The maiden is finally out of the way!
The first flight was a handful until it was trimmed. Once trimmed it was just rock solid and such a great flyer. It feels so light on the sticks; you would never know its 26.5 pounds. The video is from the second flight, the plane is so over powered it’s not even funny. The entire flight is at ˝ stick and less at some points. I’m going to drop from a 21x14 to a 20x11. That will pick up more speed and drop the amps. I’ll also run the 6500mah packs. The other problem having it so over powered is the sound system works off my throttle stick, so I’m at half power and hauling mail, but the sound system is at half power. Pretty sure the smaller prop will fix that. I’ll have to hold full throttle more (synchronized better with the sound system) and pick up more flight time, its short right now at 4:00 flying at half stick.
I also need to tighten up my tail wheel pull- pull setup, it stretched and is sloppy now… just need to do a few things to really dial it in.
The video just doesn’t do the sound system justice, it sounds amazing!! This thing sounds wicked, just like a mini mustang flying around. Sorry for the wind it was really picking up out there…
After I have it dialed I want to shoot a new video with no wind and me more comfortable with the plane.
So I’m on the right track now, I have the new prop here and will dial in a few things and get it back out… I can’t not wait to fly this thing at a warbird meet; guys are going to trip out on the sound system. So happy it flew great and have it home in one piece. She flies again soon!
Enjoy,
Ron

Link to build thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=947776

GS Top Flite P-51 with Benedini sound system (5 min 47 sec)

BEAUTY Ron! What a fantastic looking war bird! I cannot wait to see the video. In fact, since you are pretty "local", hit me with a PM if you wanna meet up with Don and I ... we could give you a hand getting some vid of that bad boy with all of our gear. We fly at one place up in Santa Rosa that is an old airstrip ... plenty of runway!

hello Ron. I think what you have done with and in this hobby is pure beauty and perfection. You do it all extreamly well. kudos.

BEAUTY Ron! What a fantastic looking war bird! I cannot wait to see the video. In fact, since you are pretty "local", hit me with a PM if you wanna meet up with Don and I ... we could give you a hand getting some vid of that bad boy with all of our gear. We fly at one place up in Santa Rosa that is an old airstrip ... plenty of runway!

Thanks Jon,
Aww.. man now you tell me I ordered a new TM 700 HD camera last night
But I've always wanted to try my hand at makeing movies. Yours are so good! I'm just so comfy flying up at oakdale but thank you so much for the offer.

hello Ron. I think what you have done with and in this hobby is pure beauty and perfection. You do it all extreamly well. kudos.

Oh wow! that may be the nicest thing anyone has said to me in regard to the hobby. Thank you so much, I still have tons to learn and there are many great builders out there. But I really enjoy what I do and I'm having the time of my life with R/C. Thank you so much for your kindness and checking out my project. I'll have a new video of it soon so check back in

hello ron are you and the mustang gonna make it to the july 4th festives in oakdale ? sure would like to see that beuty up close. i`ve got just about every thing i need to start my tp 1/5 mustang except time

hello ron are you and the mustang gonna make it to the july 4th festives in oakdale ? sure would like to see that beuty up close. i`ve got just about every thing i need to start my tp 1/5 mustang except time

I didn't even know there was going to be an event... I see it's a IMAA event I often forget about these events. I always look up warbird and jet meets.
But I have two planes that would work for IMAA events.

We are heading out of town on Sunday, I was going to just hit livermore on Satuday morning and beat the heat. It's going to be a hot mother out at oakdale this weekend .. there saying 102!

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner I wish the blogs would let me know when someone writes on them.. I've missed a few post from guys now.

I do plan on getting out there mid week next week and flying it

I just wanted to say that it's been a pleasure reading about the build and watching your video. I've been searching for a few days to see if anyone else has modeled "Upupa Epops" and have been blown away by your rendition. I've been flying Parkzone's P-51D "Gunfighter" for several months and the time came to do a custom paint job after seeing what other guys have done with the stock plane. This coincided with my recent visit to Paine field to watch 3 amazing mustangs fly, notable of which was the Upupa Epops. I, too, love the history of that bird and was moved when I saw it in action. It was a no brainer for me to have her be the subject of my new project. Not the best "name" or nose art per se, but there's something magic about this particular plane. Anyway, great job on black and yellow checker. I'm at that point now where I have some black checker decals but am wondering if I should go for broke and try to hand paint the whole thing. Being 1/12 scale, it's a bit of a daunting task and I've never done anything like it. I was curious what the method was that you ended up using to make sure there was no bleeding. Any tips/tricks would be much appreciated! And congrats on an amazing job!

Thank you so much Workpath!
It really feels nice having it done and flying. I really enjoyed the process and it's such a great flying plane. It's been hot here and we have had a few trips so I havn't got her back in the air. I hope to get many flight on it over the fall. I will be posting new videos in HD as soon as I can.

Great to hear your also doing this scheme, it's not one you see so common at the field.

I did find a trick for the checkers. Paint a coat of white first on the area that will be yellow, if not the yellow won't be the true color. Spray your yellow and mask out your checkers... once masked out. Seal the edges of the tape with a light coat of yellow again. Let it setup for an hour or so, then spray your black... let that dry for an hour or so and pull your tape. That really helped me out on the second attemped

hope that helps and feel free to post a pic once yours is done and enjoy!!

Hey, sorry to butt in guys, I've just got back home from watching the Shuttle land at KSC. While I was in Florida, I picked up a load of FROG TAPE. Brilliant stuff for masking!! No bleed issues whatsoever!

PS. Beautiful P-51. Awe insipiring!!

Wow, congratulations for that beautifull work, Ron, as always, you´re the top.....ˇˇˇˇˇˇ sorry but I didn´t see before, it is astonishing.
Manolo.

Hey, sorry to butt in guys, I've just got back home from watching the Shuttle land at KSC. While I was in Florida, I picked up a load of FROG TAPE. Brilliant stuff for masking!! No bleed issues whatsoever!

PS. Beautiful P-51. Awe insipiring!!

Thanks Fox One,
I keep hearing about this frog tape, I'll have to pick up some and give it a shot. Thanks again for the tip and kind words.

Wow, congratulations for that beautifull work, Ron, as always, you´re the top.....ˇˇˇˇˇˇ sorry but I didn´t see before, it is astonishing.
Manolo.

Hey Manolo! thanks for the kind words my friend.... it was a lot of fun to build it! I just need more time to get more flights on her. I hope to get it back in the air soon. To many planes and not enough time

Thanks again guys.. I hope to have better HD video soon

Ron... super happy for you. What a fitting individual tribute to history and model aviation. Keep building and flying! Hopefully we can some day soon both fly at the same event!

Ron... super happy for you. What a fitting individual tribute to history and model aviation. Keep building and flying! Hopefully we can some day soon both fly at the same event!

Thanks so much Eddie!!
It's fun just to have it in the shop to stare at I hope we do get to fly together soon, that would be great! I'm kicking around the idea of best of the west, but not to sure how time will shape up.

Thanks again bud, you always have an open invite to fly at oakdale or livermore as my guest.

One Beautiful P51D! Love the sound system... Mudman1959