Plane Talk: Hyperion “Miss America” P-51 Mustang 25e - 2010/06

colors matched and looked
great. A shiny finish is
appropriate for this sleek Reno racer.
The smooth, round fuselage shape was
maintained by a design feature that allowed
a separate cowl to be used. Part of the
forward fuselage was recessed by the cowl’s
skin thickness, which allowed the cowl to
slide neatly into place.
The intersection of the fuselage and cowl
looked merely like another of
the many molded panel-line
details. I didn’t see something
yelling, “The oversized cowl
starts here!” as in numerous
other kits.
Many things made it fun to
assemble this ARF. It was a
pleasant surprise to find a
strong battery hatch-latch lever
mechanism and that the hatch
fit beautifully.
The covering that the builder
must normally remove to glue
the horizontal tail to the
fuselage was already cleared
away. The pushrod guides for the rudder and
elevator pushrods were already glued in
place.
Long cylindrical guides for the wing
hold-down bolts arrived glued in place in the
air scoop, enabling me to easily find the bolt
THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51 Mustang
is one of our nation’s best-known airplanes.
Even in this age of sleek, thundering jets, the
Mustang still stirs the hearts and
imaginations of many aircraft lovers.
That is not only a result of the P-51’s
excellent service record in World War II, but
also because of its beauty. It has a
streamlined fuselage, full canopy, nicely
tapered wings … I could go on, but I should
restrain myself.
The Miss America version of
the P-51 is stunning. I saw the
Hyperion rendering of Miss
America, and it looked like an
honorable effort. That company
also makes the Mustang in more
traditional color schemes; one is
the “Suzy” and the other is the
“LOU IV.”
I decided to add the
Hyperion Miss America to my
hangar and ordered it from R/C
Dude Hobbies. I wondered how
I could go wrong with a name
like that.
The box containing my purchase arrived
a few days later. Upon inspecting the kit, I
was immediately impressed.
This P-51 was capable of using two kinds of
propulsion: glow-ignition internal
June 2010 55
Plane Talk: Hyperion “Miss America” P-51 Mustang 25e
BEN LANTERMAN
RC version
in Reno
warbird
g lor y
A stunning
of the
that found
After only a few minutes of f lying, the author felt
comfortable enough with Miss America to make some low
passes. This model is fast and capable of performing all P-
51 maneuvers in a smooth manner.
combustion and electric. Mounts for both
power systems were included, and they
looked good.
One benefit of electric was that the
motor-and-propeller combination could be
sized to make the propeller look more scale.
That was the way to go for me.
As I reviewed the contents of the box, I
found numerous fiberglass parts that were
painted to a high-gloss finish. They included
a one-piece fiberglass fuselage with attached
molded vertical tail, a ventral radiator duct,
and a separate molded cowl.
The wing and tail components were
built-up wood, covered with a glossy heatshrink
plastic film. The paint and covering
06sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/22/10 12:29 PM Page 55
The Hyperion Miss America kit is complete. There are two
kinds of mounts: glow and electric. An excellent touch is the
removal of covering on the horizontal tail that is going to be in
contact with the fuselage.
The author used a Spektrum AR7000 receiver, four Hyperion
S100007K servos for the flight controls, and one Hyperion S070009K
servo for the retract system. Not shown is the JR 12X 2.4 GHz
transmitter supported in an RC Tray Man transmitter tray.
The power system is all Hyperion equipment: a ZS3025 eight-turn 970 Kv
brushless motor, ZS30 back mount adapter set, Atlas 60-amp 6S SBEC brushless
programmable ESC, G3 CX 3300 mAh 3S pack, G3 CX 3300 mAh 4S pack, and
ESC programmer.
The back mount included wooden spacers, but
the author chose to use metal nuts for spacers.
Notice the step molded into the fuselage that
allows the cowl to sit flush.
The spring coil of the retract mechanism
was an interference fit with the wing (but
easy to fix). It needs to be large enough to
allow the landing gear to retract with
adequate clearance all around the coil.
The author added bracing under the retract
servo’s left mounting lug. The centerline rib
has had material removed, to allow the
servo to slide into that space. Now the other
wing half can be installed.
The intersections of paint and covering
lines in the kit were great, except for this
spot. But it’s an easy fix with a blue
marking pen.
Static photos by the author Flight photos by Dave Evans
56 MODEL AVIATION
06sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/22/10 12:31 PM Page 56
June 2010 57
Takeoff with the Miss America is straight and unremarkable with the slow application
of power and minor rudder corrections.
Pluses and Minuses
+
• Fiberglass fuselage has nice panel lines
and rivet detail.
