control line P-38

Ha Ha! Another photo for my CEFFA.. (CEF Family Album)







So great that you and your son share the same passion!

Wow, that picture of the PT-19 is memorable. I haven't seen that picture in YEARS!!! I don't save pictures and that was one I really enjoyed. That was close to 20 years ago. That was taken at Palisades Park. The plane itself is quite a treasure and my son still owns it. My buddy Dan was on the USS Forrestal, his squadron was the last of the F-4 Phantoms and then it was Tomcats. Dan built this PT-19 on the ship. He shared a bunk and he said he would flip the bunk down and use it as a building table. He didn't complete the plane on the ship. I met Dan when I was 13 years old and he was flying this plane. It was handed to several people. I ended up with it years later and it was a oil soaked mess. I totally rebuilt the fuselage and much of the wing. I gifted it to my son in which he flew this plane from beginner to expert. I've never personally flew this plane since I rebuilt it. Shawn flies it and it's his in which even today he can fly a very impressive pattern with it. Power is a Brodak .40, the very first version and it's never been out of the plane. One flip starts ALWAYS.

Ken Cook wrote:Wow, that picture of the PT-19 is memorable. I haven't seen that picture in YEARS!!! I don't save pictures and that was one I really enjoyed.

I save everything Ken.. (just ask Lynne..)

IMHO..the design looks like it was created for a semi-scale class.. Semi mainly because the central-pod is a profile representation. Yea.. the booms are too.. but the air-scoops are eye-candy! I need to add them to my model.



I'd love to see that model flying Ken. A "Balloon-Burst" would be a great contest/exhibition for it.

Do you know anything about the bellcrank-mounting/location.. and which side (boom) the pushrod is on? Looks to be on the inside of the inboard boom. Do I also see a wing flap-horn in that area?

The P-38 uses a single pushrod which is problematic. It causes the central flap and elevator to twist when you need it the most. My F-82 Mustang uses a 3/8" hard balsa main flap with centrally located control horn, then two pushrods are utilized running down each boom to the elevator. I found some footage of the P-38 and my F-82 flying. Rusty was there as well. Rusty loved it and he was super excited. Rusty is in the red flannel in the beginning sitting on the corner of the picnic table. This was the end of the Huntersville, NC contest. We really were supposed to be getting cleaned up when we decided to put them both up. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get a second flight. At about 2:01 my son is inverted and drops right down in front of Dan with about 1" between the two. I have to say, he has some brass ones because I surely wouldn't of done that. I also don't have the skill to do that with such a large plane.  I do remember Dan going WHOA!!!!! which made me laugh.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-LRl6y9MP0

Ken Cook wrote:The P-38 uses a single pushrod which is problematic. It causes the central flap and elevator to twist when you need it the most. My F-82 Mustang uses a 3/8" hard balsa main flap with centrally located control horn, then two pushrods are utilized running down each boom to the elevator. I found some footage of the P-38 and my F-82 flying. Rusty was there as well. Rusty loved it and he was super excited. Rusty is in the red flannel in the beginning sitting on the corner of the picnic table. This was the end of the Huntersville, NC contest. We really were supposed to be getting cleaned up when we decided to put them both up. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get a second flight. At about 2:01 my son is inverted and drops right down in front of Dan with about 1" between the two. I have to say, he has some brass ones because I surely wouldn't of done that. I also don't have the skill to do that with such a large plane.  I do remember Dan going WHOA!!!!! which made me laugh.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-LRl6y9MP0

Yup.. that was CLOSE! and I saw ol' Rusty there with a front-row seat at the picnic table! I miss him.

That was close you make it look easy

Roddie , you might also like this video. The Dyna Jet Stunter in the above picture "Stunt Loudus" is no longer. It went to Dyna Jet heaven. I launched it some time ago and about 1 minute into the flight, the outboard wing came off. The plane was violently going up and down and surprisingly it didn't crash. However, when Dan repaired it, something inside jammed up the bellcrank during launch at the NATS two months later. It went into a wingover and KAPLOOEY!!!! on the other side. Dan has since built another. Another member of our club Mike built a F-86 Dyna Jet Stunter and they flew them two up at Brodak's. These things are loud, I mean obscenely loud and two of them is horrific. I think they're neat but after launching them and seeing them fly, the glitter wears off real quick. I'm around enough loud stuff all day long. I don't need things that loud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUcfD3BebPg

Ken , they may be loud , but the sure are cool

My Sterling P38 Enya .15 x2 maiden flight


https://youtu.be/jTqwj8Ehv5Y?si=SPrvYhWEQzTUhY2X

https://www.coxengineforum.com/viewimage?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.servimg.com%2Fu%2Ff11%2F19%2F68%2F84%2F08%2Fimage211.jpg

                  My Sterling P-38

Bob, this incident was a result of me. The night before, I rolled the plane on my floor to see how the plane was tracking. It was rolling inboard so I tweaked the gear to bend it outward. After a few attempts, I resolved it and it was rolling like it should. However, during the tweaking process I heard a unwanted crack that I wasn't liking. The gear on these is not a great setup. You make a notch in the fuse to bury the wire and it goes straight up and then turns at a 90 which protrudes through the fuse. When I tweaked it, the 90 deg bend broke through the fuse and was now in the travel area of the bellcrank. This didn't appear to be a problem initially until it took off. Things went well and I saw my son's expression indicating a problem. I built another but I recently gave it away. I have one left in the box so I may do another. The design of these are quite poor. You cover the wing and then glue the fuse onto the wing, there's no sheeting in and around the fuselages. This doesn't allow for covering the model after and it doesn't offer enough rigidity to prevent the fuselages from vibrating. They're really only glued to the leading and trailing edge and the covering. A bad design that requires some rework to build properly.

Ken Cook wrote:
My Sterling P-38

Ouch! That rekitted itself rather quickly.

George, the engines were two OS MAX-10's. A very complimentary pair of engines for this plane.

excellent thread ken. I really enjoyed reading the posts and watching the videos.

That was exciting to watch two P-38s fling together it takes skill to keep from sticking the other . And the jets are very loud I am with Ken on the loud stuff my ears ring most the time as it is Never flew a twin engine but looks and sounds Fun !