Official FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk. IX Thread

[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

[kallend]

What is the trouble with CG?

I can't speak for Grossman, but I've had more trouble with the LG (landing gear) than anything else.

Not only was there a shortage of adhesive where the mounts glued into the wing, the wing in that area is hollow so the foam is thin and weak.

[Mr.Black]

Personally, I never have either. Doesn't mean it can't happen, but the odds are against it. Boils down to doing what you feel comfortable with. With my Flex Innovations RV8, I know a lot of fellows who swapped out the stock ESC and BEC but I haven't had any problems there either. My Spitfire flies great on the stock system, I had more trouble with the CG than anything else.

Grossman56

What is the trouble with CG?

[Grossman56]

Personally, I never have either. Doesn't mean it can't happen, but the odds are against it. Boils down to doing what you feel comfortable with. With my Flex Innovations RV8, I know a lot of fellows who swapped out the stock ESC and BEC but I haven't had any problems there either. My Spitfire flies great on the stock system, I had more trouble with the CG than anything else.

Grossman56

[kallend]

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.

[robertbulko]

And you were saying it could not be disconnected, hence it can be.

It cannot be disconnected from ESC, you can only decide to not connect it to the receiver. It will still be working even the red wire is cut off the connector. Those are two different things. 😉

Anyway, when using standalone BEC as a power supply for the receiver and servos the BEC from the ECS shouldn't be used. It can be done by cutting off the red wire. That's it.

[RRHandy]

Your answer is funny. See #3024 and #3025 What would you say? It was enough to write: "yes, I disconnected the red wire." but..... His answer is confusing because he used standalone BEC in that model.

And you were saying it could not be disconnected, hence it can be.

[robertbulko]

You can isolate it from the system by removing the red wire from the plug and heat shrink it.

Your answer is funny. See #3024 and #3025 What would you say? It was enough to write: "yes, I disconnected the red wire." but..... His answer is confusing for me because he used standalone BEC in that model.

[RRHandy]

Well, what BEC are you talking about? It is not possible to disconnect the BEC from the ESC. It is built in.

You can isolate it from the system by removing the red wire from the plug and heat shrink it.

[robertbulko]

Hello,

If your question is did I disconnect the BEC from the stock ESC, the answer is yes.

thanks

Well, what BEC are you talking about? It is not possible to disconnect the BEC from the ESC. It is built in.

[Fluffy78]

Hello,

If your question is did I disconnect the BEC from the stock ESC, the answer is yes.

thanks

[robertbulko]

Hello,

To be honest, it is my first Freewing plane and some people at the field said that the BEC that comes with it is not reliable and recommended I put a standalone BEC in. To be honest, in all my other large planes, the ESC doesn't have a BEC, it's only my smaller ones that have a combo ESC - BEC. This Spit is my first 1m40+ plane that has a BEC & ESC together.

I'm an electronics engineer, so whilst I may be prone to human error, and my wife will most certainly opine on my numerous errors going back to our first date, I've been soldering PCB since I was a teenager and I'm getting to a point where I don't want to mention my age ... 🤣🤣🤣

I took her to the field this morning and flew her using the BEC from the ESC without noticeable issues. I had to reinsulate the wires, the ESC and the 6S battery after the fire of course.

I didn't have time to thoroughly test the plane because, due to pilote error, I stalled the plane a bit too early whilst landing and have to glue back one landing gear now. I will return tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your responses, much appreciated, I will leave the plane without an additional BEC seeing the lack of issues here, I prefer flying over tinkering anyway.

Regards,

Cédric

Hi, I didn't read whole your story but I didn't notice so far anything about how the throttle cable from the stock ESC was connected to the receiver. Did you unplug the red (+) wire from the connector? If not, I am pretty sure it was the cause of your troubles. ;)

[Elbee]

I am new for RC and In Europe you can order the spitfire 1600mm. I just ordered one and it looks very good. Great quality. I had a probIem with one aleron servo and motion RC helped me great.
I bought some decalls from Callie graphics so that the spitfire looked a littlebit dutchie. I put them wet on the plane. I set the plane up with As3x / Safe 6ch receiver.
Love the plane.
The forum is great to search information. Thanks

GK, Welcome to Hobby Squawk. Glad to have you here. Diggin' the Czech livery. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[gerardkessels@wbl.nl]

I am new for RC and In Europe you can order the spitfire 1600mm. I just ordered one and it looks very good. Great quality. I had a probIem with one aleron servo and motion RC helped me great.
I bought some decalls from Callie graphics so that the spitfire looked a littlebit dutchie. I put them wet on the plane. I set the plane up with As3x / Safe 6ch receiver.
Love the plane.
The forum is great to surch information. Thanks

[Evan D]

Drinking... I found the three different kinds of decals and the placement of the black lines frustrating.


BTW, I don't drink, it was said in jest.

[SanExup]

That's what I was wondering. Did he mean the topical or the drinking kind? Liquid courage, liquid patience, maybe not liquid precision though.