Posts: 9
Joined: 2/8/2007 From: Gonzales, LA, USA Status: offline
Hey all, I am ne wto this forum, as well as this being my very FIRST kit! I am working many crazy hours at work, and have an hour or two every other day or so to work on the tp[ flight .60 P-51. I just started with the stab, and I noted that the leading edge is supposed to be cut 1/4 inch longer than the plans. because of this, I caonnot put the stabs together on the plan at the same time. Any tips?
Posts: 179
Joined: 12/31/2004 From: newburgh,
NY, USA Status: offline
what I did was trim the leading edge (mating side) to the angle on the plans, then I cut it to the suggested length, then I lined it up on the plans. Let the outside edge hang over until the last rib is in place. The trailing edge is square, so I lined the mating edge up on the plans and let the outside edge hang ove a bit. Hope that helps.
As for the maiden, Friday a nasty day here in NY, so the maiden will have to wait.
Posts: 1199
Joined: 11/30/2003 From: Cadillac,
MI, USA Status: offline
I must have forgotten to click the "email notification" box the last time I posted here. Didn't realize the thread was still going.
Sean, your Mustang is pretty. I think I'm getting motivated again to restart on mine.
I took the wing down and looked it over last night, and it's still a nice, straight, rigid structure with probably the strongest retract mounts in history. Just a touch weighty, but I can live with that.
Posts: 1199
Joined: 11/30/2003 From: Cadillac,
MI, USA Status: offline
First time since Jan 18 that I've done anything to this model. Back then, I filled in the big holes in the bottom of the wing that the gear doors would have covered, had I decided to continue with that. She has "AT-6" wheel wells, now. I also put in some paper tubes for routing of the aileron servo leads. I'm using the HiTec HS-125 MG wing servos, the flat ones that are technically micros, although they have 41 oz/in at 4.8VDC. For Flaps, I'm using one Futaba S-3004 and one HiTec HS 325, so I can mount them "horns out" on both sides, instead of asymmetrically.
I ordered about $200 worth of stuff from Tower this AM, flap servos, aileron servos, Rx, switch, glass cloth and some glue.
I have this (probably unrealistic) goal of bullet proof landing gear, as I have no desire to ever cut into the wing for repairs, so I:
1.) Made little balsa triangle shaped "dams" and located them so that a mixture of epoxy and milled fiberglass won't run where it don't belong. 2.) Started filleting the inside corners of the gear rails and ribs with the mixture. The left side "down" pix are shown. Gravity helps with this kind of work.
Posts: 450
Joined: 8/29/2006 From: Harrisonburg,
VA, USA Status: offline
Glad to see you back at it Bob!!! I'm on my way to the field right now to get some stick time on someone elses plane! I didnt get the engine running and I don't have a muffler or mount for my Supre Tigre so I'm back on hold with the maiden.
Anyway, with all the gear talk here I thought you all would like these detail pictures of Damn Yankee there are some real good wheel shots.
Here is also a poor quality video link of some gear in action.
off the the field now! Very hot and a little breezy here.
Posts: 1199
Joined: 11/30/2003 From: Cadillac,
MI, USA Status: offline
Have a good one, Sean. We've just had another in what seems like 90 days straight of 25mph+ winds. The recent rainstorms here have probably flooded our field. I'm afraid to go down and look.
Posts: 1199
Joined: 11/30/2003 From: Cadillac,
MI, USA Status: offline
Here's what I'm doing for the ailerons, as I don't care for bellcranks and multiple pushrods.
The 1/8 lite ply "hole liner" goes inside the wing in the bay where the bellcrank would have lived. A 1/16 ply servo plate gets screwed to it. The small basswood mounting blocks for the Hitec 125 thin wing servo have not yet been glued in place, and the servo arm slot has not yet been cut.
It's probably the memories of all those control line planes I cracked up when I was kid.
Posts: 7
Joined: 8/28/2007 From: Hamilton,
ON, CANADA Status: offline
Hey guys i was wondering if someone could measure the exhaust manifold for me. i need the length of it. BTW reading through this whole thread was very informative. Thanks a lot.
Posts: 1199
Joined: 11/30/2003 From: Cadillac,
MI, USA Status: offline
I decided to finish the aileron and flap servo installations before installing the last of the upper sheeting. More room to work, that way, and it's easier to see the pitfalls. One major one is the fact that TopFlite evidently ignored the swept trailing edge, and engineered the flap servo and aileron pushrod installations with a healthy angle between the pushrods and the control horns. I have been building for six years, and it took me almost that long to get reasonably good at making control systems that move freely with no binding. There is just enough room between the ribs in the servo bays to "crank" the servos around enough to get a nice 90 degrees between the respective horns.
Bad move, TF.
I also went with one HiTec flap servo, and one Futaba, so they rotate opposite one another on a Y cord, and eliminate the assymetrical mounting that would be necessary otherwise. I find that the HS 325 and the S 3004 are a very good match, travel wise, and the 325 has a more or less infinitely variable length control horn that can be nicely matched in length to the Futaba's. I wish Futaba would take a lesson from HiTec on servo mounting, tho. Only one word describes Futaba's: sucks
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RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build - 
