One big advantage of flying my lower powerd GWS-38 was that the sudden loss of power to one motor, caused by a faulty solder joint, did not cause a catastophic loss of control. But I had just launched the model and the lack of power and controlability caused me end up among some trees and I crashed some 30 seconds after the motor failure.

Before this incident I did not have working rudders but I certainly made sure that they were installed during the repair

Ken

Ken -- okay... However, have you had a thrust imbalance issue that you were able to correct with rudder input?

FWIW, on the maiden of my first P-38, I lost a pinion gear on the right motor. I did not immediately notice a thrust imballance, just that I could not turn left. I shut down and glided in for an emergency landing.

In addition, I once had a prop fly off of my DC-3 and was able to fly another complete circuit of the field before landing. I did need to use opposite rudder, but certainly not full throw.

YMMV.

Pat

I have two float planes that are aileron elevator only.. You think it is hard to bring a twin in with one motor and no rudder.. you should see what it's like to bring a float plane in from the middle of a lake with out one..
(how do I know..)

In the incident related in Post No 1636 rudder input would have allowed me to fly out away from the trees and land safely. The areoplane was not completely uncontrolable but with only ailerons I had a pemanent right turn and could not turn left. I needed to turn left and to maintain or gain height to get away from the trees.

Cutting power completely would still have me in the trees as I would not have had the time to turn left and avoid the trees. At the time my only choise, without rudders, was to try to maintain height and complete an almost full right hand circle before I could completely cut power.

Ken

My p-38 had its maiden today. The beginning of the flight was fantastic, the plane flew true, rolls were nice, loops excellent and the speed was right up there. It started to go wrong at about 1 1/2 minutes into the flight. I had just got excited about the flying qualities, when the speed controllers decided that they would re-initialise at a different setting, so that now one motor was running closer to full throttle while the other was about 1/2. (with the TX stick at 50%). This meant I had to try to fly at higher throttle to stop the differential power. (which was very fast). Soon the problem got worse, and when I cut back the thrust, it went into an uncontrollable spin.
Damage - 1 motor shaft, prop adapter, prop, bodies cracked, demolished cowl & nose.

The lesson from this - dont use crap, cheap ESC's. These came in a set with the motor - branded NODIA - 30A. The motors are excellent, but I will not use these ESC's to prop up my unbalanced table they are such crap. I had noticed that during range checks, one ESC started to idle with the stick at 0, and I had to put some trim to stop it, but didnt think it was disastrous - WRONG. If you have these ESC's be very careful.

For the record, the plane flew beautifully, specs:
1050kV Max II motors,
9x6 APC E props,
2200mah 11.1V lipo
BEC
Weight 980g, could hold its own weight at about 1/2 throttle
Total current - 25A
I will fix it, but either need to find spares, or make balsa cowl/nose.

Skyfox

Here's a link to the video of the crash!
Crash Video

sorry to hear mate.

I maidenend my GWS P 38 some times before, meanwhile she has a lot of flights and I am quite happy with her. Knowing, that the cowls and the nose cone are in danger to be damaged I always land her on tall gras.The cowls and the cone were reinforced by glasing.
Exactly that model was reviewed in the German magazine for model pilots "MFI" (...which means "modelflight international").Motor setup is the original brusless set from GWS on 1s3p 1800er Lipos. One time, I tried my 2200 Lipos, but they were to heavy.Motor power could be a little bit more, but for realistic scale flying is it enough.

So long and happy flights....

tom-tom

tom tom ,that looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by tom-tom

Motor setup is the original brusless set from GWS on 1s3p 1800er Lipos. One time, I tried my 2200 Lipos, but they were to heavy.

Surely you intended to say "3s1p", old chap!

Also -- I really like how you secured the leading edge of the battery door... On every other GWS model I've seen, that leading edge is sort of "popped up".

On the other hand, I didn't spend a lot of time trying to make mine flush, because I figured that was another way to get air inside the battery area.

Originally Posted by tom-tom

Motor setup is the original brusless set from GWS on 1s3p 1800er Lipos. tom-tom

Hi,
Nice job on the Lightning!!.."lipos"??
are you using two 1800's or one 1800 to fly the plane?
thanks.
jimbo

Good catch, Jimbo -- I didn't see that until now.

Surely you intended to say "3s1p", old chap!

Hi,Eljimb0,

yes, of course you are right: 3 lipos in 1 pack ;-))

Also -- I really like how you secured the leading edge of the battery door... On every other GWS model I've seen, that leading edge is sort of "popped up".

When you fly inverted it's a better feeling, when the battery door is secured with two small screws. I think, it was in this thread some pages before, when one p 38 pilot crashed his plane, because he lost the battery pack in inverted flight.

happy landings
tom-tom

That was me that lost my first P-38 due to the battery ejecting through the canopy. However, that was totally my fault as I did not secure the battery inside the pod with velcro like I should have.

Pat

Any one tried stock brushed 300?

It is strange why GWS puts 8043 prop in their 300 kit. According to GWS charts 300-B gear should use 9070 on 2 cell LiPo/7~8 NiMH. I suspect that people who complain about lack of power because of incorrect prop/battery combo but blamed the motors. Properly proped and matched with battery twin 300 should have good power.