butlern

My Feedback: (15)

I have not tried anything yet.

I can test my paint tonight. Maybe the problem is specific to your wing finish, as hgiles apparently had no problem taping his wings. I'll test tonight and get back to you.

I suppose the only alternative will be to lay heavy paper on the wing to demarcate your boundaries.

LMProd

I have not started my kit yet, but I am planning on painting it.

Would a flat clear coat sprayed on before using the blue tape help save the paint ??

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Hellcat56,

I tested my wing and fuse with blue painter's tape and it both adhered well and pulled away cleanly. It also occured to me that I used an abundance of blue tape when I epoxied the wing halves together, so I think that there's something specific to your paint, or the paint that was used on the particular lot from which your plane was produced. Very strange.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I've built two spits. On the first one, the paint seemed to hold well. The second one, didnt do so good. Some paint came up but not that much. I found that luster kote is close enough for very small spots. I also bought a zero at the same time. What a nightmare. Big long strips of paint coming up after the wing halves were glued together. So big that I couldnt leave it like that. Its currently curing after repainting with rustoleum off-white. I'm doing the japanese mottled camo effect. I think it has more to do with cleanliness at the time of painting and the type of paint used, just an opinion. It appears that the heavy solvents that rustoleum uses can penetrate the current layer and still cause a good bond. Wont know for a few more days when I test it but preliminary poking looks promising. If not, then off comes the covering and will redo it again. The fuse holds the paint very well, no problems there. And contrary to what I have read on rcu here, the covering is NOT solartex. Its some kind of clear frosted china kote. All in all, for the money, the rework involved is still worth it for a decent sport plane. Id be happy if they didnt paint at all.
Edwin

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Well so far so good. It passed the tape test last night. I laid down about a 3" strip of regular masking tape on a couple of different spots and the paint held good when I riped it up. Anybody know how this can be? I would think with a poor base that it would still peel off with the tape. I'm no paint expert but the only thing I can speculate is that the solvents from rustoleum penetrated thru whatever paint cmpro used. Can this happen?
Edwin

dharrell

Does anyone know the name of the covering and the lightblue color found underneath?? Is it solartex??

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Covering is solartex. CMP uses "made up" colors on all their warbirds, so the light blue underside color is not authentic and doesn't have a name. The full size has "Sky" or "Sky type S" for the underside color.

dharrell

Do you think spraying with a dull clear coat is helpful or a waste of time. I would like to paint the outside leading edge yellow.
Thanks
Dean

Pete850

I painted mine with a Matt Fuelproofer from Flair to keep the oil off and it works a treat. I also used Solartrim for the Yellow leading edges.

LMProd

Great photo, Nice Spitfire.

I am planning to paint the leading edge yellow.

Is it easier to see the plane on landing ??

dharrell

Does the GSP spit have a scale number like 1/6, 1/7???
Thanks,
Dean

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Approximately 1/6

Full-size ~36 foot span/model ~5.9 foot span = 6.1

Pete850

LMProd,

I doesn't make it any easier to see on landing, I really did it to distinguish mine from 2 others in the club when we were all flying together. Plus it looks cool!

dharrell

I would like suggestions on application of the decals. Thanks,
Dean

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

I carefully cut out the decals and then used Windex to saturate the back (sticky side) of the decals. Using excess Windex will allow you to repostition (or even lift off) the decal if you're not satisfied. Once happy, squeegee out the Windex from beneath the decal and allow to dry over night. I use a rubber kitchen spatula, mopping up the Windex with a paper towel as I go along. Works great. The only issues I had with the spit decals were with those two that adhere to the vertical stabilizer. The compound curves made applying them a bit tricky.

One more thing, before I started applying the decals I made some measurements and made light pencil marks outlining where I wanted each of the decals to be positioned. Takes the guesswork out when you're trying to get the roundels positioned similarly on both sides of the fuse and on both wing halves.

Good luck!

dharrell

Thank you......great advice
Dean

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Dean,

Be sure to also thoroughly clean the surfaces with isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) before you try to stick the decals down. Any oil left beneath will result in curling and peeling later down the road.

Scott Douglas

I'm starting mine in within the next couple of weeks.

After my GSP Corsair died due to an rx battery failure I bought this as a replacement. Power will be an SC 120fs and fitted with Spring air retracts. I do plan on fitting a cockpit though.. never liked a bust for a pilot!

I'm just completing the GSP/Flair Mosquito as well... hope the Spit paint finish is better than the Mossie. I ended up with a lot of spraying and weathering to disguise a hopeless paint job.

Regards
Scott

jugpilot

To anyone, What size spinner and make did you put on your Spit ?

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Jugpilot,

The spinner I started with was a 3 1/2 inch, Tru-Turn, 3-slot, P-51 spinner. Not correct for a Spitfire, but it's not really a very scale plane. I think that the P-51 spinner looks reasonably correct, though. I have since switched to a 2-blade prop, and replaced the 3-blade spinner with a 2-slot, P-51 Tru-Turn of the same overall dimension.

There are some photos of my plane on the first and second page of this thread if you're interested in how right or wrong the P-51 spinner looks on this Spitfire.

Noah

jugpilot

Noah,
Thank you for the imput, I notice that PICA has a 3-1/2 spitfire spinner #picps5003
that may also work if you are interested.

dharrell

Would appreciate advice on what pilot to use in this plane. Probably a bust only for now. Thanks,
Dean

Pete850

Don't know the make, I just bought it at my LHS. Had to trim about 1/4" off the base to get him to fit. I don't think it looks too bad.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

Richard:
I just bought one of these on ebay for $158.00 shipped. I bid on it never expecting to win the bid but, with X-mas coming people are pronbably focused on that instead of more toys.

What retracts should I put in this plane? I have a YS 120 that I will throw in it.

dharrell

Need some help..........there is a metal wing aligner (not the metal tube that fits forward, the main spar) that fits near the trailing edge, however, in my kit there is a notch in the center of the rib to insert this thing....do you have to drill out for the aligner to fit?? I hope my question is clear. Thanks
Dean