WI53072

I have met a couple of people who do not use the rear tube. The rational is that they are for anti-rotational alignment and that the rear tabs are substantial enough to accomplish this alone.

My rear tubes worked in conjunction with the smaller 1.25" aluminum main tubes I used in place of the ill fitting supplied main tubes.

Paul

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

Just grab the 'substantial' tab and wiggle them, the glue will separate easily without breaking wood.

Len Todd

I just sanded the holes out and did a little sanding on the tubes themselves. Mine work great.

chorner

I saw somewhere else that I can’t find now if my life depended on it, someone had listed some tubes of a slightly smaller dimension that work great. Does anyone have that information? 2nd set that doesn’t fit at all for me. Same issue; really a shame and total lack of care and/or QC.

ThunderBoat42

My Feedback: (1)

Craig, why wouldn’t you guys remove the cockpit from the website then? I ordered this plane and only learned after delivery it was no longer part of the package. The only solution was a $120 after market cockpit. Why pay out an additional $120 for something that should be there anyway? No other solution was offered by HH.
Unfortunately, this was a gift from my wife. The problemsassociated with this fiasco had her upset to say the least! She’s upset.... I am. This cost me way more than a new plane.

What us the solution for people buying the P51 currently?

Why did the HH rep tell me the kit will be discontinued when stock runs out?

The reason I’m asking is everything I own from HH is now discontinued and some of it is not very old. Some hasn’t even been opened yet.

Craig

shafs

Hi what size ESC are you running.

thanks

General Jake

Castle 160

shafs

Thanks for getting back to me, I am looking at doing a electric mustang. but still trying to figure out what one its going to be.

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

I run the Castle 160HVF. I discovered early on that it is necessary to disable the low voltage cutoff and set the overamp cutoff high. This prevents sudden throttle changes from reducing or shutting down power, which resulted in deadstick landings. When you are flying a heavy warbird, saving the ESC is not as important as getting it back to the runway for a safe landing. When I was experiencing frequent power shutdowns I examined the ESC data downloads looking for the event that caused the shutdown. I never found any and realized that the data is sampled, and a quick throttle movement caused a spike that ocurred in between the data samples, the result was loss of power, and off-runway landings that damaged the airframe or landing gear.

I concentrated on motor and ESC cooling to prevent high operating temps and used on-board wifi temp sensors to relay in-flight temps to me in real time. My spotter held the temp display and told me what it was doing. Providing the ESC with its own air duct completely separate from the motor's air, and ducting air to the best spot to cool the motor resulted in ESC temps never exceeding 115 degrees F, and 130 F for the motor, even under heavy loads. The motor turned a 4 blade Ramoser Varioprop with pitch set at 18 inches for best performance, and kept the rpm down. I used two cheaper motors for power and because the Varioprop was manufacturer rated at 4900 rpm for 1 minute I flew it gently, limiting throttle to less than half power for normal flight and full power for only 3-4 seconds in vertical maneuvers. This worked well for about 100 flights in a TF P51-B. Even limiting the power didn't spoil the fun, the Mustang's clean lines allow it to cruise in excess of 100 mph at half throttle in level flight, spoiling the fun of the other gas jockey pilots trying to catch it. The plane was radar clocked at 130 mph at one warbird event and downloaded ESC data suggested that it went even faster at times.

The factors that caused the most current draw were flaps and landing gear, when it was down and dirty a 30 second landing approach used more than 1 minute's battery capacity for level flight and take offs needed the gear up as quickly as possible. A half throttle take off drew 145-160 amps so I got it in the air, held it down til the gear retracted, then let it accelerate at a low altitude to cruise speed. After that the current draw was was 60-80 amps at high speed and full throttle, indicating that the P51-B airframe's low drag was a big factor in its performance.

