Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

I was able to buy a cheap P-51D Hanger 9 knock-off on e-bay for under $140.00 delivered to Hawai'i. It is a .60 size ARF, and holds close to the Top Flights 1/7 th kit. After reading a thread about a mod to the kit adding flaps...I decided to buy the kit, and modify it myself. I just finished helping a buddy build his, and his kit seemed light and solid. There were a few issues with the kit, but there are issues with every ARF I've seen...some more then others. This one is a winner, and the price is outstanding. Top Flights kit cost over $140.00 and for me, a good 50 hours to frame it out...maybe more. This way I saved a lot of time building...and would have a good stand off scale kit to start with.

My modifications were to add Flaps, air operated retractable main landing gear, retractable tail wheel and convert the "D" to a "B." I love the Mustang, but all I see are "D's" flying. I wanted something different...and with out a whole lot of work...have a "B."

Top Flight has a .60 size "B" conversion kit, with plans and wood. It's inexpensive, and gives you all the information needed to do the conversion. The added plus is you get your "B" canopy in the kit and though not a perfect fit, easy for me to modify.

Robart supplied the retract tail wheel assembly (there are no other's that I know of for this size kit) and I am using Centry Jets's air retracts for the mains ( they have a set for the Top Flight P-51 and a perfect fit). I also am using Robart 3 1/4" scale wheels, w/foam inserets. I am using a well broken in S.T. G-90 (Italian built), Dave Brown parabolic 3 1/2" two bladded alum. spinner, Hanger 9 .60 size plastic main gear wheel well inserts and all Airtronics radio gear.

These are the mods I am doing...and this is what I started with...see the lower picture.

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

The first thing I did was pull the kit out, and check the kit over. I then pulled the fuse and tail feathers out of the box. I then stripped off the covering...and it was a shame, for it was well applied, but removed all of it easily. I found no real flaws in the kit. The wood was not of an even quality through out the fuse, but usable. The fire wall had triagular stock installed and it was a thick, well glued ply. It would handle the S.T. .90 and that was a real plus.

With Top Flights P-51B mod plans (Top Flight kit #P-51B), I started my work. The plans really helped me and would recomend using them.

I then removed the top aft turtle deck, and cutting into a perfectly good kit was un-nerving...but went easy.

Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Since I had the top aft of the model off...and with the plans in hand... I then planned to install my retractable tail wheel first. With the top open, I planned my cut on the bottom for the tail wheel retacts. I used the Robart #121 tail wheel retracts...and it is a tight fit...but will go in with a little pateince. I had planned to have the retractable tail wheel air operated too, but the air retract cyclinder failed to arrive in time...so it is servo operated.

I used a pull-pull system for tail wheel stearing.

I made the bottom cut out large enough to work in, once the top is sheeted. I made a cover plate out of thin light ply, and installed the bottom plate with three small servo mounting screws, into cross supports, I glued in. I also used the biggest tail wheel that would fit...a 1 1/4" Du-Bro.

With the retract tail wheel installed, you will lose one servo placement in the tail. Both rudder and elevator servo's were mounted aft, with the stock kit. It gets a little tight back there, and the tail wheel retracts into the area the rudder servo would be placed. Since you will need to set up the tail wheel to stear...I chose to place the rudder servo forward near the throttle servo.

Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

After the tail wheel retract unit is in, and before I build the "B" turtle back and close out the aft fuse, I installed the tail wheel retract, rudder and throttle servo's. I then made sure every thing worked good, clean and with no binding. Do it now...for once you close out the top of the fuse, it's a real pain in the butt to work in this area. So I made sure all was finalized, before I began to close out the top. Remember to run one 24" servo lead for the elevator servo, from the aft tail secton, around the retract unit, forward to the receiver area. After all is done...I started the aft top build.

I needed to place a guide into the fuse, to help guide the tail wheel retract push/pull wire I used. The wire needs to flex just a little bit to work, and this set up worked for me.

You need to get your pull-pull cables in and working well for tail wheel stearing, and make and install a push rod for the rudder. Make sure your tail wheel stearing and rudder are working together.

Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Next is the turtle back build for the "B. It's a simple structure to build, and using the plans, given wood in the mod kit from Top Flight, I built the frame. I made one extra former...and placed it in the most forward position. I glued the most foward bulkhead in first and then glued lightly a balsa stringer as a guide for the other three bulkheads as a guide. After I had the frame up, I used 1/4" basa sticks as stringers...and all the wood you need is in the Top Flight "B" conversion kit. Last I glued in the top wood piece and I used my razor plane to widdle the wood down to shape. A little sand paper work and your ready to fit you "B"canopy.

The Top Flight "B" canopy is not a perfect fit...but works ok for me. It's close enough...and I keep telling myself...this is a stand off scale model...and nothing is prefect anyway.

Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Next I fit the S.T. G90 into the Du-Bro vibration mount, and monted the engine onto the airframe. This is a good bit of eye-ball work, and care must be taken to align the engine and cowl together and with the fuse, to come out clean. I am mounting my engine in the inverted possition. I liked the results and the spnner fit perfectly and fit the cowl like it was made for this model.

I then hooked up the throttle servo cable and cut the cowl to fit the engine.

I actually fit the engine and engine mount before I built the "B" trutle back. I then removed the engine and did the work.

The header I chose, the Slim Line, rap around inverted pitts, did not fit. It would not clear the engine mounts and if it did, it would hit the fire wall too. I'm still working on it...and I have contacted both Brison and Slim Line. As soon as I find a solution, I will show the results.

Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

The rudder and elevator are slightly modified and almost finished. The fuse is almost 66" long, from the front of the spinner to the end of the rudder.

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

Aloha....Bob....
Tomas from Texas....Man that is looking great...Excellent Job.. Keep us updated... How is the weather? TX is having a tremendous DRY spell....really bad...
Talk to you later...

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Dear Tomas,
It's nice to hear from you...and I'm having fun with this model. The fuse is about done and will be into the wing mods with a vengence. I just got tired of all the "D's" flying and wanted something different and a whole bunch quicker then building a kit from scratch. This ARF P-51 is built surprisingly close to the Top Flight 1/7 kit...not an exact copy...or as close to scale as you like to build, but it will do the job. I do not know of any .60 size "B" model's in ARF form, and only one in the .40 size. I built a old red box T.F. kit in the mid 70's and it was a supurb flyer. I can't wait to get her airborn...

I did not do much today...but modify the main wing to fuse attachments. The kit uses small, long machine screws to hold the wing down. I have found these to be difficult to use, frustrating at best to deal with at the flying field and easy to modify. I just add a doubler under the kits attachment point with light ply and drill and tap for a 1/4x20 nylon bolt. A much better solution to this problem.

What are you working on ?

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

I am working on finishing my H9 Corsair..I will post pics under my Forum Thread soon...for now you can see my progress here...
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_34...tm.htm#3496493
and It is coming along slowly due to Holidays/Travel etc... But I am on it again... I am real close now..
Looking forward to seeing your P-51B/C done...

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Tomas,
Nice work buddy, and your a master builder too. Thats one very good looding Corsair.

I seem to have a huge amount of space in the canopy area of my "B" model...and I'm thinking of mounting a micro video camera in this space... The more I go with this model...the crazyer I get. But it's been a load of fun. I managed to get two T.F. 108 gal. wing tank kits and may add these too.

I can't wait to see your model finished.

I managed to get a 120 size F6F on e-bay for under $140.00 delivered to Hawai'i...with almost half the cost in shipping! This will be my next kit bash, and from what I have read, it's a good flying model and has a 70"+ wing span. There are many mods being done to this kit here at RCU, and that is next up on the building board. I can't even buy a model kit for the price of this ARF...and it's built.

Soft Landings always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Brian,
I tried to send you an answer to the P.M. you sent me, but for some reason, I was not able to get it to send. So here is the answer to the question you asked: How I mounted and drilled my engine mount and engine to the fuse.

I do not do the standard way I've seen here at RCU and on most kits you see today. What I do is first, is to mount my engine to the engine mounts. I'm always careful to make sure my engine is square and true to the mounts. Be careful here and measure before you drill your mount. An off centered mounted engine will cause havoc with flight triming a model.