• Beautiful paint job nicely matches
covering colors.
• Cowl and battery hatch blend
seamlessly into the fuselage.
• Vertical stabilizer blends into the
fuselage; no jarring stabilizer-tofuselage
transition.
-•
Instructions could be better.
• Landing gear strut rotated on first
landing but was easily fixed.
• Cockpit detail is needed.
Specifications Test-Model Details
heads with a screwdriver. I added
extra epoxy around the outside of the
guides, to proactively protect them from my
screwdriver’s edges. All blind nuts were in
place as needed except for the motor mount
bolt and nut set, which would vary with the
propulsion method used.
The included retract mechanism was a
little jewel of all-metal construction, and it
seemed to be extremely strong. I found the
mechanism’s action to be smooth, and the
recommended servo had no problem driving
both retracts.
During flight-testing, I found that the
setscrew to hold the landing gear strut in
place had loosened and allowed the wheel
to rotate. The setscrew fit into a flat spot on
the gear strut, which would stop the
rotation. The gear worked fine after I
tightened the screw.
Model type: Semiscale RC ARF
Skill level: Intermediate builder,
intermediate pilot
Wingspan: 47.5 inches
Wing area: 397 square inches
Length: 41.4 inches
Weight: 3.2-3.6 pounds
Recommended power: 350-
to 500-watt electric system, .25
glow engine equivalent
Radio: Four channels
(minimum), four or five servos
Construction: Fiberglass
fuselage, hatch and cover
components, wooden wing and tail
Covering/finish: High-gloss
paint, heat-shrink film
Price: $209.95
Motor: Hyperion ZS3025 eight-turn,
970 Kv brushless; ZS30 Backmount
Adapter Set
ESC: Hyperion Atlas 60-amp 6S SBEC
brushless programmable
Battery: Hyperion G3 CX 3300 mAh
3S 25C/45C Li-Poly or Hyperion G3
CX 3300 mAh 4S 25C/45C Li-Poly
Propeller: 9 x 6-11 x 7.5 tested
Radio system: JR 12X 2.4 GHz 12-
channel transmitter, Spektrum AR7000
2.4 GHz DSM2 receiver, four Hyperion
Atlas digital DS12ACP servos, one
Hyperion Atlas digital DS13ACP servo
Model weight without battery:
67.52 ounces
Battery weight: Approximately 10
ounces
Ready-to-fly wing loading: 24.5
ounces/square foot
Flight duration: Five to 10 minutes
The kit doesn’t come with a pilot figure, and
the instrument decal is simple. The panel
the author used is a photo from a full-scale
P-51 that he adjusted to fit the model.
The many stars on the fuselage
and wing are not attached at
the factory. Set aside several
hours to spend in front of a
favorite DVD and cut away.
06sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/22/10 12:36 PM Page 57
Someone who is accustomed to building
expensive models might take all of this P-
51’s features for granted, but the average
modeler (such as I) will probably be
delighted with the attention given to the
small details.
However, one detail that isn’t delightful is
that the stars are not placed in position at the
factory. I had to cut them from a sheet, peel
them off, and stick them on the airplane. And
there are many stars.
Construction: Your eyes might be drawn to
the “Instructions with Diagrams,” but you
must not follow that build sequence. Instead,
follow the “Written Instruction” directions
and use the diagrams as a visual guide.
If you have purchased this model and are
capable of flying it, you should be able to
work your way through the instructions.
There isn’t a great deal of work to do and it
goes quickly. Thanks to this article and
customer feedback, I understand that
Hyperion is addressing the quality of the
instructions provided.
I used the recommended Hyperion servos,
ESC, Li-Poly batteries, and motor. I could
have gotten more inexpensive parts, but I
reasoned that although the cost of these
components was coming out of my personal
modeling fund, I could maximize the
airplane’s performance and lifetime if I
started with quality parts.
I won’t go into detail, repeating each
construction step, because reading such notes
in reviews is boring. The only thing you must
do in sequence is slide the elevator through
the fuselage slot before sliding the stabilizer
through the slot. Trust me; you can’t do that
in reverse order.
When I initially tried the retract
installation, the suspension coil bumped into
the wing. I used a Dremel rotary tool to
carefully remove the interference.
The retract-servo installation needs
clarification. Instructions would have you
join the wings and then install the servo and
retracts. It’s tough to bend wires and adjust
things with the wings glued together and the
servo installed; there is no room to work in
the small space available.
I used a different approach, which was to
work on a wing half at a time. I mounted the
servo and worked on all pushrod wire
bending until the retract on that wing half
worked perfectly.
