dannost

My Feedback: (4)

I'm working on a P-38 Lightning and I thought I would share the process if anyone is interested. Before beginning I
searched a lot of posts here and they have helped tremendously, I thought I would return the favor.

The plane was developed by a friend who was considering selling it as a kit. He made about 4
and I picked one up after seeing how nice his prototype was.

It is roughly the same size as the Royal kit, with a scale wing of 76".

The 2 booms, center wing and pod are all one piece of epoxy/carbon fiber composite construction with an aluminum wing spar tube.
Wings are sheeted and glassed foam.

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

Power was the biggest question I had for this model. I searched a lot of posts to see what people have put on their Royal kits. The prototype has
a pair of OS .60s and flies great, although it is a little over 14lbs. I wanted plenty of power, but wanted to hide the engines as much as possible
to keep a scale look. I decided on a pair of Saito .82 four strokes. They weigh almost a pound less than a pair of .60s, and only a couple of ounces
more than a pair of .46 strokes. With them inverted, only a very small opening is needed on the bottom of the cowl for the valve covers.

I'm also building it with an 80" wing, which is slightly larger to help the wing loading.

I spent a lot of time researching methods of fowler flaps, as I wanted the scale look as well as the increased lift for landing this notorious bird.
Through helpful posts and emails I got ahold of plans for fowlers and modified them to work with this size plane. These are really cool to see work.

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

I was sweating how to do some of the key details, mainly the turbo superchargers. I found the plastic parts made by dionysusbachus and
he was kind enough to make me a set. This saved a lot of time and will really add to the look of the model.

Firepower R/C

My Feedback: (10)

could you pass on some info about where I could get some plastic parts for my royal p-38??? I can't seem to find any contact info for Dionysusbaccus... is he still hiding? Thanks.

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

Yes he is hard to find. I'm not sure he is on the board anymore. He sells them on Ebay occasionally. You just have to check every so often.

Sparks1

My Feedback: (8)

Is there a web address for those superchargers?
I am doing a KMP P-38 and would like to detail it.

Mike
Dunedin, FL

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

No website that I know of. You just have to check ebay. He puts them on there every so often, I guess I got lucky.
Isn't the KMP a larger model than the Royal?

f104g

great looking kit. I love the P-38.

keep us posted with your progress.

Hi ab

I have got a Great Planes P38 Profile plan it has Two size 25 motors. I would like to get the plan enlarged to take two size 40 motors, Is there any formula or any measurements I can make to get the plan enlarged.

rrudytoo

My Feedback: (27)

Hi ab,

To enlarge your plan, just go by percentage. Say you have a 50" wing and you want a 75" wing. Simply increase everything by 50%...............lengths, widths, heights and material size. For a profile P-38 with a pair of .40's, a wingspan of 75" to 80" would be good.

Al

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

Was this the "VicRC" P38?

Thanks,
Dave Olson

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

Definatetly not Vic's, his is 88".
http://vicrc.com/products_p38.htm

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

I stuck everything on the scale last night to see how the weight was looking. Without a few servo extensions
and the Flite-Metal covering it is 12lbs-10oz. I'm guesing it will be around 13lbs, maybe slightly more.
This will yield a wing loading of about 41oz/sq.ft.

Can anyone compare this with their Royal? With all four fowler flaps it should help greatly
on landing (I'm hoping)

michael_car

My Feedback: (3)

Hi, are any of the P38's still available? Where can I get one? I am very interested. Thank You, Mike

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Mike, if you are really interested in a P-38, I have a Royal that needs some TLC. It has been built for at least 10 years, maybe more, and has a sound airframe (never crashed). It needs refinishing of the surfaces, some re-engineering of the flight controls, some repair on the tail; it needs fuel tanks, engines, all servos, radio and landing gear (it had fixed gear). I bought it to eventually restore it, but have turned to other type planes. I have a set of the original plans to go with it, and will take $150 for the whole thing. I plan to go to Joe Nall, and will have it there. PM me if you are interested. I don't know how much building experience you have, but it would be a bit more than doing an ARF, but not as much as starting from a kit or scratch.

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

Michael,

My friend has given up on mass producing the kit due to the time involved. He does have a couple left. Send me a PM or email if you are still interested.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Mike The wing P-38 is still in production, 70 inch span and works very well with a couple of .46's.

http://www.wingmfg.com/

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

I got a request for some pics of the fowler flaps, so here they are.

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

Here are a couple more of the inboard flap. This section is part of the fiberglass fuse, so I have a much bigger access hatch, which makes
for a better picture.

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

them flaps are too cool! i wouldn't even fly the model, i'd just play with the flaps!

ol'boy should keep making them kits. they look really nice. charge people what they are worth. i'll pay more for something built in the U.S.A.

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

I just wanted to tell you that your P-38 looks GREAT and you should check out TWINMANS article, its very informative.


Good luck and I hope you post some pictures of it in flight

Ron Randall



http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Meta...1870990/tm.htm

kram

My Feedback: (7)

You flown that baby yet, Metal?

I recently took my old gray Yellow up, and I marvel again at what a fun and reliable flyer she is, even at four years old.


mt

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Mark:

Only four years old? That's still a new airplane. I have one still in excellent flying condition that's well over 40 years old. My Tiggerkitty twin (see avatar) is about 13 now. Several of my others are more than 10 years old. My oldest Duellist for example.

I have to be careful about getting new planes - I just don't have a lot of room left, and (no brag) I seldom crash one. Last major damage was three years ago now, parts scattered for more than 100 yards. Then I fixed the blasted thing when I could have had room for a new one.

Bill.

dannost

My Feedback: (4)

Metal,

What twinman article are you referring to? The link in your post is for your thread on you metal process.
And thanks for sticking that picture in front of me again. I can't possibly hope to compare (LOL).

I will say I am having a lot of fun doing my first scale project. I have learned that next time I will
have to do a larger plane, I think it would be a lot easier to make scale details.
How do you guys ever get the nerve to fly them? Picking a twin for my first was probably not a
good idea, but I got the plane from a friend so I went ahead with it.

kram-RCU

dannost:

I think metal is talking about TwinMan's treatises on twins and P-38's on rcwarbirds.com.


Bill:

Four years is an old P-38, unless it's a hangar queen, which mine are not. The Yellow has flown at least once per year for the last 4 years. As you say......Haw!


mt