Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: COndor06 on February 03, 2014, 07:33:03 AM

Title: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: COndor06 on February 03, 2014, 07:33:03 AM
This was a couple of short test flights on the Corsair to check cylinder temps and ignition. All went well. Next week we will have some low passes.

Its very cool to hear that radial and gun port whistle. Plane flew awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnqU3ZgcK3k (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnqU3ZgcK3k)

Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: colmbo on February 03, 2014, 07:38:04 AM
Is that 240F?  Is that considered a high CHT?  We would run well above that on full size aircraft.
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: WEZEL on February 03, 2014, 07:41:32 AM
Wow that engine sounds way cool, congrats on the successful test
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: mthrockmor on February 03, 2014, 07:42:33 AM
Good stuff!

Don't let me around that bird! I normally have to auger the first 4 or 5 flights in a new bird before I get the feel for it. Part of my test flight check list.

boo
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: COndor06 on February 03, 2014, 07:42:50 AM
Yes, its 240 F. That was a real concern when I flew it. IT would be high for a nitro motor but after speaking with Saito this morning, they tell me its all good up to 280 degrees and that I was actually running cooler than usual.

The Saito FG 84 R3 is a gas 4 stroke radial engine and apparently under the same dynamics of its larger brothers for engine temps. Who knew?
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: COndor06 on February 03, 2014, 07:48:24 AM
The aircraft has been sitting on the bench for 3 weeks waiting on weather or at least a day without 15-20 with gust of 30. Next weekend we will film some low passes and aerobatics. To me she looks naked without rockets. I might have to change that.

I do like the gun port whistle she makes. Adds to the cool factor.
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: Rich46yo on February 03, 2014, 08:36:46 AM
Beautiful airplane.
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: Nypsy on February 03, 2014, 10:44:08 AM
 :aok
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: Puma44 on February 03, 2014, 01:51:15 PM
Very nice!
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: homersipes on February 04, 2014, 05:29:41 AM
very nice flight  :aok  its always nice to get the first couple flights out of the way, then the nerves can settle :lol
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: mbailey on February 04, 2014, 05:46:23 AM
She even has the whistle!!     Very nice COndor....good to see ur project turn out so amazing   :aok
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: eagl on February 04, 2014, 05:54:39 AM
Wow that sounds awesome!  It looks like it flies very well too, and the ground handling looked better than I expected.  A nice well kept grass runway helps larger models that's for sure.

Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: COndor06 on February 04, 2014, 07:55:49 AM
Thanks you guys for all the kind words. I would love to take the credit for the flight but to be honest about it, this bird almost fly's herself. The complete kit is an ARF from Hanger 9 built and covered. All I had to do was install the engine, servos, and retracts. They did just an amazing job producing this plane.

I did add the whistles though. Now that we know the engine temps are good I will get her on the deck for some great video shots. Its raining her in NC the next few days but hopefully I will get a chance to fly her this weekend. I will post better video. The Maiden video is just so boring (other than the landing shots)
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: homersipes on February 04, 2014, 07:44:27 PM
 :aok I have seen several ARFs crash on the maiden voyage, a couple were just plain stupid, one of them that sticks out in my mind is a topflight p51 giant sale, he never really did the proper prflight and had ailerons reversed.  another the wings separated in flight, unsure of what happened with that one, it was a tower trainer.  none the less that corsair is a fine looking bird  :aok :cheers:  and it looks like its a blast to fly.
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: HPriller on February 05, 2014, 12:58:02 AM
Haha reversed ailerons, I've seen that on so many flights, both maidens and otherwise at my old field.  I even did it myself once or twice when someone messed with the servo reversals on my transmitter.  We had some pilots that were actually pretty good at dealing with that after the fact.  There was all kinds of sloppy stuff going on with maiden flights.  Some guy flew a 40 size trainer with 1 rubber band on each wing (I typically used about 12 total).  It was pretty spectacular when the wing came off at altitude.

That corsair is spectacular, really makes me miss flying these things.   I'd love to see how it handles stalls and spins, I didn't see that on the maiden video.  I had a friend who had a pt19 model that could do the most impressive flat spins, they could be pancake flat and fast turning with very slow sinkrate.   Most of the other warbirds I'd seen would just drop like a rock in a spin. 

Glad to hear of a well designed ARF.  I once bought a Zero ARF from some guy who was in over his head and it turned out to be ridiculously poorly designed.  The company that made it had it discontinued only a few months after it's release.  It was a .40 size plane but the kit always came out RIDICULOUSLY tail heavy, with an incredibly oversize elevator assembly.  On mine, I put a Saito 90 four stroke in it (tailheavy so why not), and still had to add over 2lb's of weight in propeller hubs and firewall weights.  The bird came in over 10lbs and I had the elevator travels measured in millimeters.  It was sooo touchy on the elevator and would snaproll with basically no warning, it needed a really hot landing speed.  Was fun while it lasted but eventually I killed it coming in a tad too slow on a landing.  It also used to break props constantly because of all this.
Title: Re: We maidened the F4U Corsair yesterday.
Post by: homersipes on February 05, 2014, 07:18:04 AM
 :rofl  wow 1 band on each wing, never seen that before.  I have a dynaflight pt19 that does flat spins just as you are describing, that is one of the most fun planes I have ever flown.  heck I learned how to fly on a 1/4 scale j3 cub by balsa usa everyone in the club said I needed a regular trainer, but 2 guys that were into big planes took over training me.  I didn't have too much trouble learning and didnt have to transition to taildraggers. :rock