samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Nemesis4u,
She's in the hanger (see pic) for the winter (other wise, known as the family room!).
The 91's work great: nice sound hearing twins fly.
I'm 'bugging' the club member who took the videos to send more.
Got 4 projects going for the winter.
Including my first biplane: the GP P-6E due next month.

ps: the B-25 is in the hanger too!

Build-n-flyer-RCU

My Feedback: (4)

Sam, that's my kind of family room you have there! Planes, trains, and a piano to boot!

I just pulled my P-61 apart for a good checkout since I have a dozen or so flights on it now. With the big engines (and vibration that comes with them) I thought it worthwhile to make sure nothing is loosening up. Also, I want to shake out all the dead grass and seal the openings at the back of the wheelwells. I am very glad I did!

The dowel rods at the front of the wings that hold the booms on are all very worn- Some are almost 1/3 cut through. Since my dowels are well-glued in I am going to epoxy some brass tubing over them to to eliminate the problem (I've used this method before with success). It may or may not be an issue with smaller 2-strokes, but I definitely recommend using something stronger than the dowel rods that come with the plane for 4-stroke and/or high powered engines.

I also found that one of my fuel tanks has a worn spot from rubbing against the edge of the former in front of the servos. This was "my bad"- I will replace the tank and make some adjustments to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

Everything else looks great. Before I re-assemble the plane I will take pics of my piano wire hookups at the nosewheel servo and post them. My approach to this was a bit unusual but it has worked flawlessly.

By the way, in addition to the static display award at the airshow, my 'Widow has already won three more awards at fly-ins! VQ did a great job with this one- well worth the time and effort to put it together.

Walt

dadp47

One year later I get to start my Widow. I am doing electric power and it is kind expensive($1000). I think it will be a good investment as my flame outs and unequal thrusts will be diminished greatly. I will post the entire power plant components as soon as I get it all together. I'm writing to find out how many servo reversing "Y" connectors you ended up using. Is there any need for any straight servo reversers. Thanks for your help.

Build-n-flyer-RCU

My Feedback: (4)

I didn't end up using any servo reversing Y's (I really don't like them) and I used two regular Y's.

There are three servos that need to be reversed- one of the elevators, one of the flaps, and the nosewheel. I used a reversed servo for one side of the elevator and hooked it up with a regular Y. I used JR matchboxes for the flap servos and for the rudders/nosewheel servos. I also used a regular Y for the ailerons.

I bought a bunch of extensions and Y's early during the build, then realized that I didn't have all the lengths that I needed and bought a bunch more. And in the end I decided to make up custom extensions. So now I have enough unused extensions and Y's to carry me though my next several projects.

Your Widow is going to be one big electric-powered model. I'm very interested to hear how it turns out!

Walt

scale dail

My Feedback: (8)

Got mine today!!!! ARC. still like the "Lady in the dark", very historical. will glass and paint to last for years.

M738165

No offense intended, but I must take exception to your negative statement about Robart. I have been using their gear for years with no failures. Everything from 1/12 to Giant scale(100 " w/s) All orders were in stock and delivered within 2 or 3 working days. I too am assembling the VQ p61 and decided to use Robarts. I'm using the kit supplied struts during assembly, but will probably go to Robart struts due to their better quality. I've been modeling for 50+ years and started in RC in 1968. We're fortunate to have long time suppliers like Robart that offer many variations of landing gear and accessories.

dutch Jan Hermkens

Hi Guys,

I am sorry to tell you all, but the decals of the VQ P-61 are not right, the serialnumber of the "Lady in the Dark" is wrong!! And like mine too, probable many others!
It is not 239713 (this plane is not the "Lady" but flew in China, not in the pacific), "Lady's" serial number is 2397408 and belonged to 548th NFS, stationed in the Pacific (le Shima, Iwo Jima, Okinawa)!
The writer of a book about the 548th NFS, Eric Shulenberger (his father was a R/O in a P-61 of the 548th), told me that the serialnumber on my P-61 R/C model ("Lady in the Dark) was wrong, and send me some photos to prove it.
He brought me in contact with the pilot Solie Solomon (Lee Kendall now) to whom "Lady" was asigned to, and did the last final kill of WWII! Lee confirmed this and he told me that had written an article (some years ago now) about this issue and about the wrong serialnumber, and that he got the Distinguished Flying Cross Award after 45 years for this fact (in Flight, march 1991).
( www.findarticles.com ), type in for searching: the final kill.

