Official FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk. IX Thread

[Prekin]

Still working on the fasteners. One side of cowl is almost done. Last morning I upgraded Hispano cannos CAD design and added some details.

[Simon Bee]

I found STL files on ebay. I am going to do the pilot from those files

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18522536022...gAAOSw0pthw2Jf

ok thanks

[Prekin]

ok thanks

you are welcome. If you are not able to 3D prints, I will be able to do the pilot for you.

[Prekin]

I noticed, there are some missing panel lines on the nose. Just added them.

[Prekin]

Some guys asked me how do the fasteners if they are just glued, because those are very flat.
Here is my answer. I designed them with small tip on the bottom. I send off the stock "fasteners" and push new fastener into fuselage. So there is a hole for the tip. Put a drop of glue into the hole and push the fastener back on place. Fast, clean, easy.

[Elbee]

I like your 'cone' idea, I design in a 'pin' or small 'tab', but a cone works.

[Prekin]

Yes, the cone works, but on the ABS nose it was not so easy. I also did the panel lines on the ABS.
I hope, that will finish the fastener story soon.

[Elbee]

Prekin, Great progress. Dzus, ancient god of closure... Best, LB

[Prekin]

As you can see on the starboard fasteners, those were last in morning round. I little missed the right position. 🤣🤣

[Elbee]

Don't beat yourself up over 30 microns +/- It's a compromise between the model, the design, the print and the actual airframe. Seriously, great work.

[Prekin]

Thank you very much for your compliment!

[Prekin]

Very happy now. Last fastener replaced and last fastener added.

[Elbee]

Prekin, most excellent. Best, LB

[Prekin]

Thank you LB!!

Just finished work on ntenna mast base plate. That is the last extra part of fuselage exterior I will add before painting. The exhaust stacks I will add when the fuselage will be painted.
Not sure what will be the next step. Cockpit or pitot tube.

[Prekin]

Some rivets added. It's not difficult to find out which hatch I started with. On the frist I tried to keep accurate quantity, but that does not look good to me.
Half of them would be enough. Maybe i'll add more rivets along panel lines.

[Prekin]

Do the rivets on whole airplane or not?? 🤔
Before I decide if to do them or not I finally assembled new Hispano cannon. I did some mods on the CAD design, to get right postion of the rivets. I did compromise between FL design and real Spitfire. Now they look good to me.

[Prekin]

For those who would need to do some surface repair. Tamiya putty and Surfacer work great with the foamy parts. You can hardly see that there are any rivets. The new "rivets" looks much better to me.

[Prekin]

It's nice that Flightline designed two cockpit doors and I'm sure, that many Spitfire pilots would love them, but I think one door is enough.
I cut the door hinge on starboard. Also cut the one on port side. The one on left side I will replace by the new one. I know, that is wavy in the picture, but I did not glue it. I will fix it before painting.

[jetfool]

Looking good

[Elbee]

Prekin, the 'extra' cockpit entry door is and has been a laugh for all us who own the FlightLine Spitfire.

Most who did a repainted variant, cut off the hinge as you did and fill in the door separation lines.

As for riveting everything. I think you will find depending on what type of paint you re going to finish the Spittie, much of the micro detail will be all but invisible.

I do a lot of modifications and painting that once I reassemble things, those are not even seen ,

I know it is there and that is all that matters many times.

I have not used Tamiya Putty on a Foamie, but it seems that would remove one extra sand/fill step.

I use Sherwin Williams Shrink-Free Spackling, Foam-Tac Foam Filler, and sometimes 3M gray lacquer spot putty for filling and blending.

After a lay down 3-4 coats of MinWax Water-base Polycrylic Semi Gloss sanding between coats. Really covers all the differing surfaces textures.

When that dries the foam surface has a good protective layer which takes primer coats well.

Best, LB

[Prekin]

Thank you Jet for kind words, I am glad you like it!

LB, I was thinking about the extra hinge. They may designed it like some kind spare part. Just like extra screws and bolts in Ikea box 🤣
Thank you for reminder, I absolutely forgot to fill in the lines!!

I understand you, the rivets would be like rudder pedal and some more cockpit equipment in small plastic kit with closed canopy. Nobody will see those details, only me would know about those details.

It was the first time when I used Tamiya putty on foamy kit. The structure of surface was the biggest pain on my FMS P51 project. So I tried another filler.
I worked only Chameleon primer, but I can try 3M. I see, that many guys work with 3M products!
Thank you for advice.

[Grossman56]

The door hinge is actually on both sides. See the picture showing the door hinge on the correct side (port).

Post # 50, Alpha explains what happened:

The mold maker changed the drawing without telling us, thinking it was a mistake that we had omitted it on the starboard side. An unfortunate quirk, but not worth making a new $40k mold to rectify a hinge line most people wouldn't notice, and if they did, is a 1 minute fix to shave down. This is one of the reasons why I didn't claim it was 100% scale.

[kallend]

Morse code signaling lamp. It randomly selects one of several messages and sends it out, waits a while, and sends another.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DUQYhaDW3hE

Having nothing much better to do, I created a version for the ATTiny85 (dirt cheap, about $3 from Amazon, weighs just a couple of grams). The code needed to be modified (fewer messages) on account of memory limitations.

Anyhow, if anyone would like the code let me know by PM and I'll send it. Let me know whether regular Arduino (capacity for dozens of messages) or ATTiny version.

Also in my Lancaster (different messages): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vIycoHjHJU4