Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

Just wanted to mention I received my Spifire and it looks very nice. I know I have not inspected everything in extremely close in detail yet but on first look there is not one single covering wrinkle and the structure seems very stout. Very good fit and finish on initial look... and ready to do some work in a few weeks when time becomes available. Bought a Warbirdpilots figure and will do some work on the cockpit. Power will be a Hacker A60 and 12s 5000+mah packs, CC Edge HV160f ESC. Not sure if I'll do the sliding canopy, if I find some good 1/6 size canopy rails and hardware I'd give it a try for sure. Would probably use some light weight, thin aluminum to double up the framing up front at the sliding frame joints as I don't think the bare plastic wold be stiff enough in operation.

greyfly

Thought you might like to see my reworked spitfire. I brought the kit from my LMS stripped out the covering and glassed the airframe. I made a number of scale changes, including a cyclinical radiator, full cockpit,exhausts,tailwheel plus and the panels,rivets hatches etc. The power is a hacker A60, ice 120 ESC on 12s with a 22x16 prop.
The colour scheme is that of a Mk3 vb from an old Airfix kit. Well pleased with the model construction quality and she does fly well.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Nice shot! Whats the AUW?

greyfly

Here's another shot, AUW is almost 24 lbs of which nearly 3lb is nose weight.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Absolutely superb rework of the Spitfire into a Seafire Alan. I love it!

dale691

Hi all, I have an OS GF30. The manual for the spitfire does say 30cc gas 4 stroke. Does anyone have any thoughts regarding this setup?

ForcesR

The GF30 is a good choice, it's a step above the Saito FG30 horse power wise and the FG30 is listed as a suitable engine by H9 for installation in the 30cc Spitfire.

Roger

Dave Bugz

I had the FG 30 in mine, flew scale, had to keep the throttle mainly 3/4 to full power to give it authority. I would have kept the engine in the plane but I just could not stop it over heating. The Saito 4 stroke petrol use the engine mount as a heat sink, but I just could not stop it over heating. Great engine, sounded lovely, I even ruined a cowling trying various methods to keep the engine cool but ran out of ideas. Still iun decided what to put in her, a colleague had just put a Laser 180 glow and that seems fine, 30cc. I did try the Saito 220 glow but need to do some mods on the tank area as the original plate is too high.The 220, 36cc flew it well, just seriously thirsty this why if I go glow I need to do the mod. Decisions, decisions.

ForcesR

I have the FG36 installed in my H9 Spitfire; the engine was previously installed in a TF P-51 Mustang and I never had a problem with cooling. I included photos of the FG36 installation, as you see I had to move the cowl 1" forward to achieve the correct spinner spacing. Moving the cowl forward exposed the top hatch gap, to hide the gap I made a shroud. The hatch is easily installed and remove without any interference from the shroud.

Dave, is the FA220 engine flooding due to the stock fuel tank location that allows the tank to sit to high and the glow fuel floods the engine while the aircraft is parked?

Roger

dale691

Anyone got pics or video with the 30cc 4 stroke?

Dave Bugz

Dale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJNnVmp1yXA

Hopefully link works, if not copy and paste into You Tube.
This is my Spit with the FG30B Four stroke Petrol 30cc. Sounded great, flew scale, most of the vid i am on full power, but if you listen at 1.38 it starts to cough as it is getting hot. It wasnt a particularly warm day but got progressivley worse until i thought it might stop. Great engine if i could get the heat out.

Dave Bugz

Roger
Yes it did flood so i have modified the tank plate and lowered it. I did fly the FA 220 with the plate in the original position but it didnt run properly. Hopefully now the mod is done it should be OK.

If you look at the pictures there is a white piece of wood on the fire wall this is the piece i originally removed so the Walbro carb of the FG30 would go. IO also tried the FG36 and it was fine, you did not have to move the cowling forward.
Have you flown yours with the FG 36, i just could not get the heat out of mine.
Trying to add photos.

Dave Bugz

ForcesR

Dave; I had to move the cowl forward, without moving the cowl forward there was a 1" gap between the spinner black plate and the cowl. The FG36 is mounted on the stock Saito aluminum engine mount which means the engine is in a fixed location and cannot be moved forward or rearward on the engine mount side beams. The stock Saito engine mount is necessary to use because it helps to dissipate heat. Also with having the FG36 mounted 1" forward, the less dead weight I have to add to the nose to achieve C of G.

From your photos I can tell you why your FG30 was eventually overheating in flight. You removed the FG30 from it's stock Saito engine mount and replaced the stock mount with a universal engine mount. The Saito engine manual also states that the stock aluminum is necessary to help dissipate engine heat. Install the FG30 on its stock engine mount and your over heating problem will disappear.

Roger

Dave Bugz

Roger
i rember yes the FG did come with the mount, and I did use it. On the video that's the FG on the correct mount. Thanks any way, I kinda give up in the end but it is a great engine.
Yes your right it is pre drilled and cannot be moved,I understand now why it's an inch forward. Plus yes less dead weight. I weighed my lead today and I have 2lb at the front.
regards
Dave

ForcesR

Dave, I viewed your video and the FG30 is a sweet sounding engine and right at home in the H9 Spitfire. It has good power and pulled the Spitfire around with ease, you also made a very nice landing. The engine cough you mention is notorious with new Saito gas engines, everyone I know that has a new gas Saito has mentioned the cough, but the engine does not stop. The cough disappeared with more break in time and fine tuning. My FG36 had the cough but has disappeared with break in time and further fine tuning too, but I have never had an over heating problem with the FG36.

