Ailerons. I use double ball link horns for the ailerons as you can see on the picture. I didnt locate any pre-installed support wood in the hollow ailerons, so I decided to add some wood between the control arms.

After some dreme'ling, its time to see how everything fits. As you can see there is a bit of sanding needed to get enough elevator movement with those horns.

As servo mounts I use aluminium bracktes with a plywood support structure. Those mounts will be glued into wing with epoxy later on. I prepared 4 of them. 2 ailerons and 2 for the flaps.

Next step - adding some plywood strips for the cover.

Some carbon cloth added to flap and ailerons servo bays. The servo mounts will be glued wet in wet with the servo mounts.

After removing the aluminium brackes from the mount, the mounts are glued into the bay with some thickened epoxy. The carbon cloth is still wet, which should promise a super strong glue joint!

While the epoxy sets in the servo bays, I took the chance and painted some interior green inside the flap's. The color looks weird on the picture. Will paint a second layer at some point later.

Note - Not enough throw on the flaps might result in an uneccessary adrenaline rush during landing. Its imperative that the flaps have between 85 and 90 degrees travel.

Ok - epoxy is still wet so I thought about what to do next. Off to the plumber to get some copper elbows.

Utilizing a bench vise to squeeze the elbow a little bit....

Some zap and activator spray to imitate welding joints...

Repeating this 12 times....

A preliminar fit on a plywood strip and some silver paint added: My future dummy exhausts. I'll rearrange them later to see how they fit in the cowl. I think it looks quite neat and also adds some weight to the nose

The exhausts will not stay silver of course, adding a little black and dark red later on.

Before heading to bed, I screwed the wings onto the fuselage to see how they fit together. Well done, perfect fit!


Next on the agenda is the wiring for the aileron and flap servos. I hope to receive all missing bits and pieces next week to keep going. I am quite happy with the progress now. Once the landing gear arrives, the wings are as good as done.

Hajo,
I see that you have a good bit of surface area covered with carbon fiber for the base of your aileron servo and this well may sufice as a good solid foundation but I cant help but think of my Extra 330 instructions from CARF suggesting (strongly) to 'box in' the servo well by adding balsa or ply to connect the top and bottom surfaces of the wing to stop any chance of vibration/flutter. The Extra has huge control surfaces with huge throws and the Spitfire does not I know but the Spitty will travel three times as fast and carry a huge amount of energy so could it be a problem?

Just a thought. I boxed out the aileron servo well on my Yellow Spitfire just in case.

Brad

Brad - thats a very good point, thank you. I will do as you suggest. Will report back once I am done with it - probably tonight.

Hajo

What exhaust setup are you going to run on this?

Thanks!
Mike

Mike, will use the 3W exhaust with Krumscheid manifold. Will post pictures soon. Got lots of stuff finished meanwhile but was too lazy to post yet

That's a great looking spitfire. I can't find any info on the Composite-arf website about the model. Do you have a better link? From your pics it looks like the Model Design spitfire...are they one and the same?

Rick

http://www.carf-models.com/public_ca...&linkId=@7@944

They list for $1090

Darrell at Sierra is making the gear.

http://www.carf-models.com/public_ca...inkId=@11@1216

Wheels:
http://www.carf-models.com/public_ca...inkId=@11@1217

Thanks Sam... Do you have one of these?

Model Design lists a very similar looking plane for $550 euros (I think). Still wondering if it is the same plane, and if the price tag reflects exchange rate and/or a mark up or import fees. Anyone know? Or is this NOT the Model design spit?

Also...what's the scale 1/5? 1/5.5? (or what's the wingspan and I'll figure it out.)

I'd like to get one...it makes my yellow aircraft kit look shabby.

Thanks in advance,

Rick

Hi Rick,

MD Spitfire is a different plane. The Comp Arf is a redesign of the old Fiberclassics Spitfire. I think the Model Design is a 96 inch span. The Comp Arf is at 102 inches.

We have 3 kits ordered and are waiting for them to arrive here in Minneapolis. I had two of the old FC Spitfires. One was flying with a 3w 80 in-line and then a quadra 100. Both engines were great. The in-line was tricky to keep cool and the 100 was a bit of a shaker. The other FC I had was a kit that was sold. I think Brian Omeara has it now.

I just picked up a 104cc in-line engine for the spit. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It was said to have been built by John Clark up in Canada but it doesn't look anything like his Clark Merlin I or II that he sold with his Spit/Hurricane kits. Jeff Quesenberry (also waiting on a kit) is going to use his 104cc in-line that he had in his old 124 inch Avenger. It was made my Tom Sabatini and is basically two quadra 52's. I think the motor I'm waiting for is very similar. I'll post pics when everything arrives.

The new kit from Comp Arf looks like it has some needed improvements over the original version. It appears there will be a lot less work to get it in the air. All hinges are pre-hinged and the wing comes pre mounted to the fuselage. I was told it has a full wood spar in the wing which the FC did not. It used more of a foam board as the internal structure.

It's basically an install rather than a build. They are great flying planes. I think my old FC spitfire came in around 42 pounds and flew great.

When this one came out I had to pull the trigger on it. Will start on it when the snow flies.

Dave

Rick,
Nope, I didn't get one (I've already got four planes to build) but I saw Darrell's of Sierra at Delaware and they've got lots of detail.
Presently, I'll just stick with my beater Yellow spit with over 200 missions on her (and it looks like it. too!).

Thanks for the info guys.

Dave, I'll look forward to seeing that engine... Is there a long wait for this kit then?

Sam...that's a real veteran...your Yellow spit. Well worn and probably well loved. It would be great if all planes came with a 200 sortie gurarantee! ;-)

Rick

Hajo,

How's the Spit coming?? Oh, have a pint for me over there huh?

Hajo,

Are you going to have to add lead anywhere to balance the Spitty? Is the 3-W heavy enough? I am about to start mine and I don't have an engine picked out for it yet. I want to know if the Spitty is "typically" tailheavy like they all are. I want to use a single cylinder, but I might try a ZDZ 100 inline for less vibration. Still concerned about keeping the rear cylinder cool enough.

Is there anything you would change or modify about the build so far?

Thanx

Rebel

"If you think health care is expensive now... Wait till it's FREE"!!!

Hello Guys!

Sorry for the late update, I've been busy at work but the Spitfire is as good as complete! Rebel - as it looks now the Spit will balance out nicely with the 80' 3W. I don't think that I'll be needing lots of lead in the nose - Thanks to the new sandwich fuselage. So far no mods necessary, really. The model is great to build.

For a ZDZ100 inline you would need to create a proper airflow in the model like the original Fiberclassic Model had. You might be lucky and I still have the old manual with some drawings for inline engine installations.


I will update the build pictures soon, but I cannot resist to post a picture of the current paint status. I took the chance since the weather was really good today.


Catch you all later of to the pub to have a pint

Damn that was quick!!! Looks lovely.

Cheers,

Brad

Looks outstanding!!!