Already Sold - To one lucky model pilot.
But there is still time to make me an offer on her sister ship.


But surely this can't be a model aircraft, it looks real! Actually it is 1/6th scale but has a true scale outline and cross section. It has been purpose designed and built by Peter Simpson (me) to be a display aircraft and has been exhibited at many model airshows throughout the UK since 1998. For simplicity, reliability and weight, the aircraft lacks a truly detailed scale finish, but has enough detail to make a credible display machine.


The aircraft is really easy to fly and with a Zenoah 38 up the nose has gallons of spare power. Anyone with experience of larger than average model aircraft can fly this, but a careful touch is needed on landing.


The Scale Retractabe undercarriage is by ROBART and has never failed to work. The scale sprung oleo legs make landings a smooth affair. The scale flaps are incredibly powerful and make the landings very controllable. open the tap and she stops decending, close the tap and she sinks. Just be careful not to allow the nose to rise whilst she is too high and she will land like a baby.


She has operated out of many different fields, and cross winds are not a problem at all. the flaps give loads of extra lift for a controllable landing. Coming in over the crop here onto Debach airfield in Suffolk following a display. The aircraft weighs 20lbs, which is not too high for a model of this size. The weight means that she can maintain momentum through those aerobatic manouvers, and flys in a very scale manner. The Zenoah 38cc petril engine is very reliable and very powerful the combination meaning that you have a superb display platform and you can worry about the quality of your display without worrying about the relaibility of your machine


The tailwheel retract is home made and is steerable, being connected by sprung connectors to the rudder servo. THe aircraft features an SM Services twin battery backer with separate receiver and servo batteries. The twin servo batteries are 6v Nicad 2000mAh and the receiver battery is 4.8v NiCad 1000mAh. There are voltage checker LED's in the cockpit for all three batteries so a quick glance before you fly will tell you that everything is OK. The receiver is connected to the servos through an SM Services Opto-Isolator to prevent any glitching getting back to the receiver. I use this set-up in all of my large scale models and have found it to be 100% reliable. THe P51 has never even had a glitch!


Seen here prepairing for the first flight. THe receiver is a Futaba PCM1024 8 channel, duel conversion receiver. It was brand new in this aircraft and has bever been crashed. The servos on the tail are all 1/4 scale servos and there are 4 separate Futaba 3001 ball raced servos on the flaps and ailerons. This aircraft has never suffered a radio problem in almost 100 flights.


Shown here at the LMA Cosford show with the other team P51, my aircraft has flown at model shows including Duxford, Cosford, Rufforth, North Weald, Rougham, Longhorsely, Catton-Hall, Seething, Boxted, Debach, Enstone...... She has been around, you get the idea!! As she is such a practical display aircraft she is well suited to normal club flying and i have flown her out of many other venues.


She was built using the Brian Taylor 69" P51 plan, but the aircraft was scaled up to true 1/6th scale. Internal design of the fuselage was extesively modified to give enough strength to hold the Zenoah 38. The original outline stayed the same as Brians 100% scale machine. The elevator and rudder cores were replaced with 1/16" ply for ruggedness. The wing is white foam with balsa skins. THe entire aircraft is finished with epoxy glass fibre skin, with pannel lines applied after skinning. She is painted with Flair Spectrum paint. The markings are all hand painted (no stickers) with Humbrol Enamel and the entire aircraft is proofed with Flair Spectrum satin fuel proofer.


This shot shows a close-up of the nose. sorry about the poor picture quality. a series of 12 screws around the cowling can be removed to allow access to the engine, fuel tank and air reservoir for maintenence. This is so quick to do that it can be done easily in the field. THe Zenoah 38 was changed around 15 flights ago for a new one. I bought the engine new and was using the P51 to run in the engine in for my P38. It still has the new engine in because i have given up on my P38 project. The P38 is also for sale!


This shot shows the cowled engine installation. The exhaust stubs can be seen behind the plug caps. The ducting behind the engine is for the cooling air. There are no overheating problems with this installation. THe plug is accessible for maintenance without removing the cowling. THe lower cowling can be removed to allow full access to the engine, but the spinner and prop must be removwd first. This photo also shows the fuelling line and overflow pipe and behind it is the air valve.


The upper cowl removes with 12 screws. It can be done in a matter of seconds without removing the spinner and propeller. I have removed the cowling in th start-up box at displays to check the engine before! In this shot you can see the air valve and fueling pipes. These are firmly fixed on steel brackets for reliability.


This is a close-up of the fuel tank and air reservoir. The strap can be removed with two screws to gain access to the fuel tank, all of the fuel plumbing and the air tank. Also you can see from this shot how accessible the engine mounting is, should you have to remove the engine.


This shot shows the throttle linkage, carb access and general engine access. With the cowling removed everything is accessible. THe silencer can be seen behind the engine cylinder head.


This is the front inside of the fuselage. You can see that the constrction is largely 1/8th ply, which has all been fuel proofed. You can see the fuel tank and receiver battery. The blue and red lead in the foreground goes to the wing servos. The throttle servo can be seen driving a bellcrank to the throttle. you can also see the Futaba PCM1024 Duel conversion reciever.


