Official FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk. IX Thread

[Hugh Wiedman]

FYI, I was just doing some routine maintenance on the Spitfire and noticed the prop was a little loose. Tightened it up, then ran it and at slow speed, there was a noticeable wobble. Removed the prop and checked the balance, and sure enough, it was out of balance. No noticeable strikes on it that would cause it to be out, but one blade was "heavier" than the rest. Thought I balanced it before I first installed it some 40 flights ago, but can't remember for sure. Replaced all the blades and now it was almost perfectly balanced, so upon reinstalling and checking, it now runs "smooth as a baby's but" with no wobble. Obviously, that's was caused the prop to loosen up to begin with. I thought my pilot looked a little cross-eyed last time I brought it in. Moral of the story, it doesn't hurt to check these things out routinely. Obviously this ultimately saved a near future disaster. Hey, I can crash on my own without a prop flying off.

[Hiflyer45]

Yup, Hardway is right on, as usual. I also got them on Amazon, got several sizes to use on different planes, all approximately 20mm square to fit on the transducers, difference is in the "height" of the fins, some 6mm, some 4, depending on the available space. Some sold through Gadgeter-Aluminum Heatsinks, others sold by Top-Star called BNTECH60 Aluminum heat sinks, but all available through Amazon. They really help, just make sure your servo wires do not come into contact with them, or it will make a real nasty sound (with some accompanying swearing).

Attached are a couple photos of the ones in my Spitfire. Board is upside down, aft of the battery tray. The numbers above it are my throttle trim settings on this plane so the sound system comes on when I disengage (turn on) my throttle cut switch and the prop blades just barely turn. When I turn the throttle cut switch off, the sound shuts down. That way, if I drop the throttle all the way (during landing or in flight), the sound stays on. It only starts or stops with my throttle cut switch. I plug in my battery with my trim at 0, do my pre-flight check, then drop the throttle trim to -66 (with the Spitty-each plane and ESC is a little different). Then I plug in the sound system. I then put my throttle cut switch off (you need to also program the value on the transmitter of what number to cut the throttle to-say -110%, and the -66 trim needs to be close in absolute value to the throttle cut point so the control board doesn't "think" you are advancing the throttle) and then I increase my throttle trim to +30 (the point at which the prop just barely begins turning). Now when I "turn on the prop" with the on switch, the sound starts up. I can taxi on the runway and drop my throttle all the way down without the sound shutting off and having to recycle back on. The sound doesn't turn off until I flip the switch. Sorry if this is TMI, but thought someone might find this useful as I got tired of the system starting and stopping multiple times while taxiing and even flying.

I also had to put some re-enforcement and carbon fiber tubes all along the battery tray area as this was a weak point in the fuselage with a lot of weight forward of it including the battery and motor. This was added after about 20 flights, when the fuselage began to crack vertically (maybe because of some hard early landings). Since then, maybe 60 or more flights, all is well in Whoville.

Hugh can you explain what you did to mount the two transducers ? It looks as though you have added balsa ? to the foam maybe to provide a level surface and covered the balsa with something yellow? I had always understood that it was more effective to glue the speakers direct to the foam go get the best sound . Any info about what you were trying to achieve would be welcome !

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh can you explain what you did to mount the two transducers ? It looks as though you have added balsa ? to the foam maybe to provide a level surface and covered the balsa with something yellow? I had always understood that it was more effective to glue the speakers direct to the foam go get the best sound . Any info about what you were trying to achieve would be welcome !

The balsa wood is only reinforcement of the fuselage up to the point where the transducers are glued to the foam, it just looks like the transducers are glued to the wood. The yellow "stuff" is actually epoxy. I did this before I was able to get my hands on some carbon fiber rods that fit in, which you can also see. That was reinforcement fix #2. You are correct, you do get better sound if the transducers are attached to the foam, and although it doesn't look like that, they actually are. With that said, I have 8 other planes with the sound system and all but 1 are attached directly to the foam. The 1 that isn't is in my Beast 60 Bi-Plane, which is entirely wood and monokote construction. I put the system in "just for the hell of it" to see what it sounded like and it actually works pretty well (just barely worse than the foam planes). Andrew, the owner of Mr. RC Sound had told me several years ago that it would still work on wood, just not quite as well, so I put it in by adding some wood mounting plates with a hole in the center and attaching that to the skeleton. The Beast has a radial engine WW1 sound and it is a little funky, but still makes an impression as most people can't quite figure out what motor I have in it-electric or some weird gas engine. The wood frame tends to accentuate the "rattle" of the engine sound giving more treble and less bass.

