Big Pitts/Little Pitts

[Grossman56]

After a year of waiting, Dave Scott and I finally got together to get these great pics of our two Pitts side by side, what a couple of great planes!!

Grossman56

[Prowler901]

That's pretty cool! But, even the "Big Pitts" is pretty small. :)

[bradl4648]

Wow that is great photos of the plane and great paint job on the FMS pitts. I love the way the plane flies myself and hope you enjoy both!

[xviper]

I can't see the FMS Pitts in those pics. Where is it? Or are you saying that mono wing plane on the right is a Pitts?

OK, never mind. I had to click on "20 photos". Got it.

[CZ Flyer]

I WANT one of each!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beautiful

[Grossman56]

Yep, Big Pitts is, in reality, not very big, so Little Pitts translated in to a big scale. I love the way mine flies as well, now here's something interesting too.
My C/G is about 3/4" forward from the rear of the top wing, which means my battery is not, 'pushed all the way forward after you cut out the front piece'
Mine actually fits where the straps are. I have the end of the battery so it just gets the rear most strap on it. Chalk it up to the decals, paint or something, but that's where she flies best. If I put it all the way forward, even without cutting the piece of foam out, she hops like a kangaroo when she touches down. I thought it was my poor piloting, but when she did the same thing to Dave, he attributed it to being extremely nose heavy, we kept moving it back until we found the sweet spot. Also, I had one of the stock wheesl break a hub (for some reason the original wheels had spoke wheels, plastic with little holes between, it snapped out) so Ryan happened to have a set of Dave Browns (3") he gave me, so thanks to him I got her back in the air, I love DB's!!

Grossman56

[farmflyer]

That's so cool to get them together. On the hop during landing being too nose heavy can someone explain why it would cause the plane to do this. I have a couple that do the same thing occasionally I land them without it but not often. I thought it was either just me or the particular plane. But this has me thinking because I tend to like my planes to cg slightly nose heavy they seem to fly better in wind that way.

[Grossman56]

Mine was crazy nose heavy, so moving it back really helped. I chalk it up to the amount of paint and decaling I did to her, but 3/4" for ward from the rear/center of the top wing seems to work.

Grossman56

[doctormike]

Yeah, a tad nose heavy is safer, but a tad tail heavy is more aerobatic. I try for a comfortable balance. I finally got my souped up Banana Hobby Pitts into an inverted, flat spin! Wow! Pulled her out after about five rotations. It went into it after a Lomy. Man, was my heart thumpin'. I love the Pitts! Doc

[Grossman56]

Geez Doc that some crazy a** flying!
Good for you, guess you don't need a heart pacer, just fly like that!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

My theory is this. When she's way nose heavy and going slow, that nose tends to want to be on the ground, and so pushes herself onto the surface, the struts, which are thick wire, spring her back in the air and so it starts. I had the gear apart today and had to bend the wire back into place. It's very thick wire so it hit with a lot of force. So I rebuilt the old set of L/G and put a new set on the plane, with the Dave Brown tires. I have 3" but she probably could take 3 1/4" as the stock ones are a little bigger than 3".
I did cut out the little piece of foam so I could slide the battery all the way forward, thankfully, I never flew her like that, it was bad enough with it as far forward as it could go without cutting.

Grossman56

[doctormike]

I'm wondering why everyone seems to prefer Dave Brown wheels over Dubro low bounce, which I use. Is it because the low bounce wheels are heavyer? Doc

[doctormike]

By the way... I got into that inverted flat spin completely by accident. I may never do it again! Doc

[Grossman56]

Little Pitts got some tail colors today

Grossman56

[Prowler901]

That really is a nice looking paint scheme. Just clean and simple, yet striking.

[Grossman56]

I make little improvements here and there as well, such as the tail decal. Next, I want to find some very thin silver pin striping and run it along the edge where the blue meets the white, just like the full scale!

Grossman56

[doctormike]

Yup... pinstriping between colors really finishes a paint job, and helps hide any masking imperfections. Doc

[Prowler901]

The pinstriping will definitely bring it to the next level.

[Grossman56]

Got the tail decals on and the Silver Pinstriping. Hopefully, it will stay on, things don't really like to stick to Minwax!! Think it will be okay, time will tell.

Grossman56

[doctormike]

Dan, I always lock down my pinstriping or stickers with a coat of Varathane. Just brush it over the pinstriping, letting it overlap about 1/16". It'll be there to stay. Doc