After the engine is mounted to the engine mount, I take my fuse. and stand it on the floor, tail down. With the nose up, I place the engine mounted on the engine mounts, onto the fire wall. I then take the cowl and place this over the engine.

Note: This is for an inverted mounted engine. If you side mount your engine, you will need take the head off your engine to fit the cowl on the fuse.

Note: Also get a good feel for the distance you will need between the forward end of the cowl and the fire wall. This distance varies between models. Note: You will need to work out how much cowl over lap you will have for cowl attachment to the airframe...if any (this model has a good cowl over lap and not critical, but some model applications you will have little room to play with). You will need to fit your engine to the engine mounts to honor this distance. Play with this until you get it right, for if you drill your engine mount to short to fit your particular airframe/cowl combination, your engine will not exit the cowl far enough, to have enough clearence for your prop and spinner. If you place your engine to far out on the engine mount, you will have a large gap between the spinner and the cowl, and this will not look good at all. Just go slow and eye ball it until your happy with your decission...then drill and mount your engine.

With the cowl inplaced over the engine, I then put the spinner back plate on the prop shaft, and very slowly and carefully, I move the engine and cowl to match eachother to the airframe. Care must be taken here...and I usually do it a half dozen times or more before I am happy.

I carfully remove the spinner back plate and cowl, and mark one hole on the fire wall. I drill one hole and one hole only first, and then remount the engine, using hardware, lightly secure the mounted engine/engine mount. Then I place the fuse vertical again and place the cowl and spinner back plate back on the model.

I some times find that I slightly miss drilled the hole...and using a rat tailed (round) file, I correct the miss alignment, utill I get a near perfect fit. I then pull the cowl and spinner back plate off and then mark and drill the other three holes for the engine mount. I then reassemble the engine to the fire wall and secure it with blind nuts and allen head screws, washers and lock washers. Note: I always use the largest socket head screws/bolts that fit my engine mount.

Last, I replace the cowl to the model, and with the spinner back plate on the motor, I locate and drill my cowl attachment screw holes on or near the fire wall.

Note: The attachment of the cowl to the airframe will be different for each model. On some models you will need to glue hard wood bocks to the fire wall, on this model, there is enough cowl to screw directly onto the side of the forward fuse.

I try for a 1/16" gap space, or a little less, for the spinner to cowl gap. I then check where I want to drill my cowl attachment holes and make sure I drill into the airframe that is backed with some light ply or additional wood...for I do not recomend just drilling holes into straight balsa sheeting, for it will not hold for long if you do so. The cowl attachment screws need a good foundation to hold properly with your engine vibrations. When you know where you want to place your cowl attachment holes, drill the holes and use #4 x 1/2" sheet metal screws to secure the cowl. This last part can vary a bit between models, but works for most my applications. Last, take the cowl off and use thin CA glue, saturate the cowl attachment screw holes...do this twice. After the CA glue is good and dry, run the screw into and out of the cowl attachent screw holes. Let the CA glue fully dry...or your gona make a mess of the hole...and please don't ask me how I found out about this one.

This is how I mounted this engine, to this airframe. It's not difficult to do, there is no real measuring-but distances are critical for a good fit, and if your careful and have patience, this procedure will work. It does just fine for me, and has for many different models.

I have tried to measure and drill...but for some reason I never manage to get a fit like I do, using this method.

Today...I will pull the wing and begin my retract instilation. I've the C.J. retracts and I can't wait to get them installed.

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

setxws6

Thanks for the write up Bob, it should help me once I get the engine in and start on the process.
-Brian

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Ok Brian...
As I said...it's a bit of an unusal way to do this little chore, but it's an important bit of work if you want your model to look clean and sharp. I've seen guys just butcher this operation, and it took a lot away from their model. Take your time, use the good ol' "Mark-I" eyeball, that's what I do, and go for it. A little patience here goes a long way and my engine/spinner/fire wall work came out quite acceptable.

