tcarp

Mine seems to have a hard time making a roll..Is it the nature of the plane? or am I just too used to the Strykers instant snap rolls without loosing altitude?

gunracer

tcarp,

check your aileron travel and rates (hi v. lo)...to keep from losing altitude during a roll, add some down elevator while she's inverted...practice on a sim...

Phoenex

My Feedback: (1)

Can anyone tell me if the version in the U.S. is shipping with a metal pinion?

29904

Phoenex

Both Spitfires that I am familiar with came with metal gears. I think PZ has learned that plastic gears don't work out.

Larry

dannyrsturbo

yeah the plastic one on my mustang gear box sucked

Phoenex

My Feedback: (1)

Gary,

Could you elaborate on the prop and watts you are pulling with this setup? Are you just bolting up the motor to the gearbox without any other support?

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Gunracer,

You mentioned the fact that the plane lacked a wing spar. Since flying your plane, how do you rate the wing strength for a high powered setup such as yours? Did you have to mod the gearbox slightly to get the motor to fit properly?

BTW--Looks like you plenty of power on hand!



TIA

gunracer

phoenex,

although the spitfire's wing is sparless, it is solid foam which i think makes it stronger than the depron-covered "sparred" wings of the p51 and fw190...in essence, the spitfire's entire wing is the spar...i try not to put high gs on the airframe...i save the wot flying for low g manuevers like verticals and low level passes...although most of my models are overpowered, i still try to fly them as scale-like as possible...the e-flite 6 motors do require modding of the stock gearbox...i use a dremel and cutoff disc to grind away the ledge in the bottom of the motor mount...about a 5 min job...

astro1111

Hey everyone. If you want a 350 Watt motor for the FW-190/Mustang/Spitfire then I'd recommend the Align 430L 3550Kv motor. It fits right into the stock gear box. My Spits is ready to fly but the wind here in east coast of FL is too high. My buddy's FW190 has a 6 series motor and its too powerful. Throttle authority is maxed out at 60%.

USMeagle

My Feedback: (1)

Bought one of these little fellers today. Mine seems fine, except for minor tail feather packing damage on the vertical stab (not quite as bad as others posted here- i decided it was'nt enough to worry about and fixed it w/heat). Flies pretty darn good, in my opinion.
I had two problems:
1)Battery hatch, which is held on with a magnet, fell off somewhere during the flight. No big deal i guess, but the next hatch will be attached a little more securely. I did have the hatch tab under the cowl, as per the instructions, but I was "playing" and I guess the little magnet could'nt take it. Maybe if that ME109 had left me alone (j/k)..
2)The camo paint WORKS. I flew in a 4 acre field, surrounded by pines, and the camo blends in so well that I had to watch the plane really carefully to keep focus. No joke!!

Overall, i like it.Magnetic-catch Battery hatch is a good idea but a poor design. Low fast passes are cool, in flight it looks as scale as $180 will buy!

EDIT: The front part of the wing (directly behind the cowl) will scoop up all manners of trash, dirt, etc. on landing , so a strip of packing tape may prevent having to clean dirt, trash, grass, etc. from inside the plane.

afpe45

@astro1111,

What pinnion are youi using with the Align 430L 3550Kv motor,

afpe45.

astro1111

It is a Robinson Racing 32 pitch 12 tooth metal gear with set screw. Can be bought at Towerhobbies.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXEW97&P=ML

I added a little lock tight. Without it, it will spin off if the prop hits the grd while its spinning.

Astro

USMeagle

My Feedback: (1)

Put a coupla flights on mine today, and noticed exactly what you did. It was not a problem, just a little up elevator when it was inverted and I could do nice straight rolls. It don't roll NOTHING like, say my .46 twist, but it don't roll as sloppy as a trainer, either. I could'nt keep it inverted very long, but then again i really was'nt trying that hard, and I'm more used to a bird with rudder control (i am surprised at how much I miss rudder control!)

