Top Flite Giant Scale Spitfire ARF
#353
The FA-220 will fly the giant TF Spitfire but with no reserve power if you need it. I had the FG-36 which is the gas version of the FA-220, installed in my TF P-51D (25.5lbs), flew and sounded great but was limited to basic maneuvers. I switched it out for a DLE 55RA, made a world of difference to what type of flying maneuvers I can now perform, large loops etc.
The FG-36 is now at home in the H9 30cc Spitfire, have not flown it yet, the FG-36 should fly it with authority due to the H9 being a lot lighter then the TF 50cc Spitfire.
Roger
The FG-36 is now at home in the H9 30cc Spitfire, have not flown it yet, the FG-36 should fly it with authority due to the H9 being a lot lighter then the TF 50cc Spitfire.
Roger
Last edited by ForcesR; 09-24-2014 at 06:48 AM. Reason: FG-36 reinstalled in H9 30cc Spitfire
#355
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Wow, good news. Sounds like it a great plane! Always liked the Spitfire. Im going to do a American scheme similar to Chandley's. I did a search for American Spitfires and found a couple of nice looking schemes. I called Callie and shes ready to make them up as soon as I call her.
Chandley, what was reason for putting the washers under the retracts? To keep it form nosing over? Had that problem on my P-47.
Chandley, what was reason for putting the washers under the retracts? To keep it form nosing over? Had that problem on my P-47.
#358
Hi,
This is an old post, and I'm sure once I make this comment, I'll finish reading the thread to the end to find out that someone else already made this observation but...
I don't get why some of you guys take these critiques (of TF's work--not yours) so personally. These guys love airplanes, warbirds, models and are pointing out valid details and points. They're not criticizing you for buying the plane! They're not insulting your eye or your judgement! "If you don't like it, don't buy it" sound so silly and aggressive. I agree with their observations and buy these planes anyway. Does that put me in a category where I can point out the dihedral thing without getting other owners angry? Again, why is a valid observation about an inaccuracy taken so personally? Ronht, did you design this ARF for TF and is that why you're so offended at such observations?
#359
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I tend to be picky about details and try to achieve a very scale rendition of an airplane but I also like to get out and fly. TF makes a well engineered airplane for the money that offers scale looks with predictable performance. I'm not offended and don't really care, to be honest. I have people think my SEAC Thunderbolt is a Spitfire or my RAF Mustang is a P-40 because it has a shark mouth on it. Will the majority of people who see my plane know the scale discrepancies? Nope.
I'm in the midst of bashing the TF Spit, getting glassed and detailed to look like a desert scheme MkIX flown in Italy. Once complete, it will look the part of a Spit, fly well, and give me hours of fun with my friends.
This is a forum, it is a place to talk about whatever plane is the new gotta have. It's ok to point out good stuff, or scale issues, or quality issues and so on. Like you said, it's not personal.
I'm in the midst of bashing the TF Spit, getting glassed and detailed to look like a desert scheme MkIX flown in Italy. Once complete, it will look the part of a Spit, fly well, and give me hours of fun with my friends.
This is a forum, it is a place to talk about whatever plane is the new gotta have. It's ok to point out good stuff, or scale issues, or quality issues and so on. Like you said, it's not personal.
Last edited by SpitfireMkII; 10-29-2014 at 02:18 PM.
#362
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Spitfire MkIX
Here's some photos of the project, the goal is a desert scheme similar to the one shown. I'm adding the cannon blisters, scale dummy exhaust and other details. Not quite sure why it didn't show up earlier. The idea is to add cool details and make it look like a MkIX but not to the point that it takes up too much time, money and fun. A friend and I are "building" them for next season's flying....you ever seen that clip of the low pass? You know the ^$!&$#!&% Me! one?
Last edited by SpitfireMkII; 10-29-2014 at 04:10 PM.
#365
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The control surfaces will get solartex, yeah, the ailerons should be metal, but that's ok, some primer, a little sandpaper and they'll be fine. That is one critique of TF, why they didn't make simple sheeted ailerons is a bit baffling. I don't feel like tearing them apart, so fabric they will be. As provided, they'd be fine on the early MKI if only they provided the asymmetrical oil/glycol coolers. But again, it's not going to top gun, just my flying field.
Gonna power it with a DLE55RA, I have the 55 side exhaust in the Y/A XIV and it's loads of power. This one should come out lighter (than my XIV) so I suspect it'll be more like a Reno racer.
