Good stuff.... I have the same plane and the retracts bent on my first hot landing.... couldn’t get the replacements for the plane but since it’s been sitting for 3 years, I finally got around to having time to retro fit it. Much appreciated information. Nothing else is wrong with this plane. So glad I didn’t piece it out to build another.... I’ve just been flying my others and building my fleet.... it’s vids like yours that keep people into this great hobby. Thanks 🙏
Thank you for the kind words. This plane certainly deserves better components (mostly retracts) than it got. When my 1400mm FMS Hellcat was still flying I still preferred the Dynam.
I looked at my local Menards and can get a long drill bit for $11 and of course I can get carbon fiber rods at the local hobby shop. I dont know what the killer planes kits go for but,its a no brainer. The impovements are always a good thing. Nice plane. I always replace the dynam led bulbs with an Turnigy kit with the flasher generator. Its really easy to do and I use the existing wiring.
Great job on the mods. I love that Killer planes crash-proofing.. Did it to my Dynam Hellcat and made one tough bird.. Good fix on the retracts. I may swap mind out soon..
Whoa! How do I always miss stuff like this? VERY nice job all around, especially the gear, which I think is the "weakest" part of the plane (meaning, not as nice as the plane is) I'm going to try that motor and prop, since I always want more power, and that gear setup you did. I just happen to LOVE the way this plane flies, so I think all the mods are worth it. We also put a windshield in ours, with the cam in the cockpit, which made some great footage for our Dynam F6F video. Since you're obviously into this, you might want to look at an airbrush- you can get them with a compressor on ebay for about $70, and it's well worth it for doing smoke stains and other stuff (especially like German "spotty" camo paint jobs) You just need to thin the Lowes or HD house paint samples with some water
Thanks for sharing. I’ve got the retracts ordered and was going to ask about tiers . Does the 1450mm P-51 bigger then original tiers off Hellcat or will I need to bore out wheel bay and lengthen the shaft channel? Thanks, hope your still flying 👍🏻✌🏻🖖🏻
Yes, the 1450mm Mustang tires (from the version 8 era) require the wheel bay to be enlarged a little bit. I don't think I had to modify the geat channel any. Cut carefully! It is easy to cut through the top surface of the wing!
Hey Chris, great vids thank you. I just bought a Dynam Hellcat but am planning to run it with a 4s 4000mAh battery. Do you think the stock 40a esc can handle it or should I upgrade to a 60a esc. Many thanks.
Whiskey Jet, I strongly suggest you upgrade the stock Dynam ESC, both because your 4000mah battery is at the limit of the 40amp ESC's capabilities and that Dynam ESC's are low quality. Will it work? Yes, for a bit, before it eventually fails. Dynam ESCs should be used only with Dynam motors but as soon as you upgrade one part, replace the other too. The 40 amp limit is designed for the recommended 2200 to 3000 mah batteries. A 4000mah battery will push more amps and will stress the ESC at high throttle. Eventually the low quality Dynam ESC will fail. A 50 amp ESC provides some amp headroom and 60 amp is even better. Another issue with some Dynam ESCs is a engine stuttering problem they show. Again, some do it, some don't. There have been reports that these ESCs don't work well with other brand motors. My advice is fly it stock and try to stick to the recommended battery sizes. If you want to fly a 4000mah, try not to go to high throttle very much. A few short bursts won't hurt it but a 4 minute flight at max might.
Great tips. I'm about to maiden mine. What do you think about the recommended cg of 70-75mm? Is that a good spot? It looks too far forward just eyeballing the wing chord.
Because I never flew this plane stock, but immediately upgraded many parts of it, I wouldn't want to say if that is a good CG location in the stock format. I recommend you check out the dedicated thread of this plane on the RCGroups site. I'm sure there is old info there about what CG people have successfully used. In stock form this model has a very light wing loading so I expect it is a very forgiving plane in CG location. The generous wing chord will also generate a lot of lift (something the F6F was known for) further easing any CG sensitivities. Bottom line, if your a moderately experience RC pilot with a little warbird experience, a little variance in CG should not trouble you in the least.