Bobby of Maui

setxws6

Trust me I agree. I've done a few cowelings before. This one is just with a larger engine and a much larger coweling. I'll get it to work good. I'll post pics when do. Thanks

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

I opened one wing, pulled all the covering off and to be honest, it was a shame to do this. The covering work on this wing was near perfect. In my opinion, this is a very well done piece of work. I couldn't find any unglued wood...and I looked at all the wing. There are hard wood blocks for attaching your retract gear, and the retract hard wood blocks have triangle wood underneath for added support. This is a first to see on any ARF I have built so far. I will still re-inforce the landing gear blocks...I do this because "I" need it. I love doing wheel landings...and I beat the heack out of my landing gear.

The basic construction is light and strong, and I'm inpressed. This kit has fiberglass wing tips, and they are well installed. A good fit and a nice surprise to see. The Hanger 9 P-51 wheel well inserts are almost a straight drop, into the wheel well...I will need to work this a bit, but only to imporve already a good fit. The C.J. retractable landing gear will only take a little work to fit and there is enough hard wood to do the job (now that the wing is open, it will be easy to route my plumbing too). I'm going to modify the way the aileron servo is mounted, and make a wing flap servo position. I think I will balsa sheet over the whole wing...and build into the wing, scale size flaps. It will not be difficult, and I've the balsa sheeting in house...so I may do this before I cut the flaps in.

I managed to find two T.F. 108 gal wing 1/7 wing tank kits, and these will be mounted too. But first things first...the retract gear goes in.

This is not the same quiality as the other cheap P-51 Chinese Hanger 9 knock off that is sold on e-bay. There is another .60 size P-51 with a yellow tail, and have seen one of each kit now. I helped build the yellow tailed version with a buddy. The landing gear block area on the yellow tailed model was two layers of light ply...and it was not glued in at all and the light ply just popped out in my hand. I bought, by sheer luck, the red tail version...I would recomend buying the red tailed version if your in the market for an inexpensice .60 size ARF. I was able to order a second red tail version on e-bay for $121.00 delivered to Hawaii. $58.00 was for shipping...this is a really reasonable price for a very nicely done kit. At least my kit I received. My next one will be a "D"...with all the goodies as my "B."


Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

These are two of the .60 size P-51's for sale on e-bay. There is the red rudder model and the yellow tailed version. I've built up both kits now, and the red rudder vesion seems to be better built of the two I've seen.

The red rudder vesion is the one I would recomend if your looking to buy a .60 size inexpensive stand off scale ARF.

I bought this kit from "airplanehobby" on e-bay. I've bought three models from them, one F6F a .120 size ARF, and two .60 size red rudder P-51's. All three models I received from this company were received in good order and arrived to me in Hawai'i with in ten days. On the F6F I was missing the cowl...and I e-mailed them about the missing cowl, and I received a new cowl, free of shipping costs in ten day's. I know there are some folks selling junk on e-bay, and with no service after the buy. But these folks have done me good, and the quality of their kits has been impressive for the money. These folks will also support you...they did to me.

One company on e-bay I have tried to deal with and basically lied to me is called... "hobbytecho"...I would not recomend them. They sell the yellow tailed P-51 .60 sized ARF and will try to over charge you on shipping. Their yellow tailed version had some serious issues with the quiality control. These are Chinese sellers, and come under several different names on e-bay. They do business out of California, but their e-mails will come to you out of China.

Bobby of Maui

Paladin049

Bobby, since you converted to the B model to make something a bit different, why not finish it as an RAF Mustang III...essentially it is a B model in RAF colors. When I build a D it will wear RAF colors as a Mustang IV for the same reason. Beautiful job, by the way.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Ha Paladin,
I've been giving the covering a lot of thought, and what ever I do, it will have invason stripes. This really shows up in the sky and easy for me to see. I'm thinking of olive green, and with a red tail and rudder. The Brits are some fine folks, but the Tuskegee "Red Tails" of the 332nd. Fighter Group, will always be honored with my models. Their war record was flawless and all my P-51's and T-Bolts fly with their colors.

