****Edit; Since the building boom doesn't appear to be ending soon and many of my planes are not strictly bluecore, I have decided to rename this thread and update all my crap here. Kinda like "Barrett's Boat Dock" for my planes. ****


YAY! I finally did it! Sorry for keeping this secret, but after past failures, I figured 'why ring the bell before dinner is done?'

I built this in a couple of nights last week and attempted to maiden it last Saturday, but my original motor was not powerful enough.

Today was a different story though! I took her to El Dorado Park in Scottsdale because it is lined on the west side with a hill that makes a nice launching platform for hand launched planes. I took off, waddled a bit, pulled up on the stick, and as she climbed, I got comfortable with her and things went pretty smoothly. The battery was low, so I just did a few circles to prove I could then landed her into the hill.

Then I went and did it again just to prove it was no fluke .

Barrett

P.S.- yes, I know I have to do a better job of strapping down the battery

Congrates on the maiden,now when are we going to see the Heinkle fly? Maybe this Sat?.....

John

Yes good Job. Its fun to create and build something that flys. I'm just getting a taste of it with a couple of small blucore Foamies.

Thanks guys! It was a major milestone for me. Felt great!

Anyway, now she's green. I will be painting her up in the markings of Lt. Robert Vaught's P-40E based in Darwin Australia. Hope to have her all done by Saturday.

BTW- John, I figured I might as well take your advice and not paint it until after it flew in case it jinxed me

P.S.- the greyish green looks blue in this picture. Next time I'll get it in the sun.

It is really pretty cool to have an airplane that no one in the world knows better than you. I couldn't even talk to someone who had built from the same plans. There were no plans. I drew it freehand from a picture in a magazine. When it came time to maiden, I figured I might as well maiden it than anyone else. She is a little nose heavy, requiring up elevator even when you toss her up, but once she gets going, she seems not much more trouble than my E-flite P-47.

My biggest problem yesterday was turning into the wind. I never felt torque was an issue and the ailerons were not as sensitive as I expected them to be (perhaps because they are so thin).

I AM gonna have to get someone from the club to handle her at least a little this Saturday so I can get me some pictures!

John- The Heinkel is waiting for a new RX and the proper hex nuts for the props. She has sadly been the victim of prioritizing (first her RX winds up in the P-47, then her next RX winds up in this here P-40. I may end up taking the RX out of the P-47 and putting it in the Heinkel, or buying a new one if I can find another cheap JR 4-6 channel RX)

Barrett

Originally Posted by greenseaships

I may end up taking the RX out of the P-47 and putting it in the Heinkel, or buying a new one if I can find another cheap JR 4-6 channel RX)

Barrett

Barrett,
Nice job on the P-40.

Go with the Berg reciever, can't beat it for the money.

I got to see your airplane fly. Nice job on the scratch build.

Thanks! I trimmed it out and it's suprisingly stable for a plane that I built. It does have some peculiar characteristics (for example, it does NOT recover from unusual attitudes very smoothly. I tried doing a loop-into-roll, but things got awfully fowled up. I ended up spinning upside-down and was only able to recover when the airplane wound up rightside-up) and it has a tendancy to go down elevator (as in AWAY from the earth) when inverted (like in a roll). Kinda funny actually. Bottom line is I ended up flying it more than any of my other planes on Saturday. This could be the start of somethin beautiful

Also- landings are SUPER smooth I think I'd best remove all the landing gear on all my planes and do belly landings from now on.

Barrett

Barrett, perhaps a more aggressive prop will help some. We need to wattmeter the setup but that motor can handle 700 watts. I will "ass u me" it is only pulling around 450 watts at WOT.
Also, cut in a rudder to help the adverse yaw in turns. You can do a simple rudder into aileron mix if you want or best to just stick it if needed. Check the CG, sounds like you may be a tad tail heavy. Try 1/2" forward at a time until you find the happy spot.
I was very impressed how you were just able to underhand toss it into flight. Not many warbirds can do that. Maybe Matt should try that on his Spitfire?

Rick

Originally Posted by rampman

I was very impressed how you were just able to underhand toss it into flight. Not many warbirds can do that. Maybe Matt should try that on his Spitfire?

Rick

That's the easiest way I found to give it the proper elevation when launching. It needs altitude right away after launch to make up for any misstep on the elevators.

BTW- I have decided to return to my every-week schedule at the rodeo grounds now that I have the P-40. I am anxious to get some video of her in the air. Maybe Pat or Teik-ee can help?

Barrett

The magnets in your motor must have been attracted to that pole

Man, she was SOOO totalled that I had to get a new motor and the fuselage was broken into little bits. Almost a miracle she was able to fly again today. Remember kids, CRASHING IS NOT THE END!

Nice repair.
I read in a mag last week that if the nose pitches up in turns the rudder may be too small. Worth considering?

Rick

Yeah, I'll make sure not to skimp on the vertical stabilizer on my next plane, but I'm still not sure if I wanna go rudder. In the case of the P-40, I was having alot of trouble making left turns today. It would bank left, and then want to climb to the right and a couple of times, it spun around to the right and I ended up on the other side of the safety line

I realized I had the motor mounted with too much angle to the right. A quick on-the-spot fix with razor, tape and screwdriver removed the problem instantly.

But she's still underpowered. Putting an 8X6 APC prop on helped alot, but I still can't get her to loop from level flight anymore. Not sure if I wanna dish out the money for a 480 brushless motor. Maybe I'll just let her fly 'as is' since she IS doing alright.

Barrett