So I will change the serialnumber on my P-61!
I have scratch build the model from own plan, 99,9% scale.
Scale: 1:6,6. Span: 122". Weight: only 41 Lbs. (larger then the Don Smith and Zirolli P-61, but lighter!).
Engines: 2x Laser 2.40 V-twin, four stroke (19x10 prop, 7800 Rpm). Nice loops and other aerobatics!
Retracts: electric, about 8 seconds(screwjack), own design and construction. (some legparts are bought)
Radio: 2 Receivers, 27 servos! 6 Batteries (4x 1,7 Nimh for receivers, 1x 1,7 Nimh for retract, 1x 0,7 Nimh for landinglights). Working spoillerons with the tiny aillerons.
Extra functions: Closed main well-doors when gear is down (as it should be with a P-61B, and that is the "Lady" ), Retractable landinglights, dropping bombs and droptanks.

With the P-61, I was 2x European Star cup Champion Scale (2000 +2001). Winner (static ,as well in flying) of national Contests and 10 international Scale contests all over Europe.

Another Large Scale model is my B-17 Flying Fortress.
Also scratch build from own plan. Scale 1:8. Span 158". Weight: only 44 Lbs.
Engines: only 4x Laser 0.70, four stroke (13x6 prop, 9000 RPM), flying scale and not under- or over- powered like most B-17's! (flew even with 2 cut-off engines, happened once, fuel was gone, flew to long, but could stay on height!).
Retracts: Electric and own construction, same as for the P-61.
Radio: 2 Receivers, 14 servos, 6 Batteries (4x 1,7Nicd for receivers, 1x 1,7 Nicd for retracts, 1x 1,7 Nicd for landinglights, rotable upperturret.
Extra fucntions: Landinglights, rotable upperturret, bombwell-doors, bombdropping (or sweeties for children), parachutedropping.

This model is a real winner:
With it I was 4x European Star Cup Champion Scale (1994+'95+'96+'99). Winner (static, as well in flying) of national contests and 30 international scale contests, all over Europe (last one in 2003).

For these two models, have a look at my homepage: www.home.versatel.nl/jan.hermkens/

cheers,
Jan Hermkens (the flying Dutchman), Netherlands.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Jan, Die Fliegende Hollander:

I've brought a picture of your P-61 engine, and another of your B-17 engine here as a teaser for others to visit your site. Hope you don't mind.

Bill.

dutch Jan Hermkens

hi Bill,

I don't mind, and forgive me when my grammatical english has a lot of mistakes!
Unfortunally there are some photos of a bad quality on the site too. Scanning to low, or just old and bad quality original photos, but one have to forgive this and enjoy the good pictures and articles about my three best models (till up today, I am trying to improve myself still!)
I am not a computerfreak, and I am on forums now since 6 weeks for the first time, have I missed a lot, but there is also a lot of blethering(?) too. I like more to spent my time in building and flying, and collecting Documentation for a new project!
but anyway all the photos can be enlarged now, and perhaps some of them must be unabled to enlarge, because they are to bad. (My son have to do that, he made the homepage anyway as a Christmas surprise).
I am very bad with computers, have still to learn how to add photos on the forums, how to start a topic (shame!). What is a thread and a poll?

By the way, your german is not so bad (I do speak and write it very well, so when someone needs a translation?)

cheers, Jan (the flying Dutchman)

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Jan:

Your English is sufficient to the task. German? Mein Grossvader vas Deutch. But my Flemish needs a LOT of work.

