FPV P-51D Mustang ”Gunfighter”

A while back HobbyKing started selling a 1600mm wingspan P-51D Mustang. I always loved the look of the P-51 Mustang and the Gunfighter paint scheme looks amazing. Trouble is there is no way that a 1600mm warbird is ever going to fit into my little Renault Clio. Neither would it fit in my workshop to even build it. So I put it out of my mind.

Time passed and I traveled to the US to stay with Chad, the creator of Flitetest. One day he came home with a bunch of big boxes. Imagine my surprise when one of the boxes contained a plane that I’ve been coveting for a long while. My face lit up and Chad seemed to have noticed it, as he asked me if I wanted to build the Mustang. -YEESSS!! I calmly responded. -And I’m going to put FPV on it!

Build time!
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Opening the box

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Everything in the box laid out. It’s a huge piece of foam awesomeness.

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Paint job looks really nice.

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Mounting servo horns.

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Horns mounted on both the aileron and flaps.

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Rudder horns.

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Push-Pull system for the tail.

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Elevator horn mounted.

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One cool thing about this plane is that you don’t have to glue anything. Everything is mounted with screws.

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Vertical stabilizer in place.

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Screwed in place from the bottom.

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The retractable steerable tail wheel need it’s pull-pull wires installed.

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Wires attached to the rudder servo.

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Wings put together. Lots of cables. 2 aileron servos, 2 flap servos, 2 navigation lights and 2 retracts.

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Wing mounted on the plane.

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The motor was already in place. However there was some slack in the firewall. Some thin CA took care of it though.

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Huge 16” 4 bladed prop

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With a nice spinner. Take care to balance both prop and spinner.

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Ready for the test flight.

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Up up and away!

FPV cockpit time!
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I cut around the original cockpit to get the right shape and size for my FPV cockpit.

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Two layers of 3mm depron.

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Test fitted.

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Front cage made from pushrod tubes

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cut out and lowered the front part of the cockpit.

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Pan servo in place.

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Back cage, video transmitter holder, servo support and sides in the front added.

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Painted.

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Printed out an original P51 dash and cut it to size.

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May I introduce the pilot. Mr Ken Fashionitas

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I only needed the arms and empty pants, so the rest had to go.

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Painted the pants and selves green. The pants are stuffed with foam to save weight.

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Joystick and throttle lever. Note the servo on the bottom connected to the lever.

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Cockpit ready!

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All strapped in and ready to go

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View from the front

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Servo hooked up in parallel with the elevator servo. Makes the arm pull back and push forward on the joystick.

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Underneath the legs is a servo connected straight to the joystick. Paralleled with the aileron channel to make the joystick move left and right.

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Another view of the throttle lever servo

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Ready for rock and roll!

Here is the video:

A tip for anyone out there that thinks about building their own cockpit; secure it with more than just magnets.

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