[paladin]

FYI, I was just doing some routine maintenance on the Spitfire and noticed the prop was a little loose. Tightened it up, then ran it and at slow speed, there was a noticeable wobble. Removed the prop and checked the balance, and sure enough, it was out of balance. No noticeable strikes on it that would cause it to be out, but one blade was "heavier" than the rest. Thought I balanced it before I first installed it some 40 flights ago, but can't remember for sure. Replaced all the blades and now it was almost perfectly balanced, so upon reinstalling and checking, it now runs "smooth as a baby's but" with no wobble. Obviously, that's was caused the prop to loosen up to begin with. I thought my pilot looked a little cross-eyed last time I brought it in. Moral of the story, it doesn't hurt to check these things out routinely. Obviously this ultimately saved a near future disaster. Hey, I can crash on my own without a prop flying off.

I keep a flight log, everything gets checked after maiden, again a 5 and ten flights. anything that was deemed a problem, anything that needed tightening, broke loose, etc. goes on a 25 flight inspection schedule (first of which is at 25flights). if at 25 flight inspection it needs no maintenance next inspection is at 50, if stuff is found it gets a shorter interval.

fms me109 at 10 flights was missing all the M1.6 screws (4) holding the left retract mechanism to its mounting plate. the right side was still tight? had one several years ago, looked up its maintenance and it needed those screws checked before every flight, the right side needed just the regular check every 25 flights.

as for your heavy blade, I store mine on its nose leaned against the wall in the garage. quite often it slides down onto a blade or two as people, not me, walk by it. my old set have some scuff marks and a lot of the tip paint removed, easily cause out of balance prop..

joe

[Hiflyer45]

The balsa wood is only reinforcement of the fuselage up to the point where the transducers are glued to the foam, it just looks like the transducers are glued to the wood. The yellow "stuff" is actually epoxy. I did this before I was able to get my hands on some carbon fiber rods that fit in, which you can also see. That was reinforcement fix #2. You are correct, you do get better sound if the transducers are attached to the foam, and although it doesn't look like that, they actually are. With that said, I have 8 other planes with the sound system and all but 1 are attached directly to the foam. The 1 that isn't is in my Beast 60 Bi-Plane, which is entirely wood and monokote construction. I put the system in "just for the hell of it" to see what it sounded like and it actually works pretty well (just barely worse than the foam planes). Andrew, the owner of Mr. RC Sound had told me several years ago that it would still work on wood, just not quite as well, so I put it in by adding some wood mounting plates with a hole in the center and attaching that to the skeleton. The Beast has a radial engine WW1 sound and it is a little funky, but still makes an impression as most people can't quite figure out what motor I have in it-electric or some weird gas engine. The wood frame tends to accentuate the "rattle" of the engine sound giving more treble and less bass.

Thanks Hugh that all makes sense !

[TonyTaff]

Hello, had a few comments from customers at recent events asking about the best battery for this Spit so thought I'd post here in case it was missed. Recently I've been flying on the 5100mah Admiral and this pack give it all the weight up the front it needs to balance correctly, which I did find was 5-10mm in front of the recommended location in the manual. Anyone else find this?

Either way, in case you missed here, here is my recent experience with this amazing bird of grass.

Maybe you can help.

Finally we had a great flying day, all the rain and hurricanes had passed our flying field was dry and the grass short. Yea,

Decided to try and maiden my flightline 1600 spitfire. Rolled it out on field. Down wind it rolled great as soon as I turned into the wind 3mph tops and ran it up. it would nose over.
was running with half flaps, but probably 70% up elevator. GC seemed to be ok at recommended 90 MM

Should i try no flaps. Concensus with our resident experts is that on some planes the flaps cause the nose to dip others say it it cause the nose to rise up...confused..

going to recheck setting to get to the recommended elevator setting

FYI im running with a spektrum AR636 receiver with safe mode on..Hence the 70% up elevator

[TonyTaff]

Hello, had a few comments from customers at recent events asking about the best battery for this Spit so thought I'd post here in case it was missed. Recently I've been flying on the 5100mah Admiral and this pack give it all the weight up the front it needs to balance correctly, which I did find was 5-10mm in front of the recommended location in the manual. Anyone else find this?

Either way, in case you missed here, here is my recent experience with this amazing bird of grass.

Maybe you can help.

