Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / November 2009

Back In The Air - or, how I turned a cheap piece of foam into
a high performance plane

Welp, after toasting my easy glider I'm back in the air.

Several months ago one of my customers from my job gave me a
bunch of toy RC stuff he got for free from a small toy shop
that was moving. In there was this smallish foam P51. Although
it is originally a complete RTF, what I got was not 100% complete.

Here's a link to the best ad I could find with decent pics.

http://www.hobbymega.com/products/pc/4-Channel-Radio-Control-TW-748-2-RC-
Airplane-65p658.htm

Yes. Real cheezy.

Anyway, I decided to make it flyable. I ripped out it's guts
completely and replaced everything.

Spektrum AR6200 receiver
Eflite Park 480 1020kv outrunner brushless
Eflite 30 amp ESC
Eflite submicro servos
folding prop and hub for a Radian glider.

I had to do some surgery to the nose to mount the motor but it
fit. I had to cut the cowling off and chop the wood stick motor
mount thingy and make a firewall to attach the motor to. The
cowling fits over the motor just fine.

My first day didn't do so well. The first hand launch (no gear
at the moment) rolled hard left and found the ground quickly. No
damage. Second launch was more successful but had enough left roll
that I had to hold constant right aileron. Anyway, I did several
circuits and was bringing it around for it's first landing when
the darned prop flew right off the nose. I lost speed too quick
and was too low to recover and it found the ground and tore the
motor right off the nose. The glider wouldn't have had a scrach
but this is that cheap foam. I think on my little crash I didn't
kill the throttle quick enough before hitting the ground and that
caused the prop nut to loosen.

Spent a week of gluing her back together again. Oh, and I made
sure the prop nut was nice and snug. Also made some adjustments
to help trim the flight.

Second flight day was much better. Several launches and landings.
I quickly learned the left roll at launch is likely due to the
torque of the motor. This thing is seriously over powered. I
never got much past half throttle. Got used to the handling a
bit (touchy compared to the glider I had) and did some limited
aero and called it a day.

What's funny is when I swithed to my Blade 400 later I found it
almost felt 'mushy' compared to the twitchy P51. I had exactly
the opposite when I had the glider.

For such a cheap piece of foam, I think I'm gonna have fun with
this thing simply due to the upgrades I did. Now, if I could
find some retracts....but it's so small I don't know if I can
find any small enough to fit! heheheh

Brian