Official FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk. IX Thread

[royhdg]

I haven't heard of a single instance of a failure of the stock ESC/BEC in this Spit. Has anyone? In fact I've never had a Freewing/Flightline/Hobbywing ESC/BEC failure in any of my models.

In general I don't add unnecessary components to my aircraft - it just creates an additional point of potential failure.

Yes, It happened to me. Luckily it was still on the setup bench.
I setup the Spitfire using a Specktrum 637T. I use a Spektrum IX12 transmitter.
The following day I double checked the setup, I connected the battery to the esc, the receiver didn't light up and the esc didn't sound it's usual beeps.
All I got was 1 beep every 1 second, the prop moving slightly with the beeps. It took 4 attempts at unplugging and plugging the battery back in for everything to come to life.
In 10 years of model flying this never happened before. The esc continued to work following this but I completely lost confidence in the esc supplied with the aircraft. I fitted a
E-Flite 80A esc for the maiden. It flew great, 3 good landing without nosing over, but a tendency to nose over on initial take off run.
I have just fitted a MR RC Sound to the bird and sound is great. Increased up elevator for taxing and increase forward rake of undercarriage by using 3 small washers under rear fixing. The rake has moved the wheels forward about 16mm and taxies great in garden. Will be trying everything out at the field over the next 3 days.

[paladin]

thanks again guys, i'm only making it pretty so jay and i can do formation at our clubs warbird rally. then most likely the grandson will fly it, fifteen and reflexes like a cat, but no experience so if it survives great! if not i may have to get a new one, boo hoo.

Joe

[SanExup]

Elbee and Grossman56
I really like the stock paint but it's so good to see some other schemes and variations! Nice work!

[Grossman56]

well i stopped at lowes last night just before closing and they had to call the paint guy in from the parking lot so he was happy to help. they no longer do flat in samples so i had to buy quarts so i guess i know what the next colors the sienna will be. i'll post a pic of all the tops tomorrow.

thanks everyone

Joe

Dang Joe, I should have said that as well! I buy the satin and have them mix me a pint of the color, I'll never use it all let alone a quart.
Once the paint is on, I'll coat it with Minwax flat Varathane (got that on Amazon) Its's in a blue Minwax can, quart size. Now, personally, I've found that the gloss will cover and seal the decals better than flat so I'll coat the airplane with the gloss first, just my own preference. Once dry, I'll spray (using a spray gun) on the flat, it might take several layers to get the effect you want. I've found that for the glossiest result, use a brush, for the flatest effect, use a spray gun. If you do a side by side comparison between flat applied with a brush and flat that's sprayed on. you'll see a big difference. as for weathering, if you want the UV protection, best to do it first. It's like a painting, you finish it before adding the sealer.
Most have seen the results on my Spitfire, but to save you the time of scrolling back..


Grossman56

[Elbee]

well i stopped at lowes last night just before closing and they had to call the paint guy in from the parking lot so he was happy to help. they no longer do flat in samples so i had to buy quarts so i guess i know what the next colors the sienna will be. i'll post a pic of all the tops tomorrow.

thanks everyone

Joe

Joe, I buy semi-gloss or gloss samples and finish the whole model in a matte or flat acrylic spray. That method works well and pulls everything together unifying the top coat, i.e., decals, varying types of paint and weathering. Best, LB

[paladin]

well i stopped at lowes last night just before closing and they had to call the paint guy in from the parking lot so he was happy to help. they no longer do flat in samples so i had to buy quarts so i guess i know what the next colors the sienna will be. i'll post a pic of all the tops tomorrow.

thanks everyone

Joe

[Grossman56]

ya, i took the battery cover in and they said it was two small. i thought that was interesting because i can bring in 1x1in paint chips and they can read them fine. so i'm torn between operator preference and try again, or disassemble the plane, or march the whole thing in?

my real concern is i have been patching with an rlm green for 5 years i don't know if i can get a good match from my plane.

oh, well. thank you everyone for trying, i think i'm just going to march it in so we can agree on a place to take the reading.

Joe

Well that's Brown Sugar!
I got a can from Ace Hardware with my battery hatch and also with the 1200 Spitty battery hatch,
So, here are the numbers from my 1600mm Spitfire can for the green:

AXXN 38
B 188
KX 253
L 95

Try that, it will definitely get you in the ballpark, worked great for my wingtips and I have to play around with the color for the fuse as I do so many things over top of the stock base color.

Grossman56

[Evan D]

It's how I had mine matched too, on both the1200 and 1600... Maybe a different store or shift?

BTW I really don't like to use parts like the battery hatch, I've had some workers push down hard wit the sensor (some stores have fixed sensors) and dent the foam leaving a ring.

[paladin]

thanks, good to know that its been done before with a little paint splotch. i won't be detoured so easily next time.

[SanExup]

I even have a small 800mm plane that I liked the color and wanted to use for another project. I used the battery hatch for that as well and it had the canopy on it. I think someone is being lazy or difficult, at least it sounds like it. I've had custom colors made a fair bit. I don't want to get you fired up and rabid but you need to find a different customer service person at that store or go to a different one.

[SanExup]

What? The battery compartment cover isn't too small, that what I brought in to my local paint shop!

[paladin]

ya, i took the battery cover in and they said it was two small. i thought that was interesting because i can bring in 1x1in paint chips and they can read them fine. so i'm torn between operator preference and try again, or disassemble the plane, or march the whole thing in?

my real concern is i have been patching with an rlm green for 5 years i don't know if i can get a good match from my plane.

oh, well. thank you everyone for trying, i think i'm just going to march it in so we can agree on a place to take the reading.

