Hot Rod Todd

My Feedback: (1)

Ground looping is common for all tail dragging warbirds, some more than others. Some ways to prevent it include:

Have a bit of toe in on your main gear. That tends to add drag to the side that's trying to come around, making it easier to keep it straight. Also make sure both wheels spin freely. Nothing loops you faster than one draggy wheel.

Stay on the rudder after landing. Many people get lazy and think that once they touch down and start slowing, there is no need to keep steering. You have to stay on it until the plane has slowed. Once you add some throttle to taxi back, the prop thrust will make it easy to steer.

Raise the tailwheel up. The short stock tailwheel is a bad combo with the 12" high mains. Using a taller tailwheel like the Sierra unit will make the plane easier to ground handle on take off and landing.

Use a bigger tailwheel. The full size wheel on the FW-190 was quite large, so it even looks scale. That little stock donut does not have much bite on a fabric or pavement runway. With my Sierra tail gear I'm using a 2 1/4" tailwheel.

Try to use the wind. A head wind is your friend and will help keep the plane straight. When possible angle towards the wind as much as you can. Steer into the wind to turn around, not away from it. Trying to turn against the wind can cause over control and make the plane swing around quickly once the tail wheel bites.

These are some of the methods I have used. I have yet to maiden my TF FW190, but I'm sure the right techniques will help with the ground handling.

captainron

Hot Rod Todd,
Well said and duly noted. Unfortunately, I've been around Giant Scale Warbirds for a many years and am aware of most of these procedures. A couple of new ones though, I will give a go. Thanks for your feedback. When you maiden yours, let us know how it goes.

CAPTAIN RON

doolittles

My Feedback: (5)

Hi Guy maybe a Gyro on the Rudder ! It did on my T/F P-40 love to fly it . It was nuts with out the Gyro for ground take off and landings!!

captainron

Thanks doolittles,
Hadn't thought of that. Might give that a go also. A buddy has one on a P51 in Arizona and he swears by it. Cool.

Captain Ron

Hot Rod Todd

My Feedback: (1)

Learn to fly a narrow gear warbird such as a Bf-109, or worse yet a WW1 Biplane without a tailwheel, and you'll get better at preventing ground loops.

Here's my three most challenging "Ground Loopers."

BF-109 - Narrow main gear makes it more difficult to keep it straight on landing. Long tail is helpful though.
Albatros- Short tail combined with no wheel traction means most landings end with a ground loop.
Mosquito - The extra weight of the engines on the wing combined with a smallish rudder cause it to ground loop on takeoff, sometimes landing.

Hot Rod Todd

My Feedback: (1)

I have a Gyro on the tail of my Zirolli P-40 (Narrow gear makes P-40's prone to ground looping). It does not prevent it totally, but makes it a bit easier to control. Larger is better, and the size of the plane also helps.

RCHS1

My Feedback: (1)

Tips-
slow it down in the air and upon touch down stay OFF the rudder - trying to steer the roll out is what has had us collapsing gear - landing on grass helps too

nice p-40 todd

Hot Rod Todd

My Feedback: (1)

Many people who have ground loop issues don't slow down enough on the landing. Use the flaps, slow it down, and touch down early on the runway. Too much speed and running out of runway cause many people get a bit crazy on the rudder resulting in a ground loop. If possible you'd like to slow way down prior to making the turn around so that you're using prop thrust. Turn around with some prop thrust, no problem. Turn around with momentum from the landing, ground loop more likely.

captainron

Thanks guys.........I really appreciate the feedback. Apparently, I'm not the only one that's had these problems.......LOL...... I ordered a gyro today........gonna give that a go and try slowing the FW 190 down more before I let her touch down. Another pilot says once she is slowed enough that the tail comes down, NAIL IT DOWN WITH THE ELEV AND LEAVE THE RUDDER ALONE......

CAPTAIN RON

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

We have one of these FW 190's flying in our club, electrified. It is very light for the size of the plane. He has troubles with both take offs and landings, but more on the landing. It kind of reminds me of my triplane! I am sure a lot of it on this aircraft is set up though, as it does have a wide stance to the gear.