My engine exhaust came in from J-tec and I'm stopping the wing mods to finish the engine bay and cover the fuse. My covering finally arrived and I'm excited to see how the fuse will look, ready to fly.

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

F-15 Flameout

Do you remember the name of the company the built the Red Tail P-51. I looked on E-bay for the store name and didn't see it. There are several other verions with both a Red Tail and a Yellow Tail. I think RaidenTech has them both.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Flameout,
The company that was selling the red tailed version of the P-51 was called "airplanehobby", and for some reason they pulled all their aircraft ads from e-bay. To be honest I do not know about the other red tailed versions...and I'm a little bummed we lost this seller on e-bay. These folks treated me good, sold good products and backed their buyers. They may return again, but who knows for sure.

I've had family in from the main land and I've been playing the tour guide, but I will be back to my project early next week. I was not able to find a header for my S.T. G90 that would fit in my cowl inverted, without having to cut into the cowl a bit. I've both the JTec and Bison mufflers, and neither would fit well into the cowl of this .60 size P-51. I ended up using the JTec inverted muffler in my "B" converson. I've the fuel tank installed, fuel filler installed and on/off switch. I'm ready to cover the fuse, and will start this next.

Does anyone know of a inverted muffler/header for a S.T. G90 that is more compact and less intrusive, in the inverted position?

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

F-15 Flameout

Bob,

Thanks for the reply. The reason I asked is after seeing your plane, I remembered I have a P-51B (TF) conversion kit sitting around and thought I'd give your ideas a test. I also like the P-51B model alot better, and I have 2 others. I have an old red box P-51B I built in the early 80s when I was still in the service. I'm amazed at how much smaller it looks now next to a .60 size, it's about the same size as my .40 size. Well, thanks for the reply and the photos.

F-15 Flameout

Bob thanks again. Have you seen the P-51 offered by Raidentech ? They have one for 125.00 and it looks very similar to yours. Also, at nitromodels, they have the same plane for 135.00, but after shipping for each company the price is the same, one charges 10.00 more shipping. I think these 2 companys are one in the same just different store names. Well, gotta bite the bullet once again and make a choice. Hope to see your plane finished soon.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Flameout,
There seems to be a new company selling the red tailed .60 size P-51 on e-bay now. I do not know anything about them. But it sure looks like they are the same model. Managed to get two of the red tailed kits from "airplanehobby" and my last one cost me $128.00 shipped to Hawaii. That's $50.00 cheaper then I can by the Top Flight kit of the same model...and it's built. It's a lot of airplane for the money.

I am ready to finish my fuse, and my guests leave on Monday. I will have the fuse covered this week and will post the results. My Luster Coat spay paint came in the mail, so I will be able to paint the "B" canopy and play with puting in some kind of instrument panel too. This is to be a weekend flyer, and I want to keep the model as light as I can. I will weigh the fuse once it is finished and ready to fly. I'm really interested in how much weight gain the model has with all my mods over the stock issue kit.

I was surprised at how much of the cowl I had to remove to fit the inverted Jtec muffler for my G90. But it was the smallest inverted muffler I could find for the engine.

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

I've been busy finishing the fuse, and it is coming out ok. I've been building and flying ARF's for to long and have lost my nack covering with Monocoate. I did run into a problem with the cowl, and it now fits way to tight. I may need to remove the covering next to the bottom cowl over lap area, sand it down some, and recover. The cowl does not have a good outline or fit to this airframe and the cowl is very thin. I will need to glass the inside of the cowl to beef it up some and I have needed to do this with seveal of my past ARF WWII fighters.

For you exact scale guys out there, the covering is not scale. I'm not sure if any of the 332nd. Fighter Group had full invasion stripes, but I add them for visablity, and it helps keep my eye on the model in the air. The red tail feathers look striking, but I'm not finished with the fuse covering work yet. I've black anti glare on the nose, nose art, kill marks and other 332nd. makings to add. The invasion stripes were a trip to put on... but...it's stand off scale...and it will fly.

I should be finished with the fuse in the next few day's and then it's onto the wings.

"Pokie Man" is my three year old Pamaranian puch. He is the CEO of my garage...

Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui