zope_pope

One of the best ultracote jobs Ive ever seen!

Im still checking in on this thread, but haven't been able to work on mine for a year plus. I was flight instructing for a long while out of state and landed an airline job finally. At ground school in Minneapolis right now, but hopefully after this I'll have some downtime in between trips and will get cracking. Anyways, keep up the good work everyone!

Adam

Riddle4U

Bob, I heard today (not the first time), a camel is a horse...designed by commitee!

Riddle4U

ZOPE..! I, at age 46, and with an Embry-Riddle degree in hand (getting dated), hope to join you in the air. I am trying to figure out the most expedicious method (perhaps Gulfstream program, what thinks you?), or a year of I.P. 'ing. Congrats on getting on somewhere...message me on this site, I think I sent you a message a year ago. Nice pics in air with a PA-44 Seminole you presented earlier. Can this old man still live his dream? -Eric

OK, lets keep up our P-51 projects guys!

Mustang Fever

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Adam:

Congrats on the job. Go punch a few holes in the sky.

Mustang Fever

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A few pics.

I looked back on the thread last night, and the first time I posted assembly pics on this bird was September 3 last year. 15 month project.

Strykaas

Nice

Mhh that black lightweight muffler surely helped, you would have been bound to add some tail weight should you have used the std muffler. Good choice !

Mustang Fever

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Yeah, I was thinking about that, but mostly I just hated the way the standard one looked. [:'(]

Flying Beagle

Bob

congrats, looks great, good luck on the eventual maiden

think I might take my TF wing down off the shelf and get back to those retracts....

Beagle

Mustang Fever

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Go for it, Beagle. Is your field suitable for heavy, high performance scale birds? There's a definite shortage of those in lower Michigan.

pmillerusa

Silly question here...[sm=confused.gif]

I am doing the seperate servo's in the wing thing versus the ball-link business... having said that, I am using the design from the flaps for the servo rails. In doing so, I see that the server rail axis on the flaps ISNT really parallel at all to the flap.

The Aileron however most likely will be (due to the location closer to the spar - as well as just making sense)

any thoughts or good reason the flaps servo's are located as they are? Since the wings arent joined yet, I am guessing that maybe they will be parallel with "eachother" if they are built this way...?

Current status -

Waiting on the retracts for the mains as well as the #121 tailwheel retract. Wings are framed up as well as the fuse' up to the steps regarding the tailwheel. Figured I'd get the aileron servo rails completed and noticed the item above.

Mustang Fever

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Paul:

I noticed that angled flap pushrod as well. I think they did it that way because the servo fits easier into the well. I didn't like it, so I went ahead and rotated mine so that the PR and the flap were at a 90 degree angle. Works great.

The whole business of one servo for ailerons, to me, is only necessary on really small airplanes where it's critical to keep the weight down, and only then when strip ailerons and torque rods are used. Otherwise, I always go for separate servos so as to minimize the slop in the system. I used a pair of the HiTec HS-125 wing servos. They were so easy to mount in there, and one of them has more than half the torque (41.6 oz) a standard size servo generates and weighs about half what a standard does. $35 each, but I think they are worth it. Also, as you can see from the pics, I cut a small hatch opening in the wing, and lined it with 1/8 ply. Then I mounted the servo to a 1/16 ply hatch. No rails. No worries.[:'(]

pmillerusa

Thanks Bob... perfect.

Live Wire

Still watching this thread, and wishing mine was in the air Some times I wish I had went with a larger scale and would not have had all the problems What a hobby , just think what we would be doing if we were playing Golf [:@]

zope_pope

Hey Guys,

I have finally found some time to pick up this build again. I am working on finishing my tail retract and was wondering what methods of actuating the tail gear door you folks were using? Ideally i'd like to keep it simple and be manually actuated by the tail retract itself, but I am still trying to think of a good way to do it. Thanks in advance!

Mustang Fever

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Zope:

I'm doorless.

zope_pope

I was getting frustrated to the point that I would go doorless too. :P

skyriter

Do you have a photo of the bottom of the wing showing the cutouts with the wheels in the up position? Curious as to what you did where the gear mounts etc.

