Mac-

Adrian.....an outstanding effort - well done!

I'm sure that your your successful conversion to electric of the Jamara Spitfire will inspire others to do likewise!

Regarding the colours I suggest that you look at the Flair range of paints. The 125ml pots may be what you are looking for. The Light grey and dark grey if mixed carefully will give you the matching sea grey shade already on the model. Flair's drab olive is nearest shade for the green. Applying an etching primer to the Oracover first, such as Solarfilm's Prymol, will provide a keying base for the paint.

If you have any images of your model please add them to this thread.

Good luck with you flights!

chris-s

Thought I should update this thread, after reporting the loss of my Spit two months ago, I'm pleased to annouce it's return last week, found by some kind fisherman 62 miles out at sea!!

For the complete thread...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_18...tm.htm#2067349

Chris.

Mac-

Nice one, Chris...I hope that you have more luck with the next Jam Spitfire.

As for me I was busying myself a few weeks back running-in the ASP .91 4-cycle fitted to my Jam Spit and eagerly looking forward to its long overdue maiden flight. But it was not to be. The engine developed problems and I decided to return it to the supplier. I've now been notified that a replacement .91 is on the way to me and, hopefully, I'll get my Spit flying before the next millenium.

rkm96

I seem to recall that you originally outfitted the Spit with a 3" spinner, though it needs a 3 1/2"...did you ever locate a 3 1/2" spinner?...if so, who makes it?

EchoBravo

My Feedback: (220)

CB Associates makes a real nice 3 1/2" They come in Black, White & Red and are uncut so you can outfit them with a 3 or 4 blade prop if you like. This is an example of the one they say is for a p-51, but it looks great on the Spitfire as well.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

I use 2100 mih batteries with my planes with retracts, make sure the retract servo adjustment is such that lockout and endpoint are achieved in both the up and down positions and I'm also sure to check the voltage of the battery EVERY flight prior to take off. I have had many flights with mechanicals and I have never had a problem with power failure in the air.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

Once you know where the bend needs to be you can use a vise and a large adjustable wrench for bending rather than banging of any kind. This should deliver a more precise result.

Before I went to law school they forced me to take metal shop in high school.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

Gees. Sorry to hear of your loss. Even though I'm reading this more than a year after it was posted, It's always a bummer to hear of a loss like yours. Usually when a plane goes in, you can salvage most of the stuff other than the airframe.

Glad to hear you got it back.


On another subject, I have a TT .91 and have had great success with it. It's a great motor at a great price.

attesi

Have just bought a jamara 60 Spitfire and have been reading your blow by blow account of building - very helpful and concise - I'm sure I will make good use of it in a few weeks.
Have I missed your final instalments of the plane in the air? or are you still waiting for the right conditions? Information on how it flies would be very helpful. I was planning to put my ASP 80 four stroke in it but from some of the contributors comments am now wondering if that will be powerful enough with the retract and second battery weight. Your views would be much appreciated.
very many thanks for posting this thread. I'm sure lots of people appreciate it.
Regards,
Al [8D]

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

I have flown this plane with a TT .91, Saito 100 and a YS 110. The YS 110 is too much motor for it but, the Saito 100 was the best of the other 2. I mounted the engines inverted and this seemed to be a great setup and I didn't have to cut the cowl much even while I swapped the motors around.

This plane with the Saito 100 was the best flying plane that I have ever owned. It still flies good with the YS 110 in it but, I also installed Robart's and it flies just a little bit differently. There are a few things you'll want to make sure you do: 1. Strengthen the horiz. stab with a carbon fiber rod 2. either decrease the elevator throw by half or program in about 70% neg. expo 3. use fiberglass cloth and 30-45 min. epoxy on the inside of the firewall and 4. cut 30-45 min. epoxy in half with alcohol and paint as much of the inside of the fuse as you can reach. This will add alot of strength without adding much weight. If you use the reccomended elevator throw, it will cause you problems. I would also reccomend using a higher tourque servo for the elevator with metal gears. I used a Futaba s3305. I lost a Sukhoi with a similar elevator setup due to the standard servo gears stripping.

DragonHeart

Hi Guys

Just got one of these i dont know if anyone can help, it didnt come with an instruction manual i emailed jamara but havent got a response.....

Does anyone have a scanned copy they could email me plz ? or any idea of where to get one

Thx in advance......

[email protected]

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

The copy I have is the Sportsman Aviation version. I'll get you a copy but, it will take me a couple days and I will send it to you in PDF format. Will that work for you?

