p-51d 905

[davidchoate]

Now I know where and how im going put things for balance. I removed them, and will infill and sand most of the bottom. I will be leaving the gear off as Mitch suggests, and reinforce the bottom for belly landings. I think on a less than 50g plane it s fine and will cause less damage, and be lighter than heavy wire that will only break away, and be hard to fix. They look better in the air too with gear up.

[davidchoate]

I wanted to strengthen the wings, especially the leading edge a bit, but im at my planned weight now. I did weigh the larger battery, and gave a bit of room, but after I tissue and paint, theres no room for any xtra stuff. I'll be happy if it even resembles a P-51. My goal here is I want it to fly. I dont really have the budget to buy a brushless motor on this. so I must watch my weight.

[davidchoate]

I infilled, spackled, and sanded the belly. Its quickly approaching my max intended weight. I will have to discard my plan to strengthen the wings, but I can easily replace one, or both. I'd rather protect the receiver/servo board. I anticipate broken props, and bent prop shafts without LG also. But my goal is simply to get one of these things to even just float along under controlled powered flying. Then improve from there.

[davidchoate]

I started to cover the wings, but had alot of warping as they are very light, and not alot of ribs. Does anyone know of the best technique or material to prevent this. I was going to try tissue on the wing next. I had warping on the tail when I covered it, but I just wet it and put a weight on top and till it dried. Unfortunately, I cant do this with the wings.

[Steve Blanchard]

Actually you CAN do that with the wings and should. After you cover the wing, wet it and pin it to the building board flat side down of course. You should be covering all of your parts before putting them together into the finished model. This will allow you to shrink and seal the wings without warping.

Good Luck!

Steve

[Steve Blanchard]

My last post was based on the thought that you are using a covering material that you can wet and shrink. If this is not the case then you can strengthen the wings by gluing 1/16" square balsa braces diagonally from the trailing edge of one rib to the spar of the on next to it in a zig zag fashion moving from the root to the tip alternating the zig and the zag. See the pic below of my Beechcraft D-18 wing for rubber power:

[stx44]

I have some lengths of scrap of about 10mm square. I pin this to the builting board in line with the leading and trailing edge. Wet both sides of the wing, then pin it down onto the scrap to dry. Means it as it dries the tension is even on both top and bottom. Just make sure any pins are over the ribs.

I use the same method with fins and tailplanes.

When "doping" I do the same- I just dont dope the leading/trailing edges where it overlaps the scrap- these portions I do later.

There may be easier methods, but this works for me!

And yes, the 900s are for more susceptable to warping than the 500s- the 500s have less surface area and a stronger (read HEAVIER) structure.

[davidchoate]

thanks for all your help

[davidchoate]

I Love that wing design. I went to silkspan, and the warping went away. I am decided to do acrylic finish. I am begining to paint, and am following what I learned from David Duckett.( what happened to him?He just vanished). I applied a grey undercoat to make the colors look good.

[davidchoate]

I have learned that its harder to fly an RC plane than a real one. Its like a rc car. harder if ur not in it. I worked with a guy who owned a Mooney, and we would fly it on weekends, and in many ways its easier if your in it.

[davidchoate]

I am painting with acrylics. its coming out way better than I thought,and I hope it flies.

[davidchoate]

the bottom turned out way better shape than I anticipated.

[davidchoate]

im at 65g's with motor and batt ,and Rx installed.

[davidchoate]

its now 64g's. i think i'm going brushless.

[davidchoate]

What should I name Her? Any ideas are welcome.