wiggles

Building a TF Spit for my son. Wanted to know from oyher owners whether to install yhe faps or not. Had one spit already {not a TF} was an absolute dog. the boy would be devastated if this on turns out to be bad to. Do the flaps make for more stable landings or are they not worth the trouble.
P.S. it is the small spit. Thanks

Jack Devine

My Feedback: (6)

Wiggles: The flaps on all of the Top Flight Warbirds add a ton of stability for landing and they are well worth the extra effort. Low speed tip stalls that lead to the well known "Death Roll" are dramatically reduced with the flaps and the survivability of your new Spitfire should be greatly improved. I wouldn"t consider building one without them.

Jack Devine

wiggles

thanks.thats all i needed to hear. don't consider doing the flaps effort,shall do them next week. thanks again

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

Wiggles, install the flaps then find some one to teach you how to use them or write the forum when you are ready. There are lots of guys here that can help you to understand how they work so you do not make allot of the common mistakes with flaps.

wiggles

i know how to use flaps. have been flying with them on other planes. just that over here spitfires are a much modeled plane and building one is boring me to tears.it's only on the insistence of my son that i am building it. but being a scaley it will come out fine. now if it was a corsair{ nearly done} or a mosquito{looking for a good plan} that would be a different matter.

JL1

My Feedback: (93)

Wiggles, if you are looking for a good Mosquito plan the Brian Taylor one from the U.K. has a very good reputation.

wiggles

thanks, will have a look at it.

wiggles

sorry forgot to ask. have you got a web address?

JL1

My Feedback: (93)

Sorry, I do not have an address for Taylor. In the U. S. his stuff is sold by Bob Holman plans at this address: www.angelfire.com/ct/bhplans. Holman is a very helpful fellow and might be able to give you a source closer to home
Hope that helps
JL

Merlin65

Wiggles,
I get my BT plans from Airsail in New Zealand.
Only takes a couple of days by post and our dollar is worth more than the Kiwi dollar
Try http://www.airsailmodels.co.nz/btplan.htm
--
Merlin65 (Melbourne Oz)

wiggles

thanks guys

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the flaps if I had to build one again, however, if you do decide to go ahead with them, scrap the silly bellcrank arrangement and give each flap its own servo. They can be nicely hidden under the wing radiators...........

wiggles

only ever used bellcranks once, will never again. far easier to use a servo for each surface.

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

I used to use the servo per control surface method for flaps but had a flap servo quit partially extended on a Giant scale Pica P-51D. The plane started to role to one side, luckily I was able to counrt with aileron. My spotter realized what had happend and told me to put the flaps up and it started to role the other way. Only I could not stop the role this way with full aileron and rudder. Had to do a very fast 270 degree role to get it back to were I could take my hands off the sticks then put the flaps back down with a perportional switch. Then started removing the flap alittle at a time untill it was back in trim then landed uneventfully.

The servo had quit at about 30-35 degrees. from that point on I always tie the flaps togeither some how. It is alittle extra weight but it garrenties that if a servo quits again I'll be abile to overcome the mismatch (tieing the flaps togeither will still allow some mis match) with the ailerons till I figure out what has happened.

The chances of this happening again have got to be high but forwarned is forarmed.

Good Luck!