Official FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk. IX Thread

[The43rdHammer]

Hi all, I just got one of these and I'm completely stumped ... how do i get the dry transfer decals on?

You have all obviously done it and I can't see any tutorials on it with respect to foam planes so I'm clearly being utterly and completely dumb.

Can somebody please save me from my own stupidity!?

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp

Andy

[Weav]

Thanks for the response Elbee! and the good news that it is still out there. I will follow your advice and ask for the notification. All the best WV

[Elbee]

Hello, Just joined the forum as well as flying RC's. I bought an Apprentice STS a month ago and have some good flights in...haven't kissed the dirt yet but that is sure to happen. I have been looking at the Spitfire 1600mm for quite sometime (few years) and this plane is what spurred me into the hobby. My father flew RC's back in the 70's when I was a young lad and I have always been very interested in the hobby. Question - I have seen the Spitfire 1600mm going out of stock all over and I'm sweating bullets that it may be going out of production. Can anyone confirm this is the case? Hopefully this is just because of the times we are living in and not that it has been discontinued. Thanks for any feed back.

WV. Welcome to "the Squawk". glad to have you onboard. No worries, the 1600mm Spitfire is NOT discontinued. Motion RC is very good at telling us what is "Out Of Stock" and what is discontinued. Might I suggest you simply go back to their website and enter your email address into the "Notify Me When Back In Stock". You will receive an email when the Spittie is back. Also, it does not hurt to check in, but the Spitfire is still in production. Best, LB

[Weav]

Hello, Just joined the forum as well as flying RC's. I bought an Apprentice STS a month ago and have some good flights in...haven't kissed the dirt yet but that is sure to happen. I have been looking at the Spitfire 1600mm for quite sometime (few years) and this plane is what spurred me into the hobby. My father flew RC's back in the 70's when I was a young lad and I have always been very interested in the hobby. Question - I have seen the Spitfire 1600mm going out of stock all over and I'm sweating bullets that it may be going out of production. Can anyone confirm this is the case? Hopefully this is just because of the times we are living in and not that it has been discontinued. Thanks for any feed back.

[Beeg]

Evan D No problem..

[Asuka]

The stock ESC is a rebadged hobbywing, one of the proven reliable brand out there. Those who advised you it was not reliable do not know very well what they are talking about. Next time, ask them why and the rationale of their recommandations :)

[kallend]

Great that she flew again.

There are some manufacturers where I think some components are questionable, for instance the older ESCs that came in FMS and EFlite planes, also many older ESCs had linear BECs in them that would over heat when used in higher cell count applications. Bottom line is that the Flightline and FreeWing Hobby Wing ESCs are pretty reliable.

Cheers!

True that!

I had a Detrum (Dynam) that caught fire and another that went off with a loud "pop", both before takeoff. Had an older (red label) FMS Predator that caught fire in the air.

I pretty much only use Hobbywing now.

[Evan D]

Great that she flew again.

There are some manufacturers where I think some components are questionable, for instance the older ESCs that came in FMS and EFlite planes, also many older ESCs had linear BECs in them that would over heat when used in higher cell count applications. Bottom line is that the Flightline and FreeWing Hobby Wing ESCs are pretty reliable.

Cheers!

[Fluffy78]

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

[Evan D]

This a million times!!!

I've never had a failure of a stock ESC/BEC in a Freewing or Flightline plane, and I have a bunch of them.

Adding extra components just adds additional potential sources of failure.

Beeg, sorry, I missed his first post.


Most issues now are not component failures but failures we cause ourselves, poor soldering, not using the right wire (I see too many using speaker wire!), not covering the solder splice points properly (heat shrink is best but use something), or simply not using components up to the task such as the expected current flow.

[kallend]

I've never had a failure of a stock ESC/BEC in a Freewing or Flightline plane, and I have a bunch of them.

Adding extra components just adds additional potential sources of failure.

[Asuka]

Hi Cedric. Wonder why you put an external BEC instead of the stock one. Did you have a specific reason ?

