My brother has had this kit in his basement for almost 10 years now and after considerable harassment from me to get it flying, he finally decided that I should build it for him! What a guy, huh? Seriously though, I've wanted to do a giant-scale electric conversion and here was my chance!

Some quick details about the project...

Airframe:
Giant Scale Planes P-51 Mustang "The Flying Undertaker"

Wingspan: 98 inches
Wing Area: 1414.00 sq. inches
Length: 83 inches
Wing Loading: 42-45 oz./sq.ft.
Weight: 24.00 Lbs.
Airfoil: Semi-Symmetrical


Powerplant:
Hacker A80-8 Outrunner (50-80cc Equivalent)

Powerange max. 5000W (15 sec.)
Idle Current @ 8,4V 2,8A
Resistance (Ri) 0,017 Ohm
RPM/Volt (kv) 218
Weight 1450g
Diameter 89 mm
Length 107 mm


Speed Control:
Castle Creations 160 High Voltage ESC


Radio Equipment:
Castle Creations BEC Pro
Hitec Servos


Retractable Landing Gear:
Robart 145-6 Mains
Sierra Precision TW3 Tailwheel

I've always been a Mustang Guy, so when the opportunity to pick up a 1/5 TopFlite ARC fell into my lap at a local swap meet, I jumped at it. Once home, I poured over the well built parts and began to notice some things, that scale-wise, were just not right. Apparently TopFlite took some liberties with this plane to make it easier to ARF/ARC and possibly to make it fly more like a pattern ship than a warbird as well. There are other areas that deviate from the original as well for reasons I honestly don't know. This said, the following is a list of the modifications I plan to make to my plane. I will chronicle them here for my own sanity but welcome any input from you guys as we go along.

In no particular order, here's what I've got in mind as of right now...


Horizontal Stab – it's 5/8" too low on my RTC kit – (Note: It is correctly located in the builders kit).
Addressed by Pacific Scaled Aircraft's Stab Relocation kit! See below.

Radiator Vent – The kit makes no provision for this
Functional radiator vent with ducting to carry air through fuse to cool electronics/batteries

Cowl – The stock unit is not the correct shape or size and fits too poorly for my taste. Additionally, the motor thrust line is too low and this results in a pronounced droop at the nose.

Spinner – Stock spinner is too small and is not accurate in shape.

Exhaust – The exhaust stacks in the kit are cartoonish representations at best.

Wing Fillets –The fiberglass wing...Continue Reading

I saw a post by another member recently about how to get the larger GA wires onto a Deans style connector. I tried his 'mechanical binding' with brass tube but I couldn't get it to my satisfaction. Well necessity is the mother of invention so I came up with another method. Here is how I get 10Ga wires onto Deans connectors... If you have an alternate or better way, please feel free to post your method here too

Mark-

Some shots of the mounted motor and wiring...

Just a few quick shots of my New (in Old) Box CBM F-15... It's for sale if you like it

Well, I've been working on this one for a while and have been posting progress in two forums so I figured the lessons I've learned and the pix i've shot should have a spot so... here's the spot.

Credit for this pusher conversion goes to EddieGigowatts. His thrust vectoring version is simply amazing and the video is a must see. It's post 357 in the "EJF Big F(oamy)/A-18" Thread.

This one came in at 4lbs AUW. It is a hand launch plane and has a metal skid arm to protect the C/F Props.

I HATE Monokote. Wait, that's not fair to TopFlite.

I HATE ALL PLASTIC COVERING...! That's better

In the early days of my building, balsa planes were covered with tissue paper and this thick paint-like stuff called dope. Dope was aptly named, b/c if not done in a well ventilated area, you would get high as a kit and likely brain damage to boot!

I liked dope and paper. Working with them provided the building blocks for my current method of choice in covering. WBPU and 1/2oz F/G Cloth. Working with either system produces a surface that is ready to be painted and detailed to your hearts content.

With that said, here are some pictures of planes undergoing the paint process.

This is my modified GWS A-10. Upgrading this old design to high(er) performance GWS Blue can brushless and 3s LiPo Power presented some challenges... The following is what I did, your mileage may vary

Somewhere around the Y2K mark I began to move from traditional balsa construction to foam. A friend mentioned that a company from California was making cool foam pusher jets and a quick internet search revealed Combat Models. This is one of the five different models they produced and I have all but one (F/A-18). This CBM A-10 was powered by an OS .46FX with a perry fuel pump. Retracts are Spring Air and radio gear by Futaba.

Hi.

This is my R/C blog. My name is Mark and I have been building, flying and re-kitting R/C Model Airplanes for 23 years

Here I intend to chronicle some of my past and present aircraft and hopefully someone will find it usefull...or at least entertaining