Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Nice call on the glo-ignitor.

RedTwilight

I got a 4-way wrench from the hobby shop that had 2 ends for prop nuts and 2 ends for glow plugs. And I found several cheap tools that came in handy from Wal-Mart. These included Metric and Standard Allen wrenches, Philips and flat head screwdrivers, precision screwdrivers (like for eyeglasses, watches, electronics, etc.), a ratchet driver, a small adjustable wrench, and slip-joint pliers and other pliers; all for right around $1.00 each. Also don't forget some zip ties, rubber bands, velcro, tape, and some small bungee cords. Though not necessary they have all came in handy.

You might even get lucky like I did and get a field box for free. My instructor had several laying around and gave me one. He also gave me an electric fuel pump and a power panel.[&:] I did offer to pay him for it but he just wouldn't let me.

I haven't had the need for a starter or chicken stick yet. With the flywheel still on the Evo motor is very easy to start. Just a quick flip and puuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Though it probably would be safer to have one of these at least.

deadstick999

I got my PTS on Wensday of this week and flew it for the first time today. What a blast it was. The instructor took it up for me and about 4 minutes later she quit running, ran out of fuel. I filled her back up, 5 minutes later the same thing. The instructor held the plane upside down while I put fuel in it and sure as sh*t the fuel tank was in wrong. Well anyway it was a blast to fly for the first time. Looks like I have to pull her apart and turn the tank 180 degrees so I can fill it all the way. Has anyone eles run into this?

ARMSJSTEV

YEP,I DID IT A FEW MONTHS AGO. I GOT COCKY AND TRIED TO FLY AN INVERTED PASS OVER THE RUNWAY AND IT NOSED IN. A LOT OF DAMAGE. ORDERED ANOTHE FUSE AND WING SET FROM HORIZON AND REBUILT IT. I PUT THE FUEL TANK IN RIGHT, BUT THE STOPPER AND THE PRESSURE TUBE WERE 90 DEGREES OFF. YA GOTTA KEEP THE PRESSURE TUBE UP OUTTA THE FUEL IN THE TANK.

Brineymolly

Actually got to do a little work on my ARF this morning. I used Ultra-Stripe from Horizon Hobby for the yellow, and Black Ultracote for the bolt.

The lightning bolt motiff is loosely based on the 118th TRS Tactical Recon Squadron /23rd FG Fighter Group, based in China 1945.

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

Nice Job on the stripe! To put a pilot in your Plane you could cut the bottom of the cockpit out glue your pilot to it then glue it back in!

stallwart

Looking really good, Brineymolly! Keep posting pics of your build.

IMIX

I've been following this thread since it was a mere 78 pages, earlier in the summer when i first bought my P-51 PTS RTF.
I've done many of the mods and upgrades listed here, this thread has been a HUGE help.
a very big THANKS to all contributors here!!

FINALLY i was able to take some lessons at my local field on a high wing trainer over the last few weeks and today i flew my maiden on the 'stang!
it went GREAT. A very talented pilot friend of mine took it up first and trimmed it out for me, and had me on buddy box.
as with all maidens, there had to be something a little crazy...
after we landed a guy came up to us and said "hey isn't the antenna supposed to be extended on the radio?"
we flew the whole flight with the Tx antenna down!!
ooooops!!!
one hell of a range test I'd say. thats with the JR 421 that comes with it.

when my instructor finally got there, he said we'll be flying my bird to learn landings.
he really let me do everything... the take-off was smooth with or without flaps.
it handled well in the air, tho i still had the throws fairly conservative.
landing was a breeze!!! har har..
barely any throttle on approach, and just get a smooth glide and let it touch down on its own.
of course, i'm flying on a grass field, which is way more forgiving than paved.
He buddied with me, but i had full control the whole time, for 3 successful landings...
then he unplugged the buddy box, and said "you don't need me anymore... HAVE FUN!!!"
so i just kept refueling and flying solo the rest of the day!! it was AWESOME!!!
I LOVE THIS PLANE!!!

btw, like everyone, my high-speed needle wandered, so i adjusted it again and kept it in place with a wire-tie.
after i taxi'ed abit to fast into a fence, the stock prop disintegrated, which was great, coz i had a 10 x 6 3-blade on hand.
it was a very noticible power upgrade.
the second i got home, i took that one off, and put on a 2 blade 11 x 6 with an aluminum spinner that looks SEXXY!!
I'm testing that out tomorrow.
after tomorrow, i feel i'll be ready to remove the droops and see what this plane can really do!!

