E Flite Spitfire

[farmflyer]

That's good to hear Lonaflier I've been looking at this one. I'm really curious to see how it does with that prop. I wonder if the 2 blade upgrade prop and spinner for the Flight line spitfire would work on it in case the 5 blade is a little too slow. Looking forward to your report.

[Grossman56]

Hey Boys, I picked one up here at NEFI for, are you waiting for it......$207!!

Grossman56

[OV10]

Hey Gman,
When you told me that on Sat I was kinda wondering why you just didn't get the FlightLine for the $199 but after looking at the specs of the Eflite as a BNF with AS3X and a 5 blade that was a damn good snag. Be interesting if someone would do a performance review between the two.
PS - Did Diane happen to get any pics of my Phoenix Spitty flight Sat evening?

[MikeT]

How is the speed and flight time? I'm sure the flight characteristics are good.

Didn't wring it out as it was a scale fly in. Next time I'll explore all of that. 15 bucks for a prop is a bit on the steep side though.
Went to upload a few pictures but my files are to large. Weird as I've uploaded before with no issues.

Mike

[Grossman56]

Hey Charlie, I'm not sure, I'll check, just got them downloaded. Saw some great ones of the OV10 though., I'm going to e mail them all to everyone that wants a complete set.
Yeah, how can I turn down a deal like that! But you still snagged the deal of the show my friend!!
Just posted the group shot on "NEFI" thread, more to come.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Got mine assembled last night, so easy, about half to three quarters of an hour at most. Great looking plane, seems to be lots of power for a three cell. Still trying to figure out how to assign the SAFE mode to a switch, not sure if you can do it with a three position switch, but I'll figure it out.
Meanwhile, here's some pictures of her, maiden to come shortly.

Grossman56

[Flygirl]

Wow!! It looks "purty" Dan!!!!

[F106DeltaDart]

Looks great! Looking forward to the maiden flight report.

[Grossman56]

Hey guys and gals, just got back from maidening her. We had some wind and I was hesitant, but taxied her around to make sure nothing fell off and the said, "What the heck" and went for it.
The operative word here would be "WOW!"
This thing flies like a dream and pretty zippy for a 3 cell.
Personally, I need a lot of practice on my landings and got some great advice from Mike and Ryan that I want to put into practice. This airplane gives you the opportunity to do just that. Strap on a warbird and do some great slow flight. With flaps and gear deployed, she's much like a Pandora, but the wow factor is there because, well, she's a Spitfire!
The cool thing is that you can bind it to SAFE mode, then assign a switch to turn it off and on. I took it off in SAFE mode and there's really nothing to it. Hit the throttle and watch your rudder, she does still pull a bit to the left, but what the hey.
As advertised, let go of the sticks and she self levels, really cool actually. So, enough of that, I switched it out of SAFE and tried her in normal mode, which is with the AS3X engaged, which is, after all, why we bought it in the first place.

Now let me explain this first. When you bind, bind it to SAFE mode. Once its done, pull the bind plug. Now, hold the two sticks down and toward the inside (left stick 5 o'clock, right stick 7 o'clock) then toggle your switch (anyone not already assigned) 5 times. 0 is the starting point so you go: 1,0,1,0,1.
Yes, you can use a three position switch, just don't toggle into 2.

Once that is done:
0=SAFE
1=normal flight with AS3X
When you plug the battery in she'll twitch at you . One twitch is normal, two is SAFE.

So, I get it up and into normal mode, and this thing flies like a dream! The only thing I had to correct was the elevator as she wanted to put her nose up. I trimmed it out, but when I got it on the ground, I dropped the elevator down three turns. Short of that, one of the most pleasant maidens I've ever had.
E Flite knocked it out of the ball park with this one, I wasn't thrilled with a 1200mm sized bird here in windy Wyoming, but I tell you, it has me thinking, especially when she slides into the back of the crew cab effortlessly.
So, now I'm also thinking that at some point in time you may be able to upgrade it into a 4 cell config, but for right now, I'm perfectly satisfied with the way she is.

