RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Mike, Where did you buy thease wonderful wheels ?? what brand are they ?

Regards Philip

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hi All,

Dragon sorry to hear about your wreck.....Hope everything is going well on the recovery front.

I have been quite busy with work and getting thiongs done around the home....lawns, gardens...etc. Been working my butt off for the past month, including 2 trips for week long meetings for work.

Can't wait to retire.....:D

All this stuff going on has not stopped me from getting things ordered for the 51 though...LOL....:) Got most of the parts for the gear and just got my DL50 engine in. I think the last thing will be the exhust system and cockpit. One of these days I'll get started back on the bird. Like some of you guys been kind of staring at the project trying to think of ways to make the gear work and other mods. Just not enough time to get into it full bore.

Hope everyone is doing well and getting some flying in.....been out about 4 times. Got my Super Sportster 90/120 up on its maiden flight....it is a dream to fly.

Well I'll send out pics and information once I'm able to get back to building...hopefully very soon!!.........[8D]

Phil....The wheels are from Serria....picked them up at the Toledo Show for $90.00.....pretty sweet!!


Talk to ya'll later


Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hi there Dragon, nasty pics of your car. You must indeed have had a guardian angel watching over you! Goode luck with your recovery!

BTW, I do now a thing or two about those sudden turns in life. Just supported my wife through a tough cancer surgery, but she's recovering well now!! Put ones mind to a different focus for a while. So everything has been very slow on the P-51 lately, and also on the forum.

I've invested in an airbrush and compressor and have tested a bit. But, still waiting for my warbird collors to arrive. (Waited for 2 months)!! [:@]

It seems quite difficult to get i perfect, but there is a learning curve to airbrushing as for everything else I guess. :)

Some pics of my project, as is.

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Jan the Stang is looking awsome!!!!!!!!!!..........:D

Looks like the covering came out really nice. Did you do the cowling and scoop with the aluminum covering also or use paint?

Looks like you figured out the gear too.....did you end up leaving the inner panel off the outer door?


Good luck with the airbrush.....thats something I have wanted to get too! I hear it takes some real practice......[8D]

I know everbody is pretty busy, but keep in touch.

Berrick havn't forgot about the call I owe ya. Hope things are going better after your surgery. I'll try to make time here soon.

Later all,


Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hi Mike,

I've used Flite Metal all over, except for the rudder. On the rudder I used some kind of iron on fabric that I had laying around.

I gave up on the inner panels for the outer door. I might retrofit something, if I can come up with som clever ideas. But I guess i will test fly first.

Cheers!

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

hi mike . no problem i haven't done a damn thing to the p-51 in quite a while . been doin' lots of fly'in though :] .

jan , your plane is looking sweet !!!!! . i have yet to use my airbrush but can't wait to try it out . keep us up to date with your progress painting . any tips you might have do pass along pls.

berrick .

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hi again all,

As you can see from my pics, I haven't done a lot of airbrushing yet. Only anti glare on the hood, and some invasion stripes on the wing. The "Old Crow" is done by applying pre-cut masking template. Some of my experience so far:

1) Where the paint goes, you will need to thoroughly rub down the Flite Metal with sandpaper. No "shining" spots to be left unattended. Otherwise the paint won't stick to the surafce. Regular auto primer is not really suitable for alluminium, but I used it anyway. (The recomended epoxy based primer for alluminum, was just to expensive for me.) I would say my result so far is 90% good. Also remeber to remove all residue with denaturated alcohol before applying the paint!

2) I believe it is worth while to test different masking tapes. I did, and ended up with the 3M green tape. Same as used for applying the FM. It has a lot more strenght than ordinary masking tape, and a strong glue. But, not strong enough to rip off the paint.

3) Don't wait to long before you remove the masking tape!

4) Accidents will happen. Using any masking tape or glued-on-template, you will risk either paint to run under the masking tape, or if you use really stikcy tape, the underlaying color would peal of when you remove the masking. ( ground work being important) I used model paint and a small pencil to "fix" my small mishaps. Don't show at a distance I hope. ;)

5) Masking, mixing paint, cleaning the airbrush between each stroke.... It is a lot of dirty work! And very easy to get fed-up. At this point, have a break, before you start making short cuts [:-]

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Jan, that looks sweet. Make sure you get some video of that thing flying. I NEED to see it!

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hi all,
actually, I'm working on my P51D.
Somes pictures are here : http://perso.orange.fr/F-Pasc/topic/index.html

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

hello pasc , i saw your p-51 construction pix and it all looks good . nice work.

i would have enjoyed them better without the popups and the casino website that decided to appear on my screen !!!!!!

if you want people to see your pictures , you might want to do something about that .

berrick

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

What is the status of your build? Did you complete it and it's now flying?

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

No, I work slowly at the time....;)

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hey Guys,

Boy has it been quite around here.....Everyone must be pretty busy this summer!..... :) Same here, but I finally was able to devote some time to the P51 build in the past few weeks. Didn't want to post anything until I was able to figure out the gear door situation, but I finally got everything to work. Havn't applied air to them yet, have to finish up the other side now. I'll post some pics in a few separate posts.

These were the initial fill and assembly of the inner gear doors with hinge pockets, and Z-poxy with TF micro balloons. As Berrick, I used 3/32" ply for the door rim support and cut out 1/4" door hinge supports. They turned out pretty good, still did not get the door fully contured to the wing, but pretty darn close. Figure I'll do a little fill and faring on the front edge of the wing to get rid of the edge. Should not be very noticeable.

