90% assembled - all electronics (servos, ESC and motor) pre-installed at factory, just finish airframe assembly, connect up the servos, charge the battery and fly!


So what do I think of her? well..The Supermarine Spitfire made famous during the second world war especially while the battle of Britain was taking place high over the skies of England!
FMS have helped re-create this magnificent warbird in tough EPO with and at a very nice size, a 1400mm wingspan The first thing you'll notice is the level of finish and detail, very good for a model at this price range. The version done by FMS is a Mk IX modeled of the Kiwi Ace of Alan Deere during WW2 and is one of the better recreations currently out there.

The actual plane the FMS version was modeled off



GOOD
Paint
Level of detail
Price
Tough EPO
Nice size
Flight characteristics
Easy build

BAD
Retracts, they work well but narrow track and not enough forward rake lead to poor ground handling
Needs extra noseweight or big motor to achieve correct CG
Retract mounts are weak plastic

I got this plane as a kit from Aerial Hobby and decided to put in my own power system. Originally I was going with a Turnigy 4250 650kv motor but after not being able to achieve CG without adding dead weight I went with a bigger/heavier 5055 580kv and 5S battery. I have an 80A esc, run a separate 3-5A Bec and use a 13x8.5 MAS 2 blade prop.

This setup gives me around 1.2-1.3KW at 60-65Amps with a 5S 4000mAh 30C battery.

With that I have unlimited vertical, plenty of speed and after around 6-7 minutes of flying I put approximately 2200-2400mA back into the battery....so in a nutshell.....it's definitely OVERPOWERED

If you fly off bitumen you should be fine but if you fly off grass then the retract mod in the video will serve you well. Now that and the fact that unless you follow my setup you'll have to add noseweight to get it to balance at the correct CG (I use 85mm from LE of the wing). Now these are the only things for which I can pick on this plane, apart from that she's a beauty!

She looks good, she flies good, she's tough, she's sleek and she'll put a massive smile on your dial Her stall speed is quite good and will slow down nicely, you will have to land her under power to avoid dropping a wing or simply dropping onto the mains which could cause damage. I left out the tailwheel servo and made it free castoring and this saved a small amount of weight over the tail and it still works very good for ground control (you can see at the end of the video).

If you want a great looking and flying big foamie Spitfire then give the FMS Spity some thought, she'll treat you well and with a little extra TLC and Mods she turns into a real Ace in the sky!

Also the link to the 2 different retracts which can serve as replacements for the FMS 1400mm warbirds the HKD312 and slightly larger HKD514 both available from Hobbyking..