PHague80

I'm building the Hangar 9 Spitfire 30cc. I've determined that I'll need 2 lbs of nose weight to make it balance within C.G.

What is the best technique for mounting this type of nose weight. I don't think the glass cowl would take this amount of weight if I mounted directly to the cowl.

Peter

foodstick

one technique is big bolts thru the firewall that extend out to the front of the cowl, then you hang your weight out near the front of the plane and not on the cowl or firewall. A spitfire is going to make that much tougher than a radial engine bird though...

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

The best way to mount nose weight, is to build the tail light. Oh, but that has been left up to some manufacture that mis engineered the thing.

alanc

Any fighter of this type, if built with a sym tail, and not simple flat plate structure, covered in film, will require nose weight, remember, we have single pot engines, The full size had a V12, our models are not tail heavy, they are nose light, The trick is to use helpfull ballast, batteries, brass spinner nut under the spinner, move the servos forawrd of the CG, Oh, and from one ive seen, do something about that appalling lightweight ply wing retention tab, before it pulls off in flight!!

ForcesR

Even the full size Spitfire with the Merlin and Griffon V12 engines, the Spitfire equired elevator nose down trim. Look at any photo of the Spitfire's horizontal stab while in level flight from WWII, you will see that every pilot has elevator nose down trim dialed in.

Roger

foodstick

That is very interesting...

MMcConville

My Feedback: (4)

Easiest method is to put stick on weight around the outside of the motor box, directly behind the firewall. Thats what I did on mine. Easy and effective.

Yes as a few commented, its virtually impossible to create a WWII warbird WITH scale outlines and not need noseweight. Many mfg opt to stretch the nose to get the balance.
Our philosophy is to create a very scale looking model and add weight as long as the overall weight is still OK and flight performance is excellent.

I think you'll enjoy the Spitfire. I had a blast with mine as well as my 60cc Corsair last weekend!

sparky4lawndart

My Feedback: (10)

I zip tie fishing weights to the standoffs on my warbirds... or you use can choose to add weight by installing a bigger motor

Redback

I have been known to weld up a bracket from angle steel to bolt onto the firewall at a suitable place in order to get weight as far forward as practical.

Terry

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

1......Introduction.
........1.1 This aeroplane is fitted with a Merlin 61 engine and 4 blade (Dural) Rotal hydraulic propeller. The armament consists of 2 x 20 m.m. guns, Hispano Mk.II and 4 x .303" Browning guns. The 8 x .303" Browning gun version has also been considered. Ballast consisting of 5 x 17.5 lb. standard weights is permanently fitted on a bar situated in the fuselage adjacent to the tail wheel.
........1.2 The results of weighing and centre of gravity determination, details of loading, in accordance with preliminary draft of Appendix I to Chap.I, Section 4 of A.P.1565 and centre of gravity form the subject of this report.
2......Weight Summary.
[TABLE="width: 80%"]
[TR]
[TD]*Load[/TD]
[TD]1.[/TD]
[TD]2.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]'TARE' Weight (including 5 standard ballast weights of 17.5 lb. in tail[/TD]
[TD]5749[/TD]
[TD]5719[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Service load[/TD]
[TD]1008[/TD]
[TD]798[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fuel 85 gallons @ 7.2 lb./gall.[/TD]
[TD]612[/TD]
[TD]612[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Oil 8.5 gallons @ 9.0 lb./gall.[/TD]
[TD]76[/TD]
[TD]76[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Flying weight[/TD]
[TD]7445[/TD]
[TD]7205
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
As you can see the full scale Spit required tail weight. And more than a pound or two.. The problem with models is that Area is squared but the Mass is Cubed. So we can't approximate the engine weight of the full scale. It would be over 400lbs at say 1/6 scale or so. So adding nose weight on a scale model plane is pretty normal.

foodstick

I honestly am shocked that a Spitfire only held 85 gallons of fuel.. I figured a fighter had much more than that.. I can't say I ever heard a gas tank size/gallon number before.....

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Food you gotta remember that the Spit was a home defense fighter. So it wasn't envisioned to fly for hours and hours on long sorties.

frisco2022

My Feedback: (16)

Underneath the motor box there is a pretty big area to put decoy weights. I filled it up with the weights then epoxied a thin ply cover over top of it. Worked perfect.

ForcesR

The Spitfire actually had good range with the fuel efficient Merlin. The Spitfire recon photo version had the guns removed and replaced with internal wing fuel tanks, approximately 66gals per wing. It flew many, many photo recon missions to Berlin and back; many folks don't realize this or actually believe it, but it's a documented fact! Now you know that the P-51D Mustang was not the first allied fighter aircraft to fly to Berlin, circle over the city for 15+ mins and return non-stop to England

Here is a link to a very interesting story of American Spitfire pilot Lt. Colonel John S. Blyth who flew numerous photo recon missions to Belin and back to England during WWII.

Roger

http://fearoflanding.com/history/ame...1944-and-2005/