DragonHeart

Hi Proulxlaw

That will be great Thx

Much appreciated

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

I just sent the manual to the email address that you provided. Good luck and let me know how it works out for you.

ozspit

I had a Sportsman Aviation Spitfire now unfortunately demised due to pilot error.(I was admiring it on a fast low show pass and made a little mistake.) See [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3703277/anchors_3703466/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#3703466]#3703466[/link]
For what it's worth, this thread is great though I think Mac is a little cautious. (Probably because he has much more experience than me!)
I used an OS FS91 Surpass II and it flew really well. 3 1/2 Al spinner and 14/8 prop. The revs were a touch low. perhaps a 14/7 or 14/6 would be better. I made a baffle for the cowl to direct cooling air to reduce the size if the cooling holes required. It seemed to work well. Landings were easy and deadsticks proved no problem, probably better than my landings under power. The retract wire is a bit soft for grass and a pre flight was always to check retraction and deployment. I had to bend them back into shape after nearly every flight. (Not a plane for touch and goes!) Better bent legs than ripped out of the wings though. I didn't use the plastic wheel wells but lined with 2mm balsa wet formed to shape around a scotch tumbler and trimmed to fit.
I totally agree regarding the CoG. I set it as directed at 110mm (perhaps 5mm aft due to inexperience) and had to fight to keep the nose down and not stall immediately after takeoff on the maiden. It made landing tricky too. I had my heart in my mouth for the entire maiden. Added weight forward and the second flight was a dream. I think 90mm from root LE is right.
I used flat estapol to dull down the shiny top covering. I used acrylic I had lying around for the light blue underside. I'll use an enamel next time.
Speaking of next time, I loved this plane so much I bought another one and am in the process of building. I managed to recover my home made radiators in one piece so I will reuse them. Just waiting on th replacement needle for the os91fs and a new 3 1/2" spinner.
Is this model still available in the US or UK? I think I bought the last one in Oz. Is it still in production?
Hopefully there are still a few people out there with this model. Some pictures of Chris's replacement would be good. I will post when mine is done.
PS Chris, put the pilot back in. after that story of survival he deserves to fly again. My cross eyed pilot is going back in despite the obvious concussion!

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

The Sportsman Aviation version is no longer in production. They discontinue most of the good warbirds. Doesn't really make sense to me. Another great flying warbird is an H9 Corsair and their P51. I have Saito 100's in all three of them now and they all fly great. The spit looks like it's made in the same factory as the other H9 warbirds that I have.

I have a CMP Spit and a Kyosho ME 109 that I built over the winter but I have not yet flown either of them. CMP Spit has a YS 120 and the ME109 has a Saito 82 in them. I like my planes to fly fast so I over power them and reinforce what I identify as weak points.

Let us know how your maiden goes. My spit is resting for the winter until warmer weather hits and the grass field that I fly at gets rolled so that I can take off and land the plane without hitting gopher holes that the changes in weather causes.

AS a word of caution, I have read threads here that have said that the rear stab is weak and has broken off on other flyers. I would reinforce the horiz. stab with a carbon fiber rod as pictured. Also, you will want to strengthen the firewall and paint the inside of the fuse with epoxy cut 50/50 with alcohol. I used fiberglass cloth and epoxy for the firewall.

ozspit

Thanks for the advice. I must admit that I had no problems with the stab. I fact it was still well and truly fixed in place despite the massive impact that destroyed my spit. It was enough to pop the elevators off the hinges! Also I had no trouble with the firewall with the OS91FS despite it getting a good shake when the plastic TopFlite Spitfire spinner fell apart mid air. (Landed safely and replaced with Al one!) This aircraft had 50+ flights without any structural problems except the plastic spinner and soft landing gear. Plenty of nose overs and roughish landings on a grass field saw no failed factory joints (nor mine). Perhaps I was just lucky. I will give the new one a thorough check though.
Nice in-flight photos. Here's some before maiden and after demise pics of mine. Some improvements were made in between but these were never captured for posterity!

ozspit

Here's some more pics of my SA Spit.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

Did you buy a second spit to re-build? This plane is such a great flyer and is one of the planes that I own that if I crashed it, I would buy the same plane and build a second plane.

ozspit

Yes, I managed to get a new one and am in the process of putting it together. I think I got the last one available via retail in Australia. Are they available again in the US? Waiting on a new needle valve for the OS91FS before I can fire her up. I also decided to challenge myself and bought a Topflite Gold Edition Spitfire IX. Given how long it takes me to get an ARF in the air, this will be flying in about 2010! At least there are plenty of good build threads to learn from. I can only hope mine comes out half as good as what I have seen.
For the interim I bought a cheap VMar Xtreme Stick to get the skills up as I haven't flown much recently. Just something to thrash without fear of hurting the hip pocket too much. Pity it is sooo ugly....

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

Instead of the TopFlite maybe you should have just bought the KMP Spit. I have not seen the SA Spit available anywhere in the US. I got the last one that the LHS had.

ozspit

I want one of those too! But.... I bought the TF on an impulse purchase as it was at my LHS and you don't see them very often here.The price wasn't bad either. About 50% more than in US but cheaper than I've seen here before and less than it would cost me to import. Besides, all my models have been ARFs and I want to try and build at least once. I might look into the KMP/ESM Spit XIV next year, pretty expensive here and I think I would have to get a 120FS for it as well. They have a nice 109 too....My eyes are bigger than my wallet!

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

I understand. I've been victimized by my impulse buying also to the tune of thousands$$$$$.

wilkidj

Guys, (Mac),

Just bought my SA Spit from Hobby Stores in the UK for 90UKP.

Your comments have inspired me to put a little more effort in, and get a really nice model at the end (hopefully)

Cheers.

Wilko

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

You can use LustreKote flat clear to give it a flat, more realistic look and the LustreKote helps keep the covering from peeling.