RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Darryl-
Good to hear that they are looking into the situation...and I hope it works out to your mutual benefit. I know this plane takes time to build. I'm calling mine an ARB...Almost Ready to Build!
Tim

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

no, i said that my corsair in one area round the firewall was 3mm thick, never mentioned the spitfire, if they where 3mm thick, you would have a very nice ornament, but it would not fly, my early version spit, from the polyester glass, is the same thickness, the engine fitted is more powerfull than the RCV 130 and i have had no problems the pictures you sent have been forwarded to the factory, and to a full size glass professional, we await the findings

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Alanc-
Thanks for your attention to this. KMP/YT's attention to service is one of the reasons I chose to build this plane.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Maidened my Spit today. 25 degrees celcius, light winds (slight cross wind but nothing too much to handle). We have a synthetic grass strip and two taxi-ways so it was very nice to finally get the girl off the ground. Powered by an MLD 28cc gasser swinging a 17 x 6 APC - there was plenty of power for a smooth take off run. Climbed away and retracted the gear and did a few passes to check out any kinks. After about five minutes I brought her in to land - nice landing with no bounce! (Gee that synthetic grass is great to land on). After taxiiing back and switching off I gave her a once over and to my astonishment and dismay I noticed a 450mm crack along the upper surface of the port wing from the core to the outer edge of the aileron (running along where the main spar is - SEE ATTACHED PICS!) Not very impressed and I have asked my local importer to take it up with the manufacturer and I have asked for a replacement wing.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Alright, I am extremely confused. Your plane looks like the newest version. But the color scheme is of the old version. What version is it? and if it is the newest version, why is it the old color scheme and not the color scheme on the kmp.ca website? Or is the color on the KMP website wrong.

I am really confused and need some answers. Because maybe then I can order the new wing (with proper gear position, reducing nose overs) and put it on my old version fuselage.

Thanks in advance,

Adam

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

your guess is as good as mine - I have no idea.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Twin TurboZ-
I just received my plane last month from KMP and it has DVM100's paint scheme. Mine has the gear blocks canted pretty far forward. I was told mine was the new version. I have to say I am not enjoying seeing all these stress cracks showing up.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

I am getting ready to begin finishing the wings and retracts on my Spitfire. I was wondering if anyone has put their switch and retract air filler valve in the wheel well? I would like to hide these without creating to much difficulty for access. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

A quick C of G question. I have the newer version with the stripes. Installed the 1.20 ax on the nose and I used it's original muffler. I used bends and pipes from krumscheid germany and I managed to get it completely inside the cowl with virtualy no cutting. I have the receiver battery as far forward as possible on a 100 gram plate on top of the engine. (4 sub C cells) In addition I have a robart retractable tailwheel at the back. The question is: this bird balances at 107 mm as it is with no added weight. For what I've read so far most people need about 650 grams of balast on the nose. Is this possible that I'm so lucky I don't need any balast or am I doing something terribly wrong? Hope I'll be able to post picrures of the whole installation soon.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

George-
I have not finished my wing but my fuse is finished. I have the same setup as you with the 1.20 AX using a JTEC pitts muffler. I put a 3500 mah battery on the left side of my engine mount...5 cells. I have marked the CG on my fuse and my plane is nose heavy at this point. I plane to attach a prototype set of Century Jet retracts on mine with the entire air valve, tank and servo setup in front of the CG and mounted to the top of the wing. My guess is that moving a large battery pack into the cowl is making a substantial difference in balancing to the proper CG. I do not have a retracting tailwheel like you but I custom made a stronger (heavier), better looking tailwheel. I'm anxious to see how mine balances when I finish the wing with the CJ retracts.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Djay-
Have you heard anything from KMP/YT about your fuse damage?

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

In addition to his fuze, I'm waiting to see what the manufacturer says about my wing. My local supplier won't do anything about it unless I get some reaction on this forum. Has anyone else had any stress fractures?

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

I just received my retracts from Century Jet today. They also have some really nice gear door mounting brackets for all sizes of their gear. These gear are the prototype gear for for the KMP/YT Spitfire. We spent a lot of time adjusting the angles of the gear and axles to get it as close to scale as possible. The only modification to the gear mount in the wing is to raise it up 1/4" on the rear and 1/8" at the front. This gets the front of the tire right at the front edge of the wing. I also included a shot of what I am doing with my cannons so that I can remove them for travel and storage.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

I thought I would post a few pics of my engine set up, cowl set up and so forth....

