moparbob498

Hey Donnyman....No offense taken, hell this is only my 2nd balsa kit I've done into... Used to building things.. chassis up, need to keep brain & hands busy...& heart....I couldn't agree more on putting her in the air,... I have a hangar 9 hellcat -(it's really a sweet plane) & she's not going in the air ,until I'm proficient...I have a Cessna (unfortunately low wing) but I've had it up a couple times (acres of farm land, no peoe,houses ect...It's awesome) I think my flyers club closed, so no ama sanctioned field for me.....& I met a guy that flew p47's in WW2... He said he'd train me.... Godsend he's been flying for 40 or 50 yrs I think he said? Seems very nice, & extremely knowledgeable, I've been reading up so I know what I'm trying to accomplish. Any & all advice welcome.

moparbob498

Lol, I'm sorry I just figured there would have been a little bit more details in the directions... & I'm probably gonna go for panels, panel line/rivets...Ect..& weathered....I'm kinda at a stand still, need servos & engine or motor... Not sure which route, & robart retracts - the air system...My hobby shop closed about a month ago, now I gotta drive 1.5 hrs to get stuff,

donnyman

You will have a blast building whatever you choose, I do a lot of scratch building myself. may I suggess you try to find a goldberg eagle 63 as a trainer it is a good flyer and is manuverable so it is great fun. a sig kadet is a good stable bird also.

I don't know the full scale pilot you mentioned but if he isn't proficient in flying r/c he will have a harder time learning than you, that has been my experience over the years. he will try to fly as if he is in the cockpit and that don't work. none the less have fun!

moparbob498

Oh I do love building, my wife wonders if I died up there sometimes...When I get goin, I like to finish the sub assembly, & then make sure nothing shifts outta place, check...Re-check...That foaming gorilla glue is pretty good stuff, I CA & then after It passes inspection, gorilla...& Watch....Lol- & I try to work on something else while that's curing. I'm wanting to PU & glass the entire plane, unless someone tells me otherwise?? I really liked a Spitfire build I found on here or scale warbirds? Think his name was John? Man, that thing had speakers in the wings for the Merlin engine sound, machine gun sound, canopy that opened with a servo too- I think, the details he put in that, absolutely amazing....The skills I see on this site, just drives me....lol. & I think I found a sig cadet ?? I need to look again to be sure. Thanks again everyone
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Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Listen very carefully to Donnyman and others who are cautioning you on building/flying and altering the Spit.

On building most kits are not true to scale. They have been altered by the manufacturer/designer to give the best characteristics for the size and weight of the model. Do not modify unless you know exactly what the modifications will do to the flying characteristics. Even adding detail can soon put the model over weight and make it difficult to fly. This is your first warbird build it to plans.

On flying I think this may be a bit early for your abilities. A balsa plane will not take the rough handling that a foamy will.
One good ground loop or nose over will probably result in major repairs. A hard landing will remove the retracts/landing gear faster than you can say ooooppssss. Hard landings often result in bouncing back into the air at low speed and a stall and dropped wing resulting in a roll over into the ground. Any warbird is less forgiving you should fly a low wing tail dragger trainer until you can land it with confidence every time.

If the plane is a good flyer why alter anything after all its your first one of this type. Why add to the frustration if your alterations may not improve performance.

Dennis

mgnostic

Moparbob, reading through the replies that folks have been giving you, I have to agree with those who urge caution. A lot of us have destroyed our first scale model. Mine was a TopFlight Bearcat. I hadn't even particularly scaled it out, it was just more airplane than I was ready for at the time. It sounds like you are enjoying your build and building scale airplanes can certainly be a learning experience. If you are like a lot of us you are probably going to keep on building rather than put it on the back burner and restarting with a less ambitious project.Assuming that I will offer some bits of advice. I miss some of the old magazines, especially those that focused on scale building. Every article mentioned managing weight at some point. Even a bare bones scale model tends to have a relatively high wing loading. Primer and rivets and paint and guns add up add up to pile weight on a plane that is already inherently heavy. The more mechanical complexity that you add to an airplane the more points of potential failure that you have. If you follow the results of the high end scale contest it isn't unusual to see that someone has cratered a multi-thousand dollar model. Even those guys (experts) struggle with flying characteristics and mechanical failures. Those bits of building advice that I offered earlier were given with the intention of simplifying construction and improving reliability. It may sound like we are trying to discourage you but we aren't. We don't want you to be the guy who throws a ton of effort into his first or second build only to lose it and get discouraged with the hobby. The person that mentioned the Eagle 63 was right on target. The Eagle II, as I think it was more recently known, is a flexible platform. I soloed on one but by the time I was done with it the wings were clipped and it was a tail dragger. Just learning to manage a taildragger is a challenge for a lot of folks. Using a low investment plane to at least match the wing and power loading of your Spitfire will at least give you an idea of what you are getting into. A load of ballast in a trainer will at least give you an idea of what you are getting into. A lot of people rely on a more experience pilot for the maiden flight of a challenging airplane. You seem to have faith in your guy that you spoke of but this is a specific are of experience. I have been flying for thirty years but I am not the best guy to ask about precision aerobatics. It's just not my strength. We all like to offer advice but have you seen your guy fly a heavily loaded warbird.

Hydro Junkie

Another pair of plane that might work for learning to fly a warbird might be a Sig Astro Hog, set up as a tail dragger, or the 4 Star.
The Hog is a fairly inexpensive kit that could also be weighted down to match the wing loading of the Spit. One change would be needed, replacing the strip ailerons with barn door, not really a big deal there. I don't know what the wing loading is you your Spit, the Hog has an area of 824 square inches with a semi-symmetrical wing and a flying weight of between 7 and 7.5 pounds.
The 4 Star, on the other hand, has a wing loading of 18oz/sq ft, a shorter span and is designed as a tail dragger. Again, you would have to change from strip to barn door ailerons
Either one, after being ballasted, would probably be fine, power wise since they are both 40 sized aircraft.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

You could try this and upgrade to flaps and retracts as your experience forms.

P-51D Mustang 40 ARF (HAN5035): Hangar-9

Just adding flaps and retracts makes the cockpit duties more complicated.