@@Chris-kt8rw Thanks for the response. I'll do a little research on rcgroups and see if there's anything there. But can I assume you are flying your modified version in the recommended 70-75mm range?
@@bill72pa Ok, because you asked. ;) I put a 3300 4s battery in mine and balanced it inverted, wheels up and my CG is right at 75mm. With a bigger 4000 mah battery I think that CG moves forward a little to maybe 73mm. I will caveat those measurements however by saying I use Robart rubber wheels that are a lot heavier than stock wheels and I also have oleo struts so there is much more weight (when gear are up) that is behind the CG mark than a stock plane would have. In flight, mine flies well, but is a bit tail heavy. I prefer that because it allows me to land a little slower than a forward CG would. I think with a stock plane running the recommended battery size that 70mm would be a good starting CG.
Hey Chris, awesome video. I have this plane, too, and swapped out the motor (Detrum 650kv) drop and fit replacement, and 70a esc from my FMS P-51. But what I'm really trying to figure out is how to replace the retracts. I've searched youtube, and there are only a couple vids with this mod. The others required mods to the wing to fit the new retracts. Were there any mods that needed to be done to fit those FMS retracts into the Hellcat? I use a grass field, so the struts were bent on the 2nd flight. My only video (3rd flight) ended with the struts completely bent.
Frank's Fly Time RC Agreed, Dynam retracts and struts aren't up to the task except if you can grease your landings every time. As far as I can remember, the retracts were not hard to fit to the plane; minor fitting at worst. To run scale sized wheels however required the wheel bay to be opened up a bit more, so I tried to make those cuts as neat and professional as possible.
Good stuff.... I have the same plane and the retracts bent on my first hot landing.... couldn’t get the replacements for the plane but since it’s been sitting for 3 years, I finally got around to having time to retro fit it. Much appreciated information. Nothing else is wrong with this plane. So glad I didn’t piece it out to build another.... I’ve just been flying my others and building my fleet.... it’s vids like yours that keep people into this great hobby. Thanks 🙏
Thank you for the kind words. This plane certainly deserves better components (mostly retracts) than it got. When my 1400mm FMS Hellcat was still flying I still preferred the Dynam.
I looked at my local Menards and can get a long drill bit for $11 and of course I can get carbon fiber rods at the local hobby shop. I dont know what the killer planes kits go for but,its a no brainer. The impovements are always a good thing. Nice plane. I always replace the dynam led bulbs with an Turnigy kit with the flasher generator. Its really easy to do and I use the existing wiring.
Great job on the mods. I love that Killer planes crash-proofing.. Did it to my Dynam Hellcat and made one tough bird.. Good fix on the retracts. I may swap mind out soon..
Whoa! How do I always miss stuff like this? VERY nice job all around, especially the gear, which I think is the "weakest" part of the plane (meaning, not as nice as the plane is) I'm going to try that motor and prop, since I always want more power, and that gear setup you did. I just happen to LOVE the way this plane flies, so I think all the mods are worth it. We also put a windshield in ours, with the cam in the cockpit, which made some great footage for our Dynam F6F video. Since you're obviously into this, you might want to look at an airbrush- you can get them with a compressor on ebay for about $70, and it's well worth it for doing smoke stains and other stuff (especially like German "spotty" camo paint jobs) You just need to thin the Lowes or HD house paint samples with some water
Good mod ideas, I have this plane as well and have to work out some bugs myself.
Really nice. i'm thinking about getting one
Thanks for sharing. I’ve got the retracts ordered and was going to ask about tiers . Does the 1450mm P-51 bigger then original tiers off Hellcat or will I need to bore out wheel bay and lengthen the shaft channel? Thanks, hope your still flying 👍🏻✌🏻🖖🏻
Yes, the 1450mm Mustang tires (from the version 8 era) require the wheel bay to be enlarged a little bit. I don't think I had to modify the geat channel any. Cut carefully! It is easy to cut through the top surface of the wing!