A "Thread" is one particular set of postings, you start one by clicking on the "New Post" button when you see the list of threads in an individual forum. Next to it is the "New Poll" button. It is almost thne same, except that it allows you to add a list of choices for users to vote on.

To post a picture click on "Post Reply" at the bottom of the posts on a given page, then there will be a line at the bottom of the posting window that says "Click here to upload." Click on that and another window will open allowing you to browse your computer forf the picture you want to add.

Hope this helps, and welcome to RCU.

Bill.

dutch Jan Hermkens

hi Bill,

thank you very much!
It worked well, to well, the same picture even 3x!!
I even started a new thread in twin and multi-engined about the wrong serial number of "the Lady in the Dark".

Cheers, Jan.

Tony Pacini

What motors/controllers/batteries/props are you using? I would like to swing 4-blade 14-16" props. Would this be possible with your setup?

dadp47

The motors are Mega Motors 41/30/15 brush-less outrunner (www.megamotorsusa.com). The props are Vario 381/12 scale optic blades with shaft collars and 48012 prop hubs. These props result in a 15" 4 bladed prop (biggest they make). 16" props would be scale, so this is close enough for me. You assemble the props so you set your own pitch. I will be using a Phoenix HV85 speed controller (one for each motor). I have not bought the battery yet, but there is one in mind. By the time I buy the battery the industry will be in the next generation battery (only kidding). Hoping to be flying by mid summer as I have posted before funding is slow for me. I have been working with Dave Roberts at EAM (www.eam.net). He has been very helpful in this project. Hope this helps. Stay in contact.

Tony Pacini

dadP47-

I don't pretend to know much about electrics but the motors you've chosen appear to be well up to the task as do those nifty props (I especially like the adjustable pitch feature). You mentioned that you hadn't bought "the battery" yet............are you planning to use a single battery? At first I assumed you'd use a separate battery for each motor and controller, but I'm guessing you've found a better way.

Which battery do you have in mind, and how will you be splitting the power?

Tony

dadp47

You probably know more than me about electrics. Dave has done all the work and I buy whatever he tells me to buy. I first thought one battery for each motor, but because of differences in cell production, charge and discharge rates, despite today’s tight tolerances in manufacturing, unequal thrust would occur and you know what that’ll do to a twin. We are planning to start with one battery. Each motor will draw from the same “tank� so to speak. I really haven’t talked to Dave about how this is done. Once assembled, I’ll do an amp test and if the results are not what Dave is anticipating then we’ll go with two batteries. I believe we are looking at 5p (?) li-poly battery (ies) at 4000 mAh each ($200). I’m not sure what voltage we are looking at. This puts the plane in the 100 watt per pound class which I’ve read is very good for a large scale/mild acrobatic plane. If two batteries are used (another delay) they will be hooked up in series (parallel) and the two motors would draw from that “tank� of electrons. How the two batteries are hooked together, I’m not sure yet, but I believe the batteries would have to be charged separately. The batteries will be the smart cell balanced type as will the charger. On one battery we are anticipating a 5-7 minute full throttle flight. This doesn’t sound like much, but for me it will be plenty. I will time my flight to end early so I won’t get in trouble having the voltage across any cell go below the minimum and will have plenty of “fuel� left to land properly. You can program the speed controller to cut out the motors when the minimum voltage across any cell goes below the minimum but dead stick landings would not be fun. Mookie1 converted a VQ P-38 to electric. He used one battery for each motor and did not mention any thrust problems. There is a video and you can’t tell whether the plane is electric or gas. It can be found it on the Glow to Electric Conversion forum titled 83' VQ Models P-38 Electric Conversion on RCU. There is a new construction thread for an electric VQ P-83 by Target G in the same forum.

Build-n-flyer-RCU

My Feedback: (4)

Sounds like it is turning out to be quite an interesting project! Just throwing out some thoughts I had while reading through your posts-

As you go through the build I recommend that you concentrate on getting as much weight as possible toward the front. Even with the two heavy YS's, I ended up mounting the batteries in the nose in order to get my 'Widow to balance. It seems wrong with the long nose, but I guess the two booms, big rudders and stab really add a lot of weight to the tail.

