Originally Posted by Ping

Do you guys really just tape the stab into place on these things? Not sure I would trust the elevator hinges either....

Yeah, but I use white gaffer tape and paint it.

Also another spinner that might work.... http://aircraft-world.com/shopexd.asp?id=3890

A 64mm or 2-1/2" spinner is a perfect match. I'm nose heavy with the 2200 pack, do not remove material from the firewall to make the battery fit. If anything you will need a foam block in the front. I'm having to move my battery back kind of far, I'm considering gluing in a ply tray to better secure the battery.

Mine's all assembled. I dremeled out about an inch of foam going back towards the receiver and added a small piece of balsa with velcro on it to attach the 2200mAh 3 cell battery. Mine balances just a tad nose heavy with the battery back about an inch.

I need to make a foam block to put in front of the battery so it won't slip forward and will use a velcro strap from the balsa block to the included velcro strap to keep the battery from sliding aft.

Rudder mod was dead simple to do. It also looks like regular CA is okay for this plane. Foam safe didn't seem to want to bond but Thick CA worked well on the hinges I made for the rudder with floppy disc material.

I'll probably fly it tomorrow evening after, yep you guessed it, work...

Oh, anyone know the trick to popping the nose of the spinner off? Mine doesn't seem to want to wiggle loose and I'm afraid to put too much pressure on it for fear of breaking it into little parts.

Parkzone talks about the new trojan being molded in silver Z-foam

On the Gun Fighters silver wings is it paint or molded silver Z-foam

Thanks and Enjoy your new planes

It's paint. I asked the same question on one of the other threads a couple weeks ago.

Last night I assembled the new ParkZone P51 BNF model, and just finished with my test flight. Very, very nice!

The build was quick and easy.
It needed no mechanical trimming.
It launches easy (launch parallel to the ground)
It flies GREAT! Surprisingly resistant to wind.
It has very decent power. I was taking it easy, but it MOVES.
It is very, very sturdy for a foamie.
It has an excellent color scheme and great detail.
It is a bit louder than the stock Corsair, but it sounds very cool.

Upgrades? It's great in stock form. Really. Don't complain about it being underpowered compared to the Corsair - I have both and this plane flew great. I can see myself being happy with this for quite a while, at which point I may upgrade the prop and move to a 30A ESC (waiting for those new CC Ice ESCs). The only upgrade I did out of the box was the 4th servo for the rudder, which was a quick and simple install.

I absolutely love this plane. Unfortunately I only had the one battery (thinking about the 2200mAh canopy mod), but I can see this becoming my favorite plane.

However, I did the stupidest thing in the recorded history of stupid things. When I was done flying, I walked it back to the car, balanced the P51 in the back while I grabbed my Corsair, then headed back to the field. After 45 minutes off flying I came back to the car and noticed the airplane in the back seat. Strange, I thought, it must have fallen. I propped it up, then climbed into the driver's seat. Strangely, I noticed the nose cone for the prop in the footwell of the driver's seat. It took about 1 second for my heart to stop - what had happened? I got out and checked the plane. Sure enough, in my giddiness after flying I didn't unplug the battery. I was using a Futaba TX/RX, so when I did my pre-flight check of the Corsair out on the field the P51 powered up and tried to take off in the car. Dumb. Really dumb.

Damage? This is a robust airplane. I noticed the motor was loose, so I thought I broke the mount. There was no evidence of anything else wrong with the plane other than the smell of an electrical short. When I got it home, I took the cowl off only to find that it wasn't the motor mount that broke, it was the motor itself that popped off its base and shorted out.

So, I'm off to the LHS to get a new motor. I think the battery and the ESC are OK, although the battery was powering the receiver for 45 minutes and might have used a bit more than 80% capacity.

Talk about a stupid mistake. At least the evidence will be erased once I replace that motor. ;-)

Time for a motor upgrade. Power 10 perhaps?