Posts to follow:


Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

These are the outer gear doors during assembly.

I had to make about the same cut outs that you did Berrick, except that I then took some plastic cling wrap and secured it to the outside of the inner plastic door, fit it into the wing and used 30min Z-poxy with micro ballloons over the cut out to mold a new skin to the door so I didn't have a hole there. Worked out pretty good actually.

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Well here is the outer gear door with the stand offs. Took some tweaking but was finally able to get them working with the gear as it rotated in and out of position. Beleieve me it was easier with out the top skin on. I used some 3/32" brass plate to cut out the stand off mounts on the doors, cut the slots in the doors after a lot of measuring and expoxied the tabs in the door. Everything else is 2-56 ball links and threaded rod. The strut collar is the Robart collar.

Everything seems to work very well.

Now on to the next door......:D

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

hi mike !! that looks awsome !!! i never even thought of standoffs like that ! now i know what i'll do . maybe even motivate me to get back on the build as i kinda got frustrated with the doors , then just stopped all together . your doors look the best i've seen . really nice work mike . if i do anything this weekend i'll post some pics.

later all,
berrick

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Morning Berrick,

Thanks for the godo's. I actually am pretty pleased on how they turned out. Took some measuring and drawing and re-measuring.....LOL At first they did not want to close all the way, but with some tweaking here and there (not very much, little adjustments at a time) everything fell into place. I did notice that if you were off a liitle on the angle at all of the stand-off struts that the door would not follow the gear strut into the bay. There kind of touchy,,......[>:]

I'm not sure if I will stick to the ball link type coupler....I would hate to have one pop off......Could make for an interesting landing..
What do think? I was thinking of going to the bolt on type swivel coupler....but not sure if that would give me as much play as they need.

Any ideas appreciated...... :D

Well talk to later,


Mike

PS Heard from Dragon lately?

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hey guys,

Well took a break on the gear for a bit and have been hard at work on the engine installation. Thought I would send along some pics and see if anyone had any siggestions / ideas.

I think it turned out pretty good.......:) Everything lined up real nice and I started fitting the fiberglass cowl on. No pics on that yet, but I'll have some by Thursday.

The engine is a DL-50, China manufactured. Basically a clone of the DA-50 but about $350.00 less. Alot of folks have been buying this and running them in their aerobatic / 3D models and everyone has been really impressed.

I needed an 1 1/8" spacer block so I used a piece of 3/4" and 1/4" hardwood blocks and a piece of 1/8" plywood, epoxyed together and then a sheet of 3/32" aluminum for a back plate so the stand-offs would not pull into the wood. I then secured the assmebly to the firewall with 1/4-20 bolts and blind nuts.

I mounted a Slimline fuel dot in the fuse at the tank compartment, thought this would be better than mounting it in the cowl, however it could be a bear to get to if repairs or replacemnet are needed.....[:o] Hooked up the throttle linkage, but not sure about the Choke yet....still pondering that one. ANY IDEAS>>>>>[sm=confused.gif]


Well thats it for now,


Later

Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Here are a few more.


Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

nice work mike . looks good. the only thing i'm not keen on is your fuel line . i think that you might want to drill just the aluminium plate slightly larger as to not rub a hole in the line . other than that i think it looks great!!

berrick

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hey Mike looks wonderful. renewed my desire to finish. I noticed you and Berrick have stands that you use for building, did you build those or buy them? this would make my life alot better. Would you post some pictures? I think that one of the reasons i have stopped working on it is that it got real hard to handle without dinging it up.


Thanks Tom Tope

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hey Tom,

I'll tell you it has been a great help in building this model....and I'm sure I'll be able to use it for many others.

I think it was Berricks idea though....I saw his and I said what a great idea.....:D

Whats really nice is all you have to do is turn it over for either the fuse or the wing for a working surface...so it pulls double duty.


The frame is just 1X2 pine. I bought the 1" foam pieces in a pack of 6 and doubled them up to make it a bit more sturdy. I believe Berrick used that 2" construction foam that they used on sub-siding home. I looked at that but it only comes in a 4'X8' sheet. Kind of pricy. So I used the 1" foam and glued them together with gorilla glue. The hardware is standard 1/4-20 bolts, washers and wing nuts.


Morning Berrick,

I also looked at that and figured that I would drill that out and install a rubber gromet around the fuel tube.

Any ideas on the choke mechanism??


Talk to you guys later,


Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

mike, although i'd love to take the credit for the stand , charma says no . seen it lots online before and actually my buddy trevor built one before i did so maybe corsair guy gets the kudos !! lol. as far as your choke goes i'd put it on a servo. at least that's what i'm doing .

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

Hey Guys,

Well had to put the project down for a bit and I am getting ready to head out to Oshkosh Wed. morning. I'll be out there until the show ends on July 31. They will be pretty long working days at OSH Tower and FLD Tower, but always find the time to start clicking off pictures and talking with pilots...........:D

If anyone needs to have some pics of some particular aircraft or aircraft section let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I'll have the laptop with me so I can get all my email.

You guys take care!! Talk to ya on the 3 of August


Mike

RE: top flite p-51 giant scale build
 

hello all thank you for your concerns and get wells. i am doing fine and the project is going VERY slow. we moved into a new house again. and there really is no room for a build of this statcher. but i will be getting on it soon.