Roger

ForcesR

Finally finished with the assembly of my H9 30cc Spitfire with a FG36cc Saito installed. To achieve the recommended 4 3/4" C of G, I had to add a little more dead weight to the nose than what I expected. I had calculated that it would take 14ozs but it actually took 18ozs (510.2gms) From what I remember reading, others had to add 32ozs+ to achieve the recommended C of G I am very satisfied with the assembly and cannot wait for spring to arrive to do the maiden

Roger

Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

Hi Roger,

Congrats on finishing your assembly. I have a question for you since your build is still fresh in your mind if you don't mind. Did you happen to run into an issue with the flap panels and their fit and finish? I notice my flaps (on the outboard wing panels) were way too thick. In other words the flaps did not fit flush and protruded into the airflow (proud of the lower wing surface) by about an extra 1/16" or more - It was very apparent when viewed next to the center wing panel. The center wing panel trailing edge is about 3/32" thick and the outer wing panel TE's at the flaps are a little more than 1/16" thicker. I am thinking I'll have to remove them and sand down the flap inner surface (make the flaps thinner) so they mate up a lot better. Probably have to glass the surface to give them the strength required. As it stands, the flaps are going to bug me every time I see the trailing edge of the wing when they are retracted - needless to say they will probably add some drag and required trim in flight too if I don't fix the issue.

Whiel this can be a fast fix, I did not plug in the wings and inspect the transition of the panels until after I glued in the flap panels. Would have been easier to "fix" the fit problem before gluing in the hinges and fitting the linkages of course! But who needs easy, this is model airplane stuff and it's finicky by design I suppose.

ForcesR

Eddie P; the flaps fit and the finish are fine on my H9 Spitfire. I did not have the issues to deal with that you now have.

Roger

Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks Roger. Just a variability in construction I guess at the factory. At least it's a reasonably straight forward fix, if not time consuming. But simple enough.

Thanks again, let us know when she flies!

Dave Bugz

Hi Roger, mine ended up with 32 oz lead in the nose, although i have put the 220 glow in her i am making up a bracket to get the weight right over the nose so hopefully i can add less. I found C of G 4 3/4 great. Dave Wilshire of Motors n Rotors flies at my club and posts lots on here especially jets and he flew it at that CG and said it was good.

Eddie my Flaps hang down when fully up, but when flying the air pressure keeps them flat and haven't noticed any trim change, my easy fix is to put in first stage of flap when parked up, i think it is the way it is hinged that will not allow them to close flush. I did let it get to me then i decided to lower the flaps when on the ground. No one has said anything in my club, and you know club mates can be quite critical.
Dave

Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks Dave, that's a good way to keep the "offending" issue from being front and center!

I notice the way my plane was delivered, the hinges were drilled mostly in line with the longitudinal axis (front to rear). When looking at the instruction manual closely it is apparent the H9 builders on the prototype mounted the hinges at an angle, as you would do when making slotted flaps (like a P-47 using hinge points). The hinge center point resides elevated outside of the wing surface, not within the structure. That in effect creates a longer moment arm between the horn and the hinge. This allows the flaps to be closed flush and held relatively tightly. I re drilled my hinges to match the manual and I can close mine tight.

The issue I have... is the flaps themselves are extremely thick toward the trialing edge. They are fine at the leading edge of the flap, they deviate the farther aft you go. In fact looking at the bottom of the wing the flap panel actually puts some undercamber in the airfoil as it doesn't match the airfoil evenly. I assumed (yes it made me one of those donkeys) that the thick trailing edge and slight camber change was also present in the middle wing section. Turns out, my middle section has a rather thin trailing edge and the camber is constant and did not pick up on this until plugging the wing panels together later during construction. So when looking at the wing from behind you can see this rather thick trailing edge on the outer section of the wings and then the inner section near the fillet of the fuse is nice and sleek, like a normal trailing edge. It almost looks like the flap panels are just stuck onto the bottom of the wing in a rather agricultural way. I know the real aircraft is not like this. My solution will be to take the flap panels off and sand them to a thinner profile, then re mount them so they don't look so awkward. I assume this is a manufacturing QA deviation. No way would I be happy with that fit and finish if I made the model, I'd have gone back and re worked those flaps before covering.

Sorry for the long winded response. As I fix this I will post a photo or two to show what I'm talking about. I'm away from home so I can't snap a photo right now. I'm happy with most of this airplane's construction... this weird issue caught me out a bit though.

Boo2

Can anyone tell me wether this plane has an all sheet wing or is it built-up aft of the spar ?

Thanks,

Boo

Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

Boo I may be misunderstanding your question but I'll try to answer? In my way of thinking it's built up with ribs, spars and sheer webbing. Then on top of that it has wood sheeting for exterior streesed skin construction and that's for the whole of the wing. There are not any open bays with simple shrink covering to form the airfoil, if that't what you were afraid of. However, the whole airframe is covered with silver Shrink Wrap covering and then painted to form the color finish and surface detail. By the way the detail is quite good - rivets, panel lines, etc. It's an excellent start to a good scale subject. If or when the covering gets ragged I would have no qualms about re covering with .7 ounce glass and paint but as-is, the airframe seems extremely solid and more importantly it has a relatively light tail with the heat shrink covering and balsa construction so that less nose weight is required for CG.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yep, fully sheeted.