Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
06-29-2013, 12:05 PM
#201
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
ORIGINAL: pacoflyer
I'll tell you what has worked for me...
As mentioned before clean everything up as best you can...alcohol,acetone whatever.
Then I wrap the muffler bolts with teflon tape, re install them not totally snugged down and then run the engine. After everything is warmed up, I shut down the engine and finnish tightening the muffler bolts.
I've never had one come loose doing it this way....hope it works for you.
paul
I'll tell you what has worked for me...
As mentioned before clean everything up as best you can...alcohol,acetone whatever.
Then I wrap the muffler bolts with teflon tape, re install them not totally snugged down and then run the engine. After everything is warmed up, I shut down the engine and finnish tightening the muffler bolts.
I've never had one come loose doing it this way....hope it works for you.
paul
07-01-2013, 01:17 PM
#203
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Anyone get theirs in the air over the weekend?
I'm getting close to finishing the build on mine - still waiting on the muffler - and just wondering if anyone has any flight reports on this bird yet.
Ron
07-03-2013, 05:00 AM
#204
RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
No maiden yet. Waiting on the weather, it's been raining on and off, low ceilings, just plain miserable. Work has also been demanding.
FB
FB
07-04-2013, 11:29 AM
#206
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Good luck with the maiden, here is Phoenix its been the same, but after 2 weeks off going to try a couple of flights tommorrow. Spit looks nice, looking forward to seeing her at 1/8th, are you and the Vegas team heading to WOTRin Sept?
Cheers
Cheers
07-08-2013, 03:31 AM
#207
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Will be interesting to see where the final CG is on this ship I am getting started on mine now and will be using the DLE 55RA, I do like to fly my warbirds just a tad on the nose heavy side.
07-09-2013, 08:12 AM
#208
RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Still waiting for the pilot so I did a little light weathering to dull the shine off the finish a bit. Engine run this AM went well. Took a tip from Hellcat 417 and made some rubber pads from tool drawer liner to add a little compression to the guns. help keep them from coming loose.
07-09-2013, 10:34 AM
#210
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
I sprayed my TP giant scale with flat polyeurethane thinned a little with turps, looks great, is cheap and is fuel proof.
07-09-2013, 06:46 PM
#213
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Looks great Capt G, you've done a really nice job with it.
I'm new to the "weathering" techniques, how did you apply the panel lines?
07-09-2013, 10:11 PM
#214
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
ORIGINAL: Lifer
Thank you both! What about the inevitable wrinkles that show up later? Can you still apply some heat to it to tighten up the monokote?
Thank you both! What about the inevitable wrinkles that show up later? Can you still apply some heat to it to tighten up the monokote?
07-11-2013, 09:17 PM
#216
RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Sweet.. Glad to see you're on board N8.. Mine is still sitting in the box with the retracts and the DLE85 I just got from Tower, that discount and gift certificate with the 55RA was too much to pass on.. I'm too busy with other projects but look forward to "slapping" it together..lol
07-14-2013, 10:03 AM
#217
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
I put the maiden flight on a friends TF Giant Corsair this morning, was built stock, DA50 with 22X8 prop, flight was about 5 clicks of up trim and about 3 of right. Flight was uneventful and predictable, no flutter, no waging, take off flap was about 20% and worked great at that, landing flap was about as much as he could get, mixed in some down elv on landing flap setting 5% works perfect for elv mix to landing flap. I did notice that when you extend the gear it will be little nose heavy and you have to keep little back pressure on the elv stick when they are down, was trimmed for up / retracted gear. He has the Air Robarts in it, I did notice that I think the springs in the struts could be little more stiff as setting there on ground they were about 50% or more compressed and on landing I thought I heard them bottom out, confirmed this by holding plane level and just pushing down on fuse and it easily bottomed out so I know I they could be doing this on landing not to big of a deal as all of the 4 flight I put on it this morning were successful and did not appear to have any stress damage from any of the landing which were on grass and pretty much smooth landings. Looked great flew great, and look forward to getting one built my self, I am glad I got to fly his first before getting the kit to see how I liked it and I liked it. So now on to the Order button!
07-14-2013, 10:29 AM
#218
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Still waiting to hear a flight report on the Spitfire 
although i suspect it will be predictably fantastic! i maidened my TP P-40 the other day and it flew great be interested to hear the difference between them from those of you lucky enough to own both.
although i suspect it will be predictably fantastic! i maidened my TP P-40 the other day and it flew great be interested to hear the difference between them from those of you lucky enough to own both.
07-15-2013, 06:06 PM
#219
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Finishing up my build and got mine on the EZ Balancer for a CG check turns out to be extremely nose heavy following the Top Flite build instructions at the recommended CG of 147mm.
My solution was to remove one of the weight plates - cut it in half and reinstall the half plate on the fire wall. After doing that the CG came out nearly perfect to very slightly nose heavy.
