Hi Gentelmen,
Continuing my quest to find the best value/popular equipment to complete a Yellow A/C Spitfire I would like your opinion on ;

1/ Should I go with the retracts from Y A/C or get Sierras or Robarts and why?

2/ Engine choice, I know it will stick out of the cowl but what are you running?
I would like to go gas.
I like the idea of a ZDZ 40 with a prop extension.
I have also seen Leo's DA50 with firewall mod and this is a possibility.

Cheers,
Brad

Yellow makes the best gear.. hands down. Depends on how much you want to spend..they are also the most expensive. If cost doesn't matter I'd use them were I to build another Yellow Spit.

I believe Leo is increasing his engine size or did increase. But his plane flew just fine what that 40..

Brad,

On the Engine: The ZDZ 40 was adequate. It did fine, but the DA-50 is wonderful! It is your choice, but I like driving hot rods if I have a choice. You can always pull the throttle back. Either engine will still need 1.5 to 2.0 lbs. of lead in the nose to balance the plane out. So weight is not the issue.

Check out the special firewall and cowling modification kit that gets rid of the side seams on the YA Spitfire when you use a DA-50. The installation uses a 1.25" extension from Sierra Giant Scale. I put a picture below. It cleans up the front end quite a bit.

www.spychallaaircraft.com select the Spitfire Firewall tab.

On the Gear: Both YA and Robart make some very nice gear for the Spitfire. My son and I have over 400 log flights on two spits equiped with the Robart gear and do not have one gear failure or belly landing due to the Robart Gear not working. That is pretty surprising, because I would have thought I would have ripped the radiators off the bottom by now.

If your interested in a set if YA gear I have a set I picked-up out of a hangar queen that is practically new. You can see the photos. (Edited on 6/15/08, Brad bought these gear that are shown in the pictures below).

Leo

Sierra makes gear for the Yellow Spit, his gear are second to none, awesome stuff!!!!

http://www.sierragiant.com/prod20.html

OK. Thank you Tony. I didn't realize that Darrell was making them for the Spit. Absolutely no question then. Sierra Giant Scale gear are the very best choice. I will edit my posting above to correct the mistake. Leo

Hi,

I have had the pleasure to see some Sierra gear, and I'd honestly say they'd be my first choice. I don't think our gear are more expensive than Robart's however (though I do think they're superior), if you factor in the installation kit which ours include and Robart's don't.

Thanks Leo. Thanks Guys
I will link this thread to my build thread of the model.

Brad

Do not forget [link=http://www.unitracts.co.uk/]Unitracts[/link] in good old U.K. They produce very nice U/C units and if you ask them you will get the scale 96 degree retraction angle. As far as I know the Robarts are 90 degree retracts. I haven't seen the Yellow Aircraft U/C live, but from the photo they also appear to be 90 degree units. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I have had both the Yellow Aircraft gear and Sierra Precision gear in my Yellow Spit and in my opinion, the Sierra gear look better and are stronger than the Yellow gear. The Yellow Gear are pretty, better looking than the Robarts, but just not as nice as the Sierra gear.

Regarding the engine, that is a very personal decision and varies a lot based upon flying style. For example, a G38 will fly it fine, but is not enough power for my tastes. I have a FPE 40cc in mine. I think at least a 50cc engine would be better, especially if you like flying long climbing turns. As others have said, extra engine weight is no problem. If I was doing it again, I would look at a 60cc engine, such as the 3W60 or something similar.

Ed B.

Hi,

I'm curious about this because I'm not sure what you mean by 96 degrees. Do you mean that the unit is supposed to extend beyond 90 or less than 90? If it goes beyond 90, what would that look like? Would that have to do with the dihedral of the wing and the gear pointing straight down in spite of it? Thanks in advance.

Another source for gear for this and other Spits is Lenny at Shindin Machine: http://www.shindinmachine.com/SPITFIRE/SPITFIRE.html
His retracts are strong and reliable, and he is great to deal with.
Sam

I shall want to fly the model in a mostly scale manner with 'scale looking speeds'. So I was thinking the smaller ZDZ40 so I didnt have to throttle back so much and just be putt, putting around at a really low RPM. I dont want it to be able to climb out of sight, just have some positive climb with energy management. I think you would be able to get some real spectacular fast passes with a 60cc but how long will the airframe last? It was designed to fly on a ST3000 and although a 2 stroke this is way less.