Later, I transferred the complete power system to a new TF p47 Razorback but inflight performance was disappointing. The Jug's radial engine cowling and draggy airframe design needed high power at all times. Climbs from the runway are slow and use a lot of battery capacity, and top speed barely reaches 85 mph at full throttle. It CAN be flown very slowly using low power. I will eventually convert the Jug back to a large gas engine and put the electric power back to work in a new, larger Mustang. When I get my Bates P51-B flying to evaluate its performance I may convert it to electric or build another for electric power. Another factor in large warbird performance is battery configuration. I, and others I have talked with started with 12s lipo packs with High 'C' ratings. I found that going to a 12s 2p lipo pack allowed much lower 'C' ratings and greater flight duration and the pack's low temp on landing (105 F) meant that recharging could start immediately, as opposed to a 12s packs 130F + temp needing an hour to cool before recharging. The 12s 45c packs are expensive to replace, but a 24 cell pack consisting of (6) 4s, 35c packs can be had much cheaper, and 4s packs are easier to find when you need one.

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

I'll try to up load some pictures here. It seems to work if only one picture at a time is uploaded.

shafs

Thanks for that information it will be very helpful as i live in a hot muggy climate. I also would rather cook a ECS than crash the plane.

CaptRKO

My Feedback: (3)

Wait a minute.....

SO you are telling me that the kit now DOES NOT come with a cockpit? That really sucks if true?
$799.....first it was the spinner, then that was not included now no cockpit kit?

The airplane is really nice when finished, it was a "trying build" and don't get me started on the shipping issues with broken parts. I hope Hangar 9/Horizon do not go in the direction of taking items out of the kit and charging more or the same as the earlier production run kits.

shafs

So i am thinking of getting the H9 mustang but now with no cockpit. i should just get the TF mustang

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

The cockpit kit that was supplied was made from cheap vacuum formed plastic that can't stand engine vibrations. A lot of the detail parts shake loose and disappear. Since the plane is a standoff scale model and is not eligible for scale competition, all it really needs is a pilot bust and instrument panel. I replaced my instrument panel with a photo of a real P51 panel and it looks much better than the kit parts. Mine took about an hour to make. The paint used on the kit parts flakes off with handling. The canopy frame cracked at the rear slider mount and the canopy blew off in flight. I bought a new canopy kit, but a club member found the lost part and returned it to me, beat up, but repairable by removing the soft wood and plastic parts and replacing them with much stronger AIR-PLY. It is sad when Air-ply is better than the stock wood.

This P51 model is a great flying plane with an accurate scale outline and a wing that flies better than all of the other Mustangs I have built and flown. It really needs an up-grade to bring its manufactured quality level up to that enjoyed by other brands. They could start with using real glue in the construction of the airframe. The monocoque structure is very light and stiff but the poor quality glue allows it to fall apart in use. I have been able to use a hot knife to dissasemble critical sructures and clean the crap off of the wood for reassembly using real glue. There are areas that I can't get into, and I have to keep my eye on their structure for impending failures.

A simple fix for most of these problems would be to strip the shelf paper film covering off and glass the entire airframe. My plane is beginning to show a lot of wear and tear as it approaches 40 flights so I may strip it and glass it sooner than I want to. This is a picture of the instrument panel I made myself from a picture of a full scale D model panel I downloaded from the internet. From outside it looks more real than the kit panel. I did a similar panel for my TF B model from a picture I took myself when I was sitting in the cockpit of the Collings Foundation's P51-C 'BettyJane'. The picture I took made a better panel than the internet version.

shafs

yes i would say they are a stand of scale the H9 closer but the TF a few more feet away. Lots of the forum members have done good work with both these mustang.

Jim Cattanach

I wish to set up the eflite landing gear. The instructions for the programmer say what settings can be set up, but I cannot see anything in the manual that says how you change the settings.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

This shows how to select and set the options.

Len Todd

The E gear for this plane was the first time I used Electric gear. I set all up on the bench and set it up using the instructions in the Plane's Manual. It worked just fine and was easy to set up. Changing the programming should be easy but not necessary. Be careful, things can start interfering if you get off the suggested setup. I had it all working on the bench before stuffing the parts in the plane. Do not power components w/o the controller. The current limiters are in the controller. I took off the struts and linkages after the install and watched to see if they all worked correctly be for reattaching linkage and struts. Still had to travel adjust the inner doors a bit. Given all the issues that came up with the build, the gear was probably the best thing about the build.

There is one glitch with the gear. When you initially power them, you have to cycle the switch once to get the thing in sync. PITA. Never did figure that one out. I just cycle the switch twice on the first gear up after powering them.

