robostrut

Those are straight, so no limit on wheel size.

Nose:

http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/De...dID=EFLG411105

http://robart.com/collections/robost...-3-3-4-4-wheel

This is left-hand offset type, but can take up to 4" wheel. No problem with 3.5"
Note that the nose strut has a 4.8mm (3/16") wire adapter, whereas the 60-120 nose retract takes 4mm. Well, all I intend to do is drill the retract to 3/16". That's it.

Haven't decided on specific wheels, but don't see that as a problem.

On questions about painting over Ultracote or plastic covering in general - yes, it's not only easy but works great. I scuff the area to be painted before paint using 0000 steel wool or 1000 grit. Then wipe down with denatured alcohol before paint. I've used latex, Testors model master, and also polyurethane paints over plastic covering. Later on, if you need to de-wrinkle the underlying covering, try using low heat so as to not scorch the paint. Use a "sock" over the iron and tap down gently. Try not to pull as you may make the paint soft and pull paint off. I've also used a heat gun but it's easy to over temp the paint if not careful. Overall it's completely possible to de wrinkle any wrinkles that may occur over time without hurting the paint.

The extremes of paint over Ultracote for me have ranged from a completely painted surface of a 85" wing (to match a painted fiberglass fuse and tail) to just flash detail colors in certain parts of the plastic covering.

My plan is to use two 5485s for the elevator. Program one reversed. Link them in a Y. Put a servo current meter. Connect to the receiver when it is centered. Physically connect the rod to one of them. Then mechanically adjust the rod length of the other until I can connect it without increasing current. Then go to both extremes to make sure the servos do not "fight" each other there, and possibly program end points.

I will reserve use of an external BEC to power the servos depending on balance. Usually, on something this big, I will use a 6v nihm rx battery in the 2300mah range....sometimes two. Reason being...lots of servos PLUS current draw from electric retracts. The rx batts are very useful ballast as well as being functional.

Dave Brown spinners, 3.25" FAI. The nut is 8mm x 1.25 or "course." You should have that if the threads for your extended adapter are the same as what I got.

Supercharger air intakes should be 2.5" long and 1" diameter at the front that closes to a taper.

[Twowingtj]

Aros Thanks for sharing. Looks like several bits could be quite helpful.

Rimfire 1.20s? That would be insane power!

[Aros]

Yeah that's what I thought too! I don't recall why we specifically chose the Dualsky 470s other than the numbers looked good to us (my buddy Chris built her for me).

[OV10]

Aros
So I've been eyeballing this for a long time (d/l'd the manual over a year ago) and trying to determine how in the heck am I gonna get the batteries located out of the booms into fuse.
My biggest arse ache with how VQ did this is it was obviously designed for a petrol driven bird because having to flip a 80+ inch airframe upside down to load LiPo's in the bottom
of the booms is just such a huge inconvenience and goes against my long standing airframe setup of electric twins with paralleled power in the fuse.
Is there per any chance that this is being looked at by the factory to get the batteries relocated to the fuse??
If Alpha and FW had done this battery/boom design with the 1600 Lightning, I would bet it never would had been as successful as it is.
I would dearly like to join TJ in owning this but not if I have to severely mod it to make it a battery friendly bird.

[Aros]

Twowingtj Here's a photo of the main gear door...It was driven by two servos...




























OV10, I hear you for sure but it's impossible with this model. I just learned to live with it. I had a custom stand for it I would transport it on and use when plugging the batts in, putting on the outer wing panels, etc...Actually wasn't that bad. Maybe took me all of a minute or two tops to have her ready to go.

[Twowingtj]

Aros Thanks for the gear door pics.

The instructions have the gear doors open via springs and a mechanical close. That design could work well, if some minor tweeks were done.

The other option would call for three to five more (9g?) servos, and a gear door sequencer to have the gear doors functional. That would add some weight and complexity.

Loading the batteries in the booms from the bottom could be a bit of a PITA, but has other advantages, like keeping wire runs to a minimum.

If the build and finish quality is good, for the price point, it could be worth the effort for sure.

[Aros]

It will be interesting to see when someone starts the build what the differences - if any - are to the one I had five years ago. I don't recall the gear doors opening via springs as any option for me at the time, but perhaps I am mistaken on that and we simply chose the servo route.

[papa626]

So I hit the button on this one. Going to be an interesting built and experience.

[Aros]

Welcome papa626 and good luck with the build! Please post your progress when you get time.

[papa626]

Here is a short video of the unboxing.

https://youtu.be/RbAOg6qDo9c

[Aros]

Nice! Hope the build is (virtually) stress free for you. I say virtually because what build is perfectly stress free? lol...Keep the vids coming!

[bartje]

Subscribed!

@ Papa626, thanks for biting the bullet and being the first one to document the build/assembly of this wonderfull machine.
I saw you pulling out a pair of spinners in your video, did you order those separately or where they included in the kit?
The MotionRC site doesn't mention that there are any spinners in the kit, let alone three blade spinners and the correct three blade size options for this plane.

@ Aros,maybe you can answer this, I know in the early days this kit was sold in Europe for something in the region of € 600 - € 700.
Motion is selling it for about € 919 now. I assume the retracts have been added as a standard now, but are there other additions that where done between now and then?

[Aros]

Welcome bartje! I do not know the answer to that, I'll look into it and see what I can find out. Stay tuned!

[Aros]

Here is our official response for the price increase, fyi...

"We would like to point out some very important key differences that justify any price difference you may see. First, we include electric retracts with all Nexa models that require retracts. This has never been done by anyone in the past. Our planes have the proper sized retracts pre-installed in the plane from the factory. This saves you from having to search out and find the proper sized electric retract for the plane. We wanted to take the hassle out of buying a balsa model. Additionally, all of our Nexa planes include upgraded shock absorbing landing gear which has also never been done by any other company in the past. That said, we know others sell this same shock absorbing landing gear as an upgrade for $100 - $200. We know people in this hobby do not want to fly a plane with a simple fixed wire strut for landing gear. This is the feedback we've heard from our customers over the years. Customer feedback is very important to Motion RC and the main reason we've included electric retracts and shock absorbing struts on the Nexa line of planes. When you price out a plane without these items and add the additional cost of a properly sized set of electric retracts and upgraded shock absorbing landing gear, you will often find Motion RC is actually less expensive. In addition to including pre-installed electric retracts and upgraded shock absorbing struts, you will find Motion RC has free shipping to all 48 contiguous states in the USA without any exceptions. You will also have the peace of mind knowing that your Nexa plane is backed by the best customer support in the industry."

[bartje]

Hi Aros,

Thanks for the swift & clear answer!
I do remember from my early research that finding the correct retracts for the P-38 was indeed rather challenging, especially from Europe.
I never really understood why they shipped this aircraft with fixed gear to begin with, so big 👍 for the decision of Motion to include the retracts as standard!

A bit of topic, but do you guys have the Marchetti (with retracts of course) in the pipeline somewhere also? 😁

Back on topic then, I think the current pricing of the P-38 is more than justified. It's expensive for sure, but for what you get, more than reasonable. You're not buying a foamy park flyer with this one.

Now on with the builds! One more restoration to finish, a big old Graupner DA-20 that I parked in a tree a decade ago (the day I learned that self discharge in NiMH receiver batteries is a thing), and an old school wood kit (Aerobel PC21) before I can start thinking about the P-38. Although I might sneak that one in before the PC21. 🤫 Unless the Marchetti suddenly comes first of course. 😁