I added balsa reinforcement between the
servo and the wing skin, to make it a solid
mount. Then I pushed the wing halves
together on the joiner (without glue) and
determined how to bend the pushrod from the
other retract until it worked okay.
As I pushed the wings together with 30-
minute epoxy, I fed the retract pushrod wire
of the second wing half through its servo
connector. There was a mess of epoxy to
contend with as it squirted out of the dihedral
joiner areas, so I was careful to wipe off the
excess.
Then I taped the wings together to hold
everything in position. After the epoxy
hardened, I fine-tuned the retract system and
fully tightened the setscrews on the servo
connector.
The little Atlas digital DS13 servo is
rugged. At the field I installed the flight
battery, turned on the transmitter, plugged in
the flight battery, checked the controls, and
tested the motor, with no problems. When I
picked up the airplane, the landing gear
retracted.
I had inadvertently knocked the retract
switch to the up position, leaving the DS13
all alone for at least five minutes, trying to
generate enough force to bring up the wheels.
The servo is still working fine and seems
none the worse for the abuse.
The little Hyperion servo does a beautiful
job of moving the landing gear and, if
properly set up, will never be overloaded. To
get a more realistic-looking retraction, you
can use the Hyperion servo programmer and
set the retract speed to two to three seconds.
For the P-51, I slowed retraction with the
programming features in the JR 12X
transmitter.
The included nylon wing hold-down bolts
have small cross-sections. As I was fitting the
wing, they twisted an alarming amount.
Rather than face the problem of a sheared
bolt, I found two bolts that worked in their
place.
The wing was not seating in the wing
saddle, because the most aft part of the TE
was not as rounded as the saddle. However, I
could force it into position with thumb
pressure.
I put two huge washers (pieces of
plywood would work) under the bolt heads
and pulled the wing into the fuselage saddle.
This procedure “squishes” the balsa just a bit.
Overnight the wing should fit fine, with
no pressure needed from then on. I
understand that this will be addressed in a
future version of the model.
When I initially put the blue spinner and
propeller on the motor and applied power,
there was a strong vibration. I removed the
propeller (which had been balanced) and
installed a spacer in its place. The spinner
still ran with a strong vibration. I removed
the spinner and mounted it on my magnetic
propeller/spinner balancer, where I found a
strong out-of-balance condition.
I dug through my spinner drawer and
found a 21/2-inch P-51-style Tru-Turn that
ran smoothly, so I decided to use it for flighttesting.
I’ll work on balancing the blue
spinner later, because it looks great on the
airplane.
After finishing the Mustang, I decided to
dress up the cockpit a little. I searched the
Internet and found a partial photo of a P-51
cockpit. Using Photoshop, I managed to
change it enough to fit in the appropriate area
in the model.
Then I looked through my stock and
found a cute lady pilot. It’s a bit big
scalewise, but it looks so much better than an
empty cockpit.
With a two-rate radio system, I set the
recommended control throws to the lowest
rate switch setting. This allows a pilot to
switch to the high rate settings if the need for
more control throw arises. You can adjust all
of this later to suit your individual tastes.
Verify that the ESC low-voltage cutoff
(LVC) is set to match the number of cells you
are using. I used the Hyperion Atlas 60-amp
ESC, and its LVC is set by a separate
handheld controller. Because the default LVC
is set for two Li-Poly cells and I was going to
use three, I needed to change the setting.
Power Experiments: You need to adjust the
propeller size to suit the flight performance
you desire. And be careful of the “goodness”
of the Li-Poly battery you are going to
employ; some of mine are getting old and
won’t perform as well as I would like.
I decided to test a collection of propellers
on the Hyperion ZS3025 eight-turn, 970 Kv
brushless motor with a new 3S CX 3300
mAh 25C Hyperion Li-Poly and a new 4S
CX 3300 mAh 25C Hyperion Li-Poly. The
results after five-second run times with
propeller load are as follows.
• 9 x 6 APC Sport with 3S CX: 265 watts,
11.7 volts, 22.8 amps, and 62.8 watts/pound
• 9 x 6 APC Sport with 4S CX: 456 watts,
14.0 volts, 33.0 amps, and 108.1 watts/pound
• 10 x 6 Top Flite with 3S CX: 350 watts,
11.7 volts, 30.0 amps, 72.3 watts/pound
• 10 x 6 Top Flite with 4S CX: 690 watts,
15.0 volts, 46.0 amps, 142.6 watts/pound
• 11 x 7.5 Top Flite with 3S CX: 480 watts,
11.4 volts, 42 amps, 113.7 watts/pound
60 MODEL AVIATION
I settled on the Top Flite 11 x 7.5 with the
3S battery for the first flight. At slightly more
than 100 watts per pound, I thought that
combo should give good initial thrust and be
reasonably easy on the battery. The ESC was
okay at 42 amps, since it is capable of 60.
