Sureflite Spitfire
 

I bought a Sureflite Spitfire (foam) kit cheap and of course no directions. I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions on how to mount the engine. It provides a small plywood firewall, but I am trying to figure how to mount it to the soft foam and torque a motor mount. The fuselage is in halves and has to be epoxied together. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

RE: Sureflite Spitfire
 

Give Sureflite a call.

SUREFLITE INC.
4845 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111 USA

Phone: 858-571-6100
Fax: 858-764-9748

E-mail: [email protected]

RE: Sureflite Spitfire
 

mount the engine on its side and cut away the foam for the muffler then coat with epoxy.make sure you mount the engine on the mount so you have clearance between the spinner back plate and fuselage.

RE: Sureflite Spitfire
 

I had one of these years ago. If memory serves, the included motor mount just bolts up to the ply firewall. Not a complicated operation. The firewall is just epoxied to the foam, and is strong enough so you don`t have to worry that the firewall will pull loose. I just mounted my .40 upright as the instructions indicated.

Now flying this little beast can be something else. On grass, when you power up, the plane would always nose over and you get to start all over again. I would just rev up and hold the tail down and and when ready, shove the plane forward for launch. Kind of like launching a F-1 pylon racer. Also, in the air the plane will pitch down and right when you apply right rudder when flying at half + throttle. I`ve heard this is common with all Spits. Count on nose overs on landings and a quick sink rate.

RE: Sureflite Spitfire
 

There are two versions of this plane. The newer one has a slightly longer wing, probably a good thing for electric conversion. The motor mount can be a clamshell on the plywood for an inrunner or you can adopt one of the commercial mounts to the plywood they furnish. The plywood should not be a problem with just epoxy holding it but you can drill it and put toothpicks into the foam to secure it even better for overkill.

I need a hotter set up for mine. What I have predicts out to only 67MPH and I want more than that. I had a hot 46 in my last one and it was a 100mph+ plane. Since I had to add nose weight to that plane a 60 would probably have balanced fine. Keep the tail heavy problem in mind on your build. Make sure you seal the ailerons reasonably well as this plane loses a lot of aileron effectiveness as it slows to land. Take off's are a challenge. My best results came from holding up elevator on the take off roll until it got fast enough for rudder effectiveness. Relax the elevator while adding a lot of rudder to keep it from swinging to the left. If you wait until it starts swinging you may not have enough rudder to get it back straight. The plane rewards smooth flying. I'll be looking for a 4s set up. I hate to spend the money to go beyond my 3s lipos but I can't seem to find a way to get what I want without it.

I've got another Spit and a P40 Sureflite and am looking forward to building them as electrics. If you build the P40 the stock cowl is a great item to replace as it's cheap and cracks easily.