Models: Spitfire
Probably one of the most popular WW2 fighters and one of the most beautiful prop planes ever built. The Spitfire prototype was built in England in 1936 and served in the RAF till after WW2.
This particular Spitfire was flown in June 1941 in the 303. sq. at Northolt England by a Czechoslovakian pilot, Sgt. Josef Balejka.
Construction:
ARF Kit
Thanks to the wing, fuselage and tail surfaces being made of foam the model of this size is lightweight and yet tough enough. This enables to keep good flight characteristics of the original and the model is capable of basic aerobatic manoeuvres.
Scale features, such as exhausts, coolers and fillets are made of plastic (HPS), light ply is used for fuselage formers and spinner base, balsa for fuselage formers and battery tray etc. Epoxy, PU, UHU and CA glues were used to finish the model. The kit is an ARF so the camouflage is already finnished, all you need to do is apply the water slide markings which will have no effect on the final weight.
Finishing the kit:
The finishing requires intermediate skills and the instructions take you through step by step. I would not recommend it to a beginner.
All ply and balsa parts are precisely pre-cut and made from good quality wood. The plastic parts need to be cut using scissors or a sharp blade.
The hardest or most time consuming part is the fuselage. Here you need to glue in all the formers - the main problem I had was to glue in the firewall which is 4 cm inside the fuselage and it is not easy to align with the recommended thrust angles according to the instructions (in this case I partially made the spinner and attached it together with the prop and gearbox to the firewall and glued it, which helped me to visually set the thrust angle). Next you have to complete and glue in the battery tray, settings for elevator and rudder servos, glue the elevator, tail wheel and set up the push rods and servos.
The wing is nearly finished. You just have to fit in the servos and push rods, glue the gear wire in the wing and cut the part out for access to the battery tray. This will later be covered with a "lock" cooler. Here I would like to point out the nylon thread, which is already in the wing and is used to pull out the servo extension wires. Here, the manufacturer was thinking ahead and it eases the job. Before gluing the wing I applied the water slide decals for as the manipulation with the model parts was easier.
Afterwards I just glued the wing to the fuselage using PU glue, cut out and glue on the plastic scale parts. Then I made the "lock" cover for the battery tray and finished the horrible spinner setup, which did not turn out that bad. Finally I attached the wheels, painted the canopy (I did not use the enclosed pilot as it was way out of scale) fit in the RC equipment, motor w/gearbox, ESC and spinner. I repaired some scratches with a little paint and it was ready for the maiden.
Parameters:
| Wingspan: | 1070 mm |
| Length: | 840 mm |
| Weight: | 800 g (according to manufacturer) |
| Wing area: | 23,50 dm2 |
| Wing loading: | 34g/dm2 |
| Power setup: | Graupner Speed 400, 6V, 8xSanyo KR-1100AAU NiCd, APC 9x6 |
| Controlled elements: | Rudder, elevator, ailerons, motor |
| RC equipment: | JETI REX 5 Plus receiver, JETI JES 110 ESC |
| Servos: | 2 x HS-55 - ailerons, 2 x Graupner C241 - elevator, rudder |
Characteristics:
The maiden was made at no winds. Since I did not have a decent runway available I hand launched it for the maiden. The model started to climb rapidly but a bit of down elevator trim fixed it. After this the flight was fine, descent climb rate but a bit elevator and aileron sensitive, therefore, I adjusted the throws a bit to calm it down. After about 3 minutes of flight I suddenly lost power and after looking closer the prop stopped turning. At first I thought that the pinion gear came off but after and emergency landing and a close inspection I found out that the motor slipped out of the gearbox, as it got hot. The cooling was a problem, because the manufacturer didn't design any. So I cut out a cooling inlet and outlet hole on the fuselage bottom and after checking some e-discussions change the prop from APC 10x7 to APC 9x6. The climb rate suffered a bit and speed was higher now. But overall performance was good. But further flights showed that the slipping problem was not solved. Therefore, at first I just strapped the gearbox to the motor using tape and when it did not hold after several flights I just screwed the motor to the gearbox (don't ask why I did not do this right in the beginning :)). I also added some nose weight, as after checking the CG the model was tail heavy.
Takeoffs from pavement are without problems. The only thing to keep in mind is to go gentle on the rudder. The model lifts off in about 20 meters and climbs nicely. Landings are pretty straightforward and after cutting the throttle the model glides very well. So I have to keep this in mind when I come in for approach. Basic aerobatic manoeuvres - loops, rolls and inverted flight - are without problems as well and the model reacts and responses quickly. Important was to set a aileron differentiation.
The only bad thing I could point out to the manufacturer is the cooling issue and the spinner setup. Otherwise it's a great model for the calm day or evening flying and thanks to the manoeuvrability and scale looks you, or at least I, will not be bored and can admire the beautiful looks of this plane. The pictures speak for themselves (thank you L. Geisler for the great pics).
Galerie
