Official FMS 1400mm P-51D V8 Thread

[Grossman56]

Hi guys:
I got this Varathane last time we were up in Billings, I believe at Home Depot, or Lowes. What I like about it is that it has a UV protectant in it. I have used Minwax as well but I find that the Varathane may be a little better. Not as many coats required.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Hey Lauren, it's because of my handy dandy home made airplane holder. This gets strapped down onto the bed of my Pickup, I put a piece of 2x6 infront of it so the nose of the plane doesn't hit the tail gate, and I run nice fat elastic bands over the wings and fuse to lock her down with. Here's Shangrila all ready to go from Wyoming to Wisconsin and back with no damage. I purposely left some of the pylons loose so I can adjust them for the Pandoras. To load the Pitts, I strap the aft part of the fuse in and remove all the other pylons. Set her in so that the wheels are right up against the front bar and some fancy bungee chord looping and there she is, locked in and ready to travel.

Hope this helps

Grossman56

[Tom]

Nice plane. Love the weathering.

[olwarbirds]

I like your holder, amazing what you can do with some pvc. Sweet plane, alot of talent on this thread...we are lucky to have you guys... DJ

[Grossman56]

I kept getting comments on how old the airplane must be. At the time she hadn't flown yet!
First flew in late May of 2015, gotta love the off hand compliment though.

Grossman56

[Airzipper]

Nice to hear zip! hope the 650 becomes the standard donk for all new 1400mm planes. (Imagine the zero lol).

Anyway - got a question for y'all. (See that? I've been polishing up on my American...). Anyway got to the field this morning with petie, low and behold my right aileron is pretty much separated from the wing, just a bit at the wingtip and the servo horn holding it on. What's the best way to go about fixing this? (All my 3D birds have hinges, I haven't ripped an aileron out on a warbird before, certainly not on a bird with this sort of hinge arrangement - I'd be fine if it was a bigger balsa lol). I'm pretty sure it's from transport, not a quality issue btw. I ran a small bit of polyurethane glue (Uhu por, awesome for foam btw, on the advice of a mate), down the join, it seems ok - but I'm not fond of landings with one aileron flapping up and down in the wind and not sure I wanna trust this bird to a bit of glue. Any other fms bird besides one of my bluenosers I probably would have flown it with the fix. (Again it feels sorta solid) but this is my petie! Can't have this one go in I'll be forced to buy another immediately. Any advice would be appreciated. :)

Hey Shirty! Good thing that you are "learning" us'all ;)... What I do in those situations is separate the surface (with a knife) from the wing. Then I use (believe it or not!) the contact cement that comes with the FMS airplanes...:

1. Place a medium bead of glue (approx. 2mm, 1/16in.).
2. Mate the surfaces for a few seconds.
3. Separate the surfaces, and wait about 1min.
4. Join the surfaces again, and tape straight.
5. Wait for about 15mins.
6. Connect the pushrod to the clevis, remove tape, and fly!


I have done this many times with all of my foamies, and have never had a problem. I once watched a viedeo from Rich (RCinformer), which is where I learned this from. It is a super great fix!

Regards,

Airzipper

[wrongroad]

G'day Shirty,
As you can see the advice I emailed you is what you are getting here.
I am hopeful that the God box here will continue to accept my posts, it has been kicking me off after every attempt so I hope this has finally settled into play.
Have fun mate, it is blowing the dog off the chain here right now but it should be gone by Sunday.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[Shirty]

Yep cheers fellas. If I feel like it's a bit dodgy I'll just hinge it. Just wasn't sure what the go is with these. Thanks again.

Looks like you are getting a bit of Perth weather daryl, - windy, windy, and more windy. Didn't stop me taking the DD for a spin this morning though. Nailed a crosswind landing where I reckon I was crabbing over 45 degrees from the runway. It's the little things like this that keep me coming back for more. :)

No flying next week though, 40,43,45 all week. (That's getting near 110f for those still stuck on the imperial system ;)). Be a total fire ban so besides being too hot, can't fly at my club due to fire risk on days like this. Thank god for air con and swimming pools. :)

[olwarbirds]

And Noseart :p Shirty, I never have been much on the foam hinges. Planned on installing pin hinges on mine. Just a friendly reminder brother, dont forget to lubricate the pin in hinge any true builder at sometime has forgotten to do that. I normally use petroleum jelly....

[Shirty]

Yep thanks mate. I use em in my bigger 3D balsas, I put a little Vaseline around them for the install (I use 30min epoxy), then a little bit of silicon spray on the pin. Appreciate the reminder though, haven't done these in a foamy before :)

[wrongroad]

G'day Shirty,
While you are looking at 40*C + over the next couple of days, we are getting strong southerlies and rain. Tomorrow looks like a washout already so I am not even going to set the alarm. Wind is forecast at 35/45 km/h and rain. A good sleep in will not go astray either.
Have some dollars put away to the 650 change very soon. It is the best change for me with all my 4s batteries.