I have to say, i have spent quite some time on a flight sim practicing and landing and everything before taking instruction.
It helped ALOT, and my instructor even said he could tell i'd been practicing and that i had very good control.
for new flyers, definitely get a sim!!!

These are my mods:
removed 'windbrakes' off gear immediately.
Sullivan tailwheel replacement
epoxy the firewall, exposed wood on wingmount block, and everything where it bolts in to!!!!
reinforced the fuselage sides and anywhere else you can see that needs it.
DSC power switch
Dubro low-bounce wheels, helped alot to cushion the landings.
dremeled the cowling around the throttle and fuel line for access
exhaust extension
flap servo
aluminum 2-blade spinner w/ 11 x 6

pics:
(btw, the last one is the remnants of my instructors mid-air collision.... hopefully the Gators will fare better against Kentucky tonight)

deadstick999

I wanted to add that this Friday was the first time I had flone my P-51 or flone pirod. The instuctor I had had me remove all the training gear from the plane before it ever went into the air. I didnt get to try it with all the gear on but it handled great at a slow speed aswell as full throttle. There was no self correcting in this plane. It went were you pointed and stayed there untill you moved the sticks. What a great plane.

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

IMIX, you got very lucky with the antenna. But as long as your instructors antenna was up you were good, you transmitt everything thru his or her radio when on a buddy cord. Congrats on the maiden, love to here good stories of sucsesful maidens and know others are still enjoying this plane as much as I have..

I should be getting my new one next week, not the same plane but same size. I flew my buddies 60 H9 P-51 and really like the agility of the 40 more.. besides I have all the stuff for a 40 from my desceased PTS..[sm=71_71.gif]


Shane

P.S.

Never use servos from a fairly hard crash, I almost lost my 4* 60. Both the ones I used from my PTS started to fail and I almost lost it twice, once for each servo. (rudder and elevator) Both were metal gear high torque racing servos.

Brineymolly

Just about done. I only have to work on the cowl, and glue the canopy on after I find a nice looking pilot figure. I took the motor off my 1st PTS, so that shouldn't need any major adjustments.

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Very nice.. Clean looking plane..

lrtx1

Has anyone had problems with the wheel collars? Lost a wheel in flight last week. Needless to say the gear folded under. It made me do the landing gear block modification finally. That mod is probably easier done without all the splinters...lol But, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Well, I ended up drilling 3/16" collars to 13/64" those must be a metric size. Anyways the stock collars seem a little chinsy. I striped the threads on one without trying hard. Well, it flew again today. Just wondering what you guys have seen or done with the wheel collars.


Layne

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Layne, if I remember right they are 4mm collars. Mine did the same thing to me on about the 4th time out. Lost the wheel, collapsed the gear, broke the prop and spinner, and broke a wing droop. Did all that on take off the one time I decided to fly solo cause my instructor was like 2 hours late. If I remember right he showed up as I was gathering pieces, lol.. got it all fixed at the field and was up flying in about 45 min.


Shane

opjose

You fixed THAT at the field?

Amazing.

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Yeah I learned that an exato knife and some CA will get it back in the air, usually enough scraps in the trash to find what I need to fix it. Only thing is can't cover it until I got home, looked goofy without the spinner with the 3 blade prop. but it flew and I got a few more flights.

I would'nt recommend fixing everything at the field lilke the firewall or something of that nature, but the gear was gonna have to be redone (thats when I installed the retracts) so I figured I might as well fly as much as I could. Besides, that way my wife didn't know I had already broken it and saved me the headache when I got home..... I hope she don't see this


