ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Didn't know that about the pearl. That is the key to the effect IMO. I'll need to make a trip to the LHS and see what they have left.

I picked up a Grex at Toledo last year and totally love it. It is dual action, but you get full air all the time, so you never get any spitting, like you do when you have a little too much material and not enough air. Can't happen with the Grex. Lots of other great fetchers as well. Well worth taking a look at.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

I looked at the Grex unit at Toledo .. live demos, right? Pretty nice unit.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Yes. Jerry is a real nice guy to deal with. I'm a contractor and I also was impressed with his Grex micro pinner. It shoots 2" 23 gauge nails. I now have two and love them.

Not cheap tools, but very well made and do just what they are advertised to do. I use the micro pinner almost every day with no issues. Still on the original driver.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I like the pistol grip on the air brush.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

MIA ??[&:]

Well yes, I have been.. at least on this project. Had a bit of an "incident" with the airframe. As I was setting up out in the driveway to do some of the airbrush detail.... well, lets just say, after putting the exhaust residue on, I turned around to see the fuse free fall off the work table onto the concrete.

Crunch .. and roll.

Ugh. [:@] Some damage of course. nose, tail, both stabs, fin, fuse, canopy scratched. Gosh Darn It !

So the plane was put up for a bit while I stewed over it. Of course, the wet paint smeared.. which led to a desperate attempt tp make it look better.
Oops, NOT! Ugh # 2. So, I ended up putting heavy exhaust residue on.. much more than I intened or want, but there was no recovery without major repainting.

So, it is what it is as they say.. .

Anyway, took it out to fly this past weekend after some repair work of course. The engine wouldn't fire. I tested the ignition before.. ?? Hmmm.
Oh well, got some pics of it together anyway.. almost, sort of complete. Stopped any further weathering for now. I just want to fly the thing now. Not happy with the incurred damage as this was a drawn out build for me. When I got home, found out the ignition pickup went bad.. have one on order as of today.

Will try to post some video when it flies.... here's a few pics from Sunday. Refresher : Q 100, Sierra retracts. 104" ws

TomCrump

It's too bad about your troubles, but the 'Stang looks great !

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Thanks Tom - I am over it. See you at the Cards Warbird show in a month or so? Will bring the "little" Corsair and hopefully this one. Don't think the Macchi will make it off the bench by then though.

Have recieved the ignition parts [new pickup from CH ] and am happy to report : We have spark! Unfortunately, I had to remove the engine and a bunch of other stuff to get at it. But, should be ready for flight next weekend. Good time to double check everything again before the test flight anyway. Never a bad thing ! Check twice: don't crash!!

I think I may rig the engine up on a test stand and do the initial carb setup there as the needles are hard to reach when installed in the plane. This engine has been idle for 9 years!

It's time this plane took to the air !

TomCrump

I hope to see you in Lansing, Jim. Glenn will know my plans, as the time gets closer to the event.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

OK - Update

More issues... install new sensor, have spark now! Good.

Test run engine on stand.

Uh oh.. backfire? Hmmm ? [>:]

Check timing, seems fine.

Try again.. engine kicks back, whacks finger.. OUCH. Bad.

But - engine starts! Good!

While stepping back in pain, uh oh.. engine is running.. in theory at idle.. but the prop pulls the stand over.
BAD.

Parts fly! Run for cover!!

Uh oh. Not good. Broken stuff, black and blue finger. Bad.

Seem to have the jinx in place.... must break the string of poor luck.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Update 2:

3 days later, after cooling my jets and thinking on it.. fix stuff, remount for another test run.

Have buddy come over to assist.

Still a backfire?

But, the engine starts and runs. Do the basic needle adjustments.. all seems better now.

Hmm, good!

Planning a test flight tomorrow.. Sat, 13 mph winds, 79 F, sun, Time to go !!

Still have to reinstall fuel tank, but that "should" go OK....

Hope to have video soon.. good or bad, it's getting posted.

