FT Spitfire Build

[jhitesma]

Why not add landing gear when building this? Wouldn't one of those kits work well on here and look relatively scale?

I'll probably add some on mine at some point. But my LHS has been out of thicker music wire for awhile and the coat hangers I've used for gear in the past just aren't strong enough to support this plane or my baby blender.

Thinking about looking for some retracts that would work...but then I'd have to wait for them.

So since I can't wait to get this thing in the air tape is good enough for now

 

[sidneylopsides]

I've got mine almost complete. Just the card to stick on top.
How heavy are these builds? Mine feels fairly substantial...
I made a couple of changes, my servos are behind the cockpit with the control wire going through a former and the fuselage to the tail, it looks neater and seems to be easier to set up. I also cut out the top of the fuse where the cockpit is, so I can grab the power pod.
I only have 3S up to 1000mAh, its tail heavy with those.

 

[jamiedco]

a over view of the build process and a shortened version of the maiden .
WOW Flitetest what a great plane .

 

[CrashRecovery]

Nice! I've thought about buying this one but the wife is already complaining about me spending all my money on planes when we have to to some work on the house. I'm really just going to hold off till the ol' fogey comes out. I'm really enjoying this slow flying stuff. Flying the champ in the back yard I've been able to get 20 mins of flight out of one battery. It cruises around on 1/3 throttle. anything more it just keeps going higher and higher.

 

[sidneylopsides]

Got a question about balance. I've only got some 1000mAh 3S at the moment, but it takes 3 of those (one in the pod against the firewall, 2 underneath) to get it nearly balanced, even then it's maybe a 1mm behind the centre of the spar.
I moved my servos to just behind the cockpit, so it should be lighter in the tail than normal...

It's starting to feel very heavy, especially if I'm going to need 300g of battery just to balance it. Is this normal for this plane?

 

[jamiedco]

i had to add 60g of weight and a 2200 25c in the nose to get it to balance

 

[OutcastZeroOne]

:black_eyed:



I think Im going to strip the paper from inside my fuslage when I build one to see if that helps with balance. Im also going to make a real nose brace since I dont have any packing foam. Just a rib going down the nose. Maybe I will paint on some nostrils too, Or make them into some nice cooling ducts for my electronics

Right now I'm a bit busy updateing my F/A-241 Shrike plans to hopefully make them easier for people to uderstand and take advantage of some needed design changes.

 

[jhitesma]

Balance on mine came out great with a 2200 3 cell mounted about 1/2" back from the front of the power pod. Right on the center of the spar.

Got to maiden it today, even got some video but probably won't have a chance to post it for a week or two (relatives in town.)

Really impressed by it! I had the throws setup about where the low gauge suggests but found them just a bit anemic for my taste. First landing attempt resulted in a cartwheel but wasn't really a planned landing - just lost my orientation on the approach. No damage at all other than a prop.

Replaced the prop and gave it a bit more throw then put it back in the air - felt great...still wanted a bit more aileron but was having a blast with it. Then I decided to try inverted...and well...wasn't quite enough mistakes high for my first time trying inverted. Went to level off and went the wrong way on the elevator shoving the nose into the ground at fairly high speed. Wing is great, one tip is slightly crinkled but nothing major. Fuse on the other hand...looks like I'll be building another Area where the front skewers mount came loose - repairable though. Front is a little crinkled but mostly just cosmetic. Big problem is I ripped off the front wing mount entirely. Could probably convert it to a non-removable wing but it's just one sheet of foam board and an hour or two of work so I'll just build up a new fuse. This first one was a little crooked anyway. Wings and tail feathers were aligned but the section between the wing and tail wasn't straight so it looked a little funny even though it flew great.

Going to be a long two weeks without much of a chance to fly with my mom visiting....but she had fun shooting video of me today so it's all good!

Just glad I didn't have time to waste painting this one before flying it now Picked up some minwax to start experimenting with...next one I'll try to make pretty enough I'll actually feel bad if I smash it up

 

[OutcastZeroOne]

as some one once put it "These all have an experation date, they just didn't put it on the box". Im sure i will do worse so dodnt feel too bad yet

 

[jackedman]

Hey guys I have a fc-2822 motor 1200 kv will that work on a 3s for this plane ??

 

[jhitesma]

OK, no time to edit so excuse the comments from the peanut gallery but here's the start of the Maiden:

And the fateful last flight....I think it was my wife saying "It looks like a stunt plane" that is the indirect cause of my spitfire's untimely end. I doubt anyone else here could resist a challenge like that any better than I did

Did great loops...but I really should have known better than to attempt inverted that close to the ground!

 

[jackedman]

lol don't worry buddy our wives know we never let a challenge pass us by without tring it. They always know well try it


oh and another thing if I print this on one page what size do I print it as???

 

[jhitesma]

lol don't worry buddy our wives know we never let a challenge pass us by without tring it. They always know well try it

I think she was trying to get back at me after she crashed her FT Flyer I love her though, still gave her some stick time on the Fogey She actually handled that even better than the

 

[sidneylopsides]

Anyone got an AUW for theirs? In the videos they seem lighter than mine, balanced I'm getting 865g.

 

[eagle4]

I'd love to know how this plane compares to the Durafly spitfire these guys reviewed.

 

[FASTCRASHER]

Here's mine ...im just waiting for motor,esc, props , servos....and pulling my hair out waiting!...
ill get video of my maiden, so watch for that!

 

[sidneylopsides]

Picked up a 2200 Overlander 3S pack, moving the ESC right to the front and adding the spinner gets the balance.

 

[Jeez]

Needs more right angle on the thrustline




I was very conservative on the first launch, because I've put a fairly hefty motor in it and it really pulls (more than a 2/1 thrust ratio).
(this one: , and an 8x8 prop) I've seen some video's of DogFighters with similar setups, so I was expecting a left turn, but it was more intense than I anticipated. Managed to get a level landing (yay for tall grass!).
Next attempt I dialed in some right on the rudder to compensate, not enough, but I got it to fly.
Hot damn! I needed about six clicks of down elevator!

Flies great now I've dialed it in, it glides better than I was expecting with a weight of 780 grams. Feels really light in the air. The elevator has so much authority it's on half rates all the time, but the ailerons felt weak on the high throw from the throw gauge. Might not fly scale anymore, but I like to have some movement in reserve.

Things left to do: get a proper size spinner (bought a 51mm before the video was up, bad guess), and balance the motor. The prop was balanced, but these NTM's apparently are worth their money when it comes to quality control.

I tried to take a video by putting a keychain cam on my transmitter (don't own a hat), but of the 7 minutes I only get it close enough for about 20 seconds total .

 

[Jeez]

Anyone got an AUW for theirs? In the videos they seem lighter than mine, balanced I'm getting 865g.

Mine is 780 grams, and that is with a really heavy motor and 3s 2200 LiPo (but paperless Depron instead of foamboard, don't know if it's that much lighter). I too was worried about the weight.
It feels amazingly light in the air, loops of less than 2 meter across, flies at almost walking pace. I would guess that yours will fly just fine.

 

[jackedman]

I think she was trying to get back at me after she crashed her FT Flyer I love her though, still gave her some stick time on the Fogey She actually handled that even better than the

yeah that sounds like something my wife would do to me..


Hey guys about what wattage is your motor putting out?? The one im going to use is around 150 on a 10*3.8