thedeuce

Christian,

I also bought the lado retracts, you are correct on the part numbers, and would recomend the 3/16 version. It comes with both collets to vit the 5/32 and 3/16 retracts. With the 3/16 version all that you have to do is use the correct size music wire to fit the strut and retract together. Its super simple. Very nice design.

Cheers,

John

gmohr

Hi Christian

You have the right part number as John said, however if you read through my posts, you'll see that I had some difficulty fitting these units into the airframe. It was hard to get the wheels to retract fully into the wells so that they would be below the sheeting. My solution was to alter the struts to have more offset, but this can be a pain to get done unless you are a good welder yourself.

So in thinking throught the problem, it occurred to me that by using the 90 degree retract units instead of the 85 degree, it would be possible to angle them "inward" a bit more, and gain a lot of retraction depth. My suggestion to you is to order the 90 degree 60-5 units instead. Lado's website says "coming soon", so you might want to call him and discuss. You'll need to get the retract rails on just the right angle, with the inboard rib cutout being a bit deeper then the outboard.

Of course, if you arent totally picky about the retracts fully disappearing into the wing, and you don't intend to use scale gear doors, you can definitly do the 60-6 units.

Overall Lado retracts are beautifully made.

Enjoy!
George

P.S. Definitly 3/16ths wire, 5/32nd wire is too weak for this weight.

gmohr

Hi all,

Quick update since its been a while. The fuse is just not that interesting until it starts to look P-51-ish. Man those radiator sides and bottom balsa sheets were a pain!

Enjoy!
G

bluetomcat

Hi john and George

thanks for the quick reply. I think I will go for the 90 degree 60-5 units instead of the 85 deg ones. Could be waiting for a long time though. do you think I can carry on building the fuse in the mean time? i know i will get to a stage where I will have to stop due to the lining up of the wings.
Do you tink if I did get the 85deg units that I could consider slightly smaller wheels? Maybe 3-1/2 inch instead of the 3-3/4?

regards

christian

Riddle4U

If you all are interested....the BVM's work. I know also, that the best modelers thought much of this through for us. Why reinvent the wheel.

gmohr

Hi Christian

You can definitly continue on the fuselage, you will not need the wing to be sheeted until the fuse is 80% complete. Did you call LADO and get some kind of firm opinion on the delivery of the 60-5's? I understand he has a history of slow fulfillment of backorders.

Regards,
G

bluetomcat

George
No didn't phone them then don't know how much it would cost from the Uk. I am going to place an order tomorrow for the 60-6 85" set. They look like a suberb unit and really can't be doing with air retracts. Only my opinion though. I started the fuse yesterday and was pleasently surprised by how quick she is going together. I am nearly at the same stage as yourself just need to cover the radiator.
It really is a quick build so far.
What engine are you looking to put in it? I was thinking of something like a 120FS as I am looking to fibreglass the structure and paint my own version of the BBD.
Thank you for the info so far. When I get my camera up and running I will post some pics

regards

christian

gmohr

I'm taking Bob Hunt's advice and going with the 120AX (2-stroke). Should be deliciously overpowered lolol.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

You'll love it. Make sure to use the APC 15x10 and the 12 oz Hayes tank. And don't forget to fillet the heck out of the back of your firewall with a mixture of epoxy and milled fiberglass. To my thinking, the bird is not at all overpowered with this engine. It will turn the 15x10 at about the same speed on the ground as a Saito 150, 8500-8800. TF recommends a 120 FS for this bird, and a 150 is nothing but an overgrown 120, so I think the 120 TS is right in the ballpark. It made balancing easy- I put a 1450 NiMh pack in the tailwheel well and that's all it needed.

My rudder servo failed on takeoff yesterday, and she ended up in a tree. There's a "bite" out of one leading edge, a crack in the fuse side where the wing tried to twist in the saddle, and the canopy is scraped up and needs replacing.

I have a HiTec HS475 on the elevator, but went with a standard Futaba on the rudder (S-3004). This is the second S-3004 in our club that has stripped its gears in the last week. Anyone else run into this lately?

I'm going to give her a break and repair the combat damage this winter.

Redwulf__34

Hey Bob!
Let me know how you remove that canopy. I've gotten one that is all messed up on the inside. I'm not sure how to get the bugger off.

I'm finishing up a motocycle project here myself. Will be painting this week. I've in the mean time slowly started moving my shop to a better room in the basement. Going to install a lock on the door too!! Got to many little fingers and "roommates" who like to overtake my small portion of the house!!! I'm going to get something started soon.

