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Major_Smackdown -> nitro models stinky p-51 .40 size (11/30/2007 3:28:05 AM)
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first be aware that the instructions are pretty sparse and don't hit on key info sometimes, and in some cases is just wrong. Also I've seen some people say the STINKY is the same as the Double Trouble - how did you come to that conclusion - the Double Trouble is a 70" bird and the Stinky is a 57" bird. Another common occurance - people are so eager to answer and add to forums that they don't necessarily care to be correct at all. Here are some my thoughts while assembling.
1. you will all say this is a stupid mistake you'd never make but don't be so sure - put the dang rudder halves joiner wire in before you glue in the horizontal sabilizer. I was and felt like a real idiot by missing that. the instructions show the stab being glued in - then they show in a future step the wire being there magically - ha - I screwed that up and it cost me some grief.
2. the rudder and elevator control picture is wrong - use the lower control rod for the rudder and the upper one for the elevator - you'll still need a tiny bit of wire bending to get nice clean straight shot to the control horns. I mistakingly looked at the pictures instead of thinking it through and put the rudder horn on twice.
3. the clear piece of plastic with the ridge down the middle is their notion of landing gear strap for the gear doors (I didn't use it and can't further comment on it - just a fyi)
4. there was a lot of wood in my wing roots that were hiding air gaps in their lamination - I wouldn't be surprised if my plane explodes mid air - oh well. try getting some more epoxy or glue in those areas - at least the wings are held together by a joiner tube so that's not so critical.
5. By far the most time spent for me was the retracts:
the included retracts are pretty lame (but cheap) - and these were my first retracts so I had some learning to do. I used a hitec 75 retract servo - it's a little large for the space - I might have been better off with a standard servo - and would try that if I built another rather than screwing with the hole - but the retract servo is slow at least and that's a nice touch. Robart has some mechanical retracts that use a 2-56 threaded rod that screws into their actuating mechanism so you don't have to deal with clevises and such in a tight space. I'd use them next time around. the included ones have a lot of play that I could see would likely start some resonance on landing and get the plane wiggling and possibly aid in the extraction of the retracts from the wings. I inserted a piece of double sided tape and thin plastic in a strategic spot to try to eliminate that play - haven't had a landing yet so I can't say how well that'll work. I sort of expect to replace the retracts eventually - or build a new plane someday armed with what I learned on this one. At least if you use the retracts included - you can get some bolt on axles making life easier than attempting to bend the retract wire - I got mine from Great Planes. the interior of the wing needed a little sanding and rounding to try to assure nothing could get hung up as the retracts were actuating - be sure it'll work at any attitude etc - and you can't get it to fail on the ground at least. I didn't try to make Z bends - I used quick connects on the servo for the retract linkages. I'm not sure how the best way of installing the wheel wells would be - so I cut some vinyl circles and taped them on - anticipating getting back into the wing someday to tinker with the retracts - but hopefully not. I used some foam pads in the wheel wells to keep the wheels from vibrating or wiggling when retracted.
6. to make hardware life a little easier I switched to 2-56 rods inside the plane - I like quality hardware - just makes assembling or building an arf or whatever a little easier, and I used 4-40 on the ailerons. they're decent size ailerons and I could see them being under a bit of strain at full deflections. I'm hoping and expecting these ailerons will allow a fast roll. This is part of why I got the STINKY - it looked like it had the biggest ailerons of the pictures on their website.
7. I've got an os .55 engine coming with the slimline sports scale muffler from tower. this should allow an in-cowl installation with the inverted engine and the straight down muffler. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFG94&P=7
8. the cowling looks like a 3.25 spinner would line up perfetly but a 3.25 P-51 parabolic spinner is something I couldn't find - I did try a great planes 3.25 alum spinner and it looked a little big - so I'll be going for a 3" p-51 spinner - not perfect but I think it's going to be best match. I'm planning to use a plastic throw away spinner at first and a 2 blade prop until I prove I can land without tearing up the landing gear - I don't want to bite the dust on an expensive 3 blade prop and alum spinner. - and like I said - I don't have any experience with retracts and the quality of these doesn't give me much confidence.
9. the decals - the bigger star should be on the side, and the smaller one on the left wing in my opinion - I couldn't find a picture of a "real" airplane with this graphics scheme so I'm just making up my own - while trying to be somewhat realistic.
10, be sure to deburr the alum tubing for the fuel tank if you use it - or you'll be cutting off your fuel lines - I've seen this happen to lots of people and if that got overlooked I could see why.
11. I ground down some short 2-56 cap screws with washers to mount the canopy - I'm not sure what they intended. Be sure to tap in all your screws, then drip in some thin CA and possibly some accellerator to harden and basically thread the wood anywhere you screw into the wood.
12. also if you're new at arfs - I recommend a gas soldering iron to burn away covering wherever it needs to be removed for gluing - using a knife has lead to lots of stab failures for lotsa folks.
Anyways, that's it for now - I'll add more comments after I get the power plant and put her in the air and hopefully not the ground.
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