hrwatson68

If you've been flying alot in the last 3 months, it's probably the motor that has worn out, and not the battery pack. I get maybe 10-12 flights on the F-27 until I notice slower and slower climb outs and less than par performance, I slap a fresh motor in and whoa!, the speed is back!

Also, what charger are you using to charge your battery? If you are using the ParkZone charger, junk it and cut the connector off of it and make an adapter so you can charge with one of the many awesome chargers available. My charger is the Great Planes Triton, and I love it! It will charge virtually any cell out there, even my 9.6 volt cordless drill has been converted to charge on the Triton.. The ICE is another good alternative.

All of my electric vehicles have been converted to Dean's Ultra Plugs (except the wifes Firebird Outlaw), so I like being somewhat standardized on electrical connections with the downside being that if you need warranty work, you might run into problems if the OEM's see your connectors instead of their own. I have had 1 Stock F-27 Speed Control/RX go bad with 10 flights on it and I had my Dean's Plugs on it when I sent it in, and ParkZone happily replaced it because it was not damaged from my plugs, it was a bad FET on the board. Enough with this senseless babbling, I'm going to bed! lol.

The Marsh Man

As for checking the voltage on your battery, you can use a standard multi meter that can be had for around $14.00 or more if you so desire. Or you can purchase a Watt meter. There are two that I know of, one is made by Astro Flight and the other goes by the Watts - up meter. They monitor your battery volts, mAh, watts and amps used by the motor. There may be some feature differences , but I am not sure what they are. A really great tool that will let you know which part of the electrical food chain is working right or might be in trouble.

mustangfly

Wow, the motor wears out in 10-12 flights??

You sure about that??

I think it is the plastic gear that is mounted to the motor shaft (pinion) that looses it's grip. Just replace that with a new one and add some adhesive to it before you put it onto the motor shaft.

My P51 lost the performance it had before after 9 flights and I did what I mentioned above. Fixed the problem for me.

It could be your battery as well.

hrwatson68

Half of my battery packs are 8 cell, so the extra voltage kills the motor quicker, and yes the motor is worn after 10-12 Flights. I can still fly, it's just not as fun as a new motor. I understand that any imperfections and repairs will cause undo drag on the airframe, and that could be causing some of the performance problems(I've had at least 10 mid-air collisions with my stock F-27, so the CA and epoxy, and heck even the packing tape are incresing the weight some I'm sure of it). I can't wait to do combat with frankie.

Airbourne in Japan

My Feedback: (3)

does anyone know what the gear ratio is for the stock mustang gearbox. i've replaced the motor with a warp 4 turn and reakon the gearing is between 3:1 and 4:1. i did the motor calc for this setup using a 10x5 apc prop (i'm fed up of stock and gws props always breaking) but it's no speedster, and doesn't draw many amps. however, as long as it actually takes off and flies i'll be happy. going to use the stock batteries, so c of g should be the same. just got to put my hitec hs81 servos in and rx and try to glue the aileron control wire tubes back in, so my ailerons actually move up. wire is corroded.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Grounded,
It's 3:1. 36 teeth on prop shaft, 12 on motor. 36 divided by 12 = 3

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

my pinion gear went out after 50 flights. moter runs but prop doesnt move! have to glue it on carefully! the plane is so fragile! anyone use spray foam to beef up front end? how does it affect flying?

Airbourne in Japan

My Feedback: (3)

thanks GG, i should know to count the pinions' teeth !! anyway, i've just ordered some 10x10 props and i calculated this should give a prop speed of over 50mph for a current of 15 amps. i was going to use the stock bats but i may have to re think that when the props arrive. anyway, once it's back together, i'll try it with the 10x5 prop and see how it goes.

Big Bird

The following is from my post 7/26/05 for those of you who are new to the Mustang and/or this forum.

"This is for any of you that actually CRASH your Mustang as much as I do.

Even though the Mustang may be made to fly well (I haven't discovered that yet) it is not made to CRASH very well.

As you know, the wing is only hooked on by two flimsy plastic tabs at the back and two little screws in the front such that in a cartwheel it pretty much tears off. And I think the air scoop is misnamed. It's more of a dirt and grass scoop that tears off with anything but a perfect landing. I secured the wing and air scoop such that it has never come off in any kind of crash by doing several things. (Yea, they may compromise the cosmetics slightly before a crash but they sure improve cosmetics after a crash.) First of all, before installing the wing I took the air scoop off that's just held on by a little double sided tape and added more double sided foam tape. (You could even glue it on to be more secure. I didn't in case it broke and I wanted to replace it.) Next I put double sided foam tape all along the top of the wing where it meets the plastic flaring. Then, after installing the wing I taped the air scoop to the plastic insert on the fuselage into which it is inserted with Scotch clear packaging tape. Then I put a piece of that same clear packaging tape all along where the wing meets the plastic flaring, taping the flaring to the wing. Haven't had it even come loose in several nose dives into the ground.

