Official Black Horse Spitfire 2000mm ARF Discussion Thread

[406PIlot]

Pilots

My new engine sound

https://youtu.be/jN0uBOCGW0Q

https://youtu.be/YOASZ2IxV3s

https://youtu.be/oVp0wna1fg8

grts

That sounds dang good!! What engine are you running?

[timmybeetle]

That sounds dang good!! What engine are you running? [/QUOTE]

Hello, engine is an OS GF40 4-stroke.
Grts Hans

[Fluffy78]

Hello,

Been going through this thread and I see that some are getting the plane with electric retracts and not air retracts. Where did you order from to get such a configuration? I didn't buy this plane because I'm wary of air retracts (had too many issues in the past with them).

I see that some people managed to swap out for electric but if I can get it straight electric that's even better!

Thanks!

[dsa44]

Hey fluffy! I got mine at Motionrc in the US. They also have a EU site. All the latest kits come with electric retracts! Just to be sure, you can send them a note to verify before you purchase.

[Aros]

Yep, the electric retracts are included with these retract-dependent BlackHorse ARFs! A nice touch for sure.

[Fluffy78]

Hey fluffy! I got mine at Motionrc in the US. They also have a EU site. All the latest kits come with electric retracts! Just to be sure, you can send them a note to verify before you purchase.

Alas, not for sale on MotionRC europe site, available from third parties though. I will check on that, thanks for the info.

[starcop]

Product Page: https://www.motionrc.com/collections...ire-2000mm-arf

This is the Official Thread for the Black Horse 2000mm Spitfire. Here you will find video, photos, tips and tricks and mods from fellow flyers from our Motion RC customer family.

Such an amazing flyer, and more fun than most people can imagine. Once you fly a Spitfire, you are hooked for life. Fantastic, splendid, and what a performance aircraft.

[starcop]

andrew_flyguy I agree, this Spitfire is quite a treat. Here's a slightly clearer photo I took showing the multi-layered process that Black Horse has been refining for certain recent models. None of the "fading" is applied afterward with airbrushes. Instead, the gradations are the result of many, many layers of low opacity colors screen-printed on top of one another. I think it is tastefully done and blends well, even for such a large bird. Some minor tweaks followed after I took these photos, but you get the idea.

When Alpha "Talks" listen up pilots! He's spot on with his analysis of these products.

[Fluffy78]

Hello,

Well, I've finally found the Spit.

For those who are running on Spektrum receivers, what would your recommendation be for receivers & servos? I've seen in the thread one person using the AR9110 receiver but I'm not to clear to what satellites he used (other than receiver satellites, is there anything to plug the servos into like the FlightLine Spit?).

Also, I don't understand why it needs 7 channels? Ailerons, Flaps, Gears, Rudder, Elevator, Throttle = 6. What's the 7th channel?

Thanks,

Cédric

[dsa44]

Probably for choke, if you are going to run gas....

[Fluffy78]

Probably for choke, if you are going to run gas....

Ok, makes sense but I will be running electric. We have limited fly times now with gas engines.

[dsa44]

I actually run 9 channels, as I like independent adjustments on each ail, flap, and elv so I can get them to precisely match, which I can't do well enough (for my liking, lol) with a Y cable. I run sbus into a frsky powerbox (RB30)
Cheers!

[dsa44]

Also where did you get yours over in the EU? Just curious.

[Fluffy78]

Also where did you get yours over in the EU? Just curious.

Most surprisingly, my neighborhood R/C shop which I didn't know existed ... totally crazy !

[TwistedGrin]

I have the vintage Hanger 9 81inch P-47, The Hanger 9 86inch Ki-42 Oscar, The Hager 9 87inch Fokker DVII ready for maiden's...all electrics. Will this bird play well with the others?

One specific question....do the electric retracts for this bird require a separate power board or are they OK to run from standard receiver channel powered by dedicated battery?

