To anyone with a P-51 from Hangar 9

I have one near done and was noticing the post a week or so ago mentioning some pretty bad defects. Mine had a bunch too, but they were pretty minor except the covering was not too good, that was perhaps my only "big" problem. My bird looks awesome and I cannot wait to fly it. I have a few unsolved issues that I would like some advice on.

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I did a few mods that everyone here said were "must do's, like the firewall glassing, and the servo tray for the retracts. I am confident the plane is strong enough to fly now, but I am unsure of these two things

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1 The landing gear fairings (wheel covers) stick out what I would call excessively (like 1/4 inch +) when the gear is retracted.To me this seems like it would add drag. This is hoky enough for me to want to leave them off. Anyone else have the same issue? Leaving the covers off makes the gear look really cheap when on the ground, but I'd rather have it more strealined in flight. If I left the gear covers as is does it fly any worse?

2 The wing bolts supplied are steel. I have not used steel as I would rather the wing separate on a misfortunate incident that have the fuse torn in half, however I know that some planes have steel for a reason. Anyone here use Nylon or should I stick with Steel?

Looking forward to the first flight!


The pic attached (I know, not the best quality) shows the gear covers sticking out. Funny, the manual shows them nearly flush.