Refinish a Foam Warbird Ep4 - FMS P-51 Flight Review & Setup

Welcome to my how-to series on refinishing a foam warbird (#pimpmyfoamy). In this final episode I provide a flight review of the FMS P-51 along with setup recommendations for a successful first flight. You can read the full article including links to the materials I used on my blog at wp.me/p5LuFX-er
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See Episode 3 - • Refinish a Foam Warbir...
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[@scottfirman]

I just recently found your series. You are a man after my own heart. I cannot be happy with whats out of the box eather. I am an old time modeller from way back. My first plane was a balsa and tissue,rubber band powered plane years ago. I have had the cox plastic .049 line control planes,then got out of it for a while. Due to Cancer and a surgery that left me in a chronic pain situation,I had to give up a lot of my really physical activities I loved and take a step back. I got back into building models,then rediscovered RCPlanes. I bought an Apprentice to get my feet wet,then picked up another one at a bargan price,then I built a few foamys from the flite test line. I have added a couple more planes including a Dynam Waco Biplane and a F4U Corsair. I cant leave well enough alone,so I have coustomized the Biplane and am about to do the same on the Coursair. As I said,I cant be happy unless I am doing something fun,at least within reasonable standards according to my pain issue and what I can allow myself to do without fall out. I have to watch my activity. Too much fun wipes me out. I really enjoyed your video series,It gave me a few ideas. You were a brave man using lacquer paint on foam. I honestly think after all that you could almost get away with flying a gas engine in a foam plane qith no ill effects,lol.I use a different light weight foam filler that has never let me down,I have to admit,I bought some of that crap with the primer in it. The garbage dont even work on a wall! I like the minwax poly,it works great as a sealer.I have noticed it softens the factory paint so its best to let it dry for a week before bending the rudder,airelons or other control surfaces.I use hot glue on all my control surface joints because everything else fails. I hate the joint tape,it uglys up an otherwize beautiful paint job. I know foam popcorns up easily,I dont like putting my planes in a hot car then leaving them.My first attempt at repairing compressed foam tought me about being careful with the steam around the hot pan of water.

[@Thercgeek]

+scott firman Thanks! I'm glad you found some helpful tips in the series and to know that you've rediscovered the hobby. The beauty of it is that it's here and available as much or as little as desired. Hopefully it can provide a little mental relief to you from the chronic pain. :( EPO is remarkably resilliant to a number of solvent based paints, I'm continually surprised by that. The primary drawback is that EPO doesn't really sand at all like a typical foam. It just gets "hairy" when you try to heavily sand it at all. So doing heavy modifications beyond just refinishing requires a little creativity.

[@warbuzzard7167]

Truly epic. I would be afraid to put that much time, energy and money into such a project for fear of how I would feel if I had even a minor-league mishap.

[@Thercgeek]

It's all part of the hobby. Thankfully, the number of successes usually far outweigh the mishaps. But it does happen...

[@MetHerInBaghdad]

Chris, outstanding work! You are doing a great job with the videos and the work you put into making this a version of Doc Wagner's P-51 really paid off well. Looks gorgeous!

[@Thercgeek]

+James VanWinkle Thank you! :)

[@DaveBrown-ue5os]

Awesome work Chris!! I've just bought the exact same P51 a bit beat up and its going to be my winter project to refurb and paint. All of these video's are going to be invaluable to me. Big thanks Dave..

[@Thercgeek]

So glad this will be helpful! I’m here to help if you have questions. Also, I have a free 5-step painting guide that might be helpful here: www.thercgeek.com/TRCGScaleGuide

[@badandy122376]

Great series. I am looking in to one of these models myself and like every hobbyist I can't leave well enough alone. Your tips on refinishing EPO are just what I was looking for. And the motor and retract upgrades are a bonus to boot. Beautiful model and excellent production overall. Great job.

[@Thercgeek]

+badandy122376 Thank you, I'm glad you found this series helpful!

[@DaveOfAllMasterOfNone]

Looks good man! I am surprised how well that foam can be refinished to look like.... not foam.