Note: This is the first time I've assembled and maidened a plane in anything under a few months and I have yet to touch it with paint, some kind of record there.
BTW, those who are haters of foam plane panel lines, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised, these are the best panel lines I've seen thus far.

Grossman56

[farmflyer]

Sounds like a winner. I'm glad to hear it had descent speed on the stock prop that had me a little worried. I have reLly liked the 1100 and 1200 planes with as3x. They fly good in a little wind and transport easily. I'm going to have to get this one my only spitfire is a dynam its ok but not quit the quality of the eflite planes.

[Grossman56]

Just finished up doing some paint work on mine, nothing fancy, just painted the wheels and struts chrome and gave it a coat of high gloss Varathane. My thinking was that they were most likely highly waxed to coax every bit of speed out of them they could. Gave me a good chance to look over the body of the plane. This thing is amazing, the attention to detail is superb, the riveting is extremely realistic. This plane gets a 10 from me, I can see it being my new go to plane.

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Just finished up doing some paint work on mine, nothing fancy, just painted the wheels and struts chrome and gave it a coat of high gloss Varathane. My thinking was that they were most likely highly waxed to coax every bit of speed out of them they could. Gave me a good chance to look over the body of the plane. This thing is amazing, the attention to detail is superb, the riveting is extremely realistic. This plane gets a 10 from me, I can see it being my new go to plane.

Grossman56

Great to hear! I will have to strongly consider this plane now. Especially if I add the scale diameter left hand rotating varioprop..

[Grossman56]

Sounds like a plan! Funny how the real ones rotated to the left. Dang wind is up again, has been through most of the day. I was hoping it would let up in the evening, bu no.... Have to try for early morning again.

Grossman56

[Westsider]

For those interested in the safe select switch option for the Eflite Spitfire, you will need a 7 channel transmitter or better to utilize the switch option. 6 channel transmitter users will only be able to choose the safe option or AS3X only option through the bind process. That information should have been more publicized...

[Grossman56]

Yes, your only other option is if you wanted to utilize SAFE on take off you can use you landing gear switch so that its on for take off and landing. I have a DX8 because I ran across that with the DX6I when wanting to switch an A3L on and off.
Good point westsider, welcome to the forum!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

A few pictures from my build of the E FLite Spitfire. An extremely simple build, A little 'damage' and paint details to correct. Otherwise a great little plane. One you could definitely build at the field in less than an hour.

Grossman56

[farmflyer]

I'm glad you got a new one. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts after you fly her a few more times

[boomer108]

Hey GMan!

. Nice looking plane and also looks like you have a nice work space and what could be better than a wife who likes rc crafting!! By the way I upgraded the Pandora with the 850 Waco motor kept the Mantis 45 still made a nice difference. I still think I'll put the FMS 50 amp esc in though. Thanks again for the advice.

Roy B.

[Grossman56]

Hey guys, I couldn't resist, this plane has so much potential. I can't blame the plane for a loose battery wire. Good to hear Roy, I think with the 850, it brings the Pandora to life and I just couldn't see having to walk the line that closely with a 30 A ESC, this to me sees like a great match. Also, since I have a spare AR636 now, I'm thinking of putting it in one of the Pandoras to see how that performs. The auto level function in it could be a great tool for Diane when she's ready for the Pandoras.
I was pretty blown away when I saw what she built. I just happened to see a bunch of PVC pipe that they were throwing away at work and brought it home. She really liked Lon's stands when she saw them at NEFI. Now she's working on some ideas of her own, we'll see what she comes up with.

Grossman56

[Dewey H Lee]

Hey Dan
I posted earlier on the thread wondering if the receiver was programmable. I know in the description on the plane it mention something about adjustable but I didn't know for sure. Normally the factory has them locked to a specific airframe. I knew a guy that tried one out of the corsair in a t-28 and it was almost unflyable. Let us know how Pandora likes it. Hope to maiden mine with the hellcat tomorrow afternoon. Pandora and Hellcat that is.