I have had 2 FL 1600 mm Spities and never experienced any problem with the BEC/ESC provided with. The sole think I decided to replace is the elevator servo since my first Spit crashed on her 217th flight due to an elevator servo failure (a plastic gear of the so called hybrid servo worn out and stripped) but I must say I fly with a lot of aerobatics and sudden maneuvers. IMAO you could rely on the ESC/BEC stock with confidence.

[Fluffy78]

Hello,

Apologies if my post wasn't clear.

It isn't easy for me to determine what exactly was the cause of the incident. What is clear is that the BEC battery, which was not the ESC battery, blew up (litteraly) after landing on my first flight of the day. The battery was almost brand new and had been charged several times but no more.

Back home I did some tests and the dedicated BEC is non responsive. The main ESC and battery are fine. The insulation burnt away so I had to redo it though.

It is difficult to make a determination on why the BEC is non responsive, did it short out and make the battery blow up? Or was is damaged in the fire created by the BEC battery?

My initial thinking was that the battery had a defect and shorted itself out but the guys at the field that were there when it blew don't think so. The battery had several flights in it, it wasn't old but not brand new either (so defect would appear straight away or it would die due to old age). The majority was leaning more to the death (and short circuit) of the dedicated BEC I installed.


a++ Cédric

[Beeg]

Yeah Evan, read his first post #2988 he just said “The battery of my Spitfire caught fire.....” and his last post he says “BEC” so that is why I’m looking for clarification.

[Evan D]

Beeg, read it again...

"I had a separate BEC that caught fire and burnt the plane & the BEC battery."

[Beeg]

@Fluffy78 In your initial post about the fire you stated your "battery" caught fire. Just to clarify was it the separate BEC battery or the main power battery? Or was it the BEC itself that started the fire?

I've only had one fire in an electric airplane and it was due to snugging the fully charged battery down and letting the metal ring of the battery strap dig into the corner edge of the battery causing a very dramatic instant fire. This was about a year or so ago. Since then I have been very careful about how I strap in batteries. This was an expensive mistake. The only thing that survived was the gear, most wing servos and the empennage. I really hated loosing the almost new battery too.



I mention this encase your main battery is what caught fire and maybe you had strapped your battery in with the metal ring at the battery edge and your last landing may have been enough to make it dig in and cause the short.

Like many here that have flown these electrics and mainly FLRC/Freewing planes for some time if you leave them pretty much stock and don't abuse them too much they are trouble free. As much as I can 100% determine I have never had an an electrical failure due to the built in ESC/BEC. I would reserve judgment on the blueboxes though....

[kallend]

I use the stock BEC that is integrated with the ESC. Haven't had a problem in 4 years.

[Evan D]

Any idea why it caught fire? I assume you had a BEC properly rated for the expected load?

I would think most that buy the plane use the stock ESC with internal BEC. There are a vocal select few that say they always run separate BECs or other power for the radio system. I've always used the stock system unless, in the rare case, I have a reason not to. Reasons would be major changes to the aircraft, servos, lights, etc or a specific technical reason such as it came with a linear BEC and not a switching BEC. The way I look at it the ESCs internal BEC when used within it's rating is less likely to cause issues than a separate one with extra connections, wire, and power source.

I usually leave the ferrite rings on ESCs that have them but sometimes I need the extra inch or two of wire and remove them. Never had a issue either way.

[Fluffy78]

Hello,

I have a question, apologies if this has been discussed.

Is anyone using the BEC that came with the ESC of the plane? I had a separate BEC that caught fire and burnt the plane & the BEC battery.

I have fixed her and wanted to go fly her again but I don't have a BEC battery and was thinking of using the BEC that came with the ESC.

thank you for your advice/opinion,

Cédric

ps: If so, should I put a ferrite around the wire coming from the BEC?

[Fluffy78]

Flares, chaff, and dive for the deck!

You mean like this?

🤣