I have cut the cowl along panel lines so the chin can be added in two parts. The cowl is then screwed back into one piece using dome head screws.

I have added guns which are screwed into the wing via a plug which is epoxyed into the leading edge. The cannon are then connected via a 6mm nylon bolt which is embeded into the base of the cannon.

Dave

... still some tidying up to do...

I have glassed the faulty wing with 3/4 oz glass and will recover using Solartex - when it arrives.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Well after some discussions by email with YT international, they agreed to replace the fuselage. I received it yesterday. Thank you YT.

But I have a major problem.
they supplied the fuse and cowling only.
I therefore have no tailplane to fit to it, as I will have to destroy the old tail to remove it from the broken fuselage,as it is glued in with 24 hour epoxy on the two stab halfs, the fixing tubes, the locating dowels, the elevator joiners, hinges etc.
YT did say they were out of replacement tailplanes, so I will have to wait and see if they will supply me with one eventually.
Then I just need to get replacement pull/pull cables, take off the exhausts, canopy,tailwheel and air system from the old fuse and hopefully one day resurrect the spitfire.
if I do not get a replacement tail, then it will never fly.

Heres hoping.

Darryl

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Hey Darryl

Why don't you cut the tail surfaces from the old fuselage and glue them to the new? It will only cost you the dowels (cause you will have to put new ones while you'll have to open new holes ...)
That is the only discrepancy I suppose and do not forget that we are modellers first of all...(we have to take action for small time repairs like this..)
Instead of waiting I suppose that you 'll fix it much sooner like this.
Kind regards
J.R.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Hey guys

IMHO YT/KMP are presenting an exceptional product at an affordable price way ahead of its time. ( I still remember the old Byron Originals at the '80s and their exceptional product at that time! Same thing).
But in all the ARF designs they are small little things that everyone of us must do in order ; lets say to "synchronize" the airplane to our will and habbits. We do not fly the same way e.g. somebody overpowers his airplane, somebody else is making harder landings, somebody else is implying higher G's...etc.
I happen to own about 10 different types of YT/KMP birds and I can assure you that if you follow my instructions then you will increase the life cycle of your wonderfull birds to the maximum.
1st You must rienforce the cowl with poxy and 1/4ounce glass cloth.
2nd You must rienforce the firewall (from the inside with poxy and glass cloth).
3rd You must rienforce the whole area on the leading edge, main spar and the retract base hardwood in order to achieve excused harder landings with no bad effect on your birds.
4th You must balance your birds at the 1/4 to 1/5 of the airfoil. Like this you will have smoother flights with no tendencies when you are getting to land.
I would like to admit that in my birds (they are all YT bought in GR) I have never experienced any flaws from the factory but since I am comming from the breed of the 80's that we were building our kits to fly, I have the tendency to overstrength my birds to extend durability and flight time. The extra strength (in weight) is something that you won't notice because anyway in order to balance the birds take a lot of weight in the nose at the end ...
Happy flights to everybody
Kind Regards
J.R.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Hi JR.
It is not a simple matter of cutting the tailplane from the fuse.
The elevaors have to be seperated first, which means trying to unglue the joiner rod.
The stab is in two halfs, with an aluminium round spar going through both halves and the fuselage, this is nearly the whole lenght of the stab halves and is glued in with 24 hour epoxy. the only way to remove it is cut the stab into pieces.
Yt have not refused to suply a new one, just they do not have any, or foresee when they will have some.
The rudder is not a problem as I can cut through the hinges and fit new.
I personally feel that you should not have to do anything to an ARTF of this "quality". Reinforcing it as you suggest means that the model is no good in your opinion, though in my case it turned out to be true.
A modern ARTF, especially one that is not cheap should be up to the rigours of everyday general flying without recourse to beefing it up. Though I agree everyone has their own preferences, and do not condone them. (big words there)
But in the real world we do have to make changes to the models, and as I am like you, been building kits and scratch building for over 40 years, I do take a good look at the structure and modify if possible, but only on wooden ones, as one would presume that composite structures are made correctly and therefore will be more then strong enough.
I have very few ARTF's as I tend to build though. The longest lasting ARTF's I have are the dirt cheap chinese imports we get here. Cost pennies, but last for ever.

All the best
Darryl

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Dear Darryl

I am not being a critic to your misfortune. I just wanted to point out in a diffferent solution cause I was following this thread and I have understood that probably the new set of the tailplane will take some time to come from YT.
I do not doubt that if you put the old one you will need some effort to achieve results.

About my second post I have informed about my personal opinion which I didn't say or meant that the YT birds are weak in construction. Let me explain in case that there is a misunderstanding here. Durabillity is something relevant to everybody. It depends on the way we all fly. If it is durable for the average of the fliers then it is a good product and durable. I am not talking about a case of a production flaw which is something totally different and is calculated in a small percentage per 1000 units produced. (In your case you hitted the jack pot and you should buy also a sweepstake!:D)
The way that I am using in reenforcing ALL the ARF planes that I have is something that I find more suitable in my way of flying. Do not get me wrong here. But I tend to make 3 point landings (and this is painfull for the structure..) also I fly pattern like acrobatic way (and this sometimes implies higher G's..)
I hope that now it is more obvious what i was talking about, and this is definately NOT that YT has weak construction. IN THE CONTRARY I beleive that YT has EXCELLENT construction (best value for money) and in your case I see that YT has also a VERY GOOD aftersales service!
Kind Regards
J.R.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Darryl-
You have many more years of building experience than I do. I was just looking at my KMP Spit and if I had your situation I would use a dremel to cut the stab and elevator out in one piece and then cut a section of the rear of the vertical fin on the new fuse and slide the stab and elevator in and epoxy in place. Then I would make a wood insert to fill the gap I cut in the vertical fin. Do you think that would work?
Tim

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Hi Tim. thought of that, but the rear section where the stab fits is so thin you would seriously weken the structure cutting any of it away, and you would have to cut through the rudder post as well.
I have solved the problem though.
I thought if the old fuse front is just a shell of fibreglass gel coat, with no resin in the matting, what is the rear like?
So I cut the stab joiner in half through the acess panel below, managed to work the elevators off, by cutting through the hinges, and pulled the two stab halves hard, and , yes, they pulled away really easily, with the gel coat stuck to the stab, and the non resined mat left to flop about in the fuse. Not a trace of resin anywhere on the matting. So really only the gel coat was holding this thing together.
So I just scraped the gel coat of the stab halves, cleaned them up, glued them onto the new fuse, with a dowel in the centre of the joiner, and fitted the elevators and rudder with new hinges.
I am slowly putting it back together, but the wing will require major reair work. After reading about DVM100's wing splitting, I checked mine, and yes it has major splits all over the top and bottom, mostly under the covering, and this was after a low speed soft belly landing, with no damage to the fuse or lower wing covering.
So I may have to strip the covering of and repair it.

Will keep you updated.

Darryl

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

Darryl-
Thanks for the information and future updates. I am beginning to think that some of the wood in this plane is on the fragile side compared to my Hanger 9 ARF's. I had two broken ribs in my wheel well areas that I repaired. I also glassed the inside of the wheel wells as far as I could reach. We had a large ice storm in Louisville last week which gave me some extra time to finish up my Spitfire. I still have a few cosmetic things to work on but I am happy with the new Century Jet retracts. I soaked the gear doors for a few days in water and put a curve in them and then painted them. I only had to add 6 ozs. to the nose with that SR 3500 mAh battery up front. I look forward to seeing your repairs Darryl...thanks for you assistance.
Tim

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

hey there guys Im putting togethor one of these im just wondering How u guys are glueing the Plastic bits ( Radiator and fuel tanks ) to the underside of the wing.?? because im worried Epoxy wont stick to plastic...

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

fuel tanks? I used epoxy in mine for the front radiator and I just used screws on the wing radiators in case I have to access the flap servos.

And a quick flight report.

I did a flight today but I ground looped it on touch down. The model span 180 degrees. The result? A nice big crack along the bottom of the fuselage (it actually split open at the sim) and several small ones towards the tail ;(((. How am I going to reach in and fix this? Any suggestions? The fuse seems to be too thin but the rest of the model is intact.

RE: KMP New Spitfire Mk XIV
 

I used black gasket slicone to attach mine. It's quite easy to remove them if you have to.