Beginner question on the Spitfire build.

[Octavius]

OK, I'm up to the point of assembling the tail unit. Trouble is, the elevators only go down and the rudder only turns to the left.

Do I need to bevel out more foam? Kinda looks like I need to remove about 1/8" of foam before I can get things swinging in both directions. I did the bevels, as per the instructional video, but maybe not enough, do you think?

Also, on the elevators. After assembling, is the paper on the top and the cut line on the bottom, or vice versa?

Cheers!

 

[nerdnic]

Hi friend. Yep go ahead an bevel more. You should be able to move both directions about 40 degrees. The beveled part goes down for the elevator. Make sure you do a hot glue bead on the joint for strength.

 

[Octavius]

Will do!
Many thanks for the quick reply.

Cheers!

 

[rcspaceflight]

Definitely do a "hot glue hinge" on the control surfaces. Make sure you smear off as much glue as possible while it's hot. I had a plane where the paper peeled off making the control surfaces useless. I tried to make hot glue hinges after the fact but couldn't do a proper job with the servos mounted and ended up ruining the plane with my attempt to fix it. But I learned from the mistake, so it's all good.

 

[JohnRambozo]

Octavius, the Spitfire is a fun plane and looks great in the air. I'd recommend reinforcing the holes you make for all skewers in the fuselage. I've seen some people use what look like plastic gromets. I had the wing mount skewers rip through the fuselage twice before I started doing something about it. I just used a utility blade to carefully drill holes in an old gift card to fit the skewers. Then I scuffed up one side and hot glued them to both sides of each the fuselage holes. I rotated a skewer in the hole to make sure it wasn't blocked by hot glue and haven't seen any sign of stress since.

I added the reinforcements for the power pod skewer, too, just in case.

Credit to Ed @ Experimental Airlines for the giftcard idea.

 

[Octavius]

John,
Thanks for that information.
I like your method of using a blade to make the holes - gives some grip but still allows rotation.
I'll definitely be following your advice.
Cheers!

rcspaceflight,
Thanks for the advice on the glue hinge! I'm on it!

 

[JohnRambozo]

You're welcome, Octavius. Are you going to paint it? You have to paint it.

 

[Octavius]

Oh, of course.
I was thinking of a coat of polyurethane and then see if it flies. If so, I'll concentrate on the paint job and decals.
Cheers!

 

[JohnRambozo]

How's the build coming along, Octavius?