ORIGINAL: SteveC68
One of the problems with the Top Flite Spitfire is that the tail plane is 35% oversize compared to scale. Specifically the horizontal stabs, but the vertical is also over sized. Not sure why Top Flite chose to enlarge the tail surfaces so much, but they did so what you end up with is a kit that is very easy to build excess weight in the tail.
Sounds like there are many improvements that can be made to TF Spitfire kit while in the building process. There is allot more planning and detailed work involved in building a truly lightweight
high performance airplane, and when properly setup, will out perform its heavier counterpart in all aspects of flight, even in high or gusty wind. Heavier does not fly better, especially when they are smaller platforms like this one, Reynolds numbers and cubed loading are both working against you the smaller you go and there is no changing that.
Bob