Hi evryone, before Christmas I purchased a second hand Kyosho Spitfire. I have only in the last month started work on it as I had another project on the go (a Seagull Models Space Walker - great plane ! Flys very nice !). I have been reading the prvious posts on the spit and there seems to be a lot of complaints about the undercarige, the wing mounting spar( you know the ply protruding out the front of the leading edge) and the covering. I am starting to consider saving up for some retracts, and was wondering if you think they are worth it as not many people seem to like the standard undercaige , also fitting retracts could pose to be a problem because as I purchased the spit 2nd hand it didnt come with the vac formed wells for the wheels I think it shoul have been supplied with. Ok one last thing, I have bought a mds 48 pro for it and have the engine running smootly and relaibly on the bench , but do you think I will battle to get the c of g correct?

Thanks in advance !

Regards Geoff

Please!?

Thanks
Geoff Norman

Hi,

Ive got one of these, so far ive not found anyproblems with the standard undercarraidge seems to be fine and i take off and land in grass... althou i hate the covering it rips extremely easy [&o]

As to the MDS, i use a OS 46 LA and it flys it very well althou be warned i had to add ALOT and i mean alot of lead in the nose as it was extremely tail heavy. Also change the metal wing bolts for plastic or if you have a bump you will have no wings left

I have the vac formed undercaridge legs somewhere for retracts as i never used them, althou i would have to dig them out of my loft, soo if you do want them just let me know and ill c what i can do, but i cant promise anything u havent seen what its like up thier lol.

I hope this isnt your first kit, as i found this alot harder to build than any other kit and ive built alot............. and you will need to fuel proof the whole thing because as soon as hot fuel gets to that wallpaper covering it will come off [:@]. The Spit flys well but its very much like a warbird in flight soo be careful not to land 2 slow.. Mine doesnt fly much now as i brought a Flair Spitfire 90 ARTF (Lovely kit, fibreglass body etc etc, much much better with retracts).

Good Luck with yours

Hi Dragon Heart ,
Thanks for the reply - no it is not my first model , I have been flying for about 3 years now. My MDS seems to be much more chunky and heavy than the O.S 46's so hopefully that will mean not to much lead in the nose ! As far as the vac formed wells are concerned, thank you very much for the offer, but I was just wondering if it was actually originally supplied with the wells - my Dad should be able to help me vac form the wells using a vacuum cleaner and a hot air gun. I understand what you mean about the loft - mine is like a mine field, one wrong step and you will be picking bits of plane off the bottom of your feet! I will get some fuel proofing for that dreadful covering or possibly recover the spit in the RAF reconnaissance pink!

What I would do for a nice big 90 sized spit!

Thanks again for the offer !

Regards Geoff

Don't bother vaccum forming wells, just use 1/64 ply wood inside and glue in place, it will make the cut-outs stronger. Then you just seal the wood with a light coat of exopy resin and paint it with soe zinc-chromate colored paint.

Thanks Plane builder66, I will buy some ply from my LHS on the weekend . Iam thinking of recovering my spit in chrome profilm and adding the red markings like in the photo even though that spit is a later mk than the kyosho spit. The only problem is that it will be quite hard on your eyes.

[link]http://www.f4aviation.co.uk/airshow03/legends/spittd248.jpg[/link]

Greetings Geoff

just to chime in I have the Spit with retracts and a Thunder Tiger 46 for power. The plane flies fine and I really enjoy it. The retracts are simple mechanical ones from Hobbico and they work just fine. I would consider recovering it I dont have the time nor the skill to make a good camp pattern

Iam actually in class right now so I have to be quick, Thanks Diablo Kid, lack of skill is the reason I chose to use that silver spit as a model instead of a camo pattern. Has any one tried programming flaperrons into your radio for slower landing speed?

Iam going to hopefuly get some irvine mechanical retracts soon and the shape the wells with the ply like Planebuilder sugested. I have an aluminium spinner similar to Diablo Kids and Dragon Hearts , I was not to sure if I should use it or not as it was too pointed too be scale, but I hate the look of a chewed up plastic spinner- I think I will stick with the aluminium spinner.

Have any of you guys needed to cut exrta cooling into the cowl ?

Thanks for all ther advice so far.

Reagrds Geoff

Hi,

Yep i cut quite a bit out for cooling for the engine..............

Also as to the landing speed with the 46LA in mine it lands nice and slow with no tip stall, so i would keep it as it is....

Yeah I work by the rule of if something works dont change it (well i dont always stick to that rule but you know what I mean[sm=biggrin.gif]). I will cut a fair bit of the cowl away because I dont want any deadsticks!

Thanks for all your advice!

Geoff

good point, I forgot to mention I was having deadstick problems due to possible overheating and lack of air-intake on the front so I had to make some cuts.

cheers

Diablo Kid , do you know a UK distributor of the hobbico retarcts?

Thanks !

Regards Geoff

Don't do it. Somebody else can chime in with the exact aerodynamics of this, but with ailerons outboard only, flaperons will act like adding "wash-in", which will make the plane more snappy, not slower for landing. In fact, I've seen some posts here on RCU recommending adding a couple of degrees of up to both ailerons (wash-out?) to tame a snappy plane.

Geoff I am not sure but would consider Tower Hobbies. I forgot you are in England

Wow , good thing I havnt tried the flapperons yet that could have been nasty! I best warn my Dad not to put flapperons on his world models corsair as he was considering doing , the corsair has fairly far out ailerons as well!

Thanks Diablo kid Iam hopefuly going to order some of the hobbico retracts for my spit and at the same time I will order some of the 90degree rotating retracts for my Dads as his birthday present for his corsair as the world models retracts are pretty poor.

Thanks for all the advice !

Geoff