Flight Test: The runway was a smooth paved
blacktop, the particular autumn day was in the
high 50s, and the wind was approximately 3
mph down the centerline of the runway.
Only a touch of right rudder and a bit of
up-elevator was required for Miss America to
take off. Liftoff also occurred at roughly the
same time that the command for full power
was given.
The model needed only slight right aileron
trim to be perfect in roll, and I was happy and
surprised to find that pitch trim seemed to be
right on. After one more turn around the field,
I realized that the Mustang was flying
beautifully and that I had forgotten to retract
the landing gear—so I did.
As I flew the airplane from one end of the
field to the other, I performed several typical
P-51 maneuvers. Loops were large and
straight. Rolls needed just a touch of downelevator
when inverted, giving a straight flight
path with a nice roll rate. Wingovers and half
Cuban 8s worked great for turnaround
maneuvers.
This aircraft is steady at lower air speeds
too. I guided it through several low-level,
tight 360° turns and it went where pointed.
What fun!
I flew the model into the landing pattern
where, after prompting, I remembered to
lower the landing gear and let Miss America
slow while letting the altitude drop on the
downwind and crosswind legs.
As the P-51 approached the end of the
runway, I felt that it was going a bit fast. So I
cut power entirely and let it glide in.
The coast to the runway was in a level
attitude and resulted in a main-wheelstouching-
first landing. There was a long,
gentle bounce, and the aircraft tracked down
the center of the runway, finally dropping to
the tail wheel.
The preceding flights gave me an
opportunity to evaluate the low-speed
region of the flight envelope. After a rapid
zoom climb to altitude (this is fun), I
throttled the airplane back to zero power
and it started gliding.
I slowly eased in up-elevator until I was
holding full aft stick. This is the elevator
deflection I use for normal maneuvering as
set on the low rate switch setting—not large
deflections that you would set up on the
high rate switch setting.
You can input enough up-elevator to
force the stall if you want, but you wouldn’t
want to fly with that setup. Even with
exponential, it wouldn’t be all that much
fun.
Using the low rate settings, Miss
America slowly glided with the nose pitched
up a bit. As the speed bled off, it gently
dropped the left wing. That was followed by
a dive and a slight loss in altitude, and then
back to nose-up level flight.
This was fairly consistent time after
time. At a speed a little faster than this, I
could hold the elevator full up and steer
the model around the sky fairly easily.
I was determined to do a slow landing,
so I took the airplane slower over the end
of the runway. As it got closer to the
runway, I fed in more up-elevator.
When the wheels touched down, I had
full up-elevator command held. The P-51
was going nice and slow and touched
down with no bounce. Perfect landing!
As I mentioned earlier, you should set
the control deflections that are normally
used in flight on the low rate switch. This
gives enough control movement to achieve
normal maneuvers but will protect you
from accidentally inputting a large amount
of elevator on landing and stalling the
model at the wrong time. Leave the high
control deflections to a high rate switch
setting, and go to them when you have a
lot of sky under the aircraft.
The smooth fiberglass fuselage with the
glossy “Miss America” color scheme
makes for a beautiful Stand-Off Scale
model. The build time is short and easy.
The total package (servos, radio, motor,
battery) that I used allowed it to perform
as a P-51 should.
The long dives reaching maximum
speed just over the runway reminded me
of full-scale Mustangs I have seen, and
they were terrific. The airplane’s low- and
high-speed handling qualities are good,
and the P-51 flies great with no surprises.
Control responses are smooth, and the
maneuverability is all that I had hoped.
Miss America’s speed is blistering with
the 3S Li-Poly, and I am looking forward
to investigating the 4S power option.
This model is not for the RC beginner.
You should have experience with at least
one low-wing, aileron-and-elevatorcontrolled
airplane before trying to fly it.
Miss America will reward you with a nice
flying experience. MA
Ben Lanterman
[email protected]
Manufacturer/Distributor:
Hyperion/Empire Hobby
950 E. Baseline Ave. Unit 210
Apache Junction AZ 85219
(480) 982-0909
www.empirerc.com
Sources:
R/C Dude Hobbies
(503) 657-6670
www.rcdude.com
JR
(800) 338-4639
www.jrradios.com
Spektrum
(800) 338-4639
www.spektrumrc.com

colors matched and looked
great. A shiny finish is
appropriate for this sleek Reno racer.