The other weak spot on the plane in a crash is the front end. It pretty much blows apart and caves in the front of the fuselage. I discovered a great product that I first used to keep my J3 Cub from caving in. It's called "Great Stuff". It's insulating foam sealant that can be applied/injected into any space as a foam. It then expands and hardens into styrofoam that can then be trimmed very easily with a se knife. (I use a steak knife.) I disconnected the motor wires then filled the entire front end of the fuselage with that foam between the firewall and the battery box. (You can either tape the battery box before hand to keep foam from entering it or, the easier way is to just let it in and trim it out after it hardens. Don't worry about preserving tunnels for wires and air flow. It's easier to cut those in afterwards.) After the foam hardens it's about the consistency of dried bread. You can poke a tunnel through it for wires with a pencil and cut out some foam with a se steak knife to let air through the top vents to cool the battery. Then I filled my spinner with the foam and - here's a great trick - I filled the back of the spinner behind the prop with foam. That really strengthens the prop so it doesn't even bend, much less break in a crash. You'll want to check your center of gravity (70 mm behind leading edge of wing) after adding foam. It's very light and strong - like bird bones - but does add some weight. I slit the trailing edge at the bottom of the rudder and epoxied a 3/10 oz washer inside to balance the plane.

One other thing I did to "beef up" the fuselage was to line the inside of it with the packaging tape to give it more rigidity since, even with the foam filling the front end, the fuselage wants to buckle all along its length in a hard crash. Yes, and I even coated the outside with it. Looks like it has a gloss varnish on it. Pretty indestructible now. Good for more of those unintentional Kamikaze dives.

If you want to try the foam DO NOT use "Tex Plus" by DAP (which I tried after running out of my first supply of "Great Stuff" because it cleaned up with water rather than acetone.) It is more dense, heavier, and sets up the consitency of a marshmello. Absolutely worthless. "Great Stuff" is worth the extra effort it takes to clean the injection tube and valve with acetone (finger nail polish remover) after each use so that it can be used again. (If you don't do that cleaning properly you'll get one use out of the can and that's it.)

By the way, the foam also solves another problem of the flimsy battery box breaking on impact and letting the battery slam against the firewall or whatever. It is absolutely secured by the foam.

To strengthen the cowling that doesn't have room for the foam I line the inside with the packaging tape. That, and filling the spinner with foam, protects it and makes it much more resistent to shattering on impact."

PLEASE NOTE: All of this armor plate adds some weight and should only be done of you're going to crash. If you're not going to crash don't do it. The plane flies just fine without it. The armor doesn't help flying. It only helps crashing!

BB

PMDrive1061

Tell you guys what: A little "Pre-Flight 101" certainly can't hurt. Yesterday, I discovered the hard way that while it's possible to fly on only one aileron, I really don't recommend it.

One perfect flight; one perfect landing. New battery pack; slightly aborted takeoff. Busted the spinner, but it was on its way out anyway. Off came the prop, on went a new spinner, back in the air.

Get bird up to altitude...almost no steering! Left turns sort of OK, right turns virtually nonexistent. Uh-oh. Tried trimming at the xmtr and got some steering back, but not much. Dropping throttle made things worse. Basically, I'm nearly out of control, plane is porpoising all over the sky and getting farther and farther away and threatening to go into the trees and/or the street outside the field. Somehow, I managed to land the thing inside the field but at the opposite end. Spinner OK, cowl nearly split in two, no new nose wrinkles and only one small cut on underside of the wing. Whew.

Dragged the thing back to the car and off to the hobby shop I went to see what I'd need. It was there that I noticed that the control wire had popped out of the right aileron, almost certainly from the aborted takeoff. I'd also put three or four flights on an belly scoop with broken locator pins. No wonder the back of the wing was a bit wobbly!

Dragged bird home, checked operation of ailerons...still no right! Off comes wing. On goes radio. Voila: Pushrod tube has broken loose of the glue! Glue tube, reassemble wing, tighten wire clamp by hand...break screw. AAARGH! Hobby shop had a spare in the parts bin. El freebo. Plane's back together and bench-tests like new. I haven't taken it up yet.

Still, I flew a P-51 on one aileron and brought it home in one piece! Who's baaaad...?

Airchief

Well, murphy finally caught up with me. I hit a tree and fell 50 ft to the ground. It snapped the right side of the wing clear off. It also stripped the gears in the servo (or something like that). Every thing else is fine except for the prop and belly scoop.