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@PatBALEX]

Great job Chris.. The paint job you did looks better than the first.. And you son did a great job on the pics. and video..

[@Thercgeek]

+PatBALEX Thank you! Both my kids helped a little bit with vid and pics and were excited I used some of their footage. :)

[@SATRAT-1]

G'day Chris, Greetings from Down Under, Australia! Bloody nice work mate, great vids..a great eye for detail. Awesome job!

[@Thercgeek]

+Steve Port Thank you!

[@jasonlee6247]

I'm new to the RC Plane hobby, the V8 FMS P-51D is my 3rd plane. I haven't flown it yet. Currently working out the amount of travel on the control surfaces, and found that the measurements stated in the manual don't seem to be possible. Your video helped me to know that .5 inch of elevator, rudder, and aileron travel is sufficient. The manual states high rates should be 1.6" Elv, .98" Rud, and 1.1" Ail. I'm unable to achieve that amount of travel with the included servos and linkages. Thank's for the helpful video!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I had the same issue, but it's way too much anyhow. Consider my settings a starting point. It's been perfect for how I like to fly the airplane. Note that I'm not using any expo with the setup. So, if you like expo, you may find the settings a little soft around center depending on how much expo you like to use. Just a heads up.

[@paulrandallhicks6498]

JOB GREATLY DONE, CHRIS!!!!!

[@Thercgeek]

+Paul Randall “Randy” Hicks Thank you and thanks for watching! :)

[@cockneygeezer3528]

thanks for that great video, I think I'll go with the metal retracts, all the best from the UK

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks for watching!!

[@user-wk7hs5en3o]

Отличный самолет получился! Удачи Вам и чистого неба!)))))

[@balsabreaker4272]

Beautifully done, fortunately here in the UK we rarely get enough sun to make the foam expand.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks for the kind words! We get way too much sun over here, so popcorn city, especially on a hot summer day. :( Only takes about 5 minutes before you start to see the foam swell up.

[@RussellGilder]

Nice work man, I have been looking at one of the P-51B variants in 1450mm from FMS and a repaint would be in the cards at some point for sure.

[@Thercgeek]

Nice! I've considered picking up a B model myself. I came across a paint scheme a while back that I liked quite a bit.

[@jefflarner]

Hey thanks, looks amazing. You mentioned a more scale prop you installed from Airfield. Could you provide the info on that part? Thanks, Jeff

[@Thercgeek]

The airfield brand was sold by nitroplanes.com. Unfortunately, they’ve not had that brand in stock for a few years. 😕

[@Xfolium1]

Wow, very nice. I still have an e-flight p51 beater plane and one new still in the box, love this plane!!!!!!

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@jasonlee6247]

I discovered a rather serious issue when working out the elevator rates. The pushrod was bending severely on up-elevator, and I was only getting 1/2 the distance up, as I was down. I got to thinking this could cause a crash especially once air resistance would add to the already weak pushrod and cause even further bending or inability for sufficient up-elevator to be achieved to pull out of a dive. I cut a 3/4" popsicle stick to match the width of the fuselage, drilled holes for the elevator and rudder pushrods, then epoxied the stick to the side foam supports, half-way down the fuselage. Now those pushrods don't bend at all, and I'm getting reliable travel on up-elevator, same as down. I'm surprised I haven't seen this being discussed more avidly in the rc groups. Of course, maybe it's there, and I just haven't seen it. I would think that most of these FMS V8 P-51s would have a similar issue unless I somehow got some especially weak pushrods.

[@Thercgeek]

I had the same issue on the elevator pushrods. I covered what I did in episode 2 of this series (thercgeek.com/2015/08/refinish-a-foam-warbird-ep2-fms-p-51/), but I basically something similar using epoxy and some light ply. I also noticed that the elevators twisted too when actuated and so fixed that as well by adding a stiffener across the back of the plastic carry through. It's a serious issue that needs to be fixed for sure.

[@jksilky]

Jason Lee I

[@danielburke6536]

excellent video, , I have a couple of foam aircraft to repaint..Thanks for sharing.

[@Thercgeek]

+Daniel Burke Thanks, my pleasure!

