P51 Mustang CARF "RENO Air Race" modification
 

Hello,

my name is Hannes Lutzenberger, I´m 30 years old and from Germany.

After a trip to the RENO Air Races 2011 and 2012 the idea was born to build a RC P51 Mustang as UNLIMITED race plane.

A few weeks ago, my buddy crashed his CARF P51. I got this plane and started to work on the plug for the turtledeck...

The plan is it to get 3x modificated P51 in the air over Germany in 2015 :-) Hope you like "our" project!


STEP 1 - the basic plane

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM.jpg


STEP 2 - cut the canopy

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/1PM.jpg


STEP 3 - make a foam block

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/4PM.jpg


STEP 4 - put it on the fuselage

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/5PM.jpg

I like the concept - and I think something similar has been done before. What is broken in the P-51?

If it were mine, I'd try to think of a colour scheme that is "mine" - instead of replicating something that flew in USA.

Thank you, the fuselage was broken two times and the gear was out of the wing :-(

We will try to build replicas from STREGA, Stiletto and Precious Metal :-)

regards

Hannes

A Reno Racer is an awesome choice! They are hardly modeled. There are plenty of color schemes, too. If you're going to build one then might as well go all the way and replicate the 'real deal' instead of creating some spuriously colored bird.

That´s the goal :-)

STEP 5 - put fiberglass on it

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM6.jpg


STEP 6 - make it smooth

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM7.jpg

For Strega and Stiletto things are not too complicated: just pick a year and match the colors, and you are close.

There have been lots of different iterations of the Precious Metal. All of them look great. The recent ones have the Griffon engine, so you'd need to make the nose more bumpy. For something different, a 1975 or 1977 Precious Metal could be good. Photos show it with a Merlin and it has a lower version of the normal bubble canopy. in 1977 it already had a taller fin.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2033827

We will build Precious Metal from 2012

STEP 7 - time to build the turtledeck

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM9.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM10.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM11.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM12.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM13.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM14.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM15.jpg

Hannes83 Nice job. looking forward to seeing more. John T. Spitfire brotherhood #110, Corsair Brotherhood #96, Mustang brotherhood #55

Thank you John :cool:

The next steps:

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM16.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM17.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM18.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM19.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM20.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM21.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM22.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM23.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM24.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM25.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM26.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM27.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM28.jpg

I like the method to build reinforcement onto the mold. After gel-coat it looks like you soak glass matt in resin then just lay it in place... correct?

Yes, you are right :-) Works perfect**

Today the fiber glass delivery arrived! Looks like to be a long weekend, because we have to make three P51 turtledecks :-)

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM30.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM31.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM32.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM33.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM34.jpg

Nice work!

Very cool project. Looking forward to the video of them flying together! Wait, are the three racers going to fly together? Lol

Quick question, why does the Gotha wing need to have the thrust tube extensions?
Ive seen this before but nobody has answered why this is needed.

Nice work!

First fiber glass turtledeck is done:

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM35.jpg

Horten rather than Gotha. I've often wondered the same and would be interested in the answer as well. Is it a thrust efficiency issue?

Ok, Horten Ho IX / Ho 229, Invertmast built his own and also had the extensions but didnt go into why they are this way. There must be a relationship between the exhaust exit distance from the CG or something, wish I could see this in action in person, pretty interesting.

Is there a good thread on this somewhere that we can read?

Sorry, derailed the thread...

Bump!

Flight video of the P-51?

Looks like a well done project. Best of luck getting them finished and flying.

Pretty lady in your pic.

Looking good Hannes.. I see you are taking a break on the GB stuff.. I too am doing the Reno modified P-51 game... Similar plan as yours.. I got a pre-crashed H9 1.5 sized P-51 and went from there..Modelling my all time favoite...

Here is my build thread...



http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-s...l#post11526071

Cool project. Just curious, in the pictures showing your layup it appears you cut the cloth in the fill direction and not the warp. Wouldn't you have higher strength with more continuous fiber running with the length of the fuse?

Thank you guys**

The last days I made some more turtledecks for my buddys:

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM39.jpg

Time to CUT:

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM37.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM40.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM41.jpg

Bravo Hannes... i´m in now :-)

Hi Tom and "servas" ins wunderschöne Österreich :-)

A few weeks ago we made a trip from Germany to Kissimmee / Florida to meet Thom Richard and the guys from www.warbirdadventures.com to see Precious Metal. If you are ever in this area please visit the museum and take a T6 ride. We had a amazing time and met lot´s of very nice people there! You will love it - I promise!

Thank you to my friend Scott Skurzewski for the arrangement!

You also can follow the team on Facebook: Precious Metal Air Racing Fan Page

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM45.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM46.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM47.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM48.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM49.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM50.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM51.jpg

Glad you had a good time. Can't wait to see the finished product!

I am watching you Hannes, love this idea :)

Thank you Michael, hope you will like it :-)

Stop wachting - buy one and fly with us :-)

Of course 22% Thom "mini-me" Richard came with us and was proved & signed by the owner & pilot himself :-)

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM52.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM53.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM54.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM55.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM56.jpg

http://home.arcor.de/geebeer1/PM57.jpg

Hey Hannes, if i fly with-, or in front of you, we will see 2015 ;)
In 1:4 maybe Czech Mate is faster then Precious Metal?

Faster? Perhaps! But Precious Metal is much cooler... ;-)

I know, you give your best and the result will be a perfekt scale model from real PM.
Saison 2015 - pretty cool :)