Finally we had a great flying day, all the rain and hurricanes had passed our flying field was dry and the grass short. Yea,

Decided to try and maiden my flightline 1600 spitfire. Rolled it out on field. Down wind it rolled great as soon as I turned into the wind 3mph tops and ran it up. it would nose over.
was running with half flaps, but probably 70% up elevator. GC seemed to be ok at recommended 90 MM

Should i try no flaps. Concensus with our resident experts is that on some planes the flaps cause the nose to dip others say it it cause the nose to rise up...confused..

going to recheck setting to get to the recommended elevator setting

FYI im running with a spektrum AR636 receiver with safe mode on..Hence the 70% up elevator

[TonyTaff]

Maybe you can help.

Finally we had a great flying day, all the rain and hurricanes had passed our flying field was dry and the grass short. Yea,

Decided to try and maiden my flightline 1600 spitfire. Rolled it out on field. Down wind it rolled great as soon as I turned into the wind 3mph tops and ran it up. it would nose over.
was running with half flaps, but probably 70% up elevator. GC seemed to be ok at recommended 90 MM

Should i try no flaps. Concensus with our resident experts is that on some planes the flaps cause the nose to dip others say it it cause the nose to rise up...confused..

going to recheck setting to get to the recommended elevator setting

FYI im running with a spektrum AR636 receiver with safe mode on..Hence the 70% up elevator

Hmm seems that the elevator travel in Normal mode high rates is only about 20mm Manual call for 33 MM Cant get there with transmitter travel set at 150% no adjustment on servo arm so do I need to move it on elevator horn to hole closest to the elevator it came installed
on the outer hole.

[RCAV8R]

Hi Tony...I have 90 flights on my Spit after one year...I fly off asphalt but I fly on low rates and take off with no flaps (just like the real Spits). If you are having trouble getting to the factory thro's, something must be off somewhere...you should not have to change the mechanical setup of the horns or servo arms! Rob

[TonyTaff]

[QUOTE=RCAV8R;n212937]Hi Tony...I have 90 flights on my Spit after one year...I fly off asphalt but I fly on low rates and take off with no flaps (just like the real Spits). If you are having trouble getting to the factory thro's, something must be off somewhere...you should not have to change the mechanical setup of the horns or servo arms! Rob[/QUOTE

Can you verify position of the control rod on your elevator thanks It could be that the manual is wrong it says 27 mm low rates and 33 High seems a lot

[TonyTaff]

Moved the control rod to the inner most hole on elevator control horn, now I get the recommended travel..

[RCAV8R]

I'm not sure I'm understanding your question Tony, but if you set in a 2mm up elevator to your "neutral" position (setting the rods inside the fuse), and use the outermost hole on the elevator control horn, you should have no problem achieving the 27mm low rate of travel, or the 33mm high rate. If you do, have you checked your travel adjustment settings? Those should be set before you go to dual rates. I set the travel adjust to achieve the high rate of travel, and then in dual rates I have high rate as 100% and adjust the low rate to whatever travel I want. I hope this helps! Rob

[JPJI]

going to recheck setting to get to the recommended elevator setting

FYI im running with a spektrum AR636 receiver with safe mode on..Hence the 70% up elevator

Have you programmed the AR636 SAFE settings specifically for this plane? Your limited travel is most likely being induced by the receiver. You should not be needing 150% travel on the transmitter.

[Drake]

I was wondering if any 3d print pros could make a eddie pilot for my soon to arrive spitfire?

[paladin]

Moved the control rod to the inner most hole on elevator control horn, now I get the recommended travel..

tony, almost all fighters in std configuration takeoff with no flap. only when loaded did they use the flaps for takeoff (ie. external fuel tank, bombs, extra guns). getting the spit to loose the nose over tendency on grass takes some time. we have (had) tall thick grass, my maiden was as recommended with .060-.080 of shims under the aft lg mounting ear. after maiden I moved the power battery back till I was happy. the further back it goes the better the ground handling, my cg is a good 8mm aft of the furthest aft CG recommended (I would not recommend this position for anyone without my preferences and experience). mine has no nose over tendencys, and I think it flys great.

Joe

[Hugh Wiedman]

FYI im running with a spektrum AR636 receiver with safe mode on..Hence the 70% up elevator

Tony, where did you get the AR636 from? The safe mode programming is only done by HH for specific models and the FW Spitfire is not one of those. You really don't need "safe mode", in my opinion, on this model. I have over 25 636 receivers in planes and only use them for the gyro. You program the gains yourself using the programming app and a special cable. It's quite specific and very important to get each step of the programming done correctly or your plane will not fly properly, if at all. You can't just stick a pre-programmed 636 into a plane and expect it to work. You can also download a specific model with safe select to an AR636 from HH, but this is just to replace a receiver that originally came in one of their bind and fly planes that had safe select to begin with. For example, it would be disastrous to take an AR636 programmed for their E-flight F4 with safe select, and try to put that same receiver in the FW F-4.

