Roddie's P-51's

Hope the P-51s do well for you Roddie and can give use a flight report , i Know you're stoked about getting in the air after the layover.... Here's the thread to the wheels if that is what Joe is referring too , dont see the weight though ? https://www.coxengineforum.com/t7072-custom-wheels?highlight=home+made+wheels Very Cool !!

I'll be waiting/watching!

akjgardner wrote:Do you know the weight of those? (the airplanes)

Joe, the airplanes weigh 4.7oz. without engine or a fuel tank.



They were not built from a kit or a plan. They are my own design, like most that I have built. They're probably a bit heavy for a stock Bee engine. The fuse in particular is more robust than it needs to be. The fuses were made from planks of 1/4" x 3" balsa.. and are only tapered fore/aft of the wing-chord position. The air-scoop and canopy are also 1/4" balsa and make for a fairly tall center-section. I wish I'd used 3/16" balsa and streamlined them a bit more.. but they are what they are. The canopies are fugly.. Their shape is awful. I may reshape them later.. as well as shape/sand and refinish the 2-D air-scoops to look smoother. The landing-gear adds considerable weight too.. but I like having landing-gear. Most all of my airplanes use a one-piece inverted-V gear made from 1/16" music-wire secured with Dubro 1/2A steel gear-straps mounted on the plywood nose-doublers. Being just forward of the balance-point.. I use different wheels to add or subtract what I feel is functional-weight. The axles are long-enough to experiment with larger diameter wheels that may have a thicker hub. I'd like to initially try flying this design from a grass runway.. and the wheels that or on the models are too small of a diameter for that.. unless I lay-out some cardboard panels. Stay-tuned for a different wheel design made using thin 3/4" wooden-dowel "slices" for a hub.. and seamless foam tube "noodle" material (cheap-swimming-pool item) for a tire.. which will increase the overall diameter to 2+ inches.. and will roll better over grass. (pure Roddie-redneck wheel design..)  

In my opinion..................... there's a lot more to the C/L flight, than the actual "flying". I enjoy the thrill of having an airplane rise off the ground from a roll-out and be stable in level-flight. Climbing and diving will hopefully be balanced-inputs. It may not be capable of stunts. That's ok with me. Most Cox ARF C/L airplanes aren't. There's a lot of fun to be had with dive-bombing balloons placed around the circle, tied to sticks stuck in the ground. In my locale; "Smores" are a popular campfire treat. Roasting marshmallows over a campfire is a key-ingredient. Kits are sold, usually with 4 hardwood dowels; 1/4" diameter x 36" long to roast the marshmallows. They cost a couple bucks.. (cheap..) Stay with me here.. Buy the "sticks".. the marshmallows, the graham-crackers and the Hershey (chocolate) bars to make the Smores.. and "cook" them some night over a campfire. They're YUMMY! Save the sticks for a balloon-bust! Tie some round party-balloons to them and place them around your flight-circle and try to "pop" them in a dive-bomb! It's an old C/L fun-fly event that you don't hear too much about anymore.

I digress..   Larger wheels might help a small lightweight C/L model land on a grass field.. and roll-out without nosing-over. This would be a "perfect-flight" in my opinion.

RTF self-designed duo.. dry-weights are both 7.0oz. #18 1/3oz. (9.8cc) Perfect-brand wedge-style fuel tanks, Cox .049 reed-valve engines with Sure-start backplates, #1 dual-bypass cylinders, #325 standard glow-plugs and Cox black 6"d x 2"p left-hand propellers. Yet to be flown.. but ready to go.