GIJon

My Feedback: (118)

I hear you Prekin. It's a good deal, I just have too much stuff and need to downsize. Wish you were closer.

GIJon

My Feedback: (118)

I am going to the Atlanta Hobby Swap in Cumming, GA the end of the month. I can deliver it there.

Blackwidow

Hi Guys,

Sorry if this topic has been beat to death already but I paged back through the thread and didn't see it so here we go...........

This plane is freakishly tail heavy!

I have just completed the build on the Top RC Spitfire. I bought it because I always wanted a Spitfire model and I had an extra 35RA motor on the shelf.

So during the build I knew it was going to be tail heavy (not my first warbird) so I moved the batteries, throttle servo, choke servo and tank, basically everything, as far forward as I could. The tail wheel and rudder and both pull-pull from a centrally located servo the elevator is on a forked 3/8" wooden dowel pushrod from a midship servo.

So I put her on the balancer and it wants FIVE POUNDS + in the nose. WHAT? I'm really disappointed! It weighs 19.5 lbs now so that will now become 25 lbs. Wing loading goes from about 38 oz / sqft to over 50 oz /sq ft.

Thinking about what else I can do. I did use Dubro pull-pull hardware with 4-40 clevis on the rudder on both sides. I suppose I could remove the hardware and just loop the pull-pull wire through the rudder horns and make all of the adjustments at the servo end. I could pull out the 3/8" wooden dowel push rod for the elevator and make a new one using a carbon fiber arrow shaft. Maybe pull the choke servo and rig up a manual method. Each of these just seem like a lot of work for a little gain.

Let me ask a couple of question of you guys if I could......

Has anyone experimented with the 130mm (FLE) CG and if so by how much aft before it gets stupid? I guess I asking if there is a range there and how big.

Are you guys experiencing near 25 lb airframes airplanes after balancing? If so, do they fly well at that weight / wingloading? Flaps take off & landing?

Honesty if it really needs 5 pounds my first thought is a bigger motor. Anyone putting say 55's or 60's cc motors in these?

Really appreciate you guy's experience and time to share your thoughts!

Blue skies

Tom

RBean

I have one. I got it used, already built. It flew but was very touchy on elevators. After fooling with it for a while, elevator throws, expo etc. I finally added 3 oz more weight to the nose. I don't know the total lead, a lot, the total weight of the plane is 22.5 lbs. The little bit of weight I added really helped. It flies ok at this weight. Powered by a DL 32 with a three blade 17-8 prop. This is enough power to fly scale. I usually carry just a little power all the way to the ground and land on the mains. I usually take off and land on grass where it is not so twitchy on directional control. If you need me to, I'll assemble the plane and put on the cg meter to see what it is.

Prekin

My Feedback: (19)

I am not a pilto of TopRC Spitfire, but still thiking about one. They are not in stock, so I have a lot of time to think about it and search details. Unfortunately all of those Spitfire are over 10kg, what it quite a lot for 2m WS warbird. My Seagull Spitfire was 7.7kg and ESM La-7 after some mods 8.3kg.
My friend has one.
"No need to mix elevator and flap: these are more airbrakes than flaps. In take-off you don’t need them (unless the runway is REALLY short) and in landing they must deflect 90 degrees or little less. Flaps are small compared to the wing chord, hence no pitch effect"
His one is approx 11kg. In the pictures you can see he added a lot of lead.

Dsa44

Yes blackwidow, it is very tail heavy. I flew mine electric with 160 motor on 10s and had to add 3 lbs lead up front to achieve CG. My AUW was about 24 lbs! (10 kg). However, it still flew well even at that weight. Unfortunately I lost it, and now working on a Blackhorse spitty which is surprisingly much lighter.
I would think a bigger motor would not hurt, but 60cc would be overkill, imho.
Good luck with the build

Prekin

My Feedback: (19)

Would you create build thread with your BH Spitfire? I noticed, that they produce much better warbirds than before. Also come with retracts.

Dsa44

Hi Prekin,
There is a good discussion here.... https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc...cussion-thread
I only have a few comments there. It has been a pretty straight-forward build, not much difficulty. If you need more info please pm me directly here or at rcgroups (same name dsa44)
I did like the fact that it included electric retracts in the price! Although the price seems to have gone up a lot since I purchased mine last fall.
Cheers.

Blackwidow

Prekin & Dsa44, Thank you!!!! I appreciate your time posting the pictures and information. Wow! That is gonna be a chore getting the 4 - 5 lbs stuffed in the nose of this plane. Every plane seems to present a new experience so here we go

I did just complete the exhaust stacks from Cary at Carbercomposites in Germany. I'm happy with the way they turned out. I just couldn't use those stacks that came with the plane.

New 3D printed Stacks from CarberComposites painted with dark brown camouflage paint and weathered with Tamiya powders sealed with flat lacquer

Ohsh1t

Hey Tom, thankyou for using our stacks. Superb work on the colouring, we will have to give that a try as they look great!
Cary

Prekin

My Feedback: (19)

Another customer is finishing his Spitfire. I will get back to you, when get some more details about his Spitty. Right now we know, that she will be over 10kg.

CarreraGTSCS

My Feedback: (2)

Anyone have a spare set of wings to sell? I screwed up. Tree vs Spitfire. Tree won.

kenverret

Blackwidow
See my post #633 that may help. I still fly it regularly. One of my favorite.

KAV

RBean

I was doing some maintaince on the Spitfire, had the cowl and weight platform off. The lead ballast weights 3 lbs. Total weight of plane is 22.5 lbs but flies ok. Don't have the specs on the cg.

Angel Carricondo

Hello,
I've recently purchased one of these Spitfires from bigplanes in Europe. The thing is that it came with the toprc electric retracts included, but I haven't heard good comments on these retracts, especially due to some issues with the controller.
Has anybody any feedback of them?
Thanks

jpflyer

My Feedback: (13)

I used them in my Spitfire on a 2s 1000 mah lipo. I have had zero problems.

Angel Carricondo

Good to know!!
Thanks for your reply

jricchio

My Feedback: (3)

Do the wings, horizontal stab and rudder have panel lines?

SJN

On the later ones with the invasion stripes, yes. There must be a V1 and V2 of these.

jricchio

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks!

Do you have any photos or direct me to a section on the thread that shows the panel lines?

SJN

These are from mine:

jricchio

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks!

RBean

The Spitfire has been down for a few months. Not really about the airplane, but the engine. DLA 32. Engine got where it wouldn't idle. Thought it was a carb problem. Removed engine, removed carb. Cleaned out carb. Replaced external fuel pump pulse line. Re-installed. Same problem. Tried to order new Tillison Carb. Can't get one. Installed Walbro carb for RCGF 32. Has the same problem. Found insulator block cracked at pulse line nipple. That must be it. Finally got a new block. Installed. Same problem. Ok, a two cycle gas engine is not that complicated. Removed and was going to disassemble the entire engine until I found problem. Turned out it was a part of the cylinder block gasket that was blown out. Replaced. Engine runs great now. Finally got to fly the Spitfire yesterday. Flew great. Engine has not run this good in a while.

Trackster1

I just started building my TopRC Spitfire and going electric. I’ve read about nose weight issues so will do what I can to keep weight down in the build and pile up as much as I can with battery size, etc at the front and then expect to add more weight. I’ve swapped out the aluminum wing supports for carbon.

2 questions for the experts in this thread:
1. I’m using a Dualsky XM6360EA KV190 motor and 120HV ESC, 12S setup. Can someone recommend a good prop size?

2. I want to keep the servo power supply as simple as possible. For a smaller plane I’d run a Dualsky VR Pro voltage regulator for the servos and retracts with a 2S lipo. I wanted to do the same here and connect in the TopRC gear controller for the TopRC retracts/gear to the same VR Pro and single battery. The 18awg wire on the controller doesn’t lend itself to using a JR/Futaba connector with the VR Pro and someone recommended I keep the gear controller separate and add another 2S lipo. Does anyone have a better recommendation?

kenverret

I would think a higher kv motor would be better suited. You could run a smaller prop for better ground clearance.

See my post #633. I'm still flying it. It's my favorite warbird.
I used 2 - 2 cell lipos. One for the receiver and one for retracts.

good luck

KAV