TwistedGrin

[dsa44]

Hey TG,
The retracts have their own power board controller powered by a separate 2s battery. The controller will attach to your gear channel.

[TwistedGrin]

Hey TG,
The retracts have their own power board controller powered by a separate 2s battery. The controller will attach to your gear channel.

10:4 Thanks dsa44

TG

[HangarQueen]

I recently bought the older version of this model from another member of this forum, "timmybeetle". It is an electric version, with the Turnigy SK3 motor and a 120A HV ESC.
He sold it without the propeller, and so I had to order one. I decided to order the 17" 3-blade Varioprop from Ramoser, and I later added 3 18" propeller blades to my order, to do some testing and measuring of power and current with the different setups. I will be running it on 10S. This combo was used by the previous owner, which made it easier for me to choose.
I couldn't resist assembling it when I came home, just for admiration.


As always, with any model that I buy, I started inspecting everything. And as usual, I started modifying some things.
The original owner/builder (it is now third-hand actually) mounted the ESC right underneath the motor, which wasn't very interesting in terms of cooling, and it required longer battery wires.
I moved it to the bottom of the fuselage, positioning it right into the airstream of the air inlet below the nose. The motor wires were more than long enough for this, and it means that I don't have to make the battery wires any longer.

When seen from the inlet, it is now sitting perfectly into a direct ram air stream:

I also soldered some new mpx plugs for the aileron, flaps and retracts, and put some hot glue over the solderings for isolation and mechanical tension relief


To add dual power supply and dual receiver, I added the usual RB-20, which will also provide overcurrent protection for each individual output channel

The very roomy fuselage makes cable management a breeze, and gives me plenty of room and choice to place the receivers.
Awaiting the delivery of the propeller and spinner, I already programmed all flight controls, now I need to solder wires and connectors for the 10S setup, and add the telemetry.
The RB-20 already provides me with a wealth of information on voltage and current of receivers and servos, possible lost frames, signal strength and such. I will add my trusted FAS-100 current sensor and calculate consumed mAh, and have it call out every 500 mAh consumed. I might add a cell voltage sensor, so I can cross-check the voltage at rest after landing with the measured consumption. I'm not a fan of measuring cell voltage in fight, as it is too dependent on motor current, making it hard to judge the state of the battery.
I'm really happy with this model, I've been craving for a larger size Spitfire for a while now. Really impatient to get it flying.

[HangarQueen]

While waiting for parts, I also researched whether or not I could run everything on a voltage larger than 5V. When I retract the gear at 5V, you can really hear it struggle.
It seems that all servos and the retracts can handle 6V, so I took the plunge.
The Yep 20A SBECs that I am using (one on the flight battery and one on a separate 3S receiver battery) can be switched to 5V, 5,5V, 6V, 7V and 8V.
I first did some trials with 5V and 5,5V, enabled telemetry logging, then wiggled all servos and deployed/retracted gear:

The current peak for gear retraction is 1,45A at 5V, while it decreases to 1,32A at 5,5V. The increase in torque can be heard: the retracts clearly struggle much less at 5,5V. As can be seen (verified with a voltmeter), the actual BEC voltage is almost 5,7V when set at 5,5V.
I then switched the BEC to 6V, and the results were unexpected:

For the same operations, the current almost doubled! The BEC output voltage is slightly over 6V (6,2V), which is clearly not appreciated by the servos and retracts. I didn't expect this.
It is clear that I will be running at 5,5V.

[dsa44]

Wow you have really done some homework! I have a similar setup but instead I am trying out the new RB30 with stabilizer. One thing I noticed with the gear controller....it did not like anything under 7.4v (ie 2s lipo). I tried to power them with a 6.6v LiFe, and they complained and whined even when fully retracted in place. Once I hit them up with a 2s Lipo, they were very smooth. So I am running my servos off the RB30 with Vout 6.0v and a separate 2s lipo for the retract controller.