The smooth, round fuselage shape was
maintained by a design feature that allowed
a separate cowl to be used. Part of the
forward fuselage was recessed by the cowl’s
skin thickness, which allowed the cowl to
slide neatly into place.
The intersection of the fuselage and cowl
looked merely like another of
the many molded panel-line
details. I didn’t see something
yelling, “The oversized cowl
starts here!” as in numerous
other kits.
Many things made it fun to
assemble this ARF. It was a
pleasant surprise to find a
strong battery hatch-latch lever
mechanism and that the hatch
fit beautifully.
The covering that the builder
must normally remove to glue
the horizontal tail to the
fuselage was already cleared
away. The pushrod guides for the rudder and
elevator pushrods were already glued in
place.
Long cylindrical guides for the wing
hold-down bolts arrived glued in place in the
air scoop, enabling me to easily find the bolt
THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51 Mustang
is one of our nation’s best-known airplanes.
Even in this age of sleek, thundering jets, the
Mustang still stirs the hearts and
imaginations of many aircraft lovers.
That is not only a result of the P-51’s
excellent service record in World War II, but
also because of its beauty. It has a
streamlined fuselage, full canopy, nicely
tapered wings … I could go on, but I should
restrain myself.
The Miss America version of
the P-51 is stunning. I saw the
Hyperion rendering of Miss
America, and it looked like an
honorable effort. That company
also makes the Mustang in more
traditional color schemes; one is
the “Suzy” and the other is the
“LOU IV.”
I decided to add the
Hyperion Miss America to my
hangar and ordered it from R/C
Dude Hobbies. I wondered how
I could go wrong with a name
like that.
The box containing my purchase arrived
a few days later. Upon inspecting the kit, I
was immediately impressed.
This P-51 was capable of using two kinds of
propulsion: glow-ignition internal
June 2010 55
Plane Talk: Hyperion “Miss America” P-51 Mustang 25e
BEN LANTERMAN
RC version
in Reno
warbird
g lor y
A stunning
of the
that found
After only a few minutes of f lying, the author felt
comfortable enough with Miss America to make some low
passes. This model is fast and capable of performing all P-
51 maneuvers in a smooth manner.
combustion and electric. Mounts for both
power systems were included, and they
looked good.
One benefit of electric was that the
motor-and-propeller combination could be
sized to make the propeller look more scale.
That was the way to go for me.
As I reviewed the contents of the box, I
found numerous fiberglass parts that were
painted to a high-gloss finish. They included
a one-piece fiberglass fuselage with attached
molded vertical tail, a ventral radiator duct,
and a separate molded cowl.
The wing and tail components were
built-up wood, covered with a glossy heatshrink
plastic film. The paint and covering
06sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/22/10 12:29 PM Page 55
The Hyperion Miss America kit is complete. There are two
kinds of mounts: glow and electric. An excellent touch is the
removal of covering on the horizontal tail that is going to be in
contact with the fuselage.
The author used a Spektrum AR7000 receiver, four Hyperion
S100007K servos for the flight controls, and one Hyperion S070009K
servo for the retract system. Not shown is the JR 12X 2.4 GHz
transmitter supported in an RC Tray Man transmitter tray.
The power system is all Hyperion equipment: a ZS3025 eight-turn 970 Kv
brushless motor, ZS30 back mount adapter set, Atlas 60-amp 6S SBEC brushless
programmable ESC, G3 CX 3300 mAh 3S pack, G3 CX 3300 mAh 4S pack, and
ESC programmer.
The back mount included wooden spacers, but
the author chose to use metal nuts for spacers.
Notice the step molded into the fuselage that
allows the cowl to sit flush.
The spring coil of the retract mechanism
was an interference fit with the wing (but
easy to fix). It needs to be large enough to
allow the landing gear to retract with
adequate clearance all around the coil.
The author added bracing under the retract
servo’s left mounting lug. The centerline rib
has had material removed, to allow the
servo to slide into that space. Now the other
wing half can be installed.
The intersections of paint and covering
lines in the kit were great, except for this
spot. But it’s an easy fix with a blue
marking pen.
Static photos by the author Flight photos by Dave Evans
56 MODEL AVIATION
06sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/22/10 12:31 PM Page 56
June 2010 57
Takeoff with the Miss America is straight and unremarkable with the slow application
of power and minor rudder corrections.
Pluses and Minuses
+
• Fiberglass fuselage has nice panel lines
and rivet detail.