[@Michael-s2p3p]

Nice job with the painting and flying! What did you use for the final protective coat on top o the final paint? You mentioned it in your 3rd video but I didn't catch the name of the material. Thanks, keep these videos coming!

[@Thercgeek]

+Michael Lescord Thanks for the kind words! I definitely have more coming soon I hope. I used a non-yellowing lacquer clear coat. I have a gallon of the stuff that I got from Frazee paint. Otherwise, look at an automotive paint supply place possibly?

[@radioflitercairplanes1715]

Killer results !

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks!

[@dmelv]

well done! both video production and the content! thanks

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you so much!

[@franciskrueger7717]

Man! I watch watched the whole series all I can say is you are the MAESTRO. I think it's about time to do the same thing with my fms p51 has done 28 hrs from 6 mins each of flight time with any scratches or parts been replaced but the paintings are getting old. My question here is how much additional weight did it have now compare to to the original weight? Would the original power system will be capable enough of bringing this up in the air? It shows on your video that you upgraded the battery from 4s to 5s did you change the motor as weĺl? And what size?

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks for the kind words! Unfortunately, I forgot to weigh the airplane before I stripped it all down, so I don't know how much of a weight change there really was. On my kfir kit bash (thercgeek.com/kitbashing) the whole refinish only added about 6 oz which includes 2 oz of nose weight (so only 4 oz from the refinish itself). I've found that these foam warbirds sometimes fly too light and actually track and penetrate better with a slightly higher wing loading. I stock setup is pretty lethargic on 4 cells, but I'd expect that it would still pull the refinished airplane around. The upgraded motor is definitely recommended though as the airplane has fantastic power with it. This is the motor: www.motionrc.com/products/fms-4258-550kv-brushless-motor

[@thomasusowski2155]

I've had trouble with FMS retracts, but not as much as e-flite retracts! Ugh.. I always change out the eflite retracts, and install down & locked retracts!

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, those would definitely do the job.

[@frank-vq4mx]

I see you balanced the plane upright. Most planes that have a low wing are balanced upside down. What is your reasoning for your balance method ? thanks

[@Thercgeek]

Checking cg Upright or upside down doesn’t matter. Checking a low wing aircraft is just easier to manage upside down usually.

[@itzjoeylo4501]

Great 👍 series learned a lot. One question regarding the acetone, doesn’t acetone melt and turn styrofoam to mush? Did you only use it sparingly damp on a microfiber cloth?

[@Thercgeek]

The thing to keep in mind is that these foam airframes are epo foam which are extremely resilient to solvents and hold up to acetone. You’re thinking eps foam (beer cooler foam) which does turn to mush by most solvents, haha

[@itzjoeylo4501]

@@Thercgeek thank you Mr. Wolfe

[@kathleenrohloff232]

Super series and VERY helpful as well as very well done ! I have a Horizon Timber that I have stripped the stick on decals off. I used tape to put on a new paint scheme but it added WAY too much weight, especially in the tail. What paint would you recommend for ease of use and one that would as little weight as possible? This note will be signed by my wife but it is actually me..Carl LOL! Thank you !!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks for the kind words, I’m so glad you’ve found the series helpful! I use all sorts of different paints and the key to keeping it light is in the application. Heavier applications add more weight. The lightest would be airbrushing the paint on. That’s pretty challenging and time consuming on a large airframe, so I like to resort to the spray cans when I can. Can you move the battery forward at all? Or do you have a larger capacity pack you can fly with? Otherwise, I’d recommend adding a little weight to the nose to get the cg back where it should be.

[@kathleenrohloff232]

@@Thercgeek Thank you for your response. I've ruled our air brushing as being too time consuming also. Spray cans seems the way to go but what kind of paint do your suggest and would you primer first so that the final coat will stick to foam? I have two different views from two different hobby stores in the area. One said acrylic sprays don't work and are no longer made ? That was a hard one to agree with. The other suggested using acrylic but went so far as to suggest buying any spray paint from Ace Hardware ! I liked all of your approaches but I want to be sure before I end up putting on the wrong paint. And yes, I have to move the battery so I'll watch the CG and adjust accordingly and thanks for the suggestion. Carl Rohloff

[@Rcgary24]

i never realized you could go into that much detail in refinishing a foam plane , i just picked up a used Durafly P51 "Old Crow" , Im thinking of doing the same with it now that ive found your channel and watched a few of your videos , one quick question though , im not sure if i missed it anywhere but what was the "stock" weight of the mustang compared to the "finished" weight , im sure the filling and painting ha to have added a little bit of weight , not to mention the upgraded motor/esc etc....obviously it still flies beautifully , i am just curious?

