i will call it for the night, i have applied the "skins" to the top side of the stab. tomorrow, i will smooth it out, sand it down, them wait for carbon fiber rods to come in, before i glue in the bottom "skins"

The contra rotating prop arrangement came from the Avro Shackleton aircraft. The need for it on the Red Baron arose from needing to absorb the near 4000 horsepower the modified Griffon engine was capable of delivering. It was impractical to enlarge the diameter of the blades due to the tip speed going super sonic. The 5 blade prop arrangement was very rare and hard to find but the Shackleton propdrives were not hard to get due to the decommission of the aircraft. At that time the Griffon with the Contra drive were much easier to get than the Merlin was .

Rick

these are some real life P51 racers

Are you going to go with the conventional bubble canopy or build yous as one of the turtledeck style racers?

Rick

Do not know yet, have not gotten there yet, but good to think about.
i need to see what the turtleneck style racer canopy looks like, if i recall correctly, it is flusg with the turtleneck on the back side??

i have made some weight measurements differences:
the Fuji 43 cc weighs 64.19 ounces with the muffler
the zenoah G62 with muffler weighs 82 ounces
the DA 85 without muffler weighs 68 ounces. i am sure the muffler will be another 6 ounces or so, so maybe 74 ounces total for the DA 85, so i will plan on installing the one rudder servo and both elevator servos on the tail. i also plan on manufacturing G10 control horns for all of the control surfaces,m so i can use ball links with turnbuckles on all surfaces.

I mocked up all of mine and checked the CG and I had to put all my flight servos in the tail under the tail retract.. It was a tight squeeze but it all fit.. I have to have as much weight in the back as possible to offset the 8S battery cinfiguration under the front hatch/scoop..

Rick

Thank you Rick, this makes me much more comfortable in doing this then. i appreciate you.

Did you use flat hinges or point hinges?

It had regular flat CA hinges. I cut all the hinges and am going to cover all the surfaces then rehinge with flat pin type hinges..

waiting for the carbon fiber rods. once they arrive, i will drill all the way across, and put two rods in, support them and glue them. this will give great support to the stab. then i will put skins on, and do final sanding, then on to the elevators, i will make elevator LE out of hardwood, instead of balsa, so that it will be more resistant to flexing/bending.

like i said, i will probably be done by summer time.

i did get to order the DA 85 today, and someone on flying giants posted that they too are building a top flute P51 with a DA 85. i feel good i am not the only one. he will use special order Keleo exhaust. i am going to use a Pitts muffler that will exit in bottom of cowl.

https://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/...9&postcount=22

hi orthobird ,
sent you a PM ,

later,
Mark K.

Thank you MArk!
so far, all i have built is the stab, and even then, it is not complete.

i will take your advice!!

Hi Orthobird ,
A Reno Racer , Subscribed !!!!!!!!!!!!
Take a look in your past " AMA Mags " ( Ugh , $#@! , Now can't find it .... ) they showed a District News letter
from out west , Showing their " Mustang Racers " Maybe They can help when hit the " NITRUS Button " HA !!!!
Oh , Time Flys ,
Off to work ,
Later ,
Mark K.