Just as another point to all, the sequencer in my Duchess failed to play the game on the second flight last Sunday and even after the initial cycle through that I always do before the first flight, the gear did not come down on command and I was forced into going around while cycling the switch.
All was good eventually and the landing was a pearler, but it was the first time it had done that after the initial cycle before the first flight.
For those who have not heard of the drama, it is prevalent in the blue heat shrink wrapped six second sequencer. I do have a spare six second unit so I think a swap out is on the cards.
I still recommend a cycle through of the landing gear as part of your preflight checks no matter which sequencer you are using.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[WintrSol]

Yep cheers fellas. If I feel like it's a bit dodgy I'll just hinge it. Just wasn't sure what the go is with these. Thanks again.

I usually cut and install real hinges in all my foam models during assembly. Many are too stiff, and will over-work a servo, and some are so thin that they almost come apart before first flight. I don't trust any of them, so hobby knife and pinned hinges. It's a good idea to glue a pin, like a round toothpick, crossways through the hinge tabs, so they don't pull out - don't ask what happened when I forgot!

[Shirty]

Toothpick is a good idea. Cheers mate. :)

[Shirty]

Time for a bit more viewing entertainment. ;) Part 2 of the petie in stock form.

[Shirty]

[tdevince]

Just as another point to all, the sequencer in my Duchess failed to play the game on the second flight last Sunday and even after the initial cycle through that I always do before the first flight, the gear did not come down on command and I was forced into going around while cycling the switch.
All was good eventually and the landing was a pearler, but it was the first time it had done that after the initial cycle before the first flight.
For those who have not heard of the drama, it is prevalent in the blue heat shrink wrapped six second sequencer. I do have a spare six second unit so I think a swap out is on the cards.
I still recommend a cycle through of the landing gear as part of your preflight checks no matter which sequencer you are using.
Regards and respect
Daryl

I do a minimum of three cycles on my preflight (after every new battery) and frequently I have an instance where it does not cycle once on my preflight. Just a single cycle doesn't seem to be sufficient. I've never had the problem in the air; it seems that after 3 cycle, its pretty much reliable. On another plane I have a set of Eflite 60-120 electric retracts. I also had reliability issues with them, but worse than the FMS. I ended up putting in a Spectrum voltage regulator (VR5203) on the signal going to the retracts and it fixed it for the eflites. I wonder if a similar fix might work for the FMS gear.

[WintrSol]

Toothpick is a good idea. Cheers mate. :)

I use a pin vice with little numbered drills to put a hole through the control and hinge tab (odds of hitting the holes already there are pretty small). If you use round, tapered toothpicks, you can choose a drill that makes a hole about the size about 1/2 way up the taper, so the toothpick jams in the hole, and fits very tightly.

[wrongroad]

G'day tdevince,
I usually do as you by cycling through the sequence three or four times and I did the same before the first flight on the day. It must be said that this is the first time in sixty six flights that the sequencer has done this after being cycled.
I am trying to get through to 100 flights without changing any parts but in the name of reliability, I may have to find myself a bit short of the number.
It is like I have also taken to checking the Philips head screw in the oleo every flight even though I have used lock tite to secure the screw.
It has amazed me how often this screw has still come loose even with careful cleaning and the use of LT.
No flying today as the weather guys got it right for once and the wind was up at 25 / 35 km/h at six am this morning and predicted to get stronger.....I can not figure out why they are right on weekends and so far wrong during the week.
I do set my limits on wind but over the years they have become progressively higher as my skill level and confidence has grown. Still, I do not have anything to prove and I can not afford to replace a model at the moment.:D
Hopefully next week will give me a good chance to use all the batteries that I have and I might even have to field charge one or two.
Hope this weekend was not a washout, blow out or a heat wave for you all.
Regards and respect
Daryl

[tdevince]

Hope this weekend was not a washout, blow out or a heat wave for you all.
Regards and respect
Daryl

Daryl,
Actually yesterday was a pretty good day for flying, just a bit of a crosswind but not enough to ground the Duchess. So I was able to get a couple of batteries through her. Today will be a little more wind than I like to fly in, so its back to the Man-cave to continue working on my P47 "Hairless Joe" :)

[olwarbirds]

No heatwaves here brother, windy and snows on its way again. Please keep posting pics and vids guys, tks Shirty, I dont post or follow the other forum anymore.
Wintrsol thats a good tip for hinges, I had always used a hinge centering tool and hinge slotter, then put the hinge on wing and then make marks through the holes in the hinge. Your way would make doing flaps much easier. TKS !
td the VR5203 voltage regulator http://www.horizonhobby.com/product/...pmvr5203#close is a nice devise. I use them on my EFL retracts and that eliminated the cycling issues. I tried to get the specs on our FMS retracts and have not found them as of yet. The VR5203 limits the voltage to 5.2v and 2a continuous 3a burst. Another thing alot of our fellow flyers are not aware of is that most ESC's and BEC'S output voltage can be changed, this could cause issues if not set right. Please post some more vids guys, at least I can watch Yall fly while I am snowed in.... DJ