[@Thercgeek]

+Rcgary24 I had intended to weigh the airplane before I started the filling process and forgot to, doh! So unfortunately I don't know specifically how much weight was added from the finish. The airplane with the finish on it weighs about 5-3/4 lb less the battery pack. That being said, I find that these foam warbirds actually track better with a little more weight to them. The little bit higher wing loading helps the airplane fly more true and penetrate better.

[@MrGunnar177]

Great series makes me wanna give it a try, was there a significant weight difference between the stock paint/plane and when you added the filler and primer?

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! I had intended to weigh the airplane before I stripped it down and forgot to so can't say definitively what the weight difference was. :( The truth is, the weight gain isn't huge and my experience has been that these foam warbirds tend to fly a little better with a little higher wing loading anyhow.

[@MrGunnar177]

The RC Geek thanks! Found my Texas winter project!

[@DrOksalev]

Awesome job!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks!

[@slipstreamracing692]

good helpful videos , thanks man

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@williewideback]

very nice video, is this FMS P-51 1700mm?

[@Thercgeek]

+williewideback Thanks! This is the FMS 1400mm size.

[@williewideback]

+The RC Geek ok thanks

[@jeffhenderson934]

Chris, thanks for the in-depth video! You may have already answered this below, or in the video itself, (my OCD/ADD/ADHD/Dyslexia wouldn’t allow me look) how many hours total did you put into this project? (I refinished an oak, homemade book cabinet we had dated to a family member back in 1867. I thought I’d have it refinished inside and out in 2 or 3 weekends. It turned out to be MONTHS!) Luckily the plane I want to try this process with is a F-4U Corsair and I want it a solid navy (no pun intended) blue. I wish I had your focus. Thanks again!

[@Thercgeek]

I think it was about 20hrs or so. I probably did the whole thing in about 6weeks including making the videos. Frankly, the vids I think took longer than the refinish, haha!

[@jeffhenderson934]

@@Thercgeek Well, today is the big day. 4 years of crashing in the making. I get my Flightline P-38 Pacific Silver. (With an extra nose, extra props, extra landing gear of course) This has been my dream plane since I was driving home 4 years, 9 days, and 6 hours later after destroying 2 WL Toys Push Props in under 10 minutes I bought for my son's for Christmas. As I was driving home wondering how long it would take me to get to the point of flying a 1600mm P-38 while looking at pile of styrofoam, broken props and bent pushrods, I was thinking 3 or 4 months. Turned out more like 3 or 4 years... It didn't help that my son's in the backseat were asking questions like- "Wasn't your dad an Air Force pilot?" "Was he a Kamikazee pilot like you?" "Aren't you supposed to fly above the chain link fence and the aluminum bench?" I think my piloting skills have gotten better. I'm now getting "Get Well Soon" cards from Bob Smith Industries, a reseller of packing tape on Amazon and the Spare Parts Dept at Motion RC and Horizon Hobby. Any advice on the setup or best way to land I'm all ears. No pressure, but I do tell people that are now asking me advice just getting into the sport, "Watch RC Geek. Chris' videos have shown me all the ends and outs of flying warbirds. Where I'm at today is because of Chris."

[@slipstreamracing692]

question if you don't mind , whats you battery position on the battery tray ? I run a 4 s 3600

[@Thercgeek]

I have the battery pushed all the way forward on the tray. I'm using a 30c 5s 5800.

[@slipstreamracing692]

thanks

[@waynemaccluskey4690]

Hey Chris, I have the same plane but the B model. Manual says not to go over 4 cell 2600, how are you using a 5 cell 5800?