Hey Chris, great vids thank you. I just bought a Dynam Hellcat but am planning to run it with a 4s 4000mAh battery. Do you think the stock 40a esc can handle it or should I upgrade to a 60a esc. Many thanks.
Whiskey Jet,
I strongly suggest you upgrade the stock Dynam ESC, both because your 4000mah battery is at the limit of the 40amp ESC's capabilities and that Dynam ESC's are low quality. Will it work? Yes, for a bit, before it eventually fails. Dynam ESCs should be used only with Dynam motors but as soon as you upgrade one part, replace the other too. The 40 amp limit is designed for the recommended 2200 to 3000 mah batteries. A 4000mah battery will push more amps and will stress the ESC at high throttle. Eventually the low quality Dynam ESC will fail. A 50 amp ESC provides some amp headroom and 60 amp is even better.
Another issue with some Dynam ESCs is a engine stuttering problem they show. Again, some do it, some don't. There have been reports that these ESCs don't work well with other brand motors.
My advice is fly it stock and try to stick to the recommended battery sizes. If you want to fly a 4000mah, try not to go to high throttle very much. A few short bursts won't hurt it but a 4 minute flight at max might.
Good to know, thank you so much for the reply Chris.
Great tips. I'm about to maiden mine. What do you think about the recommended cg of 70-75mm? Is that a good spot? It looks too far forward just eyeballing the wing chord.
Because I never flew this plane stock, but immediately upgraded many parts of it, I wouldn't want to say if that is a good CG location in the stock format. I recommend you check out the dedicated thread of this plane on the RCGroups site. I'm sure there is old info there about what CG people have successfully used.
In stock form this model has a very light wing loading so I expect it is a very forgiving plane in CG location. The generous wing chord will also generate a lot of lift (something the F6F was known for) further easing any CG sensitivities. Bottom line, if your a moderately experience RC pilot with a little warbird experience, a little variance in CG should not trouble you in the least.
@@Chris-kt8rw Thanks for the response. I'll do a little research on rcgroups and see if there's anything there. But can I assume you are flying your modified version in the recommended 70-75mm range?
@@bill72pa Ok, because you asked. ;)
I put a 3300 4s battery in mine and balanced it inverted, wheels up and my CG is right at 75mm. With a bigger 4000 mah battery I think that CG moves forward a little to maybe 73mm. I will caveat those measurements however by saying I use Robart rubber wheels that are a lot heavier than stock wheels and I also have oleo struts so there is much more weight (when gear are up) that is behind the CG mark than a stock plane would have. In flight, mine flies well, but is a bit tail heavy. I prefer that because it allows me to land a little slower than a forward CG would.
I think with a stock plane running the recommended battery size that 70mm would be a good starting CG.
@@Chris-kt8rw good info. Thanks so much.
Hey Chris, awesome video. I have this plane, too, and swapped out the motor (Detrum 650kv) drop and fit replacement, and 70a esc from my FMS P-51. But what I'm really trying to figure out is how to replace the retracts. I've searched youtube, and there are only a couple vids with this mod. The others required mods to the wing to fit the new retracts. Were there any mods that needed to be done to fit those FMS retracts into the Hellcat? I use a grass field, so the struts were bent on the 2nd flight. My only video (3rd flight) ended with the struts completely bent.
Frank's Fly Time RC
Agreed, Dynam retracts and struts aren't up to the task except if you can grease your landings every time.
As far as I can remember, the retracts were not hard to fit to the plane; minor fitting at worst. To run scale sized wheels however required the wheel bay to be opened up a bit more, so I tried to make those cuts as neat and professional as possible.
Chris Kenney Thanks Chris. I was curious and wanted to find out before buying a set.