Fiddlers Green P-51

[tyson]

Who needs GWS Mustang anyway ;)

This P-51 is scratchbuilt out of 3mm black depron using Fiddlers Green paper airplane plans :)


Wingspan: 80cm (31.5 inches)
Wing Area: 11.7 dm2 (181 sq.in)
Weight: 420 to 480 grams (14.8 to 17 oz) depending on batterypack
Wing Loading: 36 to 41 g/dm2 (6 to 8.6 oz/sq.ft)
Motor: Speed 400 6V
Prop: Gunther, Graupner 4.7x4.7, 5x5, 6x3, 6x4
7 to 8 cell 500 to 1000 mAh NiCd
RX: Piko 4/5
ESC Simprop RS18-08
Servos: 2 x Graupner C261


-=Mike=-
http://www.careliawin.com/tyson

[tyson]

second pic:

[tyson]

third:

[tyson]

and the last one, together with GWS Zero

[tyson]

July 8, 2002: First Flight

It was a calm evening just before the sunset. As always I wanted to fly the maiden flight alone, without any disturbing factors. That's why I arrived to the field that late. I like it that way. ;)

It was my intention to fly the first flight using 5x5 prop, but as I had forgotten my propbag home, 6x3 folding prop (the only one I'ce got with a semiscale spinner) had to do... I was not sure about the exact CG placement, so I had to guess I attached 8 cell 500AR pack, did normal pre-flight checks and everything was ready for the first flight. :cool:

First throw: Mustang lost altitude and was about to hit the ground, but managed just and just to gather enough airspeed to avoid crashing. I was about to panic when I noticed that she was nose heavy - and badly :eek:. It was absolutely more luck than expertise to get her down without damages ... I moved battery so that CG came about 1.5cm (2/3in) backwards from original position.

Second throw: Lost some altitude again after throw, but there she went. Before I knew she was almost too high - nothing wrong with the climb rate. I enjoyed the flight. It was too good to be true. Fiddlers Green P-51 flew like on rails. I've still got some fixing on control throws, but for a first flight this was a total success. Rolls, loops, inverted flying - no problem. I'll try to get some video clips next weekend.

Speed was about 60 to 70 km/h (40mph), but I guess that using 5x5 instead 6x3 prop it will go much faster. After about 4 minutes of full speed flying the battery was empty and it was time for landing - dead engine landing :eek:!!! I was surprised about how controllable and stable P-51 was at slow speed, I was even able perform low speed turn without power without stalling (something that is absolutely impossible with GWS Zero or my MiG-7). I was happy to get her back in one piece! I flew one more about 7 minutes flight using 8 cell 1000mAh N-3US pack. And I enjoyed every minute! :D

I'll increase aileron control throws before the next flight. I'll also try to move the CG slightly backwards, I've got a feeling that it was still a bit nose heavy and moving the CG backwards will increase the agility (and on the contrary decrease the stability).

-=Mike=-
http://www.careliawin.com/tyson