[@Thercgeek]

yeah, it was just velcroed and strapped on the tray. Didn't take any modification. As long as the CG is in the right place, it's not a problem.

[@waynemaccluskey4690]

@@Thercgeek 👍

[@bootman4er]

I just bought a airfield P-51Mustang from NitroPlans. I have the gear working but the actuators hum and I don't know how to set the trim. I don't know how to set the flaps as well. I am a beginner. Can you help me to set this airplane up? I also have a A-10Thunderbolt/Warthogg from Motion RC. I was able to build them although on the A-10 there are no rudders. The front wheel turns but no rudder. I came to find that these are not the planes to be learning on so I ordered a frewing Pandora. The A-10 is made by Dynamo. I have tried their website. All three planes have gyros and I am able to set those up. It's the trim and setting the transmitter up that is catching me p. If you don't have time can you please direct me to where I can find the info? I would really appreciate it. When the Pandora get here I assemble it and take iii to fly. I have been working with a simulator. I also have 12 nitro RC helicopters. They are the size of align Terex pro 600. One Terex is fly bar two are fly bar less. I don't have those completely set up yet. I have not flown any of them yet. I do have a simulator for them too. But I can't wait to get the Pandora assembled and out to fly Thanks James McWhorter Rockmart GA.

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, you definitely want to know how to fly proficiently before stepping into jets and warbirds. Have you flown before? I would recommend getting connected with a local RC club as they typically have flight instructors to help get folks flying. It will help you progress quicker and save you time and money (less likely to crash). Also, they can help you with getting your aircraft setup properly too. Regarding the radio question, which radio are you using? First though before adjusting anything in the radio, you should mechanically adjust the pushrods so that all of the surfaces are centered. From there, adjust in the radio. Typically there's a servo "centering" or "sub-trims" in the radio if you're using a computer radio.

[@ogdragracing]

WOW excellent video If only I could make vids that good I would quite my job !!!

[@Thercgeek]

+tom “70duster1” LOR Thanks! And thanks for watching! :)

[@seanmolloy9422]

Hi Chris. its been 4 years. hows the paint job holding up to hangar rash ,bumps and grabs?

[@Thercgeek]

Well, if taken care of it holds up well. Some micro cracks did start to develop in the surface of the wing, but the wing also isn’t very rigid on this model either. The more rigid models I’ve done this type of refinish on haven’t developed any surface cracks. I actually don’t have the model anymore though, I gave it to Ken Wagner who owns the full scale Lady Alice, so it’s in his hangar now. 😊

[@seanmolloy9422]

@@Thercgeek smooth move!

[@sternslaptop]

Did you say really hot in SD? 😂😂😂. What’s hot for you? Try flying in Sacramento 😜😜

[@Thercgeek]

ok, maybe not Sacramento hot... ;) It does get pretty hot here occasionally though, haha

[@bosstaco771]

Where do you fly in San Diego?

[@Thercgeek]

I generally fly at wingmasters in the north county or at the Miramar field. Miramar is military only in terms of membership but has a good guest policy for civilians. It’s the best field around for flying large and/or high performance models.

[@gordonharvey4256]

you don't know what WE know Aus. WE don't get pop corn in the heat and it's bloody hot her mate.

[@Thercgeek]

So, what's the secret then? Keep it in the shade? ;)

[@gordonharvey4256]

We use www. deluxe materials laminating&finishing resin make a paste with model lite and 0.03 glass, glade to help sport. two or more coats will stop popcorn.

[@Thercgeek]

Ah, so basically glassing the airframe then. Makes sense. Do you have a link to the specific resin?

[@chillville5571]

Ill pay you to repaint my extra 300!!!

[@Thercgeek]

Appreciate the offer! Unfortunately, with everything I have going on, I don’t have time to do custom work like that currently.

[@chillville5571]

@@Thercgeek i doubt i can afford your time, that is amazing work! Wish i could get paid good money to build airplane kits all day.

[@nack8216]

$$$ ?

[@Thercgeek]

+Kritpred Wongsiri I'm not sure I understand what you're asking?