Owl, kahloq and raptureboy, good to have you guys join in on the fun!
Kahloq, I'm not trying to take the lead on this thing really, I was hoping that this thread would be used by all that have this plane to ensure the greatest chance of success! So if you have a HobbyKing Spitfire this is your thread, use it as you please!
raptureboy, you aint gone yet? Just kidding, but it was funny right? I promise to give you the good bad and the ugly with this thing, it is a typical Chinese ARF, you can expect to go through it a bit here and there to make it right.
Retract, retract and retracts! The good news is that the gear work and hold air, the annoying news I guess you could call it is that none of the small fittings work, like the T's and the pressure gauge end cap was just loosely pressed on and it came off under pressure! The fill valve did not work, but it probably would if you worked with it and installed new innards. The small 4 way fittings either leaked air or were completely clogged. I panicked just a little the first time I hooked up the air and nothing worked. When I replaced everything with Robart fitting, fill and retract valve, the gear work great, so they cost me $140 and a Robart retract valve.
Like all Chinese ARF's they use a glue gun, the good news is the open construction of the wing, it is very easy to wick thin CA into almost every corner of the wing. The retract mounts will need 30 min epoxy, and the good thing again is that you have very good access to this area, you can even add triangle stock if you feel the need and the runway just appears out of nowhere! When you are adding epoxy to the gear mounts make sure you add some to the wing bolt tabs, you can get to the back of these also.
You can see here that the retract mount is very lightly glued in, but like I said it's easy to get to.
No problems with the tail wheel!
These are the offending parts.
Like everything else, these wing hold tabs are lightly glued in, add 30 min epoxy to the backs, it's easy to get to them.
Up on the gear! (wipes sweat off brow!)