RC P-40: Flight Eleven

The P-40 model is powered by an 850KV Dualsky motor and a 12 x 6 propeller, running on a 5000mAh 4S LiPo battery. Flight Review: I committed to the retract locations and the new setup, so I put in some extra effort reinforcing the mounting points with glue and getting the retracts working again. I was quite nervous about the takeoff, as I am still recovering from an injury to my left hand and did not have the rudder control I would normally like. Unfortunately, this resulted in a pretty rough takeoff. Once I was up in the air, though, I managed some really smooth flying and low passes. This plane has such a presence in the air, and it was great to see it flying again. I have owned this model for a very long time, even before I started the channel, and the retracts had been the main thing keeping it grounded. The replacement retracts came from a crashed F14 Tomcat. They are a little bit short for the P40, but they work. The best part of the flight was the manoeuvrability of the airframe. I was able to put it through some really smooth rolls, although there is a slight wobble or oscillation that develops in flight. I suspect there might be a little slack in the rudder, so I will look into adjusting it to see if I can eliminate that rocking motion. For the landing, I came in a little too far down the runway, which resulted in the wings scraping the ground before the model bounced back up. Fortunately, it did not flip over, and the P40 came through the landing without the dramatic finish I was worried about.