hi every 1,

i bought a unfinished spitfier off ebay and it can fit a 1.20 4st in it!!!!its quite large 54inch wing span roughly 62 inch and ive bought it as a 2nd plane!!but i wanted to no should i buy an airbrush kit to do the original spitfire coulers ore just use an airasol?

oh yea forgot to say how hard are they to fly?

Luke I would not recommend a spitfire or any other warbird as a second plane. you would be better off with a plane like a 4*60. Warbirds generally have a high wing loading and are very unforgiving. If you have a deadstick with a warbird you better hope you have enough altitude so you can increase speed to make it bake to the runway, if you don't it is going to sink like a brick and your great looking spit will now look like tooth picks. As i said warbirds are not forgiving planes to fly and are more likely to stall and snap on you that you may not be able to recover from. Also spitfires usually have a tendency to want to nose over on take off as the landing gear is so close together (more so if it is scale). If all you are flying now is a trainer leave the spit alone.

that size plane is more of a .60 size plane not a fs 1.20 maybe a 90 4 s.especially if it is only a 2nd plane.snap rolls are going to give you a fit especially on a take off.

Luke this airplane can in no way be considered a "second" airplane for all the reason listed by Pauluk2 and a whole bunch more. This airplane is for much, much further down the line if you stay with the climb up the airmanship ladder.

Indeed that ladder in RC (just as it is in full scale) must be climbed one rung at a time or you be sitting yourself up for a fall (large amounts of totally wasted money and extreme frustration) while possibly never realizing your dreams of flight. No one can avoid this, no matter how good you think you are. The natural pilot is a myth!! No one is born with the knowledge of what is required or the intrinsic sense of feel that is required period. Yes there are ways to shorten the climb, things like sims and effective instruction combined with a planned regimen of that instruction are helpful 'But' agine Nobody can avoid rungs in the ladder or it will soon bite you right in the butt.

John

I have been flying for three years now, I too jumped right into a spit as a second plane, What a mistake you will not be succesful in flying that bird by yourself, If you think you have the talent to fly this plane Plz sit back and rethink the situation you could be in. I dont want to scare you or get you upset but as everyone said in this forum, dont do it!!! It will just get you dissapointed
this is only my opinion. Good luck
Greg

Luke,
You may not want to hear this, but the advice you are getting is spot on the money. A Spitfire (or any warbird) is going to be a handful to fly. You have to remember that fighters are designed to be fast and maneuverable, and that definitely translates to the RC plane. In addition to all of the characteristics listed by other above, a warbird does not land anything like a trainer will. With your trainer you can cut back the throttle and let your plane float in for a landing. As said above a warbird usually has a high wing loading, which means it will stall at slow speeds. To land a warbird you will need to come in with some power and you will have to fly the plane all the way into the landing.

My advice would be to put the Spitfire away and get more experience on other planes before you try to fly the Spit. I don't know if I would even recommend it as a third plane. If you try to fly the plane at your current skill level I can pretty much assure you that it will crash.

That's my 2¢ worth

Ken

a cheap altirnativeto help you train to that level of expertise (dont worry, im no where near that either ) is get a low wing CHEAP taildragger, like something form megatech of pheonix models. THeuy ware cheap and will teach you so you can go for the warbird. I flew a warbird durign my training. IT flies better then a trainer.

"I flew a warbird durign my training. IT flies better then a trainer. "

You flew a warbird in the air. I'm pretty certain that no one let you take off, or land their warbird while you were training. Anyone with some experience can fly a plane that is in the air, but taking off and landing are where you make your money. That is also where you will SPEND your money on a warbird if you don't know what you're doing.

Experience talking.

2 slow, Very well put. You are exactly right. I was treated to a fly of a beautiful P-40 yesterday, IN THE AIR!! with a co-pilot installed. Big help IMHO. I did fly the P-40 much better than I had just flown my Trainer, Trainer flight was a real dissapointment for me. I was really bad, I flew it much better last week[&:]. Still in need of lots of practice obviosly. The point is, neither Bear nor Myself were silly enough to think I was gonna land that Warbird. I would love to have one someday, probably the F4U Corsair, but that day is along way off.
Luke, I know it's very tempting to go after the cool looking ones right off the bat, I did it myself, Cap 232, Edge 540, 3D Yak. I got em all. Sitting there waiting for me to catch up to them. Sooner or later you're gonna have to do a u-turn like I'm in the process of doing right now. If I ever get this darn Trainer mastered, I'm going to the 4* sixty next.
Like John said nobody escapes the rungs on the latter. Been there, crashed that!! Mark T.

I seriously would consider getting an el cheapo taildragger(maybe something like the low wing stik thats out?). just would seem like a much better choice than risking a big warvird like that

OK THEN ILL GET A EXTREAMY CHEAP TAIL DRAGGER OFF EBAY!GOOD ENOUGH? AND I WILL USE MY RAIDIO AND IRVINR 46 OUT OF MY TRAINER!

No point in getting mad at everyone luke. (Unless you accidentaly hit caps lock). Engines and radios last for a long time, planes dont, unlesss your really good, so dont worry.

By the way, 2slow2matter,

That point in m training was nearing the end, i already had one signature of beign a solo pilot form my own instructor, and i needed two more form the president andd the other instructor. My instructor tok off, said that it tracks very well, set a certain speed for me so nothign will happen, and gave teh controls, he evfen let me land it after seeinghow low i could fly. It wasnt bad at all, just a broken prop,which at that point, i gave him one of mine, obviously, to compensate for the damage. Im what you like to call, young, meaining i played alot of videa games when i was just a tad younger, obviously flight sims too, so i cna catch on pretty quick.

Samolot

sorry left caps on dident realise.

Luke, like you I'm a Spit freak, & I can understand your desire to have one. The trick is to keep it. Some pretty experienced pilots have pranged Spits, so I suggest that you keep it on the shelf & look at it for a year or so while your skills mature. Failing that, have an experienced warbird pilot fly it, with you on a buddy box.

If it is anything close to scale, it will be a ba$tard to take-off & land for a beginner . It can also snap pretty violently in flight if the elevator throw is not correctly set up.

Maybe it's a sport scale Spit -- that will be a lot easier.

Luke, if you are really determined to fly a spit get someone that has had experience with flying them and get them to take it off and land it, check it out for the obvious things and then do it again and you fly it, if it is then to hard or you think it will be get your offsider to land it and put it away until you have more experience, the thrill of flying a spitfire on your part has then been acheived and you may feel satisfied of what limits you have. I am too a spitfire fanatic having scratch built a 1/3,1/4, 1/5 spits, if you can supply some pics of the spit would be appreciated.

this is the link.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...0%3D%26fvi%3D1

and buy the way i bought gas retracts for it!

and i have bought a airbrush set to paint it!

could any 1 tell me what the original spitfire paint coulers are because i want to use them in a spray gun.

Luke, It looks like you got a good deal on that spit they are a real good looking plane both on the ground and in the air. If you follow the advice you have been given it will not take too long before you are ready to fly it. If you do a search you will find lots of information about paint schemes that were applied to spitfires. I know there have been lots of threads in the warbirds forum.

Luke no one can just tell you what the original colors were in just a single post as there were hundreds dependant upon theater of war, which war, which nationality it served and a lot of other factors. Its a terribly complex subject. I would suggest you search 'colors and markings' specifically in the UK as there will be lots of sources. Also you could search on 'Bob Bankas Scale model Research' which is one of the largest scale documentation supplers in the world. However this is a US based outfit and there is sure to be similar outfits in the UK since colors and markings along with Registration tracking is a distinctly popular UK hobby.

Now the seller specifically stated this airplane is setup only for fixed gear and at this stage cutting open the wing is going to be major surgery and problamatical for someone with no building experiance. The key for this airplane being rather small for that size engine will be keeping weight at an absolute minimum. Not only go light on the paint but everywhere else as well.

I am compelled to reiterate if you are tempted to fly that airplane untill you have considerable experiance under your belt then that nice airplane will end up in a pile of foam and glass shards on the paddock upon its maiden flight. Finish it, admire it, and hang it up untill you have that experiance.

John

ok then jhon but im putting a 120 four stroke in it WITH RETRACTS(GAS)!

WOW way to ask questions and show respect for the well thought out, insightful, and EXPERIENCE laden replies good job KID

let him crash it........there is nothing like a good trashed **insert expensive toy** ruined to inspire a little LISTENING.

Kinda like paintball guns....i told the kid running a high pressure regulator on a low pressure gun was a bad idea.....i told him, but he wanted the L33T thing....that was a neat way to do 300$ + damage to a gun. course the next one got a bath with liquid CO2 cause mom made him sell the nitro and other gun to pay for a new one(heres a hint, most electronic valved markers will not accept CO2 because the valve cant handle it going liquid as it decompresses).......

I know just enough about building them to wish you luck getting A. the wing apart, B. the retracts(wich are expensive btw) installed and the wing together structuraly sound, and C. keeping it in the air.

Have you stopped to consider, since your obviously interested in having it scale with retracts, that adding THAT much bigger motor is likely to require cutting the cowl open and a very un-scale cylinder head sticking out? why not go with a powerful( ie a jett or one of the hopped up os or other racing motors) .75 -.90(ie whatever will fit under the cowl and remain aas concealed as possible) and work on a tuned pipe with scale exhaust outlets.

ok then thanks foe the adcice picking it up next sat ive allreade bought the retracts!!aat a bargin price jusst like the plane!!!!

Amazing --- it's like talking to a wall [&:]