Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[scooter genie]

I just ordered my first before the price increase. Got it last week. Man, what a gorgeous bird.

[Dawoo4491]

New F7F fromFlightline. Can't get port side inboard flap to respond correctly. Plug ground is correct but can't coordinate with the other flaps.

[Evan D]

Flights from this weekend. Raw footage so forward to the better parts... (1) Tiger Cat 5 July 2021 - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJINlLLLNr4

[SanExup]

That's so badass! So cool to see that jet landing from the cockpit while sitting on the taxiway. And the other planes in the pattern while flying. The video quality is amazing, is that what you're seeing real time in flight? Do you have any temptation to dip down in that tree corridor that parallels the runway? I am not daring you to, I'm just curious. You must know the Tigercat well, you've got those touch and goes wired! So cool!

[Evan D]

The gap in the trees is a pipeline and we fly it very regularly. We do combat with Apprentices on FPV that have streamers on them 12' of string and 12' of streamer. We use that pipeline for evasive maneuvers as well as flying around and between trees... We have "rules" about the plane, has to be a stock Apprentice and a simple fixed camera. One person has three cameras on his so he can look behind him while flying and one to record HD for playing back "kills". They are a lot of fun when you get four or five in the air at once. We all have different color streamers.

[SanExup]

Of course! That sounds like a lot of fun! Dang I wish I lived closer to an rc airfield.

I used to combat with slope gliders when I lived on the coast, that was fun. But fpv combat, that sounds like the ultimate.

[Denniswpb]

Took the T-Cat out for a flight 2 weeks ago and everything was going perfect, until it didn't... I was on downwind turning left base to do a flyover the runway and then drop the gear and flaps. I tried to turn left base, and it would not respond, then she made a graceful right roll into the tall grass. I had no control of it on the way down and I'm beginning to think we have a "Bermuda Triangle" in that corner of our field.

Overall, I was surprised to see it would be repairable with a new fuselage, nose gear doors, props, and hubs. I had to glue a crack in each wing and repair some slightly crinkled foam on the front of the nacelles. I decided just to scuff sand the entire plane down and respray it along with the new fuselage and then reorder the Callie Graphics. I'm going to replace the Admiral receiver with a Lemon receiver and a satellite and hopefully that will provide better redundancy reception. Just for S&Gs, I had Jeff at Horizon check out my NX10 while at Joe Nall since he had all his equipment and it tested perfect.

I'm considering upgrading the motors to the FlightLine 3648-880Kv Brushless Motor that's listed in the UPGRADE tab on MotionRC. The Powerpack they recommend includes these motors, but has 2-blade props, which would look stupid on a Tigercat. Has anyone upgraded to these motors and use a 3-blade prop??

If anyone wants to re-spray their Tigercat, the photo below shows the paint I used from Lowe's. Mix 6 oz. of paint with 1.5 oz. of water and 1.5 oz. of Flotrol Latex Paint Conditioner. I sprayed it with a Harbor Freight HVLP touchup spray gun at 35 psi with a 1.8 tip and it sprays absolutely flawless!! I also spray 2 coats of water based satin polyacrylic over it once the paint dried overnight. You can use this same formula with any color of paint for any other planes you have.

[Blacky's Boy]

I'd seriously rethink the LemonRx. I WAS a tried and true LemonRx fan up until last year. I had 3 different models fail in the same spot at the field. All were using LemonRx receivers. From what I hear online (and please take this with a grain of salt!), there was a run of bad LemonRx receivers in the past year or two.

When I switched to a Spektrum rx with Telemetry I got warnings that the signal strength dropped off in that section of the field (our Bermuda Triangle). But the difference was that the planes with the Spektrum Receivers didn't loose control like those with the LemonRx.

[nuts-n-volts]

I'll recommend that whatever Rx you use, do use satellites as well. Big battery packs can hide the signal for a split second. Although most Receivers will pick it up in an instant, there are times when it takes a split second longer. A satellite (or more) is cheap insurance and redundancy. Small 3s jobs are one thing, but as we have moved into higher powered planes, it becomes more of a requirement if you want to have a safe flight. Just from what I've experienced and seen.