Joe

[davegee]

Best thing to do Joe is to take it to Ace and have then scan the color. Take a wing or the horizontal stab, whatever is easiest to remove. I got them to scan mine, but with all the alterations I did on the color, I still have to add a bit of black or white to match a certain panel.

Grossman56

Joe: I just looked at my sample jars for all the colors of the Spitfire done at Home Depot about 5 years ago when my plane was brand new. Unfortunately, the top of the cap where they put the paint formula that they came up with for a match is goobered up with some paint drops and it's gotten wet over the years trying to wrench off the top to get inside. Sorry, I can't take a picture of it and be any aid to you on that paint color. I might be able to help out on the others.

Having said that, I agree with Grossman to take it over to a HD, Ace, or Lowe's paint department and have a section of your plane scanned to get a pretty close match. Let me know if you need any of the other colors for the plane, I might be able to help there, hopefully.

cheers

davegee

[Grossman56]

anyone have a color match for the stock green on this plane?

Joe

Best thing to do Joe is to take it to Ace and have then scan the color. Take a wing or the horizontal stab, whatever is easiest to remove. I got them to scan mine, but with all the alterations I did on the color, I still have to add a bit of black or white to match a certain panel.

Grossman56

[RRHandy]

anyone have a color match for the stock green on this plane?

Joe

Do a search in this forum and you will find.

[paladin]

anyone have a color match for the stock green on this plane?

Joe

[Grossman56]

Guess that really is the bottom line trim it to where you like it, personally, I have a bunch of 4500 6s batteries because of the P-40 and they work so well in the RV-8 and the Avanti at a good price point comparatively. Therefore I CG'd it so that they fit all the way forward and the 5000 sits back a bit. I like all my birds to fly relatively the same so the Old Guy brain doesn't have to work too hard and I can sit back and enjoy the flight. The Spitfire has it's own personality because of those unique wings and narrow landing gear but that's okay, you just become a Spitfire pilot for a few minutes. Let's face it, that's what we all do.

Grossman56

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey Guys! Seems that for some reason, some of the Spitties were tail heavy and my CG needed to be corrected from the stock point. It would literally swap ends. I commented to a friend of mine as we watched her lawn dart once again that maybe to CG is off and she's nose heavy. Time after time until the fuse split and major repairs were needed. Finally, I said screw it and added 2.5 oz up front.
So now, I put my 4500 6s all the way forward and my 5000 6s about 1/4" forward of the aft edge of the wooden deck. Flies like a dream!! Totally different airplane, she lands like a lady, sort of, you still have to be prepared to add in right rudder which is in keeping with the real airplane (actually, I believe they add left rudder to the real Spitfire because the RR's rotate in the opposite direction to the Packard Merlins). The fellow who did the European Spitfire demo on the Motion RC videos mentioned the same thing, if you refer back in this thread, you can find it. Don't know why, some fellows have had great success with the stock CG right out of the box, but some of us, well not so much.

Grossman56

Same here with mine. Book CG is 90mm if I remember and I ended up flying Spitfire #2 at 94mm, but had to add 1 ounce of lead to the nose and I'm using a relatively heavy 5000 weighing 755 gr, pushed all the way forward. I'm getting 10 minutes of flight time on that battery! It still is a bit tail heavy there but I like the way it handles a little better, even if it is a bit pitch sensitive. I also installed the MR RC sound system with the transducers forward of the CG line which no doubt added a bit of nose weight. With my first FW Spitfire, I ended up with almost 2 ounces of lead in the nose (but that one is another story where the carbon fiber wing tubes separated inside the wing after some 200 flights during a tight split S and came apart in mid-air).

I've been told that the left turn on adding power at take-off (consistent with most tail dragger warbirds, especially the Corsair and P-51 for me) is from the prop wash circling from the counter clockwise prop rotation and the air circles around the fuselage from prop on right side, then circling counter clockwise under the fuselage and coming up and over from the left side, thereby "pushing" against the left side of the vertical stabilizer (wow, what a horrible explanation-hope it makes sense).

[Grossman56]

My revelation came at post #2438 continuing on #2461 and 2462. Here is Stuart's video confirming what I suspected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EgTgQZdeXs

Makes a world of difference with a difficult Spit

[Grossman56]

Hey Guys! Seems that for some reason, some of the Spitties were tail heavy and my CG needed to be corrected from the stock point. Mine had a tendency to fall out of the sky and landings always resulted in landing gear popping out. Here she is at Nefi trying to do a Summersalt on landing See the "GRRRR" coming out?!
It would literally swap ends. I commented to a friend of mine as we watched her lawn dart once again that maybe to CG is off and she's nose heavy.
Time after time until the fuse split and major repairs were needed. Finally, I said screw it and added 2.5 oz up front.
So now, I put my 4500 6s all the way forward and my 5000 6s about 1/4" forward of the aft edge of the wooden deck. Flies like a dream!! Totally different airplane, she lands like a lady, sort of, you still have to be prepared to add in right rudder which is in keeping with the real airplane (actually, I believe they add left rudder to the real Spitfire because the RR's rotate in the opposite direction to the Packard Merlins). The fellow who did the European Spitfire demo on the Motion RC videos mentioned the same thing, if you refer back in this thread, you can find it. Don't know why, some fellows have had great success with the stock CG right out of the box, but some of us, well not so much.

Grossman56