FT Spitfire Build

Ron B

Posted a thousand or more times
I added a washer behind the X mount to give mine right angle on the motor when I built it and it has some down thrust also and it flies great
 

Strix

Member
Hey Strix, nice looking Spit, now how did the first flights go??

Top hole! Bally Jerry pranged his kite right in the how's-your-father! Hairy blighter dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie! LOL

It went well. I managed to get David himself to throw it for the maiden flight! :) It flew great, but I didn't get a chance to feel it out at all, or offer him the sticks. I had to cut the flight short because of radio glitching in the Flite Fest RF storm. I landed and put it away so it could make it safely home.

I flew it again last week and the motor quit due to a broken lead. Fortunately I was able to bring it in to a soft grass landing.

So it's flown twice for a total of 1.5 circuits and already survived one dead-stick event. An auspicious start if there ever was one! :applause:
 

hump101

Junior Member
We've just built a 400th episode-inspired 168% version in EPS, slightly modified shape, fairly well modified structure. Only flown a few times (maiden few seconds here - be gentle, we're just starting this hobby), but have found it is a really docile and easy plane to learn with. Just wanted to thank David for the design and the Flitetest team for providing plans. It's comforting for newbie constructors like us to know that the result of our efforts will fly OK when it's finished!
 

ChefRo

Junior Member
Maiden Post! After a 20+ year break I've decided to get back into RC planes and I couldn't be more excited about building a plane from scratch as a way to start again. The Flite Test videos and forums have been a great inspiration/learning tool and I'm building a Spitfire from the plans. All I have left to do before going out on a maiden flight is to figure out the CG, and arrange the battery and assorted doodads to make that happen. Oh, and I need spinner! The big question: Should I go all out and give my first plane a pretty paint job and make it look as cool as I think it can be? or should I just get this first build dirty and wrecked right away? Between my untested building skills and my non-existent flying skills, I'm under no illusion that this plane is going take off and fly like a dream right away. I have hopes of this but more realistically, it will probably be a rough and tumble (literally) re-entry and learning experience. So excited!



IMG_0710.jpg
 

Art Lane

Foamy Flyer 1
Motor angle:, I usually build in the angle on the MM, 2 to 3 degrees down, 2 degrees right... Now, looking at both my Spits, the 55"er has two degrees right, (Looking from the rear, natch,) and 3 degrees down thrust... Flies great with this setup.... Then, looked at my first Spit build, the 42" one, I found a goof......... Somehow I built in the proper down thrust, but found I had looked the wrong way (from the front) and built in 2 degrees..................LEFT thrust.... Hey, with proper amount of right aileron up position, it flew flawlessly, no tipping.. Now, explain that one, huh???
 

Goose

Member
Im still not sure why it rolls, but ill try some thrust angle. Strange it does it though, maybe I have too big a motor. Not sure about how many degrees but ill just try a washer under the left side of the motor.
 

Art Lane

Foamy Flyer 1
Like I said, I goofed on my thrust angle on the small Spit, was working from the front of the plane at the time, not thinking about right or left side.....
I can't explain why it flies so great, with the left thrust....... Both my Spits, 42" and 55" fly great, course the 55"er has the proper right angle thrust.....
Any ideas why the small one flies so great????????????????????
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this one!!
 

ChefRo

Junior Member
Crash and burn. Work and wind have gotten in the way of launching. It was probably still a little too windy for a beginner and maiden today but I went out anyways. The first lap went ok and I brought her down without incident. The second flight, I got a little impatient trying to trim it level and wasn't high enough to react. Lesson learned. The wing ended up ok but the posts for the wings ripped right out of the fuselage, front and back. Looks like it's time to repair or build a new fuse, maybe this time with tape or something else reinforcing the holes for the wing skewers. Good thing I made posterboard templates.
IMG_0745.JPG
 

mgray

New member
Crash and burn. Work and wind have gotten in the way of launching. It was probably still a little too windy for a beginner and maiden today but I went out anyways. The first lap went ok and I brought her down without incident. The second flight, I got a little impatient trying to trim it level and wasn't high enough to react. Lesson learned. The wing ended up ok but the posts for the wings ripped right out of the fuselage, front and back. Looks like it's time to repair or build a new fuse, maybe this time with tape or something else reinforcing the holes for the wing skewers. Good thing I made posterboard templates.
View attachment 73473

It looks like you are on the right direction! I would add when trying to trim out the plane try to get the plane about 3 to 4 mistakes high for beginners. That way if something happens you have time to fix it before it hits the ground. Is this your first plane by chance, don't mind me asking if so thats quite impressive!
 

ChefRo

Junior Member
It looks like you are on the right direction! I would add when trying to trim out the plane try to get the plane about 3 to 4 mistakes high for beginners. That way if something happens you have time to fix it before it hits the ground. Is this your first plane by chance, don't mind me asking if so thats quite impressive!

I "knew" I should've been higher and given myself more altitude to coast while trying to trim it out and recover from any mistakes. Funny how adrenaline overrides common sense ;) There's just a lot going on for a beginner and I made a classic mistake. I'm sure I'll make more along the way. As I said though, lesson learned.

It is my first plane. Or do I call it "first wing, second fuselage" now? I probably should've started with a simpler and easier design for a beginning flyer but the Spitfire was so cool looking. I'm sure I'll build an Explorer or Tiny Trainer soon.
 
It is my first plane. Or do I call it "first wing, second fuselage" now? I probably should've started with a simpler and easier design for a beginning flyer but the Spitfire was so cool looking. I'm sure I'll build an Explorer or Tiny Trainer soon.
Nah, you'll be fine, just keep on repairing. :)
I started off with a FT spitfire as my first scratchbuild (and second plane ever), it's been mangled and modified but still flies ok.
  • New powerpod, twice.
  • Lost the tail twice
  • Fuselage behind wing off, once
  • Nose mangled 4? times(beginning to be hard to remember)
  • Wings off twice (I glued the wing)
  • Two dead LiPo before building a hatch on top.


This is then:
IMG_20151122_140522.jpg

This is now:

IMG_20160513_004302.jpg
 

ChefRo

Junior Member
Nah, you'll be fine, just keep on repairing. :)
I started off with a FT spitfire as my first scratchbuild (and second plane ever), it's been mangled and modified but still flies ok.

@m00ndancer That plane looks like it's seen some battle! It is nice to know that planes are fairly repairable. Frankly, it's a selling point for the FT designs. The building and repairing are simple and fun enough and there's a lot to learn. I think on my next iteration of the spitfire, I'll look to have a battery hatch as well as bring the rudder/elevator servos inboard. Gotta get it painted too!

First things first though, need to learn to fly!!!:black_eyed:
 
@m00ndancer That plane looks like it's seen some battle! It is nice to know that planes are fairly repairable. Frankly, it's a selling point for the FT designs. The building and repairing are simple and fun enough and there's a lot to learn. I think on my next iteration of the spitfire, I'll look to have a battery hatch as well as bring the rudder/elevator servos inboard. Gotta get it painted too!

First things first though, need to learn to fly!!!:black_eyed:

There are couple of things you should consider that will make things a lot easier:

  • Glue the powerpod to the fuselage
  • Make a solid nose with intake for cooling
  • Move the esc underneath the powerpod
  • Use a folding prop
  • Make a hatch for the LiPo

Fly, learn, repair, fly again!