200% Spitfire - Build Log

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
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Update - December 31st 2014 - 200% FT Spitfire project terminated
Hey guys I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be working on this project. I hadn't discovered the bad hot glue and ruined batch of DTFB until long after my 200 Spit was being built. Sadly this glue and foam is what was used in my build.

Upon revisiting my build a little bit ago I discovered that much of my tail feathers paper had de-laminated and part of the wing had broken loose. As this bird is much larger and heavier than anything I've flown before, and knowing that I've already had normal FT planes fall apart from the bad glue, I just don't want to chance this one. There is no way to really salvage the build without simply starting over. At this time I will not be starting over but I'm not done with large planes just yet. I do have planned a 250% nnChipmunk sometime in the future :)

Thanks to all that followed this thread, it was a fun challenge and I'm excited for my next monster build.



The FT Spitfire is my favorite plane by far so when FT announced the 200% Spitfire I was super excited! It just flies so well! I've built a few Spitfires so far and even did some alternate sized versions. I've made an 80, 100, 125, and now begins the 200%.
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I wanted to make a thread covering my progress and to cover any alterations I make. Hopefully this will give you some insight on what to expect if you decide to build one. I will be adding a spar to the wing to prevent an issue (like David ran into at SEFF)

PLANS
I broke down the plane pieces into separate PDFs and zipped them up to help reduce paper when printing.

200% Spitfire Plans

ELECTRONICS
Motor NTM 50-50 Prop Drive
Prop 15x8 APC
ESC 100a Suppo
BEC 7a Suppo
Servo HXT 55g/10kg
Battery 3700mah 6S 2x 3700mah 25c 3s in series
TX/RX FrSky Taranis/X8R

BUILD LOG
May 1st 2014
Ordered all my parts and they should be here in the next few days.

Word of advice, use 11x17 paper, it makes putting the plans together a breeze.
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Okay.. this thing is WAY bigger than I expected! I must be a lot shorter than Josh and David because it didn't seam this large next to them. Needless to say I'm stoked about this build.
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May 3rd 2014
I will be covering the entire plane with tape for strength and then putting an layer of self adhesive shelf liner over the top of that to be painted. The end result should be a very smooth consistent finish.
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My wing is on hold for now until my servos arrive next week, so It's on to the fuse!

Overall the build is going really smooth. It is easier to cut the pieces as there are not really any 'small' cuts.
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But just when I thought the build was going to be easy, a curve ball appeared. Fortunately for me, my printer decided to print 1 sheet .5% smaller than the rest and forced me to do some measuring and adjusting.
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With some small adjustments to my printed plans the fuse went together perfectly.
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May 16th 2014
Electronics showed up! This motor is a BEAST with the 15x8 prop. I didn't grab a picture of my servos yet but they are equally as beefy.
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100a Suppo ESC
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I already had the batteries but I made a series cable for them. 2x 3700mah 3S
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The build is coming along nicely. It is taking me longer than I expected due to life getting in the way but I am still slowly chipping away. I bought my aluminum spar and wood dowels this week. I am going to be designing a set of fixed landing gear that will tie into the aluminum spar. I don't think it will add too much weight, but we will see. I don't recall FT mentioning AUW for the 200%'ers so I'm not really sure where this thing is going to end up in terms of weight.

May 17th 2014
Servo vs 9g
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Fuse went together nice.
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Other electronics. I was planning to power my BEC/RX with a separate battery, I figured this would be better. Anyone have any thoughts?
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May 18th 2014
Getting close! Here is the fuse compared to a normal Spitfire.
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I spent some time trying to figure out how to build the landing gear to be (1) light weight and (2) very strong. Here is what I've come up with so far. Each arm will mount to a 3x4 piece of ply and then I'll mount the ply to the underneath the aluminum spar. This will transfer all the weight directly to the spar and not on the wing or foam. I bent, drilled, and scratch built the whole thing to reduce the cost. Brackets are made from 3 foot long thin piece of aluminum and the arm is the same but it's a bit thicker. I cut the arm to about 8 inches and there is no play in it, it's very strong and will work well. It is also very light only weighing 30g per arm (not including the ply)!
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May 22nd 2014
Spar and landing gear - 213g
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I am pretty happy with the way this turned out. It is lighter than I originally predicted it would be but it's not a rigid. Once it's in the wing and smashed between the foam spars I think that will help stiffen it up a lot. Spar and arms are made from 1/8"x1/2" aluminum and the brackets were cut from a 1/16"x1/2" aluminum.

June 12th 2014
Measured and cut counter sink holes in the foam to snugly hold the wood base of the spar.
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It fits very well and stiffens up the lateral movement a lot.
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I added lock tight to all the hardware and also put a drop of glue on the end of each bolt. Since none of the screws will be exposed I can risk them coming loose.

Getting the aluminum spar and foam spar to fit together was a bit tricky and with a wing this size you have to go slow.
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As tricky as it was to get the spar in place and secured without damaging the wing, it was nothing compared to finishing the wing fold over. The landing gear arms are not removable and I had to work around them poking out like you see here. I ended up using my table and my sons high chair as a sort of spit table so the landing gear arms could dangle in between. This gave me very little work surface and I had to be extra careful not to crease the wing.
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Servos installed and control rods in place. I first used too thin of wire/rod and there was just too much flex. Even with the straw guides my first set of wire just wasn't going to last. So I pulled it out but left the straw guides, I didn't want to damage the foam pulling them off so here you can see 4 total straw guide runners.
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I added a second layer of foam for the servers to rest in. This makes for a sturdy base but there is still a little flex in the foam when using the elevator.
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I didn't use 200% control horns because there really isn't any reason to. Dental floss sticks work really well and I've used them on all my builds so far. The control rods are 18 inch landscape flags and are very rigid. They are not long enough to make it from the cockpit to the tail so I connected two together to extend the overall length.
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Wing is done! Wow did that take a long time! Tail poster board is also done, it actually looks like a plane now.
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Wife for scale!
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More to come soon! I plan to finish the fuse wing area next so I can attach the wing, then all that's left is the motor.
 
