Re-vamped FT spitfire

jamboree1

Active member
Ok, I been sitting on these printed plans for this for nearly a year and a half now and never got around to it. Stuff happens.. work, life, kids and NERDNIC, i mostly blame Nerdnic because his designs are so good. That and i wasn't really to thrilled about the overall looks of the Spitfire. Now I have some ideas, a few from this forum, like jayz hatch mod, and the canopy mod from a few pages ago. I will also be moving the 2 rear servos deep into the fuselage. But the plane is still Boxy, like a Volvo. I am going to attempt to add formers to the square fuselage and use poster board for a more realistic look. If this turns out OK i will try a better cowling. There is a possibility of using an aluminum spar if I put on fixed landing gear, a mod I came up with Nerdnics P-39 that has so far performed flawlessly. Retracts would be awesome but i suspect the plane would just nose over on take off's and landing. Does anyone else have ideas on improvements this plane might need?
 

xMeox

Member
If you dont go for a very scale look I would suggest to increase the size of the ailerons to get a decent roll rate ;)
 

jamboree1

Active member
If you dont go for a very scale look I would suggest to increase the size of the ailerons to get a decent roll rate ;)

The ailerons seem good size to me, I think it might be that this plane has a lot of dihederal that makes it roll slow, I might decrease it as I don't need it as much as the targeted builders do.
 

jamboree1

Active member
A few progress pics of fuselage formers and starting the cover my spitfire 008.jpg my spitfire 009.jpg my spitfire 010.jpg my spitfire 011.jpg my spitfire 012.jpg my spitfire 013.jpg
 
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Jaxx

Posted a thousand or more times
I'm already impressed with what you have done so far. How did you come up with those formers?
 

jamboree1

Active member
Jaxx, by hand and T.L.A.R, that looks about right. I used the original FT former templates and extended them. I have built a few all former foam planes before so it was just a matter of using existing experience to make the others.
 

JohnRambozo

Posted a thousand or more times
I'll be watching this one. Its funny, while many of us like a more scale look, everyone just accepts the boxy FT Spitfire. Its a great plane, one of my favorites, but a scale version is going to look great. It already does, with just the formers and cover. A great idea, right under our noses. :)
 

jamboree1

Active member
I wasn't planning on working on the Spitfire tonight as I was waiting for parts I ordered from Value Hobby in Illinois to come in that I ordered online Friday night. When I got home my package was here. Kudos to Value Hobby for fast shipping. I ordered a motor, esc, servos and prop, $26 for parts, $4 for shipping, hell yeah. Now onto finishing my coverings that are just pinned in place.
 

jamboree1

Active member
A little bit of progress, 2 more pieces of posterboard cut and glued on, the hatch has been cut. The tail feathers and posterboard in the back are not yet attached as I didn't want the tail damaged with all the moving around I need to do with the fuselage.
spitfire fuse 2 001.jpg spitfire fuse 2 002.jpg spitfire fuse 2 003.jpg
 

xMeox

Member
Very nice work! Have you decided yet if you are going to install a landinggear? Doubt that the downer foamers will take a lot of bellylandings
 
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jamboree1

Active member
Yes, I will be installing landing gear, that's one of the secrets to a DTFB long life. I will also be using an aluminum spar, while this plane itself doesn't really need this it makes a great place to install the landing gear mounts. I used this method with the NN P-39 and it has worked flawless so far. I will probably have to bend the wire forward more than it would be if a scale build just to keep it from nosing over on take off and landings.
 

jamboree1

Active member
I haven't had as much time to work on this as I hoped, but I did get the hatch and canopy almost completed
spitfire canopy.jpg
 

jamboree1

Active member
I have had more time to work on this design, the issue with doing what i'm doing is that you have to be 5 steps of thought ahead of yourself, and even then there has been some back stepping.
The wing uses an aluminum spar of 1/16 X 1/2 X 30" This idea comes from Nerdnic. I cut a notch with a hacksaw halfway down in the middle, this set the dihedral to 800mm. The FT designs call for 1000mm. i changed this hoping for better aileron response.
spitfire wing 002.jpg
The next picture shows the wing installed. This will not be removable as some are mostly due to fact I don't need to and my coverings that i will put on the fuse won't allow it. All leading edges have been rounded with a hot iron for a streamlined look. The tail feathers done same way but not yet glued to fuse.
spitfire wing 003.jpg
The bottom of plane is next for coverings, the gap on bottom is already filled in with foam board. This should be done to and Spitfire that uses Jayz hatch mod as you no longer need that HUGE aerodynamic loss.
spitfire wing 004.jpg
 

jamboree1

Active member
A few update pics. The air frame is ready, sans canopy, I need to redo it because I don't like the way it looks. And a pic of the landing gear I fashioned. It sits right on top of the aluminum spar. I have used this with the NN P-39 without failure.
spitfire airframe 003.jpg
spitfire airframe 004.jpg spitfire airframe 005.jpg spitfire airframe 006.jpg spitfire airframe 007.jpg spitfire airframe 001.jpg
 

airhawk

Crashing Ace
maiden then paint ha love the thinking behind that nice job thought that spit looks like an actual spit hope its a good flyer
 

jamboree1

Active member
Thanks Wombat, it should fly same as the FT version because it is the FT version just with coverings, just a bit heavier, It comes in at 875 grams AUW with 2200 3s battery