I just picked a NIB Dynaflite Giant Spitfire off of eBay tonight!!! I am thinking about using the Zenoah G-26 for this model. Is this a good choice? I have read that a glow engine will require weight in the nose.

Does anyone out there have experience with this kit? Any mods or things to look out for?

Thanks for you time

bwillhite

I have one of those wonderful flying Spits from Dynaflite.. I have a Saito 150 4 stroke in it and it almost flies it vertical ... the plane is very light and handles like a trainer.. I would not consider a gasser but that is my opinion.. I think the plane was originally designed for a 120 4 stroke.. this is an old plane.. but it is the easiest flying warbird I have had.. my 2 1/2 cents ! [8D]

here is a pic of mine.. I didn tlike the way the nose was built so i used the cowl from a Brian Taylor Spit which is almost identical in over all size..it is a fiberglass cowl..

BWILLHITE
I AM STILL FLYING MY DYNA SPITFIRE. ONE REAL GOOD FLYING, PLANE CANT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY STOPPED PRODUCTION. I HAVE ASP 108 FOR POWER AND IT HANDLES IT WELL.
LEN

That engine G26 will stick out like its almost not mounted on the nose. Maybe you can try the RCS 140. Its lite and streamlined (just like the Spitfire)

Vic

I test flew one that had been purchase of a hobby shop ceiling. Powered by a OS 120 4c and a tone of weight in the nose, It tipped the scales at 14.5# with fixed gear. The main reason for the added weight was that the builder had used paint and realy coated it on thick. When my budy bought it it was tail heavy and he had to add over two pounds to the nose to ballence it. After I flew it I tryed to get a kit to add to my collection. Anyway, It flew verywell for an airplane that should have been a 11-12#. The engine had plenty of athority during takeoff, which was my main concern with an over weight plane. It was slow in fullspeed level flight untill we replaced the prop., started with 16x6 finished with a 14x14 (what I had in my box). With the second prop it's speed was up in the 70-80mph range, Vertical was much inproved only becuse it was thaking longer to get all that mass to slow down.

If I had one it would have 1 180 4c for power. But more important is to realize that it has a long tail moment so every ounce in the tail requires 4 in the nose to ballence. So no servos in the tail, and get the paint aft of the GC right the first time and thin it very well it should come in close to ballence point and weight around 12#. You have a real nice flyer there enjoy it.

Good Luck
Joe

Most people dont realize that the Dynaflite Spitfire was Designed by Jim Meister Of Meister Scale. There is a larger version of the Spit offered by Miester Scale that has a 96" wing span and is built the same way. I had one and flew it on a Satio 1.50 at 16lbs and it was a great flier. It was 8 years old and died 3 weeks ago when I was shot down on and early morning flight at a meet.
I am going to replace it with one that is a little bigger. I took the plans and blew them up by 15% for a 110" wing span...

Here is a pic of a Meister Scale Spit 96" ...pic from the website:

http://meister-scale.com/

Thanks for all the replies...

I think I might go with a OS 1.08FSR, should be plenty of power. My 9 1/2# TF AT-6 flies great on an OS .61FX, so the 1.08 should be plenty of power for a 12" Spit!!!

What retracts should I use? The kit came with a set of World Model mechanicals, are the scale Robarts too much?

Later

My dynaflite spit came out at 12.5 pounds with an OS 1.08 and retracts. Robart used to make a set specifically for this model that have the right angle and retract outward. Split flaps would be nice as it is a real floater on landing. Flies very easy. I added about 6 oz. to the nose but my servos are up front. The 1.08 is plenty of power and with it inverted only a part of the muffler sticks out. YOu must add wing fillets to get the look right. Mine is covered in coverite with paint. If I did it over again I would sheet all the surfaces and use fiberglass then paint as the aircraft can easily hande and 1 or 2 extra pounds.

snyder_man

Ok, I will start saving the money for the Robart retracts...

My TF AT-6 has slit flaps, should be pretty easy to add these to the Spitfire. I hope!

I also was thinking about sheeting the entire airframe, wish I had sheeted the wing on my DF Chipmunk!

Nice to here the stock muffler on the OS 1.08 FSR will work.

Too many projects and not enough time! The Spitfire will have to wait awhile. I need to finish-up my GP Profile 38, DF Chipmunk and a Byrons Hellcat...

later

bwillhite

ok I finally got my pic to upload I have Spring airs in it with custom struts

Where did you get your cowl? In my kit the cowl is built of balsa blocks.

Thanks

bwillhite

the cowl came with a short kit from I believe a Brian Taylor Spitfire... I saw one advertised awhile ago on this forum... I wil have to look at the plans to be sure but I am sure it was Brian taylor's plane.. the wingspan on the BT is About 82 or 83 inches I havent looked at it recently.. I wil land get back to you this cowl is top notch fibergalss thick and rugged.. it made this plane look real nice

heres a pic of mine...i have a YS120 in it...haven't flown it in a while. anyone have any large roundels for wing they would sell? tia

I bought my roundels form PICA for their 1/5 size Spitfire.. I think it was around 35 bucks ... must be my age my memory is failing or I didnt blink cause I wanted some nice decals lol .. on my smaller SPit I just made the roundels from monocote a lot simpler than making stars n bars

By the way Nice Looking Spit !!!!!!!!!

I can answer that one for you. The kit wasn't up to GP's standards and they didn't want to put for the expense of replacing all of the dies, canopy mold AND redrawing the plans and instructions. This is the information I received directly from GP when I asked this very same question.

John

I have one of these kits also. I plan on gong with a Ryobi conversion with a C&H Ignition sytem on it. It might be more power then it needs but it will fit in the cowl very nice and gas is cheap!

Asanders: I like that cowl! Do you have pictures of it fromt he front that you could send me? It sure does look nice.

-Bob George

all of my pics were taken from the side and some in flight shots... I dont have any of the front. sorry.. I woudl take some for you if I had a camera.. my bud took the photos..

got some real cool inflight digital video

the cowl is for the Brian Taylor spit by way of Bob Holman plans [email protected]

www.angelfire.com/ct/bhplans the spinner came matched with the cowl

Considering how popular the kit remains, it appears that GP made a blunder.

I totally agree. But, I think we would be fooling ourselves by thinking this would be a big money maker for GP. They make far more money on ARF's than they do kits. At the time GP bought Dynaflight, this particular kit was not very popular. Many people were still shy about "big" models. Maybe we should all contact "Bax" and ask him to take a look at all of the threads in these forums in an attempt to get GP to redo the kit?

John

Like I said before Meister Scale has the same spit just a little bigger. They offer a laser cut kits that just fall together. It has a 2 piece wing so its not really much bigger....


Ty

I built mine in 1996. Running an inverted Moki 1.8 with homade brass pipe. Spring Air retracts in location of plans. (yuck!) It works well but looks bad on ground. Sheeted bottom of wing with 3/32 balsa, tail feathers with 1/16. Weighs in at 15.5lbs with 32 oz. of fuel. No flaps (should have) but it flies so well, I've managed hundreds of landings with no major damage. Gonna fly it this weekend at another Warbird meet in Orange, TX. It took about 1-1/2 years to build off and on. Was my first big warbird project after getting the airplane "bug". [sm=biggrin.gif]

try and build tail area as light as ya can....ya will save lots of nose weight this way and plan on movin forward as much gear as ya can also.....[8D]