Been looking over some RCM plans for the KI-61 Hien/Tony. I found a canopy on E-bay for the drawings. That's all I really need for it. So it's making it very tempting at the moment. I'm not a fan of Japanese aircraft, but the Hien's do have some awesome paint schemes.

Sean

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Sean:

The tree took care of removing the canopy. Pulled off a few patches of covering with it. The pilot doesn't have a scratch.

I ordered a metal gear Futaba to replace the dead one, and went with the ARF canopy, as it's cheaper and doesn't have to be cut from the carrier.

The K-61s are cool looking airplanes.

We're going to be in VA from the 9th until the morning of the 11th. Weather looks good. I plan on being at the Rivanna field from about 1pm til ??? on the 9th and 10th.

gmohr

Bummer, Bob. Good luck on the "refit".

I'm a big fan of Spektrum/JR DS821's. They are inexpensive and strong as a bull. I even used them on my pattern plane, they center better than they have a right to.

In other news: North American Aviation's Central Jersey plant is operating at 105% capacity... the wing and stab are on!

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

All right, G. Lookin good.

FallDownGoBoom

My Feedback: (1)

George:

Your NA work looks great. You'll end up with a great flyer.

It looks like you did the standard TopFlite "rudder servo pushrod connected to the tail wheel connected to the rudder" set up. While this worked fine on my Mustang, if (when?) I were to build another one, I think I would have run two push rods: one for the rudder, and the other for the tail wheel. That would let me put the tail wheel servo on an inner servo arm hole, making ground handling a little more mild, or run two separate servo's so that a hard landing on the tail wheel didn't do any damage to the rudder servo. (We fly off a pretty rough field). I don't think this type of modification is critical, but it was one of those things that I thought would make the airplane a tiny bit better.

Since your fuselage was still relatively open, just thought I'd mention it.

gmohr

Thanks, Fred! I thought about the two pushrod approach, but frankly I got lazy but to improve the situation, I made the brass tubing arm on the tailwheel longer than stock, should tone down the tail wheel authority. I figured some expo will take care of the rest.

Regards,
G

FallDownGoBoom

My Feedback: (1)

That'll work too!

gmohr

Quick update... the fuse from the firewall back is pretty much complete. All that bending balsa is a pita, that's for sure. I can really see why Top Filte doesn't recommend this kit for beginners. So far, though, it is looking very P-51 worthy!

CGAV8R

My Feedback: (2)

Well I got a little more work done on the Mustang. I finished up the dash. I used balsa for the main dash board, styrene for the gauge bezels and other bits, and pins rolled in CA, then paint for the toggle switches, and finally photos for the gauges.

Aaron D.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Very nice work, Aaron.

CGAV8R

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Mustang.
Aaron D.

bluetomcat

All
Has anyone had any trouble ordering from Lado-Tech? I placed an order on 12th Sept for 85' wide retract set to fit the mustang and to my knowledge they have'nt been shipped yet. When I ordered the retract units were in stock and the money has been taken from my account but still my Lado account says 'order received'. I have emailed them twice in the past week but have not had any reply.
Am I being paranoid or do they usually take this long to process an order? If so they have already broken their 7 day shipping guarantee(not that I am bothered about that)
I really can't wait to crack on with the build and these are just holding me up.

Christian

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Mine finally bought on Sunday. That's about the 15th P-51 I've destroyed, so that's it. I'm gonna get a Four Star 120 ARF and put my engine in it.

FallDownGoBoom

My Feedback: (1)

Bob:

Sorry for you loss. Between the Mustangs and Ultrasport crashes, it's been a tough summer on kit builders.

Fred

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

I hear ya, Fred. Add my 6 year old GP DR-1 to that list.

Riddle4U

cgav8r I am glad you have done something extra to make the plane more scale! It may not win you a contest, but I am of the same spirit!!!!!!!

Bob, ..oh Bob darn it..are you saying the model shown on this thread is gone? Ouch...aaccchhhh. That's what I here. It was a pretty model sir!

I must say we all have lost models, and we just keep on keeping on. I haven't destroyed a favorite for awhile, but last time I did, I immiediately bought a new kit and started laying the spar and ribs the day after I got the box!

This is your opportunity for a new project, Bob! Heck..it could even be one originally flown by a hun (ME109 or FW190). Not even joking there, but us scale modelers have a list longer than [ insert one of a thousand here]. We're all behind you!

Best regards, Eric