[406PIlot]

It's always better to be safe than sorry with a model you care about. Satellites are a cheap piece of mind for sure. Nuts-n-Volts isn't wrong.

[Larry D]

Back in 2018 Baron asked the question about the sport power system. I never saw an answer for that. Has anyone tried it and is it worth it? A step from a 600kv to an 880kv and changing the prop from a 3 blade to a 2 "sounds" as if it would improve the performance but is the increase in performance worth the cost in flight time/battery life. IF anyone has tried it, what did/do you think? Worth it? Also is it a "drop in" or are additional mods necessary to components such as the ESC? Enquiring minds (or in my case a dumb mind) want to know before plopping down the money.

[Evan D]

Same answer now... While I didn't do it the reasons are valid. The stock system works very well and the scale(ish) prop looks good so why change... If you need the extra power because you live in a higher altitude or something where it makes sense to do it then it may be worth it to you. As far as ESCs you shouldn't need more A's especially if you are at higher altitude where you normally pull less.

[Larry D]

Same answer now... While I didn't do it the reasons are valid. The stock system works very well and the scale(ish) prop looks good so why change... If you need the extra power because you live in a higher altitude or something where it makes sense to do it then it may be worth it to you. As far as ESCs you shouldn't need more A's especially if you are at higher altitude where you normally pull less.

Totally agree Evan and thanks for the response. I love the way my Cat flies but the question came up at our field the other day and because I have zero experience with "sport" systems, I had to ask. For me I love both the scale look and stock performance.

[Evan D]

Let me add that just swapping the stock prop to a APCe 2 bladed prop significantly improves performance. You'd probably want a bit more pitch on the prop due to the stock motors lower kV. As an example on the Spitfire 1200mm I went from the stock to a 12x12 APCe and got a lot of performance. The TC has a similar motor to that and would probably do well with the same 12x12. If you do it I would check A's with a watt meter to make sure you are not going too high with the 60A ESC. I used a pair of the TC motors and 12x12 also in this plane. When I did it I used 100A ESCs I had laying around. I think they pull right at 60A max on a fresh charge.


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[Gilatrout]

I upgraded the motors and kept the 3 bladed props. I could get away with it only because the altitude kept the draw down, but it was close to the edge of what the motors could handle. I honestly didn't see that much of an improvement and a minor prop strike could over current and burn out the motor. I went back to the original setup after a few while.

That said everything would be different if I had used the 2 bladed props. I'm sure I would have seen a much bigger improvement without the current problems. But the scale monkey on my back would never permit anything but a three bladed prop on my tiger cat

[marwady]

Hello and Merry Christmas to all!!

Santa just dropped my F7F off and I had a chance to inspect it.

Everything is perfect as I would expect from Flighline and MRC.

I own the Flightline P-38 and it's one of my favorite flyers.
I've converted it to 6s by simply dropping the prop diameter by 1". It hits all the safe numbers in amps and watts and flys like a dream.

I did this because I have many 6s batteries.

The Tiger Cat has the same motors and ESCs so I am thinking it will be fine. CG will be the only thing and I won't know that until I get it assembled.

I will probably maiden with a 4s setup and then go from there.

Stay tuned for this hopefully successful experiment

[rifleman_btx]

You will really love it! It's an amazing flying aircraft

[marwady]

Not quite enough room for the 6s setup. I would have to do some serious carving and I don't want to weaken the airframe.

Does anyone have paint codes for the Tigercat?

Home Depot latex works great for touch-up on the P-38 and B24.

Cheers

[marwady]

Home Depot paint codes, looking like a spot on match.

[Gilatrout]

Picked up a spare tigercat last month. In between snow storms I've managed to get everything painted. Working on the spare cockpit now. If it warms up I'll stencil and paint the stars and bars on the wings.