RBean

I like P-40s and I like 60 size planes because that is the largest I can easily get in my vehicle. But there are not that many 60 size P-40 ARFs around. The Hanger 9 is ok but they arn't being marketed now. The BH P-40 has landing gear that has a chicken leg in it requiring major surgery to use straight oleo struts and scale size wheel. I finally got a VQ P-40. It is fairly close to scale and has flaps, but the landing gear is too far out on the wing. After having it about nine months I finally got it together and relocated the landing gear to a more scale location with larger wheels. Using Lado retracts with VQ struts and Robart wheels. Using a Enya 90 FS. I had to mount the battery in the rear fusilage to get it to balance. CG is now in middle of CG range at 103mm. Incident meter showed wings and tail straight. Set the controls at recomended limits with -20% expo.

Wind was right down runway at 6-12mph. Did a high speed taxi, tail came up, was light on wheels. Slowed and taxiied back for take off. Usual warbird take off, elevator up, slowly advance power, easeoff the elevator,by now full power, holding straight with rudder, directional control was not bad. It took off on its own. Had to add some down trim, and right aleron trim. When retracted gear it needed more down trim. Power was ok. It will do nice large loops and good rolls and all the other warbird manuvors. With gear down was a little nose heavy but putting flaps down made trim neutral again. Came in slightly fast and made a good landing on the mains. alerons were a little sensitive for me so I put in more expo. Airplane weights about 9 lbs. It seems to be a good flying airplane. I don't know why they could not get the gear location correct. Narrower gear seems to have no adverse effect. This model is much easier to fly than my 120 powered Top Flight P-40. Here are some pictures of the thing.

mike early

Great job on the gear. Moving gear is a PITA!

A great flying airplane. Built like a tank, too.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

As far as the original design , i dont think it was about "not getting it right " vs making it easier to track .While you had no problems with the tracking , its just fact that the chances of better tracking are easier with wider gear .
great job with the build , I am wondering why the battery had to go so far back mine is at the exact same CG with an osmax 91 4 stroke and macs muffler 90 degree bend and my battery is under the pushrods near the back of the pilot canopy/seat rest area

RBean

Don't know why the battery had to go so far back. Maybe my old Enya 90 FS is heavier or maybe the airframe is lighter. I've seen a lot of veriation in weight in VQ ARFs in the same plane. With regard to the gear width, I say make the P-40 more scale and if one wants wider gear, get a P-51, or a FW 190, or a Kawasaki Ki 61 (Tony), or a Zero, or a P-47. Lots of choices for planes with wider gear. Or a P-39 with a nose wheel. But this only comes in 40 size unless you want to build a kit I thank.

Now that the plane has survived its test flight I'm going to see if I can get proper roundels for top and bottom of the wing. The bottom of the plane really needs to be light blue instead of the off white- greenish etc some thing that it is. But I'm not sure if I want to add any weight. The model has the markings of No. 112 squadron in Norht Africa 1942.

I've got the three blade 13-8 prop and am waiting for the blank spinner I ordered. I'll have to thank about painting the underside.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Cool keep us posted , the mods really look great so far .

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

I forgot to menthion , I was tempted on my new VQ but then changed my mind based simple wanteing to get the plane done and onto other projects -but if you consider adding the counterbalances in the elevators the area needing to be modified is rock solid .
I cut apart my tail on my first P40 after it crashed to see the inside bones .
My plan was to 1)lock the elevator in place some buffered clamps .
Carefully remove the covering near the future location of the counterbalance , add balsa to the factory original hindge line area , ca in place litterally locking the elevator in a non moveing position .
Sand flush , then start to the elevator angle that stays attached to the fin , then cut the cb tab free that attaches to the elevator .
I was planning on useing a small modified dremil wheel , slow cuts ect .
It would have been easier when the plane was unassembled but heysince when do we keep things simple lol .

Asanders

Great job on the minor surgery or I imagine to me it would have been major surgery to relocate the gear. I was looking at the pics and I can't really determine where they were. Did a good job of finishing! Looks good.

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

RBEAN,

Very impressive... if you get any video of it inflight let me know..

I'D LOVE to post it on my www.vqwarbirds.com website!

and BTW... I will pass your link on to the factory about your mods and how great it looks...

Perhaps they will listen.... ;-)

-CHEERS!

TOMAS
VQ WARBIRDS
"KEEP 'EM FLYING"

mike early

I'd buy one immediately if they moved the gear in.

But I'll also keep buying them if they didn't change a thing.

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

Mike,,,

Thanks...

-TOMAS
VQ WARBIRDS
www.vqwarbirds.com
[email protected]

RBean

I'll try to get a video if I can. Flew it twice today and decided to do some stalls to see how it reacted. With gear and flaps up I reduced power an held her off, flew surprisingly slow, but when the break came she rolled all the way over on her back and headed straight down. Stall with gear and flaps down was the same. Exactly the same as my Top Flight P-40 and my P-36 although at a slower speed than the Top Flight. This is not a hard airplane to fly, but you don't want to stall near the ground. P.S. the Lado retracts work great. Also a note. I had originally used the VQ struts, but after just a few take offs and landing they develped a lot of slop, so I replaced them with Robat struts which I already had on hand. They seem to hold up much better. Our runway could be smoother.

mike early

Unimproved runways and P-40s go hand-in-hand.

