RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
Got the second flight in today (at my club in NJ) and it was a bit eventful. The tail wheel assembly disintegrated as I was about half way into the takeoff roll, and she went quickly left and ran into a fence before I could do anything except chop the throttle. She hit on the spinner, so no damage at all except to the Robart plastic retractable tail wheel, which is coming out as soon as I get home.
I epoxied the tail wheel back into place, cut the steering cables so it could castor, and plugged off the "retract" line to the T/W air cylinder, and went flying.
This flight I concentrated on the final trims with gear and flaps up. With gear and flaps down, there's no change. With gear only down, she wants to drop the nose, but that's easy to compensate for, so I'm not going to play with the trim on that. I did a go around on the first approach, leaving gear and flaps down, and the landing was one of the best I've ever done. Just slightly tail low at touchdown, the oleos absorbing the shock and no bouncing at all. Just settled down and rolled straight out.
I cannot believe how this airplane sounds. With the Macs muffler, there is very little exhaust noise at about 55% power, and she sounds like she's got a Merlin in the nose, as the prop kind of whines, especially in a shallow dive. It is awesome and has to be experienced. Maybe I can get someone to video her one of these days.
Looks and sounds better in the air than any warbird I've ever had, or seen. Four strokes and gassers don't come close to the right sound. I got lucky on this one.