FMS 1450mm P-51B Old Crow: The 1-Piece wing!

This is the Old Crow's 1-piece wing mod!



Before I glue the two wing halves together I like to do all the mods on each wing beforehand.

First off I like to install the control horns and get the linkages adjusted. I then cycle the servos (aileron & flap) with the MT-1 to check their reliability, and loosen up the hinges a bit more.

I really like these digital slow-mo flap servos FMS is now installing! But the foam hinging is still inadequate. I re-hinged the flaps with the HK Super hinges and used medium gap filling CA as it's not as thin and runny as reg. CA.

What I didn't like are the PZ-312s E-Tracts! As I did on my P-51D BBD, I dug into those plastic wing pockets and modified them to fit the PZ-514s. To fit the FMS struts to the PZ-514s I, once again, made a couple of 5mm pins (see thumbs for specs.). I disassembled the struts so I could drill the larger 5mm hole in the upper aluminum housing using a #8 bit. I once again made some aluminum mounting plates to fit the 514s to the 312s mounts in the plastic pockets. Because I don't trust those Chinese philips head screws, I used #4 x 1/2" socket head sheet metal screws to attach the 514s to the plane.

There was some discussion earlier today on the FMS 1450MM P-51B Mustang thread concerning the reliability of the V7.5 struts, so I decided to disassemble one of mine to see if FMS was still welding the lower units together? Sure enough, they are! I also discovered why FMS might be labeling them V7.5s. The earlier struts utilized a steel lower strut arm, but these new ones I have are now Stainless Steel, the offset wire leg portion is still steel thou.

Once I had both the wings done, it was on to the port wing for some additional work. As scale to the Jack Roush/Old Crow I needed to install the landing light.

Now that all the mods were done to each wing it was time to remove the lights, decals, LG and servos in preparation of the "Re-paint".

With the paint dried, everything reinstalled, it was time to glue the two wing halves together.

Again, because of my lack of faith in those philips head screws, I am using 6-32 X 2 1/2" hex head bolts to attach the wings to the fuse. It's just a matter of preference, but I would suggest at least replacing those philips with a set of 3mm X 60mm hex head screws just for the peace of mind.

Because I had done this mod on the BBD, I was aware of the cheap T-nut fixture on the forward mount, so I already knew how to remove it. I was surprised that FMS took the steps to update the mount to a much more reliable plastic mount with embedded brass inserts. Had I known that, I could have tapped them out to 6-32, but I digress. I already had made up another plastic mount for this mod so I went ahead and installed it.

On the two rear mounts I knew the 3mm embedded nuts wouldn't take the 6-32 tap, so I removed them and installed my own 6-32 T-nuts and epoxied them back in place.

Now that I had the mounts done it was time to glue the two halves together. First I punched several holes in both wing facings so the GG would have additional anchoring when it expanded. I put a strip of masking tape on the fuse to keep the glue from sticking the wings to the fuse during the drying process. I installed the spars, and loosely set the port wing in place using the 6-32 bolts to hold it in place. After wiping both surfaces with a damp rag, I applied the GG and slid both wings together anchoring them in place with all 4 mounting screws. Wanting to ensure that I would get maximum expansion of the GG I took an eyedropper and squirted additional water down the seam of the two wing halves. I then covered the seam with masking tape to help corral the GG expansion, and left them to set up over night.

The next morning I removed the tape, unscrewed the bolts and removed my 1-piece wing from the fuse! The only thing I had left to do was to attach my 2 drop tank pylons and I was good to go!

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