Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Sorry TSky, I missed that part! As noted by Experten, the same measurement will work with the kit version as well.

TSky28

My Feedback: (3)

3.25 " back and inverted. gear up or down?

Experten109/40

My Feedback: (-1)

I did not invert mine, 3.25" back, gear up.. cause thats how it flies 98% of the time.

bacon104

Glad Im at a part of the build now that I get to tackle some details that were bugging me. I didnt like the simple way they had the 50 cals, so looking at the footage of the P-40's that has been on the military channel each week in the "Mission that changed the war: Flying Tigers" series. I tried to model the guns a little. I included pics of each main step for anyone that wants to do something similar, Im sure there are plenty out there that can do a much better job.
The rods are 7/32" and 3/16"X.049 aluminum rods that were at my local hobby shop.

handyman 220

My Feedback: (54)

Looks pretty good, may try something like that on mine.

jet22b

Hey Guys;
I have been in the back ground following this thread. I do have the Top Flite P-40 60 ARF sitting on the top shelf of my workshop for the past 3 months. I got side-track building the Top Flite Cessna 310 ARF. I do like the way some people have their engine setup. I want to keep the cowling as clean as I can. For power, I will go with the OS FS-91 II Surpass w/Pump. I know this will be my thread to read for the time of the build. I wish the web was around back in the 70's when I jump into this hobby. So much good info at the click of the mouse. Thanks again guys, for all the great info and mods on this bird!!! Now back to the man cave and the Cessna 310!!

Sonny
aka
jet22b

mike early

Is anyone using a 3-blade prop?

Aluminum Overcast

Yes, One of my buddies at the field has been using one on his TF P40arf 60 with the saito 100. I believe its a master airscrew 14 or 15X8 3 blade. I plan to maiden with a two blade but will switch out later to 3 if the power in the air is as good as it seems on the ground from the YS120ac. We'll see as mine is heavy at 13.5 lbs and the 3 blade will give less performance.

Kostas1

I'd like to see the video of the maiden flight!

mike early

Not really sure if you lose any performance with the 3-blade or not....

Can you ask him what spinner he is using?

mike early

By golly I'd buy that V-12 exhaust for my Saito 125 but it looks like they don't make them anymore

mike early

People are having to put a lot of weight in the nose with the recommended engines?

mike early

Gene Barton ( http://www.genebarton.com/scale.html#spinners )
Has 4" P-40 Spinners. I've heard wonderful things about his stuff.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

I had one of Barton's spinners on my first TF P-40 and it was top quality, as is all of his stuff.

Aluminum Overcast

Well, Not exactly a maiden flight but an engine and vibration ground test Video for you guys. Everything looks good so far but I did notice my tail wheel cylinder that pushes on a bell crank actually bent it and so, the tail wheel slowly sinks back into the airframe even thought it's locked in the down position. Looks like I need to make a part or find a heavy duty one. Anyway, The vid was shot last night at our weekly warbird night. It was an excellent evening for a maiden but I'm still ironing out a few things including tracking down my mains rotating despite a flat spot filed where the oleos grab the wire rod sticking out of the Robart mechanism....They are rotating on a second collar up inside the gear itself so they also need flats filed in there as well. To do this the gear has to come back out....Fun.

Couple of things:
The green box atop the engine is my battery box.

My buddy Dave who flies his with the 3 blade I was talking about a few posts back was there last night. He said it was a Master airscrew. He thinks it's a15X7 or 14X7. Engine is a Saito 100. The plane flies well on this combo.

Regarding the spinner:
He used Something we talked about during his build using the stock spinner and cut two new openings and filled the 1 left over from the back side with an oversized aluminum sheet and jb weld Sanded smooth to fill and blend and counter balanced of course! This works because the backplate has a lip into which the spinner itself fits into and it helps brace the spinner from all that centrical force trying to pry it apart. I wouldn't recommend you do this to a large plastic spinner with a powerful motor or even a thin aluminum spinner with no side support from the backplate or screws that go into the backplate to hold the spinner on.

A lot can be said here about the efficiency of two versus multiple blades. But all things being equal, the more blades (closer together) the more they travel into the wake of the preceding blade especially as the rpms increase. The air simply cant get pushed away fast enough. Think of it this way, A speed boat will do its fastest time on calm water wheres as on choppy water a lot of its energy is translated into crashing through the waves. Never mind the distortion the blades take on as they encounter all that turbulence (again loss of efficiency there). Low RPM high toque motor probably do better with more blades though. From experience on the same engine my two blade outperformed the three on my saito 56 years ago. The model would fly with the 3 blade but had nowhere near the speed of the two blade.


Here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUVPRgYjxE

Kostas1

bacon104

Looks great AO! I have been cutting, gluing and painting a pilot. I made the yellow vest come away from the body by putting raised aluminum foil on his chest, spreading some five min epoxy over it, the pulling the foil out when the epoxy dried.

Johnny_Zero

My Feedback: (44)

Cool!!!!!!

Dawn of the Dead pilot....flying death!

TSky28

My Feedback: (3)

Allright Boys... Finally got my killswitch installed.

Question on Balance. I went inverted, and balanced gear UP at 3.25" back from leading edge, between gear pods and fuse. When I switch to gear down it moves the CG forward to 3.00". Is this ok? A little nose heavy gear down? Just about right gear up? I measured inverted because upright I couldn't get it to stop swinging on my shaky little CG machine. I'm at a little over 10 lbs.

Aluminum Overcast

Sounds good to me on the cg and method. A little nose heavy with gear down is good if not desirable, it will track in better on landing approaches.

It's always easier to balance a low wing airplane inverted on the CG machine. Check it for lateral balance too for better flight characteristics!

TSky28

My Feedback: (3)

The manual says not to balance outside the recommended range but they specify a point (3.25") only. I suppose the recommendation to experiment 1/4" for/aft is what they are considering their 'range'. So somewhere between 3.00" and 3.5".

Aluminum Overcast

Yes, I called Top Flight regarding the CG. Post 190 on this thread. My buddies who are all ready flying this bird at our field said Top Flight's stated measurement is a good one but can vary a bit, forward especially.

TSky28

My Feedback: (3)

Well I guess I'm running out of excuses... This is my first kit. Spent all winter. I guess its true what they say, "... if you love something let it go..." Thanks for the help boys.

Buckeye_01

My Feedback: (1)

With an OS91 non pump I had to add 22oz to the nose. This put the plane at almost 11lbs dry! It flew pretty good but was a bear on the ground! It nosed over several times on landing and take off. I have since pulled the 91 in favor of a 120. I have some other work to do before it is flight ready again. The couple times I had it in the air it flew really nice. Only needed a couple clicks of up elevator and right aileron. I can't wait to get it airborne again!

Here are a few snaps before its maiden. I have a video somewhere of the maiden and the nose over!

mike early

I hate adding that much weight.