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ghost civic

Senior Member
looks like you need a bigger apartment!
maybe some day, I too will have both the skills and patience to try such a build. I usually end up rushing simple 30'' wingspan planes!
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
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Nice! That looks more like a surfboard than a Spitfire Wing. ;)
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
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A question on the shelf liner vinyl - how to you plan to paint that?

In the spirit of doing things cheap I'm going to be using dollar rattle cans. I have not decided on the paint scheme yet but it will consist of colors that I can find for a dollar each. Any ideas?

QUICK UPDATE
Building has been put on hold as I wait for my electronics.
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
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In the spirit of doing things cheap I'm going to be using dollar rattle cans. I have not decided on the paint scheme yet but it will consist of colors that I can find for a dollar each. Any ideas?

FLORECENT ORANGE!!!!

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not exactly scale . . . but you can see for miles . . . even in the dark ;)
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
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what happened to that night vapor?!? (cat?)

No . . . gotta take the blame for that. haven't been kind to my airframes, and so when the stock film started to deteriorate, I found a nice mylar balloon and some 3M77 :)
 

Kurt0326

Your ADD Care Bear
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No . . . gotta take the blame for that. haven't been kind to my airframes, and so when the stock film started to deteriorate, I found a nice mylar balloon and some 3M77 :)

Nice, But I might have used stretch wrap "saran wrap". You can heat shrink that.

Edit: You could dye the saran wrap with food color... THink that coould work???
 
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Craftydan

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Awesome! I got florescent Orange and Yellow for my next plane the FTSS I was thinking up designs for that too.

Do it! I decorated my Calypso Glider with orange bubbles (random size/position circles) with blue nose and trim. Looks nice and really helps with orientation and range estimation

Nice, But I might have used stretch wrap "saran wrap". You can heat shrink that.

Edit: You could dye the saran wrap with food color... THink that coould work???

The mylar wasn't bad, and the color pops. For tension, the airstream inflates it a touch an it becomes a nice airfoil. Still a little heavy, but if I wanted to go light, I'd lean toward the grocery store produce bags -- amazingly light and strong, but not for looks :p

The tail was cellophane wrapping paper, which is dyed blue from the factory. You could try, but I think getting a even coat would be near impossible DIY. Check out the wrapping sections at a craft store -- they usually have a good selection of colors of cellophane wrapping paper . . . .or it's occasionally at the Dollar Tree in a few basic colors. it will shrink with heat a little, but got to be carefull you don't overdo it -- could warp the frame.
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
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Added an update for today. Sorry for the delay, I am hoping to get it finished next week. I just can't seem to find the time this month :D
 

EraJomppa

RC Enthusiast
Holy macaroni the size of that motor!


I'm preparing to build a 1500 mm FT duster (200%), but I thought I'd get away with a 4240-can size motor. I read a lot of comments on hobbyking reviews of it and people had been putting it into 1500 mm 3D planes with good success (a good 3D plane is a lot lighter though so I dont know..). I know it ain't near the best motor, but it's one that I have lying around.

It seems like I might want to reconsider and order at least 4248 that is the recommended motor on a lot of 1500-1600 mm planes on the site. I'm not really after a sport performance, I'm looking for more scale performance.

That 50-50 looks like it can really deliver though :D that ought to get you going vertical!

Do you have much experience powering bigger planes?
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
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Holy macaroni the size of that motor!



I'm preparing to build a 1500 mm FT duster (200%), but I thought I'd get away with a 4240-can size motor. I read a lot of comments on hobbyking reviews of it and people had been putting it into 1500 mm 3D planes with good success (a good 3D plane is a lot lighter though so I dont know..). I know it ain't near the best motor, but it's one that I have lying around.

It seems like I might want to reconsider and order at least 4248 that is the recommended motor on a lot of 1500-1600 mm planes on the site. I'm not really after a sport performance, I'm looking for more scale performance.

That 50-50 looks like it can really deliver though :D that ought to get you going vertical!

Do you have much experience powering bigger planes?

This will be my first really big plane but I have made 1300 and 1500 size before. That motor would have plenty of power but it's too high kv. The things you want to keep in mind are prop size and thrust. A DTFB plane is going to be a lot lighter than any RTF kit so you don't need nearly the thrust but you still need a big prop to get air around your fuse. For a 1500mm I would not go smaller than a 12" prop, which at 3S puts you probably around 1000kv and 8-900 kv for 4S. You'll want a motor in the 600w range that can swing a 12" prop for pretty decent scooting around. 800-1000w would give you sport performance.

This is the motor I'm using for my 1500mm Corsair with 4S and a 12x6 APC
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...0KV_815W_US_Warehouse_.html?strSearch=Ntm 900

EDIT
After looking at some of the test data in the comments a 12x6 on 3S seems to work with the motor you linked. So I'd say go for it!
 
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