I am going to order the wing form horizon hobby as soon as i get an answer to a few questions. Does the wing include the aeileron wires?
And i plan to take the wing apart to reinforce and make sure everthing is okay. What did GG say to use to reclose the wing, something like mono coat or clear coat? and can i get that at Horizon hobby?
Also what did you use to reinforce the wing, a carbon rod? And were can you get it?

I'll be wating.

BTW, it was on its 25th flight

PMDrive1061

I've seen a replacement wing and yes, it does have the pushrod wires pre-installed. As for the "dissection," Glacier Girl's your guy. The servo gear set is available as a service pack, BTW. Good luck!

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Captainbsb,
Wing dissection is easy. Cut front of wing to tips. Pop it open. See whats in there, not much, for support. Scotch tape works well for reassembley. Paint sticks to it. Here's a photo of "T's" wing cut open. I had to remove part of the foam to add the gear. But in its place I added 4 CF rods and a balsa spar.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

When you are ready to go with regular electronics, add seperate servos for the ailerons.
Another easy to do mod.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

And here's some shots of retractible landing gear, I rigged up. Sorry I didn't get shots of finished version, this one's a leftover non flying wing, but you'll get the picture of how it's done. Use the original aileron servo location for the LG servo.
I'll take some shots of air retract version as I build it. It looks to be a little easier to install, as you don't have to make up rods to actuate the gear and clear the wheels in the up position.

mustangfly

Hey GG,

I saw the pic of your mod with 2 servos located inside the wing.

How did you connect the 2 servos to the receiver?
Did you just combine the two wire connections from the two servos into one and plug it into the original spot on the receiver?
Or is it something you can buy from a hobby store with the two servos already pre-combined?
Or did you change out the receiver?

What changes in flight performance did you notice from putting in 2 servos?

THANKS!

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Mine is heavily modified, so I used a "Y" harness to connect the 2 servos to one channel on the rx.
You may be able to do the same with stock units, you would have to merge the 2 leads into one, but I'm not sure the Rx would handle the extra load.

Flight performance increased greatly, no slop, no binding, no not returning to neutral position.
Rolls are a lot tighter now. But if you go this route take the time to beef up the inside of the wing, to handle the increased strain you will put on it.

Airchief

Could you answer this GG?

JG11Preusse

gave my p-51 back .... to much trouble.

now i bought a p-51 from alfa model. looks better, quality is better, price incl rc (without sending-unit), but now good servos, 35mhz receiver, price is almost same.

my dealer also wont sell parkzone models like this again, "to much trouble with this ac also with other buyers"

thx for all your help
greetings
andi

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

I get mine at the LHS, many,many sites on the internet to buy from. Just type carbon fiber.
I run two 1/8" tubes across the front and 2 across the rear of the wing, tacked in a couple of places. Four tubes total, butt them together at the center. I then run a 1/4" x 1/4" balsa stick from wing tip to wing tip. I need the extra stength to handle the landing gear strains.
On a stock version, I would think 2 rods,one front and one back would be more then sufficient.
If you know anyone running a Stryker, the rods used in it's wings would work well.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

If my air retracts ever show up, I'll snap some shots of reinforcements.

sjchmura

Brushed upgrade for teh stock motor???

Is there a good cheap brushed upgrade for another 480? I ask this as I can't beleive the $8 Parkzone is that great.

Permax has one $12.99 480 size, same dimensions, weighs 0.2oz more (no big deal since the lipo is 3 oz lighter). It is a "7.2V" motor.

Airchief

Well i got my wing today and guess what? THE WING FOAM IS 5MM THICK!! my old wing was 2mm thick. Since i haven't heard any body mention this, i asume this is new. I am not going to reinforce the wing now. It is very and i mean very strong and solid.
I also got my arial drop module. But the only probablem is that it doesn't work.[>:][>:] The magnet will hold but it wont release unless you disconnect the batt. I talked to horizon hobby and they said to send it in, which i will do tomarow.

I cut out a place for the arieal drop module in the airscoop. the drop module is then completely inside the airscoop. I then cut a small hole in the wing directly above the drop module for the wire to go through. It then can reach the rx.

I will post picts when i get a drop module that works.

BTW, Thanks GG for the info

L0stS0ul

I think Parkzone needs to release an xport sound module that makes 50 cal. machinegun sounds so that you don't have to make the sounds yourself as the plane rounds the corner

PMDrive1061

Really? Two-and-a-half times the thickness sounds like it may be worth the cost of a new wing just to have the extra strength. David, can you confirm this and if it's true, where do we get 'em?