Official Black Horse Spitfire 2000mm ARF Discussion Thread

[North14]

I have finished the wings and all went smoothly. I used different ball clevises which allowed for more movent on the aileron servo arms.

Im not sure if i needed to but i have raked the retracts forward by spacing the rear of the strut about 4mm

Have opened the upper cowl where exhaust ports glue on and also opened exhaust outlets . Im using a DLE35 ra so hopefully will help with letting hot air out of cowl. I will also make a heat shield between carby and exhaust.

[North14]

So these are the latest retracts with controller, looks slightly different from previous post .
The retracts are nice and solid with minimal movent and work very smoothly.

There are no instructions for the controller but i have it working for basic up down operation. Requires its own 2s 7.4 volt power supply

[timmybeetle]

Update about power setup

Today I flew my Spitfire with 4 blade Ramoser prop and new 4 blade spinner.
I had prop adjusted to 14 inch pitch but after flying it, I had to adjust it to 10 inch pitch.
amp draw was 100A so way to much, with adjusted pitch I got 70A.
Flew great and a much different sound flying bye compared to 3 blade prop.

Grts Hans

[North14]

Yeah that is pretty

Mine has arrived and i am very impressed
I was unsure about the printed weathering and had thought i might be painting this kit but its pretty good.

Apparently all Blackhorse kits will be going up about 30 percent on next deliveries

The pilot has a big head and i dont think i want him flying this bird, so he can go in the drawer with the other rejects.

Before assembly i have cut the cowling where the exhaust stacks go and opened up all the stacks mainly to let heat out of the cowl. Worst thing with DLE engines is the carb is at the rear above the exhaust
so apart from heat shielding letting the hot air out is just as important.

Ive painted the wheels aluminum
and will use a nicer spinner probably black . I use a Master air screw 3 blade 16 x10.
18 x8 x3 is much harder to find and alot dearer . I use 16 x10 x3 prop on other similar size kits and fly well
but will start with 18 x10, 2 blade.

Not sure about battery placement but will be as far forward as possible so the least amount of nose weight needed the better.

Will add photos soon.

[timmybeetle]

Update after adjusting Ramoser prop to 18 inch pitch.
Current 65.5 A, voltage 38.5 : power 2522 watt.
So now it's just right and leave it this way and enjoy flying this wonderful flying machine.

Grts Hans

Landing with half flaps,

[North14]

Hi All,

So I`m late to the party as usual.
I have just ordered this Spit and intend on using a spare DLE 35RA I have.
And yes it has the electric retracts.

Those of you who have flown this model do you recommend the revised COG of 100mm from leading edge?
I own a few Seagull, Phoenix and Blackhorse kits and all fly better with the COG forward of the recommended measurement.

I have the 33CC Blackhorse Mustang with original air retracts it has almost a hundred flights on it now and they are still holding up well.

Thanks for all the tips you guys have posted, will take that on board when building.

Thanks
Ian

[timmybeetle]

Test flight Elektro Spitfire BH136

On 23 of June 2021 I performed test flight of my Elektro Spitfire.
First flight I had my elevator not adjusted right, to much up so had to land and re-adjust it.
Second flight my left leg from LG fell out due to set screw gone during take off.
Luckily spring was still there after landing on belly and repaired it on the flying field, after that I flew 4 other flights with no problems.
During flight I go full throttle just once to test power load, to discover that my Ramoser, pitch was way to high.
I set pitch at 23-24", flew this setup with my other elektro Spitfire which I sold but there I got only 65 Amps, now I got 83 Amps.
Well different motor (same SK3 192Kv 6372) and other ESC, also throttle calibration at Castel ESC is a pain in the butt, my thoughts.
So at home I re-adjusted Ramoser prop to a pitch of 18" and will test it again next time flying this great plane.

grts Hans

[Aros]

Loves me some invasion stripes!

[dsa44]

I like those invasion stripes! Reminds me of my (may she rest in peace) old TopRc spit.
I like that ramoser prop, I was thinking of doing a scale 4-blade, but not sure what size, maybe the 17.3 inch with 10s and eflite 160 equivalent motor..... (right now, will maiden with 18x10 2 blade)
What spinner is that?
Cheers, DSA

[timmybeetle]

Hi

I have the old version of BH, that retract controller I have a similar one in my Elektro Spitfire, brand is JP.
I modified my retracts from HK, removed circuit board with switches and soldered wires directly to motor and connect them to controller.
Motor is Turnigy SK3 6374-192KV, ESC is Turnigy Sentilon 100A.
Prop is from Ramoser 3 blade 17 inch, adjustable, I adjust it to 23-24 inch.
10S LIPO.
Power measurement:
Amp draw 82.5
Voltage 36.6
3000 watt of static trust, resulting in a 7Kg static trust.
Plane weight is 8,4 Kg

After test flight I will update because I use Taranis telemetry and see what I get flying this plane in the air.

Plane is ready for flight.
ps: made invasion stripes with oratex white and painted black with Tamiya XF-1.

Grts Hans


found me a 4 Blade spinner at Aliexpress, so I can use finally my Ramoser 4 blade I have lying around ha ha

[HangarQueen]

timmybeetle showed me one of those when I bought my Spit from him. I had never seen one of those before, so I researched about them.
To use one of those, he had to connect the motors of the retracts directly to the controller, and thus bypass the limit switches (which had started failing on his)

[dsa44]

Yes they are similar, I think all these rc electric things are clones or rebrands of same unit!

[HangarQueen]

Hey HangarQueen, don't you just hate wire tangles?? You might want to add some hot glue or something over those bare mpx solder joints to help with strain relief and also to prevent something coming in contact with them and shorting out!!
Cheers, DSA

Yeah, that's one more thing on the to-do list indeed.

And that gear controller looks oddly familiar to this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32987936614.html

[dsa44]

For any interested parties in addition to TimmyBeetle, ... The retract controller comes with the new version electric retracts. The controller connects via standard servo plug to your RX, and has a JST power tap for 2s Lipo. Those connectors are bunched together on the left of image. Each retract has just a 2 pin power lead to plug in via a JST tap, note polarity. It looks like the controller will also control a third retract unit ("front wheel") and also looks like it will control servo-operated gear door covers. ("Servo 1 and 2") although I have not tested those at all or even know if there is a delay built in either direction.
Cheers, DSA

[dsa44]

Hey HangarQueen, don't you just hate wire tangles?? You might want to add some hot glue or something over those bare mpx solder joints to help with strain relief and also to prevent something coming in contact with them and shorting out!!
Cheers, DSA

[HangarQueen]

Still waiting for the propeller, but spent my time wisely :-)

• tightened the pull-pull cables for rudder and tail wheel
• programmed control surface deflections and expo in 3 flight modes
• soldered the battery connectors for 10S combo (6S XT150 + 4S XT90)
• added velcro and straps to secure the flight batteries
• added two 20A SBECs
• moved the RB-20 further aft, still need to reroute some servo wires
• configured telemetry: added the RB-20 sensors and the FAS-100 current sensor, added a calculated sensor for consumed capacity and for total power drawn

Now I still need to connect and bind my second X8R receiver, then test failsafe and do a 360° range check (in search of possible "blind corners of reception").
And clean up those wires all over the place.
But what's keeping these *** propellers?? :-)

[HangarQueen]

I guess the gear controller is something from the new version of this model? I just drive the retracts directly from the RB-20.

[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.

[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.

[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.