The reason I bring up the weight, is I think it is important to get very familiar with the stall. I generally do this up high, on the first flights so I know what it will do exactly. Like most of the comments here, being that it is so light, you have to get all of the speed out of it, so it will stall properly. My triplane is the same way. If I carry too much energy into the touch down, I always ground loop. You have to fly and practice through the stall so that you know what it looks like, and how slow you can actually get it before it drops off. I am going to guess, with this plane, it is a lot slower than most would think.

dmyers0403

My Feedback: (48)

For what its worth I have the starter on my old DL50 with a 800mah 3S installed on a AMR-50 stick for everyday flying and it will start all day with plenty to spare after a dozen or more starts. So if you are limited on space don't sweat the smaller battery.
If you use the new starter switch it will time out, allowing just a few turns to prevent over-amping. Great feature. I use the button on my JR which is a perfect set-up. On warbirds the front gears drive will interfere with most fake radial engines as it did on my Top-Flite P47 unless you use a small spacer.

captainron

Hey Rich,
No sir, not me. Letting a big heavy warbird (mine's 27.5 lbs) get close to stall before touch down is setting yourself up for disaster. I think a good quality responsive gyro is the answer.............ordered one today.

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Ditto on keeping up the airspeed. The model will run in a straight line at higher air speeds because the vertical stabilizer is doing its job. As it slows down, the tail drops then rudder skills come into play. A little toe-in helps a lot, too.

SteveD-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Panel lines are done,just adding some rivets now.

dasintex

My Feedback: (10)

HOT ROD TODD; How difficult is it to install the Sierra Tail Gear in this Bird, what mods do you have to make?

Hot Rod Todd

My Feedback: (1)

To install the tall Sierra tail gear it takes a bit of work. I added a mount up inside the Rudder. Here's an article I wrote that shows a bit more on what it takes. The few hours of work should be well worth it for the scale look as well as better ground handling.

http://bestpilots.typepad.com/my_web...fw190-arf.html

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

Similar to what I did but I used the larger retract unit. This method makes maintenance simple and going with the larger unit has its installation perks.

dasintex

My Feedback: (10)

RAMSTEIN/ HOT ROD TODD;

Ramstein, are you using 2.25" dia tail wheel? advantages in using the larger Sierra Gear over the smaller Sierra FW190 Tail Gear?

I have eliminated the option of using the Mechanical Robart set up that Top Flite used, but now I'm having a hard time deciding which Sierra Gear to get!

Thanks.

Ramstein44

My Feedback: (157)

I no longer own the plane but I think it was a 2.5 inch wheel. Pretty much the standard on my fw190's if I can't set a 3 inch wheel on it. I liked the larger gear for the size of the FW190. Either works well though. better then stock for sure.

dmyers0403

My Feedback: (48)

What is cowl diameter couple inches from front?

kwik

Today I had a fantastic day at the airfield.

The Williams Brothers wheels are a perfect fit to this plane. Perfect !

Here it is together with my ESM Corsair, both with Saito FG-57's;

captainron

Kwik,
OMG........Dude, we have the exact same two birds.....
Just flew the Corsair yesterday. Great flight. 4.2 Brisons in both and both flat ass rip..

kwik

He he!!! Nice planes!!

Tony Gag Jr.

My Feedback: (124)

Kwik what wheels did you go with?

sharam

My Feedback: (2)

Just installed the auto starter on the FW-190/DLE 55. Pretty cool! I used a two cell Lipo instead of a three cell; I did not want to add another battery to the plane. I already have three batts in there, rcvr retracts, ignition, so I just used the two cell that is driving the retracts. Works like a charm! I do have to choke the engine though. I was thinking that if I did use a three cell, then it might provide enough power to suck up the fuel without having to choke the engine. I use a large external electric starter on my P47/G62 - I never choke it and after a few seconds the engine starts right up.

You guys who also have the auto starter, do you choke the engine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_4S...ature=youtu.be