RBean

Finally found a 3.25 in three blade spinner for the P-40. Its not quite the right profile but its the best I could find. The word is you usually loose some efficiency with a three blade prop. The old Enya .90 FS was getting 8,100 rpm with a 14-8 two blade. With the 13-8 three blade its getting 9,200 rpm and seems to have more thrust. Flew it once yesterday and it seemed to have slightly more power. Finally weighted the plane. Its 9 lbs 9 oz. I applied new roundels of proper type to wing. I decided not to paint the plane because don't want to add weight. Here are pictures with the three blade prop. I think it looks a lot better.

bpbat21

I have the black version...I put in the century jet retracts and struts on it. I don't have the skill to move the gear like RBean did. Nice job by the way. I plan on putting her in the air for the first time next month. Any maiden flight advise? I am going to use the OS 91 FS. This is my first VQ model. I haven't flown it yet, but the build has been pretty straight forward. Oh yeah, what are wing roundels?

mike early

I've never experienced any loss of efficiency with 3-bladed props, myself. I no longer believe it to be the case....

best advice for maiden is make sure your elevator is on LOW rate. Lower than you think, probably.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Force_roundels

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Mike on the 3 blade do you get more engine torque on take off to the left ?

RBean

LDM,

When I changed from 2 blade to 3 blade, I didn't notice any difference in torque on takeoff. Had nice weather today and flew the VQ P-40 four times with out problems. Then on the last flight the engine started sounding unusual, poping sounds. Landed without incident. Found the muffler had come off. I think the lock nut loosened, and then the vibration stripped the aluminum threads. Replaced the another muffler and used lock tite.

mike early

I too, cannot tell any difference in torque effects of a 3-blade. The two-blade props usually weigh more, actually... and add the larger diameter, and if anything the 2 blade prop would yield more counter-torque upon acceleration.


Since I've started using teflon pipe-thread tape on my exhaust threads, I've not had anything ever come loose. It rocks.

RBean

Flew it again with another muffler, it blew off too. Dirty black oil coming out the exhaust. Was still not running right. I've seen this before. The bearings are going. Too much vibration. Thought about rebuilding the Enya .90 FS. But after weighting it decided its not worth the trouble. Weights 27oz. This is heavy and why I had to mount battery so far back to balance. Didn't want to purchase another glow engine, but not into big electrics and no gasser small or light enough for this plane. Magnum and OS .91 FS are both listed at about 22 oz. I'll probably go with the magnum.

The Enya 90 was part of a trade involving a number of items. At first it didn't run well, had brown crap in the exhaust oil then cleared up and ran ok for a while. Now this. I guess the bearing were rusty and that was the brown stuff, then with pitting wore out real quick.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

"Magnum and OS .91 FS " its just me but I would go with the OS . I started with all mags and did not know what easy was until I switched to saito and os .
The best easy starting 4 strokes I have ever had !!!

kahloq

Rbean.....there are several ppl using saito 125's in this P-40 so you got room to use a wide variety. Myself, I put a saito 100 in mine.
And as far as no gas motors small enough for this plane, thats actually not true.
Saito has a 115 gasser(same 4stroke design as glow motors, just made to run gasoline with electronic ignition). Its the FG20
There is also a few 20cc gas motors. That would be the same power output of a 4 stroke 125.
http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/AEROVATE20R.html
http://www.rcaer.com/store/Details.c...=62&category=2
Here is a gas motor 17cc that has the same power output as a 91 4 stroke...ie 1.6hp
http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/RCSSV17-H.html

RBean

kahloq,

Thinks for the info. I already own two of the RCFG 20cc engines and they are great. However, they weight 38 oz. Too much for this plane. A club member had an SV 17 and it gave him nothing but trouble. Besides, it has a side carb which I don't want for the P-40. Another club member has a Magnum 91 FS he wants to sell. Price is reasonable. I've had a Magnum .70 FS for four years with hundreds of flights and it has been fine.

The FG 20 would probably work, but I'm not ready to spend $580 for the engine plus muffler that would work with the P-40.

kahloq

My VQ P-40 weighs 10.6 pounds. A decent amount more then yours currently and it flies very well. I dont think the weight of that rcfg20 would be a problem. You could also mount the ignition battery behind the cg if needed.
For me at this altitude, a 91FS wouldnt be a good option. It'd be a little lacking in power for the weight of the plane and its wing size.

RBean

Kahloq,

I can see at your altitude you would need more power. RCGF 20cc has plenty of power but I just think it too big and heavy for this airplane. I have one in a BH P-40C converted to a P-36, just so I could use the gas engine with side carb. But the BH has a wing span of 65 inches and comes out at 10 lbs 9 oz with the gasser. But it flys good and landing are not too fast. The 20cc now comes in a rear carb design and I'm thinking of getting another BH and leaving it a P-40. As you said, just move the batteries back to compensate for the longer nose. If the total weight is the same or less it should fly as good as the P-36. Here is a picture of the P-36

RBean

I replaced the Enya .90 with a Magnum .91. The Magnum weights about 22 oz. Had to move the receiver battery forward 11.5 inches to balance. Total weight is down from 9 lbs 8 oz to 9 lbs 3 oz. Less weight is always good. Have not flown it yet as our runway is covered with snow. Hopefully we well have a thaw and I can fly it before spring. It was a new engine, never run. I've run two tanks of fuel through it breaking in. Now getting about 9,200 rpm with 3 blade 13-8 prop, which should be enought. Should fly better at same or more power with less weight.