mschulz531

Good to hear from you, Fragmentum. This economy has made life difficult for many of us, that is true. The nice thing about our hobby is that we can put something on the shelf and come back months later and pick right up where we left off. In my case, I've been spending a great deal of time with my father who has been in the hospital for almost a month.

Over the winter months I finished the rough framing of my P-51 and replaced the bearings in a Saito .72 which is my power plant for this plane. I also saved up for all the things that add up, like wheels, monokote, aluminum spray paint for the cowl, etc., etc. My brother helped me put together a simple engine test stand so I can test my Saito .72 and the remote glow plug ignitor that I plan on installing. But I still haven't had time to test the engine. Oh well. One day at a time.

Looking forward to seeing photos of the results of your painting when you get to it.

Regards,
Mike

BradSD

My Feedback: (9)

Frag have you started back on the plane? Default how did yours fly? Im thinking of starting back on mine again.

Planeguy77

Is everyone else in this thread doing the tapering of the elevators and rudder? For the elevator I have been looking at the plans to see if the taper goes the full length no luck with any info yet.

rglgatortail

My Feedback: (7)

Yeah taper it, i use a neat tool that marks the centerline of the elevator and rudder, when you have that done measure up say half way from the trailing edge of the rudder and elevator, now using a razor plane you carefully remove material on top and bottom of the center line up to the half way mark on the elevator and rudder. Now once you have enough material removed from the trailing edge of both rudder and elevator that back edge should be say 3/16 or so thick, now get you some 120 grit and sand it smooth and sand it to a nice smooth area with 200 grit and of course you are rounding the trailing edge to the final contour. If you need pictures let me know and I'll post them later. If i remember correctly i could have sworn that the plans give a "cross section" of what the taper should be, could be. The taper just helps with the "flap or flutter" as compared if you just round off the trailing edge. Let me know and I will see if I can help any more.

andernamen

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Any tips on how to fill in the wing fillets? Did anyone use balsa or just epoxy mixed with microballoons?

landeck

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I used Sig Epoxolite on my P-51 and other planes with wing fillets. Be sure to read the directions and it will work out very well. You can order it directly from Sig Manufacturing.

Bruce

andernamen

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Got the fillets done finally! Whew! I ended up using balsa triangle stock and lite wood filler over the top. Came out okay considering. Quick spinner question - what is everyone using on their GP P-51's? I measured the cowl ring and it measures 2 7/8" across. I'd like to find a spinner with the same dimensions, but can only find either 3" or 2 3/4".

rglgatortail

My Feedback: (7)

If you were to read page 33 step D4 it tells you to temporarily glue your 2 3/4 inch spinner to the spinner ring, after doing this you are to carefully glue your balsa wood that makes up the upper cowling. I would like to recomend to read ahead the steps in your book before you perform the steps just a little hint of advise. Good luck on your build.

The spinner ring is over size and when you glue on the balsa wood to make up the upper cowling you carve and sand away the material to meet up to the contours of the spinner. I also suggest to get you some of that manilla colored tape i like to call paper tape or the blue tape that you might have seen the comercials use when the people paint rooms what you do is you wrap the back half of the spinner with the manilla or blue colored tape so when you are carving and sanding the wood to the spinner you wont sand across the surface of the spinner and put scratches all over it not unless you have a spinner that you dont care for and just use that spinner and have at it.

rglgatortail

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I thought I would share with everyone that I had bought a fiberglass specialties cowl for my mustang and pictures of how it looks. The fiber glass cowl appears to be of good quality but its longevity will yet to be determined lol. Now to get me some paint that is fuel proof....

flybyjohn

My Feedback: (2)

Time to wake back up this thread. I started this kit back in about 2005, put it away for a while and woke the building back up in 2009 with the building of my oleo struts, then put it back to bed. Now I have started working on it again about 3 weeks ago and have it just about finished and ready for final sanding before covering. I switched from the mechanical retracts to the hobbyking electric retracts. I have gws hpx park servos for the ailerons and have working flaps. I just got the new Taranis tx from FrSky and have been able to program in slow flap deployment for the cool factor and it should also prevent sudden nose pitch ups. I will post pictures as I go from this stage through covering and to the finished model. I made an engine thrust plate extention to get the engine a little farther back from the front of the cowl. That way my hole for the carb has a little bit of meat ahead of it. I tested the engine on the engine stand with the extension and had no viberations so I must have balanced it well. I will post pictures of it later. Here is where I am at this point.

pitts M 12

I'm working on the same kit, except i'm doing a kit bash to either a b model or a RAF mk3 mustang(paint scheme is the only difference that i know about). got the lower fuselage done and most of the left wing done. Engine will be a Thunder tiger 46 and I am using great planes retracts.