I have not fully committed to making it a MkIX, I do have a spare retract TW and could make it an early MkVIII with small rudder. First look tells me the TW unit will require some work to fit in the area provided.
Gonna power it with a DLE55RA, I have the 55 side exhaust in the Y/A XIV and it's loads of power. This one should come out lighter (than my XIV) so I suspect it'll be more like a Reno racer.
I have not fully committed to making it a MkIX, I do have a spare retract TW and could make it an early MkVIII with small rudder. First look tells me the TW unit will require some work to fit in the area provided.
#367
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Well that's a can of worms to open, I got the plane used. The overall build of it is very good, but soon after flying it, I started having vibration related problems. Especially the chin cowl losing screws, getting chewed up, several cracks in the fuse and so on. The owner had said that he had fixed some cracks prior to me buying it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry or upset at him. The plane looks great and flies very well and the price was really decent. Just that it was breaking every two flights or so. I had bought it to fly for the rest of the season and then redo over the winter. That's still the plan, want to change to a European scheme.
I then balanced the spinner and prop but the results were the same. I had moved some things around from the original setup, the igniton had been right behind the DA50, I hated that, all the heat would be directed onto it. So I moved that, I also moved the main batteries back to the servo tray area. This required me to add weight, which I did to the chin cowl. The small weight increase would not be a big factor and I like a plane that has a good weight to it and I'm used to that. So at first I suspected my adding weight to the chin was the cause. I removed all of the owner added weight, got a new cowl and reworked the balance. I put all the weight in the top of the nose just behind the spinner, all nicely glassed in so I would have no future problems. But it did it again, so then I started looking at the DA50. I sent it back to DA for a check up and decided to put the DLE55 in its place. Again, the same areas were affected, hoooo hum. So what to do? I started looking at the firewall, the motor and the nose. I started thinking the up and down motion of the piston firing combined with the weight was probably creating a harmonic, the fuse then flexing causing the cracks and cowl issues due to the ballast weight, plus the lower firewall being unsupported. I decided to ad two carbon rods to tie the nose weight and firewall together. A trip to the field, a good flight and no issues. I'm up to about 10 flights since and no signs of trouble. As for moving the firewall, I have no clue since I bought it used. I had to get slightly shorter standoffs for the DLE but that was it. I'm glad I did, the 55 flies it better than the 50, really liking it. I run Spektrum telemetry, I get 7800 rpm with a 21x10 on the ground, temps run between 100 and 140, and I fly just above half for the majority of the flight, only using full to climb. It started and ran like a top, right out of the box. Haven't touched a needle, it also has a really cool burble when you throttle back from a loop or dive, kinda like the full size spit!
The DA is now on its way back with a clean bill of health, they didn't find anything wrong with it that would have caused the issues. As Pilot Officer Richard Hillary wrote about flying and landing his first spitfire, "Money for old rope" and I concur. Really like flying this one! Can't wait to fly the TF.
I then balanced the spinner and prop but the results were the same. I had moved some things around from the original setup, the igniton had been right behind the DA50, I hated that, all the heat would be directed onto it. So I moved that, I also moved the main batteries back to the servo tray area. This required me to add weight, which I did to the chin cowl. The small weight increase would not be a big factor and I like a plane that has a good weight to it and I'm used to that. So at first I suspected my adding weight to the chin was the cause. I removed all of the owner added weight, got a new cowl and reworked the balance. I put all the weight in the top of the nose just behind the spinner, all nicely glassed in so I would have no future problems. But it did it again, so then I started looking at the DA50. I sent it back to DA for a check up and decided to put the DLE55 in its place. Again, the same areas were affected, hoooo hum. So what to do? I started looking at the firewall, the motor and the nose. I started thinking the up and down motion of the piston firing combined with the weight was probably creating a harmonic, the fuse then flexing causing the cracks and cowl issues due to the ballast weight, plus the lower firewall being unsupported. I decided to ad two carbon rods to tie the nose weight and firewall together. A trip to the field, a good flight and no issues. I'm up to about 10 flights since and no signs of trouble. As for moving the firewall, I have no clue since I bought it used. I had to get slightly shorter standoffs for the DLE but that was it. I'm glad I did, the 55 flies it better than the 50, really liking it. I run Spektrum telemetry, I get 7800 rpm with a 21x10 on the ground, temps run between 100 and 140, and I fly just above half for the majority of the flight, only using full to climb. It started and ran like a top, right out of the box. Haven't touched a needle, it also has a really cool burble when you throttle back from a loop or dive, kinda like the full size spit!