Here is the fuselage inside rear. Sorry about the photo quality. At the top is the rudder and tail retract steering servo. You can see the springs that connect to the tailwheel steering. The HiTec servo is a 1/4 scale servo driving the elevators. at the far left is the tailwheel retract servo. The wires passing over the tailwheel servo go to the twin 2000mAh servo Nicads. These are hidden in the belly of the aircraft and are well back to maintain the balance point of the aircraft. THere is no additional lead in the aircraft to ballance her. In the center is the SM Services Opto-Isolator which is there to ensure that there is absolutely no interference allowed to get back to the receiver. The blue pipe is there to duct the receiver ariel so that it is inside the aircraft and not vunerable to hangar-rash!


Photograph shows the fuselage / wing interface. The 9 way D connector on the left is the connection for all wing servos. A couple of servo screws hold the connector firm in flight. Te servo shown is driving the retract valve which is an Ultra precision unit with clam-shell doors sequencer. This has been bypassed. You can see two bellcranks which used to be used to drive the clamshell doors and the mounting points for the clamshell door rams. These could easily be replaced. The clamshell doors were removed for reliability. I wanted t simplfy the undercarriage for display work to ensure that the gear always came down.... it never failed once! Also you can see the air-line connector as the air reservoir is in the fuselage. The scuffs on the wing show where the fuselage fits.


on the side of the aircraft is a hatch which hides the switches. The meaty silver ones are heavy current switches for the servos. the smaller ones are twin switches for the receiver. Everything is doubled up for reliability. you can also see three charge leads which are therefore accessible without removing the wing. This is for over-night charging at shows without the need for removing the wing. It also allows a quick voltage check prior to flight. There are also LED's in the cockpit to show battery status.


The tail is all built up from Balsa. You can see the extent of the limited scale detail. This is enough to look credible, whilst not been over complicated and fragile. The epoxy glass and Flair Spectrum paint finish gives a very satisfactory surface.


The rudder is built up with a ply core for strength and covered in solartex. The rudder is connected to the servo with closed loop and is very powerful in flight. This picture shows the very strong elevator pushrod and demponstrates the 3mm ball joint and clevis connectors used throughout the model. THe tailwheel is retracted in this photograph. Robart pin-hinges are used throughout the aircraft so the flight controls move in a scale like manner. Each hinge is mounted in brass tube so if a hinge is broke it can be easily drilled out for replacement without any chance of damaging the flying surfaces.


This picture shows the steerable tail-wheel extended. The metal panel on the side can be removed to reveal the retract hinge. Pull the pin out and the whole tailwheel retract assembly can be removed for servicing. On the full size P51 the tailwheel retracts forwards, but this would make the unit too complicated and hence vunerable. A liberty has been taken in this area, but it is worth it for the extra piece of mind you get.


Onto the wing now. The wheels retract in a scale manner. The wheels are Robart inflatables and give good tracking on tarmac runways. The clamshell doors were removed to ensure that the retracts were 100% reliable. They have been! you don't want to be without your gear on landing. The radiator is screwed into place after the wing bolts are in, the radiator hides the wing bolts. You can also see the snug metal undercarriage doors and recessed flap servos in this shot.


Again, a poor photo, but you this shot shows the flap hinge. The flap is hinged so that the top surface rotates around the upper skin as per the original. The recessed aileron servos and flap servos are all Futaba 3001 ball raced servos and are connected to the flying surface with 3mm rod and connectors. very strong and stable.


Top surface of the wing with the flaps and ailerons lowered. You can see how the scale operation is maintained.


The markings are all hand painted like the original P51. The panel lines are raised.


Has the P51 ever had an accident.... I'll be honest, Yes! But only one. On landing the wing tip struck an obstacle and the wing tip broke off at the join between the flap and aileron. The tip was glued back and an additional spar was layed into the foam, across the break for strength. This crack is the only evidence of the break. She has flown over 50 times since the repair and has handled high G turns ok, proving the repair. I would have painted over the crack but the difference in paint colour would have been much worse than the slight crack that is now barely noticeable.


One final flying photo shows my P51 carving up the sky over Beverley Racecourse. This was during the first flight, before i got the tailwheel retract working properly. Good luck bidding for this wonderful flying machine. You will not be disapointed, and your friends will be very jealous!!! The obvious question is why am i selling such a wonderful aircraft, well simple..... I have another one on the building board and want to free up some cash!


I have a couple of other projects for sale, such as my P38, which is almost finished. I have done quite a bit more work to my P38 since this photo, including fitting all of the 1/4 scale tail servos. The P38 is 104" span and powered by two Zenoah 38's it is actually scratch built from Balsa and ply, but is exactly the same size as the Yellow Aircraft one. The nose wheel is steerable and has a shoe break hidden inside. THe undercarriage is all custom made with metal wheel hubs and inflatable tyres. For this aircraft i am open to offers.

Contact me on "PETER at USAAF dot ORG"

To buy my P51, please go to ebay