• Beautiful paint job nicely matches
covering colors.
• Cowl and battery hatch blend
seamlessly into the fuselage.
• Vertical stabilizer blends into the
fuselage; no jarring stabilizer-tofuselage
transition.
-•
Instructions could be better.
• Landing gear strut rotated on first
landing but was easily fixed.
• Cockpit detail is needed.
Specifications Test-Model Details
heads with a screwdriver. I added
extra epoxy around the outside of the
guides, to proactively protect them from my
screwdriver’s edges. All blind nuts were in
place as needed except for the motor mount
bolt and nut set, which would vary with the
propulsion method used.
The included retract mechanism was a
little jewel of all-metal construction, and it
seemed to be extremely strong. I found the
mechanism’s action to be smooth, and the
recommended servo had no problem driving
both retracts.
During flight-testing, I found that the
setscrew to hold the landing gear strut in
place had loosened and allowed the wheel
to rotate. The setscrew fit into a flat spot on
the gear strut, which would stop the
rotation. The gear worked fine after I
tightened the screw.
Model type: Semiscale RC ARF
Skill level: Intermediate builder,
intermediate pilot
Wingspan: 47.5 inches
Wing area: 397 square inches
Length: 41.4 inches
Weight: 3.2-3.6 pounds
Recommended power: 350-
to 500-watt electric system, .25
glow engine equivalent
Radio: Four channels
(minimum), four or five servos
Construction: Fiberglass
fuselage, hatch and cover
components, wooden wing and tail
Covering/finish: High-gloss
paint, heat-shrink film
Price: $209.95
Motor: Hyperion ZS3025 eight-turn,
970 Kv brushless; ZS30 Backmount
Adapter Set
ESC: Hyperion Atlas 60-amp 6S SBEC
brushless programmable
Battery: Hyperion G3 CX 3300 mAh
3S 25C/45C Li-Poly or Hyperion G3
CX 3300 mAh 4S 25C/45C Li-Poly
Propeller: 9 x 6-11 x 7.5 tested
Radio system: JR 12X 2.4 GHz 12-
channel transmitter, Spektrum AR7000
2.4 GHz DSM2 receiver, four Hyperion
Atlas digital DS12ACP servos, one
Hyperion Atlas digital DS13ACP servo
Model weight without battery:
67.52 ounces
Battery weight: Approximately 10
ounces
Ready-to-fly wing loading: 24.5
ounces/square foot
Flight duration: Five to 10 minutes
The kit doesn’t come with a pilot figure, and
the instrument decal is simple. The panel
the author used is a photo from a full-scale
P-51 that he adjusted to fit the model.
The many stars on the fuselage
and wing are not attached at
the factory. Set aside several
hours to spend in front of a
favorite DVD and cut away.
06sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/22/10 12:36 PM Page 57
Someone who is accustomed to building
expensive models might take all of this P-
51’s features for granted, but the average
modeler (such as I) will probably be
delighted with the attention given to the
small details.
However, one detail that isn’t delightful is
that the stars are not placed in position at the
factory. I had to cut them from a sheet, peel
them off, and stick them on the airplane. And
there are many stars.
Construction: Your eyes might be drawn to
the “Instructions with Diagrams,” but you
must not follow that build sequence. Instead,
follow the “Written Instruction” directions
and use the diagrams as a visual guide.
If you have purchased this model and are
capable of flying it, you should be able to
work your way through the instructions.
There isn’t a great deal of work to do and it
goes quickly. Thanks to this article and
customer feedback, I understand that
Hyperion is addressing the quality of the
instructions provided.
I used the recommended Hyperion servos,
ESC, Li-Poly batteries, and motor. I could
have gotten more inexpensive parts, but I
reasoned that although the cost of these
components was coming out of my personal
modeling fund, I could maximize the
airplane’s performance and lifetime if I
started with quality parts.
I won’t go into detail, repeating each
construction step, because reading such notes
in reviews is boring. The only thing you must
do in sequence is slide the elevator through
the fuselage slot before sliding the stabilizer
through the slot. Trust me; you can’t do that
in reverse order.
When I initially tried the retract
installation, the suspension coil bumped into
the wing. I used a Dremel rotary tool to
carefully remove the interference.
The retract-servo installation needs
clarification. Instructions would have you
join the wings and then install the servo and
retracts. It’s tough to bend wires and adjust
things with the wings glued together and the
servo installed; there is no room to work in
the small space available.
I used a different approach, which was to
work on a wing half at a time. I mounted the
servo and worked on all pushrod wire
bending until the retract on that wing half
worked perfectly.