07-17-2013, 09:37 AM
#220
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
ORIGINAL: ronht
Finishing up my build and got mine on the EZ Balancer for a CG check turns out to be extremely nose heavy following the Top Flite build instructions at the recommended CG of 147mm.
Finishing up my build and got mine on the EZ Balancer for a CG check turns out to be extremely nose heavy following the Top Flite build instructions at the recommended CG of 147mm.
My solution was to remove one of the weight plates - cut it in half and reinstall the half plate on the fire wall. After doing that the CG came out nearly perfect to very slightly nose heavy.
07-17-2013, 08:19 PM
#222
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Maiden Flight!
Hello everyone, in spite of the hot weather today, I got my Spit out today for it's maiden flight and more - here's the details.
Weather 92 with 10kts of wind and about 100% humidity - suffice to say it was too hot but it was either today or wait until next week.
I'm using a DLE 55 side exhaust with the J-tec wrap around muffler.
The only modifications I've made were to add a Britt Best Pilot from Lyle and a 1/5th scale Spit cockpit and joystick from iFlyTailies (great detail by the way) and I added the same vents to the cowl that Capt G did for the added cooling.
As I mentioned earlier I cut one of the weight plates in half to get the CG to balance slightly nose heavy at 147mm which to me feels just right.
Ground handling is really good considering the narrow gear if you don't attempt to make any turns at more than walking speed.
Take-off was uneventful, the spit tracked really well, only a very small amount of rudder needed to attain a straight take-off run.
No aileron trim was needed and only about 5 clicks of down trim and it was flying hands off.
Tracking in the air is solid, the aircraft flies like it's on rails, I set all my control throws to the high rates recommended in the manual except for the ailerons, I set them at 15 degrees rather than the recommended 17, but as the roll rate is not as fast as I expected I plan to increase the aileron throws to the max as well.
I set my flaps to 10 degrees for the first step and the recommended 40 degrees for full flaps. IMPORTANT POINT - this aircraft will not pitch up when lowering flaps, it pitches down. DO NOT PROGRAM ANY DOWN ELEVATOR if you have that option in your transmitter when you lower flaps. While I needed 5 clicks down trim, from neutral to fly straight and level, I needed about 5 clicks up trim after lowering the flaps which still gave me a bit of a descent attitude.
The flaps are effective and slow the aircraft quickly, I used a bit of power on final with full flaps and was pleased with the landings. I made all wheel landings today, one difference from my P-47 is that the Spit doesn't seem to want to nose over as quickly on touch-down. You need to add a bit of forward pressure to hold a level attitude after the wheels touch until it slows enough to drop the tail on it's own.
The tracking on landing was very good, however, if you fly off of hard surface, be very careful about making any turns faster than walking speed or you'll drag a wingtip. Not a big deal on grass, the aircraft sits low enough on the ground that it rights itself quickly and didn't seem to have any tendency to go up on it's nose the one time I got to figured this out.
Over-all, I'm really pleased with the aircraft and the way it flies. It looks really good in the air, but be careful letting it get too far out, that camouflage works really well with the narrow profile of the fuselage.
As far as the engine temp goes, I've cut out a good portion of the lower cowl and added vents as Capt G has. After a 5 min flight on a new engine in 92 degree weather, the head temp indicated about 210F after landing which I felt was pretty good. Should do really well in cooler weather.
The only problem I had was fuel siphoning out of the vent tube and running down the fuselage. I need to figure out what to do with the vent line to see if I can solve that. So far I just have it going forward and down out the bottom of the engine box and out of the rear of the cowl.
Anyway, that's it for now, I had 3 great flights today and really enjoyed the aircraft. I'm looking forward to flying it again next week. Hopefully then I can get some pics and video, it was apparently too hot for anyone else to make it to the field today.
Ron
07-18-2013, 05:47 AM
#223
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RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Perhaps the vent line in the Fuel tank isn't out of the fuel? Bend the brass tube inside the tank such that it touches the top forward part of the tank. That should stop any syphon problems with fuel. You can add a bit of fuel line to the vent tub to make sure its up out of the fuel if necessary.
07-18-2013, 06:53 AM
#224
RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Great flight report - thanks. Will probably do the same on the nose weight . Looking forward to flying mine when I get my pilot. BTW - I put small wing tip skids on the wing like on my P-40. I know I will need them sooner or later.
07-18-2013, 09:00 AM
#225
RE: Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
Due to time contraints I haven't been able to post, but I flew my Spitfire a couple of weeks ago. For the most part, mine performed pretty much like ronht's. The differences I had was that mine balanced a little nose heavy as is, so I flew it like that. Only some elevator trim was needed, I'm sure that will change as the CG is moved back. Also, when the gear is retracted, some down trim is needed as the plane wants to climb. I think a gear/elevator mix will be needed so I won't need to work the elevator trim. Very nice flying bird though, graceful comes to mind.
FB
FB
