JazzMan2001

Hello, my first post

Here's my Parkzone P51 Ultra-Micro Mustang flying it's first few batterys:



I'm pretty much a beginner although I did try flying a few times many years ago (about 16 I think) and I spent quite some time practising in Realflight.

Naturally I bent up the original fuselage and tail a bit, did a number of repairs on the tail which seems to be the weakest spot of the original.

Decided to rebuild the plane and add a brushless setup to it - mainly to make it more efficient and add a little more power.

I bought new foam bits for the rebuild which I strengthened with carbon rod on the weaker spots that I had found during my early flights with the BNF one.

I used an AP05 motor, XP-3A ESC, GWS 5x3 prop, a prop saver mount and a piece of carbon fibre to mount the motor:


Servo horn mount glued in


Linkages taped down


Wing glued down


Cutting ruts for carbon re-enforcements - these will help keep the fuselage straight on a harder nose first landing


Carbon glued in


With extra tape hinges adding - the hinges can come apart on harder impact.


Hole cut for carbon


Carbon rod glued in - this is a very good mod as the tail is very fragile


Servo glued in and tested - have since put it on the more aggressive setting but the servo throw needs to be limiting or the servo and lock up.


Wing glued on


Elevator glued and re-enforced with a thin carbon rod. I added extra tape hinges.


Tail glued in, the carbon goes right down in the fuselage




AR6400 glued in and ESC trial fitted


The motor mount is a piece of 1.5mm carbon fibre cut to shape and air holes added (to aid in cooling the internal electronics)


Prop & prop saver test fit


The spinner need quite a but of hacking up to fit


Tail re-enforcements


Had a little oopsy with some solvent on this side so I've replaced the missing bit with a chunk of the old fuselage


The gap here is a bit bigger than I would have liked but its OK.

The internals running:



Flown it about 15 times since the rebuild and it's much improved - stability and power.

I'm using the bigger 150mah batteries and a DX6i with some expo set on the ailerons and elevator. It does seem a bit zippyer with the smaller 120mah batteries due to the weight saving

It just needs stickers now to finish it off.

smokejohnson

Nice work Jazzman...looks good.

Welcome to Wattflyer

JazzMan2001

Thanks

SirSudiSavage

Hey man nice work you got me all worked up to make mine brushless =) I just have one question for you before i make my order for the brushless parts how did you attach the prop on to the brushless motor ?

JazzMan2001

I used the prop adapter 3rd one down on this page: http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/prop_adapter.html

It has the great advantage of being on a rubber band so if you land with the prop sticking downward it offers some protection againts breaking the prop or the shaft on the motor

SirSudiSavage

i broke my prop shaft today when flying inverted (and stupidly low) and the wind picked up. a replacement setup is 15 bucks and going brushless is only 10 bucks more (for the esc) so i said why not =) i will give it a try btw: im copying your system =P

JazzMan2001

hehe I spent a lot of time researching mine online before buying those bits. Yesterday I ordered a variety of GWS props to try out and see if it makes any difference. I've got a stock Sukhoi that I'm going to try various props on as well

SirSudiSavage

im wondering what runtimes you are geting with the brushless setup? i just ordered 17 138mah batts for mine along with the brushless setup i think i will never run out of battery any more lol

JazzMan2001

More than stock, but its been very cold recently so I've not been able to get a good idea of run time. The little lipos don't work that well in cold temps. I've been warming them up on a radiator and keeping them in my pocket before flights which has helped a lot.

It's starting to warm up now so I should have longer flight times

sgomes

EXCELLENT work!!

There are quite a few guys over at RCGroups who have done this mod, only to find out it is not much better than stock. The real jump seems to be going to 2S, but I think you would need another esc for that.

Here is one for the Sukhoi http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...postcount=1413 He uses the AP03, but I think the AP05 would be even stronger.

I don't think the esc would be very expensive, and likely it would be a drop-in.

Again, very nice work.

Steve

JazzMan2001

Thanks Steve Yeah I'd need a different ESC for 2S.

I've also bought a Sukhoi (they were going for very good prices before the new models release).

I had an interesting comparison with the Sukhoi, it's still stock. My brother has the Sukhoi with the same conversion as I've got in the Mustang.

The brushless one is quite a bit quicker than the stock one but you do need a bit more momentum for some stunts. It's not hugely quicker but it is noticeable when both are flying.

I've also tried a variety of props on the stock Sukhoi - the 5030 seems to work well. Even that it still slower than the brushless.

SirSudiSavage

Ok all my parts came in the mail today =) im starting my own BL P-51 project

Also man can you take a closer pic of the way you mounted the motor wires to the plug that came with the ESC

RU55EL

I really like the GWS 5043 prop on my stock Sukhoi.

JazzMan2001

I did try the 5043 but it seemed a bit strained. I might do a bit more experimenting some day

Awesome keep us updated

rariho_4180

Where did you get the carbon rod? I'm looking at Hobbyzone.com but I don't know what it is.

JazzMan2001

I'm in the UK so used: http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/carbon_fibre.html

Most recently I bought some at a local hobby shop. You can also try kite suppliers but from what I've seen they tend to be more expensive.

Brick

good info here on the BL build...i'm new, so i had to subsribe to this

JazzMan2001

Thanks I've since converted this to 2S using a XP7A ESC and 240mah Hyperon 2 cells. It works really well like that, did the same on the Sukhoi

Brick

man that thing boogies !!! i'm going 2S also...i especially like all the frame support mods you did to the P-51

bmrmiller

What size CF rod did you use? 1, 1.5, 2 mm? I am rebuilding my UM P-51 and liked this improvement, want to include it in mine.

Thanks.