Those of you with a 50cc do you have to throttle back to just over idle for scale type level flight?

Cheers,
Brad

Could some one please post here measurements for the DA50;

1/from the center of the crank to the top of the head,

2/ from the center of the crank to the top of the spark plug cap when fitted.

The dimensions look 'long' (ie, tall) compared to a 3W and aZDZ.

Metric or imperial measurements ,,,,,I dont mind.

Cheers,
Brad

Brad:
specs are on their web site:

http://www.desertaircraft.com/engine...p?Page=DA-50-R

I think the 3W-50 or 55 have the shortest cylinder head and longer prop shaft, if you're into hiding the cylinder. With a one inch prop shaft extension you could probably hide most of the cylinder head.
Sam

On most versions of the full scale Spitfire the U/C swings trough 96 degrees, i.e., 6 degrees more than 90 degrees.
The reason is that that the U/C has quite a lot of rake back when retracted and when extended the U/C legs are almost vertical when viewed from the front. This together with the dihedral of the wing requires a 96 degree retract angle. Some of the American kit manufacturers, e.g., Pica, Great Planes and Dynaflite use(d) 90 degree retracts and a non-scale U/C position and geometry. I don't know about Yellow Aircraft.

Thank you samparfitt,, I had looked on the Australian site and not the proper DA one.

Brad

Hi Guys; I have seen a Yellow Spitfire fly at the Bay of Quinte Jet Rally with a Saito 300 twin. It sounded awesome !

This model was built & flown by Bob Fiorenzi (spelling ?)


Have you considered the Revolution 52 ? It has loads of power and a longer shaft so it would fit back farther in the cowl than most gas engines. It is also smaller in size than large finned engines.

Good luck.

These look very nice indeed. Well worth considering.
http://www.rc-revolution.com/engine_r50u.htm

Australian distributor? I shall find out.

Cheers Mate,

Brad

Well, I got the Sierra Giant retracts, but the motor I`m not sure. I`m considering a Zenoha 45. I got a DA 50 in my Top flight Mustang, the Da is a very good engine. But........... in Norway at my lokal airfield we have some noiserestrictions, if I chose the Da50, I have to mount a big cannister into the fuse......
-Whit the Zenoha I willl use Tony Clark canister and will fit wery well..... And it will swing a 20/10 at 7200 rpm... Any coments??

Sorry spitfire mk.xiv (nice avitar name mate) I cant comment on your choice with the Zenoha but please post some pictures of the install if you go ahead with it. You might get even quieter swinging a bit larger prop and lower RPM's. I have gone with a 3W 55 and have a 23x 10 and a 22x10 prop to run it in with.

Regards,
Brad

I just flew a formation flight on Sat. 8/9 with Dave Szabo at Warbirds Over Minnesota. He is running a Zenoah G-45 powered YA Spitfire that weighs 24 lbs. with a Zinger 18 X 10-14 prop. It was fast and has fantastic performance. I would say that my DA-50 powered machine is only a few mph faster at best. It makes me think I need to try a lower diameter higher pitch prop. Leo

Leo try a Zinger 20-8-14 prop on the 50cc mine in a TFGS P51 flew best with that combo. APC 20-12 also is pretty good on the DA. Good Luck, Kevin.

OK, now are there any scale tail wheels out there that will suit this bird or am I going to have to reach for an old Sullivan?
(Not really expecting an answer,,, just thought I would throw it in. )

I'm getting the retract off Marty at Jetfx and realised I dont have a wheel.

Brad

Gentlemen, I want to share some stuff from Warbird Weekend 2008 with you. This guy Knut Aker from Oslo bring this great piece of work. He got a ZDZ 50 and a Zimmermann stainlessteel cannister build in a tunnel inside the fuselage. The spit fliies like a rocket, and very quiet to!
I will now mount a cannister for the DA 50 the same way
Feel free to visit our web site from the gadering; www.scalewarbird.org and www.scalewarbird.org/photo/WW2008