I added balsa reinforcement between the
servo and the wing skin, to make it a solid
mount. Then I pushed the wing halves
together on the joiner (without glue) and
determined how to bend the pushrod from the
other retract until it worked okay.
As I pushed the wings together with 30-
minute epoxy, I fed the retract pushrod wire
of the second wing half through its servo
connector. There was a mess of epoxy to
contend with as it squirted out of the dihedral
joiner areas, so I was careful to wipe off the
excess.
Then I taped the wings together to hold
everything in position. After the epoxy
hardened, I fine-tuned the retract system and
fully tightened the setscrews on the servo
connector.
The little Atlas digital DS13 servo is
rugged. At the field I installed the flight
battery, turned on the transmitter, plugged in
the flight battery, checked the controls, and
tested the motor, with no problems. When I
picked up the airplane, the landing gear
retracted.
I had inadvertently knocked the retract
switch to the up position, leaving the DS13
all alone for at least five minutes, trying to
generate enough force to bring up the wheels.
The servo is still working fine and seems
none the worse for the abuse.
The little Hyperion servo does a beautiful
job of moving the landing gear and, if
properly set up, will never be overloaded. To
get a more realistic-looking retraction, you
can use the Hyperion servo programmer and
set the retract speed to two to three seconds.
For the P-51, I slowed retraction with the
programming features in the JR 12X
transmitter.
The included nylon wing hold-down bolts
have small cross-sections. As I was fitting the
wing, they twisted an alarming amount.
Rather than face the problem of a sheared
bolt, I found two bolts that worked in their
place.
The wing was not seating in the wing
saddle, because the most aft part of the TE
was not as rounded as the saddle. However, I
could force it into position with thumb
pressure.
I put two huge washers (pieces of
plywood would work) under the bolt heads
and pulled the wing into the fuselage saddle.
This procedure “squishes” the balsa just a bit.
Overnight the wing should fit fine, with
no pressure needed from then on. I
understand that this will be addressed in a
future version of the model.
When I initially put the blue spinner and
propeller on the motor and applied power,
there was a strong vibration. I removed the
propeller (which had been balanced) and
installed a spacer in its place. The spinner
still ran with a strong vibration. I removed
the spinner and mounted it on my magnetic
propeller/spinner balancer, where I found a
strong out-of-balance condition.
I dug through my spinner drawer and
found a 21/2-inch P-51-style Tru-Turn that
ran smoothly, so I decided to use it for flighttesting.
I’ll work on balancing the blue
spinner later, because it looks great on the
airplane.
After finishing the Mustang, I decided to
dress up the cockpit a little. I searched the
Internet and found a partial photo of a P-51
cockpit. Using Photoshop, I managed to
change it enough to fit in the appropriate area
in the model.
Then I looked through my stock and
found a cute lady pilot. It’s a bit big
scalewise, but it looks so much better than an
empty cockpit.
With a two-rate radio system, I set the
recommended control throws to the lowest
rate switch setting. This allows a pilot to
switch to the high rate settings if the need for
more control throw arises. You can adjust all
of this later to suit your individual tastes.
Verify that the ESC low-voltage cutoff
(LVC) is set to match the number of cells you
are using. I used the Hyperion Atlas 60-amp
ESC, and its LVC is set by a separate
handheld controller. Because the default LVC
is set for two Li-Poly cells and I was going to
use three, I needed to change the setting.
Power Experiments: You need to adjust the
propeller size to suit the flight performance
you desire. And be careful of the “goodness”
of the Li-Poly battery you are going to
employ; some of mine are getting old and
won’t perform as well as I would like.
I decided to test a collection of propellers
on the Hyperion ZS3025 eight-turn, 970 Kv
brushless motor with a new 3S CX 3300
mAh 25C Hyperion Li-Poly and a new 4S
CX 3300 mAh 25C Hyperion Li-Poly. The
results after five-second run times with
propeller load are as follows.
• 9 x 6 APC Sport with 3S CX: 265 watts,
11.7 volts, 22.8 amps, and 62.8 watts/pound
• 9 x 6 APC Sport with 4S CX: 456 watts,
14.0 volts, 33.0 amps, and 108.1 watts/pound
• 10 x 6 Top Flite with 3S CX: 350 watts,
11.7 volts, 30.0 amps, 72.3 watts/pound
• 10 x 6 Top Flite with 4S CX: 690 watts,
15.0 volts, 46.0 amps, 142.6 watts/pound
• 11 x 7.5 Top Flite with 3S CX: 480 watts,
11.4 volts, 42 amps, 113.7 watts/pound
60 MODEL AVIATION
I settled on the Top Flite 11 x 7.5 with the
3S battery for the first flight. At slightly more
than 100 watts per pound, I thought that
combo should give good initial thrust and be
reasonably easy on the battery. The ESC was
okay at 42 amps, since it is capable of 60.