I fly my FW Spitfire off of grass with an AR636 (that I programmed) and it flies outstanding. Gains in fly around mode are 40/45/50 and with take off and landing flaps at 70/80/90. I know these gains sound high, but I have absolutely no oscillation on any surface. Travel is programmed at 100% in the receiver, however, I program all dual rates and expo's in the transmitter (which you're not supposed to-but works for me). You can take a pre-programmed 636 and "wipe it clean" and then programm it for this specific plane, but without safe mode. By definition, safe mode restricts surface throws and trys to re-orient the plane to a position it "thinks" is correct.

In my opinion, I'd get rid of safe mode by completely reprogramming the receiver and use it for the benefit of a gyro only.

[Hugh Wiedman]

[QUOTE=paladin;n213223]

after maiden I moved the power battery back till I was happy. the further back it goes the better the ground handling, my cg is a good 8mm aft of the furthest aft CG recommended (I would not recommend this position for anyone without my preferences and experience). mine has no nose over tendencys, and I think it flys great.

Joe, I'm with you brother. I fly my Spitty at 97mm (so whos counting on the extra 1mm) while the recommended cg is 90mm. I'm sure sometimes it even drifts back to 100mm when I strap in the battery. Ground handling on grass is good, no ballooning during flight and while inverted, I still need to apply some down elevator, so I'm sticking with that balance. Two point landings without a nose over are the norm with this balance.

[paladin]

at the beginning of the year we had 9 6s (non jet) batteries some as old as 5 years when they were in the spit. they weight 2 to 6 oz or more than todays batteries and I would realize it when I had to add E up trim after takeoff. the key to landing the spit is to be able to pull the nose up and hold a high AoA w full flap and carry throttle. with a forward cg I can't keep the nose up at slow speeds, once it comes down its like landing a sport plane.

Joe

[John Bergsmith]

Tony, where did you get the AR636 from? The safe mode programming is only done by HH for specific models and the FW Spitfire is not one of those. You really don't need "safe mode", in my opinion, on this model. I have over 25 636 receivers in planes and only use them for the gyro. You program the gains yourself using the programming app and a special cable. It's quite specific and very important to get each step of the programming done correctly or your plane will not fly properly, if at all. You can't just stick a pre-programmed 636 into a plane and expect it to work. You can also download a specific model with safe select to an AR636 from HH, but this is just to replace a receiver that originally came in one of their bind and fly planes that had safe select to begin with. For example, it would be disastrous to take an AR636 programmed for their E-flight F4 with safe select, and try to put that same receiver in the FW F-4.

I fly my FW Spitfire off of grass with an AR636 (that I programmed) and it flies outstanding. Gains in fly around mode are 40/45/50 and with take off and landing flaps at 70/80/90. I know these gains sound high, but I have absolutely no oscillation on any surface. Travel is programmed at 100% in the receiver, however, I program all dual rates and expo's in the transmitter (which you're not supposed to-but works for me). You can take a pre-programmed 636 and "wipe it clean" and then programm it for this specific plane, but without safe mode. By definition, safe mode restricts surface throws and trys to re-orient the plane to a position it "thinks" is correct.

In my opinion, I'd get rid of safe mode by completely reprogramming the receiver and use it for the benefit of a gyro only.

Agree 100%, wipe it clean and install 1.43. I use a lot of AR636A receivers that I program and they are great.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Agree 100%, wipe it clean and install 1.43. I use a lot of AR636A receivers that I program and they are great.

With you John, I have the AR636 in ALL the planes listed below in my hanger, from jets, to 3D Extreme Flight planes to warbirds, all solely for the purpose of using the gyro. It takes a little time to understand how to program it, but once your there, it's great. I will say that if you make 1 small mistake in the programming, it could mean "lawn dart" for the plane. The 2 most important aspects of programming are getting the correct receiver orientation programmed and getting the servo's direction (normal or reversed) programmed into the receiver (and NOT in the transmitter-there they must all be on normal). The amount of gain in the different flight modes is also important, but less so as if there is too much gain, you will see oscillation on that surface and all you need to do is slow it down, land and reduce gain. Although if there is too much oscillation and it continues, it will cause a servo failure or even worse, a surface failure and crash.