I did find that my trim moved around quite a bit. I thought it was trimmed out yesterday, but had to re-trim a couple of times in the air. None of the surfaces are loose, no slack in any controls, just maybe the nature of a foam plane?

astro1111

I had my maiden flight. The align 430L 3550 motor is just perfect. I got 15 minutes out of a 2150 maH battery and I had more margin. The spitfire is very beautiful in the air and has great slow speed handling. She does not roll as well as the FW-190. Surprisingly slow roll rate but she is a great flyer.

afpe45

@astro1111,

did you file a flat on the spindle for the grub screw or did you leave it round and just use locktite to hold the pinnion gear on, was it a tight fit, ie: did you sweat it on.

afpe45.

astro1111

Actaully, my buddy and I have flow the FW-190 with a bigger brushless motor with NO lock tight and it only spun the pinion gear once in about 100 minutes of flying (~12 flights) and tht was because I hit the throttle while it was on the grd by mistake. You could file a notch butnot sure its necessary. I flew my spitfire to about 1000' at 80% with my setup. Normal flying is at 30 to 50%. I estimate that with my 2150 pack I could go 17-19 minutes of easy flying. After 15 minutes the battery read 11.1V on my charger and it charged 1350 mah back in. She is a great stable airplane with great pitch control but tame roll rate. Not sure if the real spitfires had a low roll rate?

Astro

traxxboy

How easy is this plane to hand launch. Is it about the same as a F-27b stryker.

astro1111

Super easy! Actually with the brushless setup it will fly out of your grip if you launch at full throttle.

I want to update my flight times: Normal intense flying is 12 minutes and calm flying is about 14-15 minutes on a 2150 pack.

Astro

tclaridge

The stock Spit with a 2100 LiPo is easier to launch than the F-27 I think. The Spit climbs out nicely from a firm toss, where the F-27 takes a hard toss, and then I have to pull back as soon as I get my hand on the stick because it starts to nose over to gain airspeed. I don't experience the nose over on the Spit.

traxxboy

Thanks I am thinking about getting one of these.

AETCBoom4

Just picked up one of these and I am looking at going brushless:

AON 2815 3002 BL
20 Amp EFlite ESC

I do have a couple of questions:

1. The stock receiver has a 3 wire plug in for throttle. Does this mean you can just plug a BL ESC into it w/o using a powerzone module?

2. For those that have gone BL what is a good CG to work with when using a BL setup w/ a 2100-2200 mah Lipo?

Thanks for the help

htjoel

Hi Guys,

Like tclaridge I am a big fan of Parkzone's RTF warbirds (2 Mustangs, Fw-190, Spitfire). Just maidened the Spit this morning and I think Parkzone got it right with this one! Bone-stock it only took a gentle toss to get her up and flying. Response was very smooth even on high rates, and trimming was no real issue as opposed to the FW-190 (nose weights etc.).

My first Spit DID have to go back to the LHS as the rudder was cracked and slightly twisted from the box...C'mon, Parkzone, you guys can engineer 3 decent-flying, good-looking, RTF warbirds for under $180 and can't get a box right? Bubble wrap is a great invention! Must say however that Horizon (PZ parent co.) has always treated me well. All defects not fixable by LHS have always been taken care of by the folks at Tech Support/Customer Service (OVERNIGHT FED_EX !!!). With this combination of fair pricing and great customer service their products will always get a second or third look from me .

Cheers all,
Joel

traxxboy

Looks like I about to get one. I was going to get p-51 but after all the problems I decided to wait. Sounds like they got right.

traxxboy

Just ordered my spitfire. It should get in by Wednesday. Anything I need to know. What little things to fix? Or something like that.

tclaridge

TraxxBoy,
Check to make sure there is no twist in the tail. There have been a few issues with the horizontal not being level with the wing. I had to fix mine. Also, I took the time to remove the aileron control wires, and lube them with WD-40, being careful not to get any oil on the foam or on the aileron end (so the set screw would not get lubed). This worked to remove the aileron sticking and not returning to zero. During the first few flights, I could not trim the banking, until I noticed it was "sticking" in the direction of the last turn input. I think this is due to the friction of the wire in the tube as it makes a 90 deg turn in the wing.

Anyway, I used a 3S 2100 mah LiPo, and lubed the wires. Took out the horizontal tail twist with a hair dryer. That's it. Flies great!

traxxboy

Thanks. Ill be sure to look at all these things. How did you launch yours? Did you follow the directions or what? I cant wait till Wendsday. Although I probably wont be able to maiden by Friday. I will stick to the orginal batteries at first. Has anyone put landing gear on these airplanes. Thanks.