Flight Test: The runway was a smooth paved
blacktop, the particular autumn day was in the
high 50s, and the wind was approximately 3
mph down the centerline of the runway.
Only a touch of right rudder and a bit of
up-elevator was required for Miss America to
take off. Liftoff also occurred at roughly the
same time that the command for full power
was given.
The model needed only slight right aileron
trim to be perfect in roll, and I was happy and
surprised to find that pitch trim seemed to be
right on. After one more turn around the field,
I realized that the Mustang was flying
beautifully and that I had forgotten to retract
the landing gear—so I did.
As I flew the airplane from one end of the
field to the other, I performed several typical
P-51 maneuvers. Loops were large and
straight. Rolls needed just a touch of downelevator
when inverted, giving a straight flight
path with a nice roll rate. Wingovers and half
Cuban 8s worked great for turnaround
maneuvers.
This aircraft is steady at lower air speeds
too. I guided it through several low-level,
tight 360° turns and it went where pointed.
What fun!
I flew the model into the landing pattern
where, after prompting, I remembered to
lower the landing gear and let Miss America
slow while letting the altitude drop on the
downwind and crosswind legs.
As the P-51 approached the end of the
runway, I felt that it was going a bit fast. So I
cut power entirely and let it glide in.
The coast to the runway was in a level
attitude and resulted in a main-wheelstouching-
first landing. There was a long,
gentle bounce, and the aircraft tracked down
the center of the runway, finally dropping to
the tail wheel.
The preceding flights gave me an
opportunity to evaluate the low-speed
region of the flight envelope. After a rapid
zoom climb to altitude (this is fun), I
throttled the airplane back to zero power
and it started gliding.
I slowly eased in up-elevator until I was
holding full aft stick. This is the elevator
deflection I use for normal maneuvering as
set on the low rate switch setting—not large
deflections that you would set up on the
high rate switch setting.
You can input enough up-elevator to
force the stall if you want, but you wouldn’t
want to fly with that setup. Even with
exponential, it wouldn’t be all that much
fun.
Using the low rate settings, Miss
America slowly glided with the nose pitched
up a bit. As the speed bled off, it gently
dropped the left wing. That was followed by
a dive and a slight loss in altitude, and then
back to nose-up level flight.
This was fairly consistent time after
time. At a speed a little faster than this, I
could hold the elevator full up and steer
the model around the sky fairly easily.
I was determined to do a slow landing,
so I took the airplane slower over the end
of the runway. As it got closer to the
runway, I fed in more up-elevator.
When the wheels touched down, I had
full up-elevator command held. The P-51
was going nice and slow and touched
down with no bounce. Perfect landing!
As I mentioned earlier, you should set
the control deflections that are normally
used in flight on the low rate switch. This
gives enough control movement to achieve
normal maneuvers but will protect you
from accidentally inputting a large amount
of elevator on landing and stalling the
model at the wrong time. Leave the high
control deflections to a high rate switch
setting, and go to them when you have a
lot of sky under the aircraft.
The smooth fiberglass fuselage with the
glossy “Miss America” color scheme
makes for a beautiful Stand-Off Scale
model. The build time is short and easy.
The total package (servos, radio, motor,
battery) that I used allowed it to perform
as a P-51 should.
The long dives reaching maximum
speed just over the runway reminded me
of full-scale Mustangs I have seen, and
they were terrific. The airplane’s low- and
high-speed handling qualities are good,
and the P-51 flies great with no surprises.
Control responses are smooth, and the
maneuverability is all that I had hoped.
Miss America’s speed is blistering with
the 3S Li-Poly, and I am looking forward
to investigating the 4S power option.
This model is not for the RC beginner.
You should have experience with at least
one low-wing, aileron-and-elevatorcontrolled
airplane before trying to fly it.
Miss America will reward you with a nice
flying experience. MA
Ben Lanterman
[email protected]
Manufacturer/Distributor:
Hyperion/Empire Hobby
950 E. Baseline Ave. Unit 210
Apache Junction AZ 85219
(480) 982-0909
www.empirerc.com
Sources:
R/C Dude Hobbies
(503) 657-6670
www.rcdude.com
JR
(800) 338-4639
www.jrradios.com
Spektrum
(800) 338-4639
www.spektrumrc.com