My canopy blew off the first time I started the plane. It was open to allow access to the choke. When the plane finally started, the canopy blew back and cracked about 1.5" off the back of it. Have to install a stop in the slot so the canopy is NOT removable. Then the plane can be started with the canopy open.

The original cockpit kit looks O.K. but it was not durable. Horizon has a bad habit of when they get a few complaints, they end the product versus improving it. But still charging the same amount for the Plane w/o the cockpit kit and spinner is unforgivable. That and the spinner moves took HH off my list of places to buy from.

By the way, I did buy the "optional" spinner. It initially came without a back plate and the painting had runs in it. You could see where they tried to sand the runs out. I sent it back. Then the back plate came. But, its edge was not painted to match. After the second spinner came with runs and sanding marks, I decided to go elsewhere and paint my own.

Jim Cattanach

Thanks for the replies, but where in the instructions does it say how to change delays. I see it says you can change things, but which button increases, or reduces settings?
I seem to be missing seeing something in the instructiions.

quist

My Feedback: (198)

dont believe what you read here. I’ve built 2, both had cockpits. I have a buddy that got one on Monday and it had a cockpit.

quist

My Feedback: (198)

”Delay” is the menu option. That is used on the controller to set the gear cycle time.

grumman-cats

as far as the cockpit goes, I got the same run around from them in that they say they don't offer the cockpit anymore. they told me that the price of the aircraft was lowered to reflect that as well. Now I'm curious if I just got screwed by them in not getting one. either way, I at this time will never buy another hanger 9 aircraft again.

quist

My Feedback: (198)

I know they don’t sell the cockpit by itself. But it is included in the kit.

sjhanc

My Feedback: (3)

The gear door's hanging low has been fixed by removing the servos and installing air cylinders.



My replacement for the H9 Mustang. James Bates P 51B, DA 60

I flew mine today, up around 60 flights now. I removed the DA 60 to install the DA 50r from another TF plane I had retired for fuse cracking. I have 9 flights with the DA 50r installed and a new JR telemetry speed sensor. Today's speed runs gave top speeds of 118-122 mph with a slightly rich needle setting out of a 45 degree dive from 300 feet. Previous speed testing using an Eagletree speed recording sensor in my 1st H9 Mustang with this engine returned 127 mph and another radar reading at an event of 130+ mph. The new JR sensor is not calibrated (JRamerica says it is not necessary), the Eagletree was calibrated within 1 mph of 95 mph on the Interstate 75 in low wind conditions. 2 way calibration tests averaged 95 mph. Testing the JR sensor in my Corvette show accuracy up to 80 mph, it tends to read 6 mph high at higher speeds above 90-100 mph.

Speed reedings at the stall got down to 19 mph at the break, dropping to 9 as the left wing dropped. It doesn't give speed going up until above 25 mph and stops below 19 slowing down. This plane holds a steady high angle of attack, climbing slightly at 20-25 mph, refusing to stall until throttled back to idle, nose high. Recovery is instant when the up elevator is released and either down is applied or a little throttle. It usually does a 1/2 turn in a fully developed stall, losing 30-50 feet depending on how fast the recovery is started. A partial stall can be recovered straight ahead by adding a click of throttle. It has very pilot friendly characteristics and will not do an accelerated high speed stall like the kind the TF Mustang is famous for. All low speed stall testing was done dirty with gear down and flaps at 45 degrees down.

Clean, it is difficult to stall. I have to hold up and idle power in a climb until it stops, then it will do a slow motion left turn and fly off in another direction. Speed readings are not possible, the sensor doesn't work that slow.

I stalled it inverted at the top of a loop several times, it will change course and continue the back of the loop. Doing inverted stalls with the TF plane is usually the end of that plane. I have perfected the engine's cooling baffles, I can fly as long as I want at low speeds with no vapor lock ever and do multiple touch and go landings. The carb gets all its air from inside the fuselage, and all of the intake air is baffled to cool the exhaust system only. The engine cylinder is tightly cowled and no air dams are used, only a heated-air exhaust ramp cut into the bottom of the firewall. I have posted pictures of this in this forum in previous pages.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Very nice write up sjhanc, especially with those numbers included!