Shane

omyc25

i finally flew my p51 pts yesterday and it was great, i was a little windy at times but i did pretty good, considering that the instructor didnt have to get me out of trouble once. all that time in the SIM practicing the basics is working i guess. i still have a long way to go though. he flew the plane the first time and it flew pretty good and slow, he said the slowest mustang he ever flown !QUOT!hes a pro though and flies in competitions!QUOT!, the second time up i got to flight it for most of the time and it was a weird nervous feeling at first but it quickly went away !QUOT!no time to get nervous, time to fly!QUOT!. I guess i was enjoying to much because when i handed the control to him so he could land the airplane, 3 min later in the approach the airplane ran out fuel about 75 to 100 ft high. I was lucky he was pretty good and turned and came in for a nice easy landing. i guess i got an extra lesson on how to land dead-stick. however, when i was done and i started cleaning the plane i notice many wrinkles in the fuse and some in the wings. i guess I'm going to have to start learning how to iron i just hope i don't burn right through everything. Besides that i cant wait to get back out there and fly some more...

ps. which prop can i use later to give me more power and speed?

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

11x6 APC prop seems to be the ticket with this plane, Also try using a heat gun to get the wrinkles out instead of an iron. With the heat gun you can actually watch the wrinkles disappear and you just follow the wrinkles as they do so. Just hold it about 3 inches away from the covering at an angel in the direction you are going. Always work from left to right or top to bottom, don't start in the middle as you will just chase the wtinkles around. When you start the covering will look as if it is going to blister and come off so don't be alarmed this is normal, it will immediately lay flat after this and when it does is when you want to start going across the surface. You will see how fast the wrinkles will start to smooth out and you just follow right behind it and WALLA, no more wrinkles. Try to avoid the edges and use the iron on them instead as they will lift and curl if you're not careful.
I always start with the gun then finish with the iron if needed to lay down corners and edges, besides if you aren't careful with the iron you will put permenant wrinkles that you can't get out unless you recover. I learned all this by trial and error. oh yeah, if you don't already you should put a small roll of scotch tape in your box just in case you get a hole in the covering.


Shane

opjose

Don't worry too much about the wrinkles.

If the sun hits the plane, it will heat up the material and cause it to wrinkle more.

You may find that some of these will go away when you store the plane. This is normal.

---

I would suggest that once you have the engine tuned up, you use something to hold the plane down (a stake and cord work fine for this) and you run and time the engine at 70% power to get an approximate flight time.

I do this with all of my planes and then take the value, minus 2:30 minutes, then enter this into the radio's count down timers for each model.

Thereafter I start the timer as soon as the engine is started.

I will then get a series of warnings from the radio when the plane should be landed.

I don't remember if the PTS radio has this feature, but most of the JR radios do.

omyc25

thanks a lot for the info on the prop, wrinkles and and a way to time how long i can fly at a time. However when I was looking for propellers i noticed that they said you should balance the propellers. and they recommend what you should do it with. I don't have a clue of how to do that... but do you really need to balance the prop or do they come fairly balanced already?

jjman11

Mine really screams with a 12x4 APC, much better vertical also.

This plane really takes a lickin and keeps on tickin! I have over 250 flights on mine now, the spinner is wearing a hole though it from starting it so much. Ive landed in gravel, grass, concrete, mud, you name it. Crashed it 6 times, hit 2 trees, 1 fence, and 1 truck. A little bit of glue, some covering and I'm back in business. I just fly the thing til it runs out of gas, then I land it.

Definetly got my monies worth on this one.

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Yes, balancing your prop is important to reduce vibration on the airframe and unnecessary wear and tear on the motor.
[link]http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=DUB499[/link]

[link]http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PRA3000[/link]

Either of these will work fine, get a can of clear coat spray paint, any model brand should work, and just spray small amounts across the tip that is the lighter end until you achieve a good balance. Wood props don't require as much if any to balance, APC props quality has gradually gone down hill which requires more balancing. Used to never have to balance them now everyone has to be done, but it is worth it as far as performance and it only takes a few minutes to do.


Shane

Brineymolly

Oh yeah, I just wanted to point something out.

The invasion stripes are over silver covering, so you can just peel off the invasion stripes if you prefer a clean wing.

(The wingtips are NOT covered in silver though. There are plastic/fiberglass? tips under the yellow covering)

omyc25

thanks pit-viper 1 that helps a lot specially the spray paint idea, believe it or not i though it was done some other way that im not even going to say.

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Tips are indeed fiberglass, should get a set of these wing tip protectors.

[link]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXK201&P=[/link]

These will keep your wing tips from getting chewed up on those not so smooth take-offs/landings.

Shane