I don't do anything special to the bottom of the plane, and I've never had a problem. Of course, I'm not landing on pavement. But even on rock-hard, baked ground with just a bit of dead brown grass, I've never had a problem landing. Just land at a reasonable speed as opposed to a shallow angle crash, and you'll be fine

What kind of radio equipement would you guys suggest I run? Ive been using Futaba, and I would like to stick with one my old transmitters. Are there any combos out there that you guys could suggest? Thanks again for all the help, I cant wait for the Zero to arrive.

I personally like Hitec RX and Servos. The prices are good, and the stuff has proven to be durable for the most part.

HS-81 servos can be prone to bad pots if you use them in high-vibration set ups though.

There are a lot of options out there though.

If you order a Hitec, just make sure it's the Futaba/Hitec compatiable version, not the JR compatible version.

The 04something single conversion RX is good. The Feather is to be avoided. The 555 and Electron6 duel conversion RX's are good (I think I currently have a total of something like 16 combat RX's Most of them are Hitec 555's and Electron 6's. I have a handful of FMA extreme 4's, which are very good, but not as durable as Hitec, and 1 Polk Seeker 6, which is nice in that it's crystal-less, but it's durability is questionable, and there have been reports of spotty QA with Polk gear, some are DOA or act funky.

Hey guys, Im sorry to keep bugging you with more questions, this time its about the glue. Do you guys use the kind recommended by JKA (Goop??) or do you have something else that you prefer. I understand about the 3M-77 for pre-taping or covering but what about sticking the fuselage halves together and any other parts? Montague - thanks for the imput about the radio equipment. It looks like the Hitec 555 reciever and HS-81 servos might do the trick, like you suggested, Ill make sure to get them compatable with the Futaba J. How big of battery do you use? Do you think a 270 mAh will suffice for a flight at a time or would you recommend larger?

Personally, I like to use polyurathane glue for most foam work. I use elmers "ultimate glue", Gorilla Glue is the same stuff, more or less.

Goop melts foam, so you can't use it directly on foam. I've used it to glue on the canopy, and that's about it, really. On the P-47, I might have used it to attach the vertical and horizontal stabs, I don't recall exactly.

When I first started, I was using the 270mah nicads. They are ok. But honestly, it seemed to me that the hitec packs aren't using the best quality cells. I had a couple go bad on me. You can get 300-350mah nimh packs from places like cheapbatterypacks.com or radicalrc for about the same cost, less weight, and more capacity. A 720-750mah Nimh pack weighs about the same as the 270mah nicad pack, and allows longer flying.

With the 270-350 size packs, you'll want a field charger. You'll get 2-4 combat rounds on a charge. I tend to recharge at least a little after each round to be safe. With a new nimh pack, you'll want to slow charge it a few times. After that, I can charge it at about C, or .3-.4amps.

You are probably right with concerns to a low amp/hr battery, if the packs all weigh relatively the same, it is probably wise to get one with larger ampres. As far as the glue goes, what about regular 5 minute epoxy? Despite its weight limiations, do you think it will eat at the foam or could it work for foam applications? The kit also calls for nylon reinforced filament tape. I've never worked with the stuff, is that something I can buy at the hobby shop or should I look else where like a hardwhere or craft shop?

I forgot to also ask you guys about the Zero cowl. I cannot find any information on how to form a cowl from a pop bottle or anything for the Zero. Demon - you mentioned in a different link that you built a JKA Zero, how did you build the cowling for it? Is there any info out there on cowlings? Thanks again for all the help, you guys have been a big help.

I posted this for you to read the linked info. Click on the links for answers to your your cowl, glue and tape questions.

D

If you get the metallic tape from JKA, DO NOT bury the antenna under the covering. You can bury the antenna under packing tape or heat shrink covering safely, but the metallic tape will cut your reception range significantly. I've had two of the JKA P-47s, and echo Demon's and Montague's posts about the good flying characteristics of the plane. I would recommend replacing the spars with FG rods, and make the wings detachable. You can order spare wings from JKA, as I've replaced a Ta-152 wing.

Here are a couple of other links that might be useful:
[link=http://www.rccombat.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10765]Me-110 build[/link] that shows the general construction techniques. I've since replaced the aluminum rail with carbon fiber, and the wood spar with FG rods
[link=http://www.rccombat.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11211]Dane McGee's P-51D[/link] Mustangs are some of the best I've seen
[link=http://www.rccombat.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11017]My P-51B project[/link] was a bit of a learning experience. Do not replicate the motor mount technique shown! Replace it with an HDPE mount with a carbon fiber arrow shaft drilled into the base of the HDPE mount (Dane's technique).

Best of luck!

I use a little epoxy, but I use polyurathane glue a lot more. Epoxy won't eat foam, but it's hard and brittle, the polyu seems to flex with the foam a little better.

I basically followed Demon's cowl method. Check that link he posted, it's good stuff.

The fiber reinforced tape, you can get at many office supply stores.

If you want the 2" wide bi-directional stuff (which I use a lot of personally), you can order it from staples.com (I think, my wife actually orders it for me). You can also find it in some Office Depot and/or Staples stores. When I have found it, it wasn't in the "tape" aisle though, it was with boxes and shipping supplies. (and when I asked the office store employees, they had no clue what I was talking about, went to the tape aisle and concluded that the product didn't exist or they didn't sell it, even though it was in that store).

I also agree with using fiberglass rods for spars, that's what I did from the beginning. I use 1/8" diameter (or .120" depending on what is available). I usually get my spars from kitebuilder.com.