So, Paul, any progress?

getting there slowly but surely. i thought i would have had more time over the festive period to build it but been scuppered by family and feeling ill.

i have the wings built but one has taken a slight twist so need to straighten that. i also have one side of the fuselage skinned with lightweight cloth and epoxy. just got the other to do. these are just the small patches you advised Don to go on front section of fuselage.

got the brick, 4site motor, hk servo all sitting waiting to go. i have still to decide if i will link rudder/aileron as per original kits or if i will run it separate. other thing i need to think about is the brick position. it fits nicely under the wing but control runs will both need to be on the same side to do this. will work something out!

I would use separate rudder and elevator. The original design was based on the much heavier (5.9 gram) HS-50 and GWS Pico servos. Using coupled aileron and rudder eliminated one servo and a significant amount of weight. These new ultra-micro servos are light enough that the extra weight is not as much of an issue, and having the extra contol opens up some new capabilities and possibilities.

quick update, i've figured out the gear positions and got everything almost ready to go. turns out i picked up a can of gloss and grey not 2x white the last time i was at the model shop. not pleased about that as they were in the white rack and have white lids! getting them exchanged and will get it painted and together fairly quickly.

got some photos i've taken along the way so will post them up once i get started again.

Be VERY sparing with the paint. Weight is extremely important. Just fog on just enough paint, from about a foot or so away, to tint the wood, one or two extremely thin coats at most. Gently brush off the "fuzz" from the raised grain with a fine Scotch Brite pad. Do NOT try to fill the grain or get a smooth finish. At these Reynolds numbers, the texture of the wood grain acts as a turbulator and actually improves performance.

managed to make a push and get it ready to fly. light dusting of white paint all over and no markings/landing gear for now. took it to the local indoor session and got one of the more experienced guys to take a look over it and maiden it.

stuck a 150mah battery on and balanced it. controls are all moving fine and have a good range of movement. a quick test glide showed cg was in roughly the right place. i picked it up gave it another throw with power on and off it went.

unfortunately it wasn't very successful. i don't know if i have a bum motor or not but it struggled to gain airspeed. lack of airspeed meant that turning was problematic and it stalled out on a couple of occasions. i have the standard 4 site motor and prop combo on it. it was noisy as hell but i thought that was more vibration through the frame but it might be the motor given the above.

other thing we were thinking about was a prop change the prop is a 130x70. only thing i could do would be to get a couple of gws props to try. a 5x4.3, 5x5 and 6x3 seem like the only options. has anyone tried those props on this motor?

i'll chuck it on the scales later and see what the weight is. it's been kept as light as possible though so not sure what other weight could be lost.

some pictures to show set up.

meant to say, i went for the hk5320 servo for ailerons which i am really pleased with how it operates. think i am converted on using them over linears where possible.

when i get my DT rx back i'll be fit out a couple of planes with them.

additional thought...

are the 4site motors interchangeable with the p51 motors? i have a spare p51 motor sitting that i could put in to test for a motor problem.

Could be a bad motor, or a battery that doesn't have enough current capacity, or isn't getting fully charged (tired batteries in the charger can cause that). That motor and prop should have plenty of power for that airplane.

Noise will be a little more than that same motor in a foam airplane, the balsa acts like a sounding board.

Originally Posted by paul_mccaughey

additional thought...

are the 4site motors interchangeable with the p51 motors? i have a spare p51 motor sitting that i could put in to test for a motor problem.

4 Site / Mustang motors are the same except for the wire lengths. Both need pretty good batteries to make max power.

Fresh Nanotech 160's are the absolute minimum battery that will work.

bench tested last night with a fresh battery and back to back motor swap. the motor is goosed. only problem is the one i have spare is a shorter lead so will need to cut and solder in an extension. will do this and give it another try tomorrow night at our indoor session.