Electrical P-51 Mustang

Model Airplane News, Sep 2002 by Rittinger, Mark

TAIL FEATHERS AND FINAL ASSEMBLY

The tail group is built of 1/8-inch, medium-grade sheet balsa; use balsa that is flat and warp-free. You can use the scale hinge line with the counterbalances, or just use a straight hinge line as I did. Before you glue the stabilizer and fin to the fuselage, fit the wing into the wing saddle, and sand the saddle until you achieve a nice tight fit. Now, center the wing in the fuselage (measure from both wing-tips to the rear of the fuselage), and glue the wing into place with epoxy. Let it cure thoroughly before disturbing it.

Align the stabilizer on the rear of the fuselage and check that it's at zero degrees incidence. (Both the wing and stabilizer should have zero incidence.) Once you're sure it is correctly aligned, glue the stabilizer onto the fuselage. Use a triangle to align the vertical fin, and glue it to the fuselage. Now add the light balsa filler pieces to both sides of the fin, finish-- sand the airframe, and it's ready to cover.

Now is a good time to install the radio gear. First, slide the motor into the bottom hole of the motor mount and install the gearbox from the other side. Using twosided tape, install the elevator servo (with the pushrod already attached) in the fuselage behind the wing. To save a little weight, I removed the case from the receiver and installed it with hook-and-loop fastener, as shown on the plan. The aileron servos are also secured in the pockets with twosided tape and get hooked up with standard hardware. Add the 10-cell battery pack and adjust it to get the correct CG. I recommend that you use the forward CG for your first flights; the plane has a scale stabilizer, and it doesn't tolerate a rearward CG very well. Set up the control throws as follows: use 1/4 inch up and down for the ailerons and She inch for the elevator throw. For best performance, I use an APC 12x10E prop; Master Air-screw IWO wooden props also work well.

To save weight, cover the Mustang with your favorite plastic film. On the wing, I recommend that you use a lowtemperature film like Econocote. Pink foam swells rather than melts when too much heat is applied. You risk damaging the sheeting if you use a hightemperature film. Use your favorite method to hinge the ailerons and elevators.

CONCLUSION

I hope you enjoy building and flying the Electric P-51 as much as I do. It's definitely my favorite! Time will tell whether electrics will ever match the performance of glow-- and gas-powered models, but one thing is sure: build this Mustang, and you'll change people's opinions of electric RC planes being slow, lumbering models that can't get out of their own way!

Till next time: watch your six! 4. APC Props, distributed by Landing Products (530) 661-0399; www.apqprop.com.

Econocote; distributed by Great Planes Model Distributors Co. (800) 637-7660; www.greatplanes.com.

Kyosho; distributed by Great Planes; www.kyosho.com. Master Airscrew; distributed by Windsor Propeller Co. (916) 631-8385; www.masterairscrew.com

Southern Sorghum; distributed by Dave Brown Products Inc.; (513) 738-1576; www.dbproducts.com.