JM

rglgatortail

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Hey flybyjohn who makes that kit?

rcphotog

It is produced by Great Planes and it features the same airfoil from the Great Planes Ultra Sport .40 sport model.
It's an all wood and some plastic parts kit. 57" span. I beleive you can still purchase a fiberglass replacement cowling from Fiberglass Specialties Inc. to use instead of the ABS one.
http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma0175.html

I started this kit around 15 years ago and set it aside until less expensive retracts became available. I'll get back to it someday. They fly very well on a two-stroke .45 or .46 and of course electric power.
~Ken.

0z0

Hi

The P51 I am building will be covered with monokote chrome and I cover the cowl with aluminium tape, the results are pretty good.

Ducted Fan Dan

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Looks great! Love to see it when it is finished!

flybyjohn

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OzO, that tape looks great. The only thing I might caution you with is that if your plane is going to be glow, the glow fuel may loosen the adhesive on the tape. Not sure if CA glue will seal the edges or not.

flybyjohn

My Feedback: (2)

Again, I have fell off the build for a while and now am back on it. I just got the fuse almost completely covered. Just have to put the blue on the nose. Now it's just a lap away from being finished. I just need to place the servos and battery to balance the plane, glue in place and it should be just about finished. Will get some pictures tonight and post.

flybyjohn

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I finally have some pictures to show. I am almost done, just have to do a few minor preflight items to be ready for maiden. I came in right at 6.5 lbs dry with a magnum .52 xls bissom like muffler, 5 cell nimh rx battery, and hobbyking electric retracts, with my home made struts. I don't know if the struts will hold up to much of a poor landing but only time will tell. I think it might maiden this week.

0z0

That tape is similar to Metal Flite tape I hope doesn`t loose.

0z0

Nice job Flybyjohn

Here is the building thread on my R/C club forum

http://cach.cl/foroSMF/index.php?topic=28203.0

Ducted Fan Dan

My Feedback: (2)

flybyjohn, That is the nicest GP P-51s I've seen! We need a flight report!

flybyjohn

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Flight report: 3 flights total so far, 2 ended in dead stick. Still trying to get the magnum to keep running. I have it running perfect on the ground and then in the air at half throttle it dies. It will sit and idle at 2500 rpm for 5 minutes and then rev to full throttle without hesitation, but if left at mid throttle, the engine just dies within a minute. I think I have it figured out though ( I have to reshape the low speed needle ) and will fly again soon. The plane flys well, but need to cut back on the flaps. I have them deploy slowly, about 4-5 seconds for full deployment, but the plane wants to do a loop when they are down. It takes a lot of down elevator and even then it is hard to keep flying level. The rolls are very axial, and the plane tracks nicely through loops. Inverted only requires a tiny bit of down elevator to keep level. I get a whistle off the plane as it flys by fast, which is cool, as I saw a full scale mustang making a similar whistle. The retracts did well on the two deadsticks even though they weren't perfect, and on the powered landing, the plane set down as gentle as a feather (with out the flaps). I can't wait to get this engine running well enough that I don't have to worry about it cutting out at mid throttle so that I can fly a little lower. Right now if I am going to pull it down from full throttle, I keep it high enough to come around for a deadstick and I my style is really to fly lower.

markk100

Hoping to maybe revive this thread, it's one of the best of any forum threads I've read. This will be my first build ever, started last night. Thank you to those who contributed over the years, superb information, great tips, tricks, and sweet outcomes! Cheers, Mark

Ducted Fan Dan

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Just keep checking off the boxes and it will turn out great!

0z0

I would like share pictures of my P51 finished: