OldFart1

Greg, if you look at the forward edge of the wing where it meets the fuselage, there's a healthy mismatch that could have easily been flared in. Compared to the Corsair and Mustang - nope - I stand by my statement.

GP G-Rod

I think what Jeff is saying, judging by the pics he has sent me...is the place where the center of the wing leading edge meets the fuse...does not conform to the shape of the leading edge of the wing.
For the sake of manufacturing, sometimes we have to lose some of the aesthetic touches of a more detailed scale model. This is a "fun scale" Spitfire. Im sorry that this detail is a little rough compared to what you had anticipated or hoped for. I hope the flight performance, completeness of the kit and the rest of the products attributes will reinforce the notion that you made the correct purchase.

Thank you very much for flying Great Planes products...and I hope we will have some future products that will continue to peak your interest.

George

OldFart1

...and I never said it was "unacceptable" - just no where newr the level of fit on my pervious two GP birds. I'll probably add a slice of balsa and fill it in.

Won't keep me from buying another one in this series - or a dozen more if they're offered. As I mentioned in my email to George - give us some bad guys to chase around!

It _was_ nice to see the Spit already set up for electric - took a bit of work to put the Power 25 on the Corsair (and a lot of nose weight)

GP G-Rod

Cool!

Keep you eyes peeled!...There might be some other additions Jeff!

cheers-
George

ozspit

I just maidened mine. OS .25FX fitted. I had to put the flight battery just aft of the rear servo tray former on the floor and it balance at around 57mm from LE. Near enough! Never flown combat before but a few fellow club members have put together gremlins for casual combat (!) and I want to have a crack too but wanted something different which would stand out so being a Spit freak this is perfect. The maiden was also my first hand launch! Its a bit windy (20-25kts) also but I fly a lot in the wind so I decide to go anyway.
The launch went ok after a dip close to the ground but then she went up like a rocket. Wow! Really fast! Fortunately this got me nice and high, throttled back, flying beautifully then I hit major interference which sent it rolling and tumbling then back under control smooth again then another hit at the opposite end of the field! Fortunately still nice and high as another series of uninvited rolls and tumbles occurs. Heart is now well and truly racing but out she comes smooth as silk again but I am really worried about getting down in one piece. One more glitch sends her rolling again out of control but she comes out again ok. I tighten the circuit to avoid the hits, throttle right back to bring her in and she flies beautifully for a nice belly landing with much applause from the peanut gallery who were as sure as I was that she was a goner!
I've only rarely had a minor glitch on my channel before but one of my colleagues did have a glitch on the same channel earlier in the day although I hadn't flying my 64" Spit. Anyway it lives to fight another day but I think I took a couple of years off my life!!! Not sure what the problem was but in order to eliminate as many on board possibilities I have rerouted the aerial out the side to the stab tip, (it was through the fuse near the battery leads and over the battery itself) separated the servo leads from the power leads as much as possible and double checked the RX connections (was that servo lead a bit loose or was that my imagination.....)
Will try again next Sunday and let you know how it goes. Hopefully there will be a little less wind and interference! (Sun spots?)

PS Everyone at the club thought that the model was very pretty and looked fast. Also, haven't seen this model in Oz. I got mine through Tower with the 25FX. What I saved on the engine covered the shipping.

ozspit

Well, the second flight was far better. Still in quite windy conditions but she's so fast and agile it didn't seem to matter although fine trimming was not possible. Love it. The landing was a little fast as she didn't want to slow down even though I was dead stick and I was heading towards the fence. Just some superficial cowl damage resulted.
I took her out a couple of days later in much lighter conditions. The couple of guys there hadn't done any hand launching so I had a go launching on my own for the first time. This was successful but a bit hair raising. I guess I will get better with practice. The plane flew beautifully though. I have fitted a belly skid in the shape of a slightly oversize carb intake to try and protect the cowl and belly during landing. It seems to work ok.
It seems to handle well at all speeds with no apparent nasty stall characteristics. Fun fast and exciting.
Unfortunately I bungled my third solo hand launch and dumped her into the ground hard resulting in a destroyed prop and some fuse damage which ended flying for the day. I think this was because I had trimmed a lot of down elevator the previous flight to stop her climbing too much at high speed and I forgot to adjust this back for the next launch. Silly mistake. Fortunately the repairs took less than an hour and she's ready to fly once more.
Looking forward to fitting a streamer and getting amongst the gremlins!

BountyHunter51

I thought that I'd post this link in case anyone is interested.
Cheers! BH
http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemId=364148

ozspit

Here's some pics showing an OS .25FX installation and top mounted servos. Flies great.

Steve108

My Feedback: (36)

I am building one of these and I have a 32sx for it. Any recommended modifications to the plane when using this engine? I expect it to be very fast.

akaram

Steve,

Yes it WILL be very fast, in fact it is my fastest prop plane, I was using it as a turbine trainer to get used to the speed, with an APC 9x6 it was clocked at 180 km/hr. The only thing with the 32 is that you have to add quite some weight to the tail (if i remember correctly it took like 90 grams in the tail to balance, in order to hide the lead, I used lead shots from hunting cartridges mixed with epoxy and put them inside the tail through a paper funnel.)
The other downside is limited runtime (max 6 minutes) with the stock tank and that is after the engine is broken in, while it is still rich fly 4 minutes.

Steve108

My Feedback: (36)

Awesome, thanks. How has your airframe held up?

akaram

Airframe holds up great, very robust, has done definitely more than 100 flights already and I fly it very aggressively applying full elevator at full speed, super tight turns ... and it going great, just the monokote on the horizontal stab is in bad shape and cant iron it on anymore cause it is soaked with oil so I just covered it with wide tape.
Of course you have to take care while joining the wings, apply plenty of 30 min epoxy and make sure the joint is clean and true.

Steve108

My Feedback: (36)

Good to hear. Thank you.

ozspit

The airframe is great. Mine looks a lot worse for wear as this was my first hand launch plane and I had a few launch incidents before I got the hang of it . The wing is very strong.
I had a high speed mid-air with a gremlin last week. Punched a big hole in the Gremlin foam wing and snapped his main spar. The spitfire came apart at the firewall and fluttered down with the engine firewall and cowl hanging off the throttle push rod. The only other damage was a shredded throttle servo and a small hole (1/2") in the wing. It'll only take me about 30 minutes to fix. I was very surprised as I thought it was toast given the loud bang of the impact!
Lots of fun and very fast. Easy to land. Needs tail weight. I put the battery behind the wing and I added 10 or so grams at the tail with a 25fx. A 32 would need more.
I get about 8 minutes flight time.

akz28

Hi everyone. I would like to build this plane for fun flying and dont really need or want it to be a speedster. If I am going electric, what is the minimum size motor that I could get away with.

I would like the plane to be somewhat aerobatic and somewhat fast, but nowhere near the speeds that people are talking about in this thread.

Thanks for your help.................

MrMulligan

My Feedback: (314)

I'm with you on this and am going to try an AXI 2808/16 that I've traded for. If no, I have a 2816 to try. The mounts are the same, I believe.

ArnieMaui

Has anyone had trouble with engine flooding? I believe the stock tank location is too high.

Also, I prgrammed spoilerons to help slow down the spitfire and hold it down from bouncing. Has anybody tried this or flaperons? I am trying spoilerons on my next flight.

Thanks, Arnie

akaram

Sure, engine flooding is there, if I fill my tank and keep it standing for a couple of minutes before starting my engine will be flooded thats why I only fill the tank immediately before flying, fill, start and go and you will have no problems. As for spoilerons I havent tried it but I dont recommend it, btw the plane does slow down real nice, just get used to it !

ArnieMaui

That's great advise. I have been propping the nose up 30 or so degrees while fueling.

Are you using the recommended CG? Maybe I am too nose heavy.

The reason I mention spoilerons over flaperons is because flyers of the Revolver (another slick aircraft) have had success. Deploy right before flare I guess.

Thanks, Arnie

akaram

Arnie,

The spoileron thing I believe is called aileron reflex, I use it on my Bobcat, you raise both ailerons up and mix in a bit down elevator. It does help in killing lift and speed however as I told you you can slow it really nicely without all those mixes. As for the CG, I have to check in the evening and get back to you. But the airplane does feel nose heavy and always has a tendency to tip forward and break the prop on takeoff and landing, takes some time to get used to.

akz28

Anyone out there flying the electric version of this plane with NiMH instead of Lipos? Seems the NiMH is about 1/4 - 1/3 the price of the Lipo.

What would the difference be besides being a little heavier?

Thanks.....................Al

ArnieMaui

Lipos will also give you more power and longer flight times. Hobby City has cheaper batteries.

I would try a 480 motor with a 3s 2100 20c lipo. I went engine to have an AMA legal plane. She flies great and fast.

Does anybody know what the speed is on this Spitfire with the recommended .25 engine? I am guessing 80 mph.

akaram

NiMh !!!! Who uses that these days ! besides on such a small plane it will be sooooooooo heavy !!! and if you do manage to take off with all this weight you will have like a minute or max 2 minutes flight time !!! In my opinion just forget about it

akz28

The build instructions for this plane recommended either a 11.1v 3200mah LiPo or a 9.6v 2000mah NiMH

According to the specs for the batteries:
The Lipo weighs in at 9.5 ounces
The NiMH weighs in at 13.7 ounces

A few questions come to mind.

Is that a big weight difference for a 45 ounce plane?

Wondering why the manufacturer would recommed a NiMH battery when it was commented that it would only last 2 minutes in the air with that battery installed.

Thanks again.............

akaram

I have never seen an electric plane that flies well on Nicads or NiMh, usually they are well underpowered, way too heavy and the flight duration is very short, moreover you only get a peak of power for the 1st 30% of the capacity then the output decays ... thats why electric planes only became popular when Lipos were introduced. The extra 4.2 ounces are not a very big problem for this plane, I have this much as lead in the tail to balance my heavy 32sx but considering the lower voltage and capacity, this will make it fly sluggishly like an airliner...
Anyhow I suggest you download motocalc http://www.motocalc.com/ install and update it, then you can check performance with different motor/battery/prop combinations, this will give you some insight on what to expect.