A friend too off and his other plane took off too. He throttled back and the other one just landed by itself. Amazing. No damage. I did that too but was close to the other one so it was easy to catch before going full throttle. A couple other guys have done it too.

Maiden is under my belt. I did the second to the most stupid things in the history of stupid things: I checked all of the control surfaces last night at 2am before heading to bed and, you guessed it, didn't notice that the ailerons were reversed.

Thankfully my hand launch didn't require any initial correction and I was climbing when I initiated a gentle turn right and watched the plane bank left. I also at that moment realized what I'd done and rewired my brain instead of wondering why the plane was banking left when the control stick was going to the right and gave opposite correction rather than continuing to give right stick.

So, as you'd imagine, the first couple of circuits were quite thrilling as I tried to get the P-51 lined up straight and level and NOT pointed at some solid object at the field. I managed to get the wings level and landed in the grass just short of the parking lot at the field. Once on the ground it was a simple matter to reverse the aileron servos via the TX menu system. Had I not been alone at the field I'm sure someone could have done this for me while I was still in the air.

After this near disaster I tossed the plane up again and started exploring its flight characteristics. It's nice and stable in the air, relatively quick and fairly nimble. I was able to do all of the basic acrobatics that I normally do with a warbird and was almost able to hold level knife edge flight. A little more rudder throw would probably allow this plane to do that.

Now, in contrast to what Matt said, mine does not have unlimited vertical with the stock setup. It'll run out of airspeed after climbing 50 - 100' straight up but it does have good vertical performance. I'd guess level speed is around 40mph with the stock motor and prop. The roll rate could still use a little adjusting but I don't think I'll change it as it looks to me to have a fairly scale roll rate with the linkage in the factory servo arm hole and moved to the second from the surface aileron horn hole. I'll also mention that the rudder on my P-51 seems to be fairly effective and I'd encourage anyone interested in doing hammerhead stalls to give the mod a go.

I'm pleased with the purchase and am in no real rush to swap the motor and ESC out as I know it'll keep up with my buddy's Art Tech Mustang and scratch built FW-190's. The battery and rudder mods are where I'm going to stop for now.

Ok, I too have just completed my maiden. Since the T-28 is the only other aeileron plane I have ever flown, I will make comparisons to that.

The plane went together quick. I made the rudder mod before the maiden it it was easy to do. I set throws to max on rudder, elevators and aeilerons. I mixed in 65% expo on TX and it was perfect. I made sure to set the control horns for level control surfaces before flight and it needed no trim.

The flight characteristics are alot different than the T-28. Stock, it seems faster. It also seems more squirrely. Wind seems to affect it more. rolls werent as tight and the nose dropped pretty good on the rolls. Slow speed flight showed a tendency to drop a wing way more than the T-28. I know the T-28 is more of a "trainer" and will be more stable. It looks smaller in the air. I know its physically smaller but looks ALOT smaller in the air. Vertical is OK but not unlimited. It looks better to me in the air that the T-28. The stock battery lasted about 8 min with 70% WOT. Inverted only needed a touch of down elevator to maintain level flight.

BTW, what is the factory COG? I will start modding it to accept the 2200mah lipos and probably drop in my Turnigy 35-36c after a few more stock flights.

All in all I like it.

The factory CG is marked on the wings by the oval panels. I found out today you have to do a lot of modding to get a 2200 to balance correctly. I'll post pictures tonight on the battery tray I made.

A 9x9 APC prop only draws 21 amps on the bench, is it safe to prop the stock motor (same as corsair) for 30 amps continuous? I'm thinking a 10x7.5 should get me closer to 30 amps.

Originally Posted by Ping

The factory CG is marked on the wings by the oval panels. I found out today you have to do a lot of modding to get a 2200 to balance correctly. I'll post pictures tonight on the battery tray I made.

