Park Zone P-51 assembly and 1st flight
06-07-2005, 07:07 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Park Zone P-51 assembly and 1st flight
Assembly of the wing was the only problem I had. At the rear of the wing are two "tabs" that slide into two slots in the fuselage. On my unit, getting the tabs to allign and slide into the slots was difficult, and I had to use considerable pressure to do it. Your unit may have slightly different clearances than mine.
Here's what I did:
I made pencil marks showing the locations of the tabs and slots on the three sides of the wing and fuselage to help me allign everything, and help keep me from feeling I was juuuuuust on the edge of breaking the parts from the amount of force I had to use.
Next, I pre-threaded the two holes inside the fuselage with the two screws that will mesh with the holes.
Most importantly, use a piece of wire or thin tool, such as a thin/long allen wrench, to use as an allignment guide. JUST before your snap the leading edge of the wing down into the wing saddle, peek inside the fuselage as you insert your allignment tool into ONE of the two screw holes. Snap the wing down into the saddle, and, leaving the wire inserted into one hole, insert the first screw into the other hole and carefully thread it part-way in. Use the right sized screwdriver, because you need a lot of "feel" to get the screws started.
One last thing; the battery connector on my fuselage was barely long enough to reach the outside of the plane. I attached a piece of string to the inner battery connector, and tied it off to the battery compartment cover. That way, I could just pull on the string to pull out the battery connector. Plus, I won't lose the battery cover.
First flight was uneventful, conservative, and done in calm air. No problems; I did detect a slight tendancy to float a bit, but then I was flying a lot at low to 1/2 throttle to break in the motor. Good luck to you!
Here's what I did:
I made pencil marks showing the locations of the tabs and slots on the three sides of the wing and fuselage to help me allign everything, and help keep me from feeling I was juuuuuust on the edge of breaking the parts from the amount of force I had to use.
Next, I pre-threaded the two holes inside the fuselage with the two screws that will mesh with the holes.
Most importantly, use a piece of wire or thin tool, such as a thin/long allen wrench, to use as an allignment guide. JUST before your snap the leading edge of the wing down into the wing saddle, peek inside the fuselage as you insert your allignment tool into ONE of the two screw holes. Snap the wing down into the saddle, and, leaving the wire inserted into one hole, insert the first screw into the other hole and carefully thread it part-way in. Use the right sized screwdriver, because you need a lot of "feel" to get the screws started.
One last thing; the battery connector on my fuselage was barely long enough to reach the outside of the plane. I attached a piece of string to the inner battery connector, and tied it off to the battery compartment cover. That way, I could just pull on the string to pull out the battery connector. Plus, I won't lose the battery cover.
First flight was uneventful, conservative, and done in calm air. No problems; I did detect a slight tendancy to float a bit, but then I was flying a lot at low to 1/2 throttle to break in the motor. Good luck to you!
06-07-2005, 10:26 AM
#2
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RE: Park Zone P-51 assembly and 1st flight
A word of advice: You might as well go ahead and tape that battery cover on there because it gonna fall off. It's not necessarily the best design in my opinion. Other than that I have no problems.
06-07-2005, 04:38 PM
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RE: Park Zone P-51 assembly and 1st flight
i had much trouble getting the wing on as well....ended up taking the plastic saddle for the screws off and shifting things til the screw holes lined up. finally fooled them into position. i have seven flights on mine so far without a hitch. i find it easy to handlaunch, responsive and beautiful in a low fast pass followed by a victory roll on climbout from the pass. lands well, sounds great in the air and draws comments from curious onlookers. next step is a lipo battery and nose artwork...i took the ferocious frankie decal off!