I wouldn't worry too much about differential thrust on this plane. My engines aren't always exactly synched but I can't tell any difference in the air- it is rock stable and flies like a guided missile. But making sure that you have enough thrust with reasonable pitch speed is important. Do you have an idea of what your final weight will be? Mine weighs in at 23 lbs which is pretty heavy. It carries the weight very nicely in flight, with no stall tendencies. But it flies best when moving along at a good clip, and the glide speed is pretty darn fast.

Walt

dadp47

Since the beginning I've felt that I'd be putting the batteries up in the nose. My only concern, and I have to go over this with my electric guru, is will the battery be cooled in the nose. I don't want to start cutting the nose to make cooling holes and loose scale appearance. I am using Bluebird 380 Max servos where ever I can. These are mini servos that put out the same torque as standard servos and same speed. The weight of the motors are 14 oz each and the controllers weigh 4.2 oz each. Not sure what the batteries will weigh. You can compare the electric power-plant weight to the weight of your YS's. I believe I will come in somewhere near the anticipated weight. Thanks for your interest.

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

CHECK THIS OUT>>>>>>>>>> OK WHO ELSE WANTS TO START A SQUADRON????????????
I DO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to Monty W. From California for showing us all what his club did with the VQ P-61s..........Just imagine the sight and sounds of those 10 engines roaring by overhead...............[8D][>:]

dadp47

Awesome to see 5 Widows in one place. I was wondering whose pilots did you use?

ehfleming

My Feedback: (5)

Has anyone considered an F-15A Reporter mod on this model. It appears do-able with the ARC.

Build-n-flyer-RCU

My Feedback: (4)

I flew my 'Widow today for the first time this year (and for the first time since disassembling it to inspect the interior last fall).

The YS's fired up and ran as if they had been in use all winter. Take-off was a bit exciting as it took a good bit of trim to get the plane leveled out, probably as a result of the "fixes" that I did. But once trimmed the 'Widow flew great. I've been flying my H9 150 Mustang/160DZ a good bit the past few weeks, and I was really struck by how solid the VQ P-61 flies and how great it looks and sounds in the air compared to the P-51.

One problem- one of the outer flap hinges broke during the flight. It looks like it just couldn't take the load and snapped. Sam P. also had this happen so it looks like the hinges are weak. I am going to go ahead and drill them out on the outer flaps and replace them with Robarts before flying again. I figure the inner flaps are probably OK because the surfaces are relatively small. Something to think about if you are currently building or are getting ready to start building the plane.

Walt

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

WALT...Can you post lots of pictures of your P-61? I like that you used your own custom nose art and all the workings of your gear doors are actually servo driven!!!!!!!
lastly..I am curious to see how much your YS 110s protrude out the bottom of the cowls...
Thanks and great to hear she is flying...

rslstft

My Feedback: (10)

Having just recently purchase one of these P-61's, I haven't decided on engines yet. I'm looking for some suggestions. Has anyone considered the MVVS/Evolution engines? Specifically the 26GT, as the carb is mounted on the front of the engine similar to glow engines. Might be to heavy with the ignition, but like I said, still looking. Thanks.

Russ

Build-n-flyer-RCU

My Feedback: (4)

I wouldn't worry about the weight too much- the plane will carry it fine and everyone is putting batteries in the nose to get it to balance anyway. But clearance from the firewall to the front of the cowl is an issue when trying to fit larger engines. There isn't much room up there! If you do go with gassers or big 4-strokes be sure to beef up the dowels that hold the booms to the wings. Mine were half worn through from vibration after only a dozen or so flights.

Walt

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

WALT, SAM, et al,,,
ANYONE have video I can download and save??? WOuld like to use it on my soon to be open online store featuring your Flying VQ WARBIRDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![>:]
also looking for clear closeup pics of plane and pilot ( the owner not the plastic pilots [sm=lol.gif]
Thanks