A 9x9 APC prop only draws 21 amps on the bench, is it safe to prop the stock motor (same as corsair) for 30 amps continuous? I'm thinking a 10x7.5 should get me closer to 30 amps.

I can not wait to see the mods you had to do for the battery upgrade. I have the following props to try10x8, 10x9 and a 9.5x7.5. Might try the 10x8 first with a 2200. Has anyone tried retracts or any other landing gear yet

Originally Posted by eli5539

Has anyone tried retracts or any other landing gear yet

Holy cow...The plane has only been in peoples hands for 24 hours! You guys are amazing!

I did want to bring This to peoples attention. $20 retracts for small planes. Would these work???

http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/109441.asp

By the way, I got my new PZ Mustang today! Mikes Hobby Shop in Carrolton Texas (Dallas). They only had two Bind N Fly, and maybe 7-8 RTF.

Those do not look too bad, I was thinking of going after the ones used on the E-flite F15

Mounting 2200mah Batteries

So the stock battery strap is ok for the smaller 1320 battery. However to fit a heavier 2200mah and maintain your CG you will need to move the battery aft. All you need to add your own battery tray is a soldering iron, gorilla glue, a velcro strap, and a sheet of light plywood. I used 1/8th inch light ply as I had some on hand. The whole mod will add less then 10grams of weight.

Start by removing the stock battery strap. I had originally speculated that this strap was somehow tied into the wing mount but this is not the case. Just tug on the battery strap until it pops off.



Next using your soldering iron we will remove some foam to make room for the battery. I cut to the sides of the fuse and back until you reach hole the aileron servo wires pass through. The depth you cut is important as I will explain later. If you look closely at how the stock battery mounts their you will notice the inclined ramp. I cut down to the edge of this ramp as square along the center line of the fuse as possible.



Next we will cut the plywood tray. Begin by cutting a 2.30"x3.75" (58.25mmx95mm) piece of light ply. You will want to round the corners that point towards the firewall slightly. Mark the center of the ply tray.




Test fit your ply tray and sand the edges if needed. Transfer your center line mark to the fuse on each side. Try and make sure the tray is sitting parallel to the fuse center line. This is important and I will explain later.

Go back with your soldering iron and cut a thin trench for your velcro strap to lay in. This step is optional, but very helpful if your using a thicker strap.

Once your satisfied with the fit of your tray it's time to glue it in place. This is where I like gorilla glue. With a bit of water it will foam and fill in the many small gaps that your soldering iron left in the foam. You can of course use any glue compatible with Z-foam. Regular CA works as does epoxy. Dampen the ply tray and spritz a small amount of water into the fuse. Apply your glue and let dry. Don't forget your velcro strap!




While drying gorilla glue will foam out around the edges of tray. Simply cut this foam away with a knife.


.
I installed some velcro to the deck to really keep the battery in place. I sand the tray lightly and CA some velcro in place. I prefer to install the hook side on the model and the loop (fuzzy part) on the batteries.



You shouldn't have to modify the canopy to fit, your battery should sit below the sides of the fuse.




If you notice the battery now sits parallel with the center thrust line of the fuse. If you cut everything correctly the tray should be below the center line, and your battery should sit almost exactly on the thrust line. In my opinion this should make aileron rolls more axial.

You should get a good range of CG adjustment with this tray. You can go even further aft if necessary. I tested my gear and I only needed to have the battery touching the edge of the hole cut for the aileron extensions. Optionally you can install a block of foam in the front of the fuse to keep the battery from ejecting through the firewall on severe crashes.

Stay tuned guys as soon as a spare wings show up I'll be adding retracts and reinforcing the wing. I looked today and I can't see any spar in the stock wings! If you want to hit 100mph+ You'll want to add some carbon spars!

I also highly suggest you fiberglass the bottom of the cowl, mine is already broken. Also reinforce the elevator and rudder hinges with tape or blenderm. I didn't reinforce my rudder hinge and I nearly lost it in flight!