Plug-in stab and mounted vertical fin insure great alignment. Airframe work was well done and the cowl flawless (above left). Use two metal ¼-inch bolts with rubber bands to help hold the wing together as shown (above right). Front dowels are not glued yet but also used to hold the wing halves together. This
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TOP FLITE
photo (below left) shows the aluminum reinforcement for the main landing gear mounts. It’s overly strong for just a 22.5-pound airplane. The very complete hardware pack includes engine spacers, machine guns and a spar brace strong enough to be a cricket bat (below right).
Off to the shop Building the wing: Decide if you want retracts or not. Adding the Robart 100-de- gree rotating retracts (No.150) greatly adds to the airplane’s realism and flight charac- teristics. They do cost about $410 while the retractable tail wheel (160LWC) costs an- other $150. The $80 Robart Large Deluxe Air Control Kit (157VRX) is required. As adding retracts can quickly become expen- sive, you might want to start with just the main retract gear. The tail wheel can be eas- ily installed after the airplane has flown and you become as much enamored with it as have I. All the P-40’s Robart retractable landing
gear are exceedingly strong and have proven very reliable. It is great to watch them cycle just as did the full size. The left main starts up while the right gear begins retracting only when the left has reached its halfway point. Retract and extension speeds are ful- ly adjustable. After deciding on the main gear selection,
it is easier to install the wing’s mechanics before joining the wing halves. The aileron and flap servos mount to the hatch covers. Epoxy the servo mount blocks to the under- side of the four hatches and reinforce them with a screw. Install a 1-inch servo output arm for maximum deflection. Based on my flight testing, the ailerons should move 20 degrees up and 18 degrees down. This pro-
FLYING MODELS
vides the maximum roll rate without exces- sive adverse yaw (the “book” says 18 degrees both directions). The P-40’s best roll rate is very scale but
a bit slow for advanced aerobatics. If you prefer a slightly faster roll and a steadier airplane on sharp pull-ups without adding adverse yaw, seal the aileron gaps with Flat Dove Gray MonoKote™ (TOPQ0511). The factory installed aileron gaps are slightly large at 1
⁄16 inch. The split flaps should de-
ploy 2¹⁄₂ inches. All control rods are factory cut but some servo clevises must be soldered in place. Pay special attention to the landing gear mounting blocks’ orientation. Follow the book exactly as pictured. Once all the wing mechanics have been installed and tested, route all the servo and airline leads out the center holes using the strings installed for this purpose. The wing is conventionally joined using a
huge, 1-piece spar brace. As usual, coat the spar and pockets with 30-minute epoxy and the root rib with 12-minute. This provides the strength of slow epoxy with the conve- nience of a faster set time. Don‘t forget to in- stall the rear alignment dowel. Hold the wing halves together with low-tack masking tape, a rear clamp and rubber bands around the leading edge dowels. Insert two ¼-inch metal bolts through the bolt holes and rub- ber band them together top and bottom as
shown. The gear fairings are screwed in place after the gear passes its final tests. Do not glue in the leading edge dowels un-
til after the wing is fitted to the fuselage. The fit is tight and you may have to slight- ly enlarge a dowel hole in the wing for prop- er fitting. Building the fuselage: Since there is a
lot of fuselage turning during engine, fuel tank and cowl installation, you may wish to install the stabilizer after completing the front end and radio installation. The engine I chose for this P-40 is the DLE-55. Not only is it the recommended engine but several flying friends have been using this exact en- gine in their aerobatic airplanes and strong- ly suggest that it has proven a real winner for them. They were right. The DLE requires using both provided
spacers and the stock engine stand-offs to reach the required firewall to thrust washer 6⁷⁄₈-inch distance. Use ¾-inch fender wash- ers (not provided) on the firewall rear bolts. This is a strong engine and the washers will help prevent the dreaded “bolt head pull through”. The engine’s throttle linkage works normally; just unscrew and reverse the arm. The choke linkage is also set for servo operation and is offset from the throt- tle arm. I suggest using a servo, as con- structing a manual linkage would be very difficult. The engine fits entirely within the cowling
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