Official FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk. IX Thread

[kallend]

I got out this morning as well, took advantage of the calm winds and clear skies. Must have just missed you!
Beautiful day for flying for a change. Had the 1200mm EFlite Spitty out but had retract problems, one likes to freeze up while retracted. Had her on the bench when it started acting up fortunately, right after a successful flight. PITA those retracts!! Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix these retracts? I've backed off screws and bent struts, loosened and tightened the set screws that hold the strut to the retract. Anyone tried anything else??

Grossman56

I haven't encountered any retract problems other than insufficient adhesive on the retract mounts. I have 2 wings, one rather gatored from too much Sun, and the other for "best". Retracts in each have worked perfectly.

[Grossman56]

I seem to have the problem worked out (touch wood). For some reason the strut can't be tightened as much as I normally would, so out with the Gorilla Glue. I've even went as far as replacing the retract and the y cord that attaches them to the receiver. Thankfully, it's the E Flite Spitty and not the Flightline one. With the flight line Spitty, I played around with the flaps to get the 80 degree drop as davegee has on his. Just waiting for a day when the wind cooperates to test her. The dang thing hates to land in the wind!!

Grossman56

[Arycon]

Finally picked one of these up and I'm excited for it to arrive. Getting into bigger planes. Already have the P-38 and F4U-1 in the hangar. Recently picked up the 1500mm FW-190. Figured it was time to add a Spitty.

[SanExup]

Arycon You won't be disappointed!

[Grossman56]

Just beware of the CG. Also, it's very floaty so landing into the wind can be fun. Also watch the pull to the left when at the final stage of landing. You get use to it and its a great flying airplane. As one of the gals who flew Spits in WWII, delivering them to various squadrons once said, "She's a lady in the air but a bitch on the ground."

Grossman56

[Evan D]

I've built and flown many Spitfires and the FL 1600 has the best ground handling of any of them.

[Arycon]

Good to hear. I already have a Mr RC 4.1 system ready to go for it. Should be a lot of fun. Just waiting for Motion to ship the thing. Been several days now. Guess that is what I get for believing the shipping date on Economy Plus.

[Evan D]

Usually 2 days for me not counting weekends but sometimes it takes a couple days just to ship, again not counting weekends. I have a 4.1 and single TT25 in mine.

[Arycon]

Nice. I bought an extra. I run two TT-25's in my FL Corsair. Sounds so good passing by. I'm ready to get my hands on the Spitty so I can customize it. Going for 5LK "Muscat Kay," flown by Greek pilot and Ace, John Plagis. My heritage is Greek, so it seemed like a good nod to those that flew and fought in this amazing aircraft.

[davegee]

Nice. I bought an extra. I run two TT-25's in my FL Corsair. Sounds so good passing by. I'm ready to get my hands on the Spitty so I can customize it. Going for 5LK "Muscat Kay," flown by Greek pilot and Ace, John Plagis. My heritage is Greek, so it seemed like a good nod to those that flew and fought in this amazing aircraft.

Sounds cool, Arycon. My heritage is also Greek (on my dad's side), who flew B-17s and B-24s during WWII, out of England.

A great guy and fellow Greek, Steve Pisanos flew Spitty's with the RAF Eagle Squadron, and then transferred to the 8th USAAF, 4th Fighter Group out of Debden. He had an amazing life, and it was a real pleasure to get to know him before he passed away several years ago. If you are interested, you can read about his amazing life from his book "The Flying Greek" from Potomac Books.

Cheers

Davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Good to hear. I already have a Mr RC 4.1 system ready to go for it. Should be a lot of fun. Just waiting for Motion to ship the thing. Been several days now. Guess that is what I get for believing the shipping date on Economy Plus.

You'll love it, especially with the sound system. Couple suggestions: I have 10 of their systems and the transducers last longer and don't get as hot if you put heat sink on them, especially with the Corsair double wasp sound, heats up the most. I Also put air scoops on the top of the battery bay doors to get a good air flow over the transducers and board. Lastly I've developed a way to trick the board so sound starts just as prop barely turns when I release the throttle cut switch, sound never shuts off until I engage the throttle cut and prop and sound shuts down. Works better than Andrews "smart start" switch and costs nothing. PM me if you want to learn how.