Father Goose

Best of luck, I wish I could be there.
Father Goose,
Rudder says "Fly well"

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

OK - took the Mustang to the field today ..

Decent weather, a bit windy, but pretty much down the runway, so what the heck.

Assemble the plane, Ooops, forgot the prop and spinner bolt. Go get that...

Pump up the retracts, flip it over.. and add some fuel.

Radio check, check, Cotrol throws and direction check? Check,

Battery check, check.

Choke on, flip flip.. pop! Good.

Choke off, flip flip.. running. Set a few things on the throttle .. still need to tweak the expo curve a bit, but running well, aliet a bit rich. Check.

Put on lower cowl... top off the air.. and away we go. Taxi some, OK. Line it up on the runway.. add power.. and she's off! Easy run, off in 40 feet.

Retracts? Check. All gear door work as planned... get some altitude, check. Plane is tracking well... two clicks of up, good straight flight. No aieleron trim needed. Check.

Fly around for a bit, do a roll... all seems OK. Good! Engine is definately rich, but plenty of power for flight. Actually have not weighed the aircraft yet, but must be pushing 35 to 37 lbs? Make a low pass for teh cameras.. check. All good... let's land.

Always fun, that first warbird landing.... slow it down, add flap.. oops, add flap ?? Hmmm, no flaps? Darn it. So, line it up, slow it down, here she comes.... a little hot, keep it that way to ensure control throw authority. Also choose the grass as the runway is under pending construction. Roll out, all good. We have a test flight!

Turns out I was clicking the wrong switch for the flaps.. oops.

Flew it again, but having some air line leakage after the first flight. Get a good flight in, then notice one of the inner gear doors open?? Hmm, why< Drop gear... add flap - and wow, the are effective! Landed at a crawl, very stable and predictable. Now need to find that leak and then try it again tomorrow.

A few pics from today, George took some video.. will post that when available.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Congratulations!!!!!!

Feels so good to see your labor of love doing what you created it to do.

Very glad to hear it went well. Yes, I consider this a very good outing. You did a good pre-flight, got her safely into the air, dealt well with unexpected issues, corrected the problem, and didn't push on when a more serious issue was noticed.

Good job and a good example of a maiden.

rcwarbirdbuilder

My Feedback: (104)

Ok ! finaly got the Youtube video edited from the days flight and posted with some other flying misc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gio3ymD_5ds

TomCrump

Congrats, Jim !

G McIntosh

My Feedback: (9)

Outstanding Jim... glad you have it flying. Looks great'. Couldn't make it out too see it fly on Saturday, just to busy w/ the house. Anyway... Congratulations... Glenn

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

A stellar day !

6 am .. my FIRST granddaughter was born. WOOT !!

Hospital in the morning... then the new momma needed some rest.. sooo .. off to the field of course. Great weather. Wow, what a great day so far !!

Before I head out, I do a serious once over on the airframe after the first 2 flights.. and identify a couple of items that I missed before... tailwheel is not staying centered... need to pull the lower cowl and tweak in the needle a bit since it was rich. Double check the airlines after repair last night. Stuff like that...

Then I check all the servos.. oops, what's this? Hmm, rudder servo has a slight "miss" in one spot? Gears stripped on the 4721. Seems when the tailwheel lost air pressure, the rudder hit the ground. As I taxied it back not realizing this.. must have damaged it then. No big deal, replace the gearset, good to go.

Also check the engine to make sure the muffler, mounting, and linkages are all still tight. All good.

Now to the field!

Set up, fuel up, air up.. off to the flight line. Takeoff normal [good!] fly around a bit, listen to the engine with the new needle settings... engine is no longer rich and running well. Good. Start to wring it out a bit.. high speed testing.. no flutter. Good. Do some warbird aerbatics. All good. Then . .

