Loredo59

Hey there, sorry of mishap, but was wondering if you would sell gear doors

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

OK, its been a while work has been rough. Anyways I have gotten a few flights on the P-51 and she appears to be a good airframe. A few things to point out as you assemble.

I had my canopy hatch blow off during a flight. What I did to resolve this is to add four (4) small magnets to the inside of canopy frame and fuselage. I adhered them with shoe goo goop easy to deal with . Since then I have not had any issues with it. Maybe the Manuf. will see this note and start adding them. I also went back and added some to my Zero although never had an issue with that one as it has a radial with very low vibration. If you can see the pencil marks on the side frames that is where I put them.

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

Ok next thing to consider, The vibration of my BIG gas motor. "Retracts" These are nice quality gear, a couple things that I have encountered so far. On the mains I put a tie wrap on the wire and retract body to limit movement at the solder point. Also at that area I put a dab of silicone on each of the solder points to dampen any wire coming loose.

You will need a sequencer for this plane as well if you intend to have the gear doors function correctly. Sequencers can be purchased cheap like the one pictured above for $10-$15. This one came from HobbyKing. It should come with the kit considering how cheap they can be bought for and one less thing that the modeler would have to try and aquire. (Manufacture take note here).

Next the tail wheel, the strut on the tail wheel that holds the spring is a screw on. Nice for maintnance but it shook apart on mine "85cc" Spring disappeared, anyways I replaced the spring and put locktite on the threads so it will not happen again.

These are things to watch for if you are using GAS.

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

I am running four battery's for the plane Rx 1, Rx2, retract, and ignition. this is a lot of battery's to keep up with but worth it. This is how I set up the inside of the fuse with the electronics.

I like to have my wing wires exit through the fuse holes for assembly. Then push them back in once on. Looks like a mess but not really. I am running a Voltage regulator on Rx1 and Rx2

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

I have been getting a lot of individual's asking about my tanks. You get the stock setup which is nice , but I like scale planes so I added a some detail to mine.

The kit that you receive from Mike is lovely out of the box but with minimal detailing it can be an Awesome looking plane. All I did was add some metal tubing, hose and screws that I had lying around. But for some reason most people think that they are usable. I get asked that a lot.


I used some dry-transfer decals to add looks. I have some coming for my Zero soon as well. They can be had from AeroLoft dry-transfer, Promark or a couple of others.

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

I have been asked how the DLE 85 fit, so here is a pic.

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

Next time she goes in the shop I will add cockpit detail . It comes with a good base to start.

AC2

My Feedback: (34)

Tim,

Couple questions for ya, your Gunslinger prop looks unscathed and I notice the wheels were down, did you clip a tree landing or was it hanger damage? Sorry to bring up bad memories but I like to learn wherever I can so it case it helps me some day.

How much trouble do you think it would be to remove the decals to get her primered up for another scheme? Were they painted on with stencils or are they actually raised decals? I have another scheme I want to use, besides I prefer Brunettes

AC2

My Feedback: (34)

Very very nice job btw!

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

My Ziroli went in on take off one day. It was a bad crosswind day 20-35mph and I was determined to take it up, that was a bad move. on roll out the Wind picked up a wingtip way to soon and cart-rolled it.

The TopRc one, has decals I believe. It would not be hard at all to just re-shoot the plane with paint. You can not see a raised line from them decals/transfers.

AC2

My Feedback: (34)

Ah, okay....yeah, I was just curious about that since it did not look terribly obvious. Still sucks though.. I feel a for ya!


Thank you for the info on the TopRc. I had ordered on a few months back but cancelled it while it was on back order. Looks like the new versions are not going to be out for a while but even so I want to pick my own scheme. Thanks for all the tips you provided and again, nice job!!

WI53072

How does this plane fly on the 85cc? I've been looking at these and think they look awesome! I was just wondering what kind of ballast was needed yo balance with the 85cc ranging snd where the CG is recommended?

johng650

Thanks for posting about your P51. I picked one up at Toledo this spring, beautiful!!!
As for gator RC, Mike is great to deal with and answers emails right away, I emailed him not long ago. He has told me that they are working on FW190 around 93" wingspan along with corsair and the new P51 paint schemes.

I too plan on using a DLE85 to get as close as I can to a scale 4 blade prop, your thread has answered a lot of question for me. Thanks again for sharing.

John

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

To be honest the 85/plane combo is way overpowered. It will accelerate on vertical climb outs. I have been flying since I was a kid 30-35yrs now and I use throttle management. Any 40-60cc would be ample. I used the engine out of my Ziroli Mustang since I already had it and I like a Big props on a Mustang to look more scale.
I balanced it at recommended CG like their instructions say. It is spot on. I used my battery's to balance the plane so there is no extra lead added, that is just extra weight.

I have been adding insight to what you will see from the GAS engines and the vibration issues that one will deal with. There are a couple of more posts that I will be adding, to address "retracts maintenance" keeping gears moving.

SWORDSN

My Feedback: (13)

What is the weight with the 85. Thanks

Sonny.C

My Feedback: (23)

Hi Tim,

What do you think about the Top RC retract kit for the mustang?

I noticed you are using a dedicated battery for the retract system. Do the retracts pull a lot of juice off of the retract battery?

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Blondie mustang and was wondering about the Top RC retracts. I prefer Sierra or Shindin retracts, but if the Top RC retracts are working they actually look good enough to use. I took your advise and ordered a HK retract sequencer. This will be my first experience with electric retracts, sure hope its a good one.


Sonny

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

I usually weight all of my planes, but I do not remember doing it on this one. Between work and the rain storms it might be a couple of days for me to get you an answer on that one.

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

Well I have mixed feelings on this as of right now.

I only have two sets of electric gear, one in My TopRC Zero and in the Mustang. The Zero was the first set I ever owned and I was skeptical on that at first. After a couple of dozen flights I absolutely fell in love with the ease and consistency of them. The first problem I encountered was on 25-27th flight were I forgot to recharge the battery's ( MY FAULT) only one went up the other 1/2 way. Luckily they both came out for the landing. " Thats it"

I went with a pair for the Mustang since they are just plug and play and they look GOOD. Now the Zero has a radial (very low vibration) and the Mustang a BIG gas engine with tons of Vibration even when rubber mounted. So on the 5-6th flight one gear decided to retract 1/2 way, I thought it was probably a low battery so threw the gear back down and nothing. The one leg came down and the other stayed 1/2 way. I cycled them a few times and no change the left leg would not do anything so I had to land with one gear 1/2 way down. The plane has VERY good handling so I got it slow full flap and landed on the one leg slowly letting it stall onto the other gear. All went well NO damage so after investigation the gear was cycling but no leg movement.

After tearing the gear down at home I found that the inner working gear drive was slipping. I pulled the gear-train down and found the culprit. There are some drum/pinion gears inside the gearbox that are a press fit not welded . I took the gears apart removed the drum from the pinion and cleaned them with acetone. I then re-assembled the drum and pinions using JBweld. Now they are solid. ( Need to be very careful not to get any adhesive in holes). I have only cycled them 10-12 times since. I do believe they are now SOLID !! After putting the gear back in and cycling them the other side started doing it as well. So I pulled it down and did the same procedure on it.

I planned to write about this and the fix, so people do not get mad with Mike over its possibility. Overall an easy fix. I conclude it happening due to the vibration levels of the 85cc.

I say get the gear that they are providing with the kit they are nice and easily fixed if needed.

Yes. I use a dedicated pack and switch for them. 8.4v Nimh 1300 pack. Each complete up/down cycle is about ( Im guessing) 100-150mah draw Never went more than 4 flights between charges

Sonny.C

My Feedback: (23)

Thanks Tim, I appreciate the detailed response.

I ordered the mustang, retracts and spinner yesterday and Mike shipped it all out the same day. It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow (9/1/16). Mike is really on the ball and gets product out to customers in a hurry.

My plan is to power the mustang with a DLE55 RA and use the provided retracts. I hope the DLE55 has enough power to pull the plane with authority because a 55cc engine on that size plane seems a bit marginal. We shall see!

I have a new in the box DLE 85, but I don't want to cut the motor box and/or potentially bugger-up my cowling trying to shoe horn in the 85. Plus the 55cc engine is less of a thumper than an 85, which typically means less vibration with the smaller displacement engine. I like Tim's dedicated retract battery approach and will follow suit.

Thanks!

Sonny

AC2

My Feedback: (34)

Does the spinner need to be ordered seperate?

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

Yes, Mike has them you can get either 2 or 3 blade

AC2

My Feedback: (34)

Oh, okay, just thought it strange when the item description says spinner included. Mine will arrive Friday so I'm assuming it will come with a two blade cutout. I'm using 4blade so I have to make two cuts but why a 3 blade? I have never seen a P-51 with a 3blade prop...interesting.

TimD.

My Feedback: (207)

I cut out the two blade to make a four. I thought the same ( why 3) never seen a Mustang with 3-blade.

The 55ra should be just fine.There have been plenty of people using them in the past few years. Personally I havealways used the tried and true Zenoah G-62 in my warbirds. You will not be disappointed with the plane, it is the nicest ARF I have seen in a long time.

pkoury

My Feedback: (7)

There were3 blade props on the earlier models of the P-51.

AC2

My Feedback: (34)

Im sorry, was refering to D model. Never seen on P51D. Thank you for sharing that picture.

Seems to me the offer should be either a 2blade or 4blade spinner unless Blondie used a 3blade at some point in time. Easy to make two more cuts on spinner though but boy would it be nice if an option existed for a 4blade.

Funny how I dislike the looks of the bubble top P47 compared to razorback and just the opposite with the P51 lol.