Thanks

Bruce

Mustang Fever

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Bruce: I made a custom 1/4" ply truss, and reinforced it with aluminum angle and some triangular fillets made of epoxy mixed with milled fiberglass. I also angled the struts towards the leading edge quite a bit, and crammed the retracts as far up into the leading edge as I could get them and still have room. The idea was to get the axles way out in front of the CG with the gear down. Seems to have worked.

skyriter

Thanks for the pictures. I moved the gear forward as far as I could as well. Closer to the scale position. Looks like when you have the wing covering on, you covered over the mounting bolts for the gear?

Bruce

Mustang Fever

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Bruce:

Yeah. It's more or less permanently installed. After it was bolted in and hooked up, I sheeted over the nuts on the top side and the bolt heads on the bottom.
If I ever have a malfunction, I'll have to do some cutting. As tough as the installation is, the only way it's going to break is if I destroy the wing.

RayEMan

I love this forum! Well, I have thrown my hat in the ring to build my first RC (have built control line and free flight). I chose this kit due to pretty good reviews, plus the fact that there are not a lot of kits out there anymore. As soon as I can dump my digital camera, I will have some photos of progress so far. I have built the tail feathers and have learned, as many of you have, to read the book 12 times, then read it again before bonding. Learned how many more tools that I will need (or, is it just an excuse). I plan on trying for scale, including retracts and functioning doors (both inner and tail). I plan to install the RCV90-SP or the 120SP. I think the Century Jet retract set looks very nice. For door sequencing, I plan on using the UP-2 control valve from Ultra Precision. Looks like a lot of people are glassing the wings and fuse. I am open to your suggestions as to what would be best. I have very little experience at working with fiberglass, but I have worked some on real aircraft.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the pictures and tips. Please keep them coming. I will be a regular here throughout my build.

Mustang Fever

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Ray:

Do you have an electronic camera so you can post pics as you go? I'd sure love to watch.

Have you looked at the various posts on the RCV SP series of engines? I really loved the idea of the 120, until I saw all the difficulties associated with it. Not saying it's no good, just difficult. That's why I chose the OS- it's as reliable as the sun coming up, and about as user friendly as a glow engine can be. That's the only thing I could tolerate in an airplane I had over a year invested in, and close to $1000.

Anyway, one of the nice parts about the TF Mustang is you don't have to make that decision for quite awhile. You can get most of the fuse built before it's necessary to have the engine on hand.

RayEMan

Hi Bob,

Yes, I just need to do the download to the 'puter to post pics. Thanks for the input on the RCV. It looks like a good break-in with the right fuel (synthetic not castor) leads to an engine that runs like a Rolex[8D]. But, you are right, I won't need that for a while. Retracts are on the top of my wish list. Just so I can align the mounts. But, that should be a few weeks before I need them. I should be getting some pins, a razor plane and a nice big balsa builder board for my wing. I made my own for the stab and fin, but cork didn't hold the pins very well. Plus I don't think it will be long enough for the wings. I hope to start the first wing this weekend.

Talk to you all soon...

-Ray

Riddle4U

Ray-E-man, I must say I am surprised no one responded to the fact that this is your first RC! From your implied experience you won't necessarily have any trouble with this great kit in the building, but, yes but, butt, butt; you cannot possibly fly this thing reasonably without some kind of RC trainer time behind you. Yea, yea, you have a computer RC simulator probably. DO NOT waste this plane into the ground without some other intermediate trainer! When yer done building the P-51, put it on a nice shelf or better, hang it from the ceiling as motivation. There is no greater cause of giving up RC than thinking a P-51 model is acceptable as a first flier! I do know, and this has been the bane of keeping people interested in RC for 50 years or more (give up after crashing their dream)! Your post is recent so I am jumping the gun on advice (or at least the first). Mustang Fever you are kind and silent on this fellas first RC! I know you don't want to discourage him, but we all owe it to new RC'ers (self proclaimed), to advise here. Ray......build your dream and get some real trainer experience concurently at the least. You will thank me later!

Riddle4U

Mustang Fever, I note that you make a comment that you are "trying to get the gear way in front of the CG". Actually having the CG behind the "main" is the predominant cause of "ground looping". On grass there may be some advantage in not flipping over, but keep it scale I say, tail draggers ground loop badly enough without putting more mass behind the CG. It is the reason all modern aircraft have a tricycle gear, in that the CG is in FRONT of the main on a trike. Better ground handling. In many WWII models, more pilots were killed in the ground transition than anything else.