Sound system in my Corsair: https://youtu.be/j0L-1N0koNg

In the Spitty:

[davegee]

You'll love it, especially with the sound system. Couple suggestions: I have 10 of their systems and the transducers last longer and don't get as hot if you put heat sink on them, especially with the Corsair double wasp sound, heats up the most. I Also put air scoops on the top of the battery bay doors to get a good air flow over the transducers and board. Lastly I've developed a way to trick the board so sound starts just as prop barely turns when I release the throttle cut switch, sound never shuts off until I engage the throttle cut and prop and sound shuts down. Works better than Andrews "smart start" switch and costs nothing. PM me if you want to learn how.

Sound system in my Corsair: https://youtu.be/j0L-1N0koNg

In the Spitty:

Sound system sounds great, Hugh!!👍👍👍

[Simon Bee]

Just got my 1600 Spitty today. Sorry but a very basic question. Just setting up in my NX8 , should I set up as 1 aileron , 1 flap or is it best as 2 ailerons, 2 flaps.
cheers

[Hugh Wiedman]

Assume you're using the Ar637t, so you'll only have 6 plug in channels (although Spektrum RX's have up to 20 internal "ghost channels" for extra unplugged things like safe, in flight gain adjust, etc., limited only by the channels on your RX). Throttle, aileron, elevator, rudder, gear and flap will be the 6 plug in channels, so you'll have to set wing type to 1 aileron, 1 flap, with both those y'd into one channel each. If I remember, they go though the circuit board where they are y'd anyway. To do 2 ail, 2 flap you'd have to have an 8 channel Rx and bypass the circuit board.

Besides, you'll want to use the 7th channel on your NX8, being aux 2 (aux1 is flap) to assign it to the top right knob to allow in flight gain adjusts. You will also assign the FM channel most likely to the gear channel which will give you 2 separate gain profiles. There is a way to assign it to the flap channel giving you 3 profiles, but that's a bit complicated and requires flap deflections of a certain % amount at each position to get it to work properly and switch from each FM. I do that, but takes a lot of tinkering to get it right, including adjusting the control rods so you have the desired outcome and flap deflections.

Assigning it to the gear is much easier. I'm using 40/45/55 rate gains flaps up (in your case with gear up) and 70/80/90 when gear down, theoretically when taking off and landing and going slower.

Also, stick close to the manual CG, which may require nose lead. This bird gets twitchy when using an aft CG and flies and lands better nose heavy at recommended CG. I'm using an SMC 6200 weighing 814 gr, all the way forward with some lead as well. Flight time with that battery is over 10 minutes with plenty of hot dogging! Sweet!

If yours does not have it, add carbon fiber tubes on each side of the fuse in the existing channels in the front section.

Last but not least, land with throttle no less than 25% keeping it level with mains touching first. You can 3 point it, but land it scale and the retracts and tail wheel will thank you for it in the long run.

[Simon Bee]

That’s very helpful, thanks.
yes I’m using an AR637T which I’ve robbed off my Avanti.
I’m only going to use the Rx for AS3X only, not going to bother with SAFE and INTERMEDIATE modes which I’ve used previously .
All I want is gain adjustment on the top rotary knob.

[kallend]

Also, stick close to the manual CG, which may require nose lead. This bird gets twitchy when using an aft CG and flies and lands better nose heavy at recommended CG. I'm using an SMC 6200 weighing 814 gr, all the way forward with some lead as well. Flight time with that battery is over 10 minutes with plenty of hot dogging! Sweet!

If yours does not have it, add carbon fiber tubes on each side of the fuse in the existing channels in the front section.

I use 5000mAh packs and have not found it necessary to add any lead, nor have I found it to be twitchy.

[Evan D]

He has two transducers that effect his CG. I have one transducer further back behind the cockpit in mine (why I don't say where I place my batteries or their weight). As I've said many times its not the mAh of the battery that effects the position but the weight of the battery, is that a 500g battery or a 900g. Makes a difference and because of other differences in the airplane one shouldn't rely on another's battery placement to balance, they should actually measure it.

[kallend]

He has two transducers that effect his CG..

So do I, and they are both behind the CG (one is in the rear fuse).

My battery weight is 725g

[Evan D]

Important information when telling someone where they place their battery for balance.

[kallend]

Important information when telling someone where they place their battery for balance.

Well, I have a 725g pack as far forward as it will go, 2 MrRC transducers (Aspire system) in the rear, and no added lead. Plane is not twitchy.