Just received my P-51 today from RaidenTech. (The $189.00 model). Let me say up front that I'm not a seasoned flyer..... only my second plane, but I have to admit... the plane looks nice. There are a few wrinkels in the covering, but overall construction looks great. My main complaint is in the instructions.... wow ...do they suck. One line explinations only. For a "newbie" like me, this is tough. Anyone have any ideas of how I can get better instructions on installing servos and engine. Also tips on getting wrinkels out of covering. Thanks for any tips.
Dick

you paid 189?

I think you got the CMP 120 size P-51...

Raidentech sells 2 smaller mustangs, 1 is a 60 size and the other is a 40 size. They both fly pretty good, and aren't bad for the price.
However, I gernally will pay more for a better built model and by a more known manufacturer such as hangar 9 or great planes.

Cotman,

Wrinkles...I simply ironed mine out with an iron. They smoothed right out without issue.

I bought the AK P-51 which is the same as the Raidentech and several others, all Chinese clones of Hanger 9.

Chief differences are lack of accurate documention,(manual sucks), inferior retracts, (replace with Great Planes) and cheap hardware.

The woods used are rough-cut but covering is nice. Beware the firewall. NO blindnuts preinstalled and NO way of knowing where to mount the engine. You have to line the cowling up measure, measure, measure and then drill your bolt holes. Here's how mine ended up.

Keep everything as light as possible and make sure your CG is right on. The manual DOES show this one!

Good luck!

Point Magu
Cumberland, MD

Thanks for getting back. Did you put blindnuts in and how did you get them in there... not a hell of a lot of room.
Thanks
Dick

After I found the correct position for the mounting, (took awhile trying to center that prop shaft just right in the center of the cowling), I marked and drilled pilot holes. Once satisfied that this was my final configuration, I picked up a few 8-32 socket head bolts, (1") and matching blind nuts, (or T-nuts as they are also known). I then re-drilled the 4 pilot holes large enough to accept the sleeves of the blind nuts. Don't laugh but then I simply dropped the blind nuts down into the nose from inside the wing saddle. I used a long screwdriver to flip them around and to get them temporarily seated in their holes. I did this one at a time. I then slowly inserted one bolt at a time and torqued them down, permanently seating the nuts. Then a dripped thickened CA around the edges of the nuts,(careful not to get any inside the threads) then hit it with activator. DONE!
Make sure you use washers behind the bolts to keep them from digging into the firewall. The washers will allow you to really tighten them down to get a good seating on the blind nuts.
Believe it or not, this worked extremely well and makes a solid mounting.
I had to trim the cowling using my Dremel grinder wheel along the bottom and lower sides to get a centered prop shaft. Once I had the engine bolted up, I simply moved the cowling around a bit until I hit center on the shaft and them I drilled the mounting holes and bolted the cowling in place. Sounds difficult but it wan't hard, just time consuming.

Anything I else I can help with, just ask!

Point Magu

thanks again for the help. Thats basicly how I thought I'd do it. Hope you don't mind me asking all these qiestions..... might be back with more. This is only my second plane and still learning. I'll send pics if interested when completed. Thanks again.
Dick