See one of the innner gear door open again? Just like yesterday? Hmm, I fixed that! Or so I thought. losing air! Cut throttle, hit the gear switch... thankfully, the mains come down.. line it up, bring it down. Won't slow down.. seems the leaned carb settiing has increased the idle speed. However, the large flaps slow it just enough, and it's in. Lands really well in fact, nice wheel landing. Oops, can tell the tailwheel is not working again. Shut it down when it stops.

Test air system, like I did last night.. hear a large leak? After some checking with friends, it seems the inner gear door lines are getting pinched during assembly, not after assembly, during. I had insured the lines were OK when assembled, but missed the fact I was damaging them while sliding the wing into place. Time for flight number 4 now..

Fuel, air up, takeoff.. all good now! Kinda have some fun with it.. oh yes, it's a keeper flight wise... again can't get it to idle down as mush as I like, and the runway contruction peels a wheel off the rim. No big deal really. The plane is flying well, just like my other ones, but now with all the updates we put in.

So - plane is basically tuned in, ready for the season. Build closed !

headpiper

Hi Guys, just joined and am starting to build my Nosen P-51. I've had it for over 25 years and never had the time (or space) to build it. I started looking for information fom other builders to get helpful hints before I get knee deep into it and wish I'd done something differently. I saw in the very early posts that rcwarbirdbuilder had drawings with modifications to the original that really interested me. Does anyone know if these drawings or modifications are still available?

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Damn! After about 40 "sorties" .. sustained some battle damage!

Dam German FW 190 ! Managed to get a couple of shells into my canopy .. yikes!
Now I need some repair work.. during flying season, yuk.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Of course, in my infinate wisdom, I used a modfied Don Smith canopy.. and glassed teh front section into the airframe so it looked good. Now, I have to replace the canopy.. what to do .. what to do.

So, order a replacement canopy.. then decide to try and "save" the front section glassed into the fuse. Sooo - try a few ways to cut the rear section, but find the slow, steady method with a new blade is best. Ref pic below... I only glassed the front, I glued the rest of the frame down so it looked like a sliding unit.

So I cut the back half off .. and had some structure issues under the glue joint - which is probably why the canopy cracked in the first place. Of course, I had one flight where I blew the spinner off.. and landed with half the prop. That may have started the crack originally ?? Who knows, just trying to get the Mustang out of the hanger again.....

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

So - how to repair.... Hmmm.

First, I need to fix the substrate structure issue.

I built up some filler locally and it is a bit thick, but I did glass over it, however, some of the material pulled off and made the rear part of the canopy vibrate. I saw some chaffed areas when I removed the conopy.

So - the I put a bunch of small "pokes" into the filler, and bled some thin CA into the filler. Now it's hard..

Then, add some bondo over the low chipped off areas... start to sand as it hardens.. much easier to remove material as the bondo hardens. Will let it harden until tomorrow .. that's all for tonight.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Good stuff. Looks like she will be just fine.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

So - I cut the canopy exactly the same as the removed part.. and of course, it doesn't fit as well as I like. Oh well, will figure that out. Tired of trying to get it perfect. Stoopid battle damage !!

So - sanded down the bondo/spot putty - add some primer... test fit.. test fit.. test fit... arrr . . .

Then add some material to glue the canopy down with. Thin styrene plastic strips to make a ledge.. then paint them black so they don't show so much...on the inside only. Glue to front canopy frame.

Add glue to canopy, add more glue.. tape canopy down. Stop for the night.

Does anybody else HATE glueing canopies down ? Ugh ! Oh well, maybr I can get it flying for the weekend.

foodstick

Canopy and glue are two terms that are never fun to use together.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

I scuff up the canopy with 100 grit sandpaper on the inside and outside contact surfaces. The canopy is secured with a strip of fine weave one ounce fiberglass cloth saturated with a thicken mixture of E-poxy Finishing Resin and Sig Micro-balloons. Filler is used to blend everything. It works most of the time but cracks do occur along the seam sometimes. It’s good enough. Dan.