The DA is now on its way back with a clean bill of health, they didn't find anything wrong with it that would have caused the issues. As Pilot Officer Richard Hillary wrote about flying and landing his first spitfire, "Money for old rope" and I concur. Really like flying this one! Can't wait to fly the TF.
Last edited by SpitfireMkII; 10-30-2014 at 04:43 AM.
#368
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My concern with the design has been the fact that the hot air passing behind the engine isn't routed out of the airframe, instead it seems to be captured by the deepening cowl. Have you had any problems with overheating or did you take steps to exit the heated air another way?
Also, if you are old enough to make sense of this reference, does the pilot look like Clark Gable to you?
Also, if you are old enough to make sense of this reference, does the pilot look like Clark Gable to you?
#369
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My Spektrum telemetry says I'm running temps between 100-140 degrees in the air, that was consistent with both the DA-50 and the DLE-55. I flew earlier in the week and at one point was only reading 90 degrees. I've compared ground temps between the Spektrum and an infrared gun and they're consistent.The engine runs great and shows no signs of any issues. I fly between 10-12 minutes at a time and it never changes temps more than that range.
Here's a shot with the cowling on. It's a bit chewed up as I described above but I have a new one to put on this winter when I redo the paint scheme.
And yes, that's a Tru-turn Mustang spinner on there. Not exactly scale but it's easy to deal with right now. I will eventually put the scale one on,
Here's a shot with the cowling on. It's a bit chewed up as I described above but I have a new one to put on this winter when I redo the paint scheme.
And yes, that's a Tru-turn Mustang spinner on there. Not exactly scale but it's easy to deal with right now. I will eventually put the scale one on,
Last edited by SpitfireMkII; 10-30-2014 at 09:38 AM.
#373
Spit,
Thank you very much for the pics. That's very helpful. May I ask, where did you order the shorter stand-offs from? I agree that the unsupported bottom of the firewall could be an area of concern. I'm glad you like flying the plane. It was actually the first giant-scale warbird I ever saw fly. The guy had a Supertigre 3000 in it with scale exhaust coming out of the stacks. When he landed, it was sooooo slow with flaps at 80 degrees. I nearly passed out from holding my breath too long. I ordered one a few days later and it took me a long time to finish it because I was acting at the time and on tour with a musical. I managed to bring the tail feathers back with me after a brief trip back home, and my cast-mates were pretty intrigued with what I was doing since I was building/covering the elevators and rudder in the hotels. I ended up wrecking the plane on the maiden because I misunderstood the CG instructions and flew very nose-heavy. My Moki 1.8 overheated a few minutes into the flight and all the up-elevator in the world couldn't keep the bird from pitching hard-over and smashing into the ground.
Thank you very much for the pics. That's very helpful. May I ask, where did you order the shorter stand-offs from? I agree that the unsupported bottom of the firewall could be an area of concern. I'm glad you like flying the plane. It was actually the first giant-scale warbird I ever saw fly. The guy had a Supertigre 3000 in it with scale exhaust coming out of the stacks. When he landed, it was sooooo slow with flaps at 80 degrees. I nearly passed out from holding my breath too long. I ordered one a few days later and it took me a long time to finish it because I was acting at the time and on tour with a musical. I managed to bring the tail feathers back with me after a brief trip back home, and my cast-mates were pretty intrigued with what I was doing since I was building/covering the elevators and rudder in the hotels. I ended up wrecking the plane on the maiden because I misunderstood the CG instructions and flew very nose-heavy. My Moki 1.8 overheated a few minutes into the flight and all the up-elevator in the world couldn't keep the bird from pitching hard-over and smashing into the ground.
#374
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Lifer, my rule had always been it's gotta run right to fly so certain compromises need to be made. Yep, a little paint and weathering and it's good to go.
Y/A, I got the stand offs from England. I will need to look up the information later today. They were hard to find in 2.25". Sorry to hear about the spit. That sucks but we learn from our mistakes I suppose. Mine lands well, it's a tad heavy, somewhere around 28-30 pounds I think. Something else I need put on the to do list. Weigh it.
Y/A, I got the stand offs from England. I will need to look up the information later today. They were hard to find in 2.25". Sorry to hear about the spit. That sucks but we learn from our mistakes I suppose. Mine lands well, it's a tad heavy, somewhere around 28-30 pounds I think. Something else I need put on the to do list. Weigh it.
Last edited by SpitfireMkII; 10-30-2014 at 09:33 AM.