Originally Posted by richard9999

Speaking of pilots, my casting of the torso of the original is now back at the controls. Painting him was not too difficult and quite fun.

Nice work, Richard. Looks great! Better you than me. I don't have the quiet hands hands needed for that kind of fine brushwork.

Originally Posted by richard9999

Speaking of pilots, my casting of the torso of the original is now back at the controls. Painting him was not too difficult and quite fun. His clones are at the controls of an FW-190 (different uniform colour) and will be in a Haikong Spitfire when complete.

The Art Tech is now ready to re-maiden

By the way, I use the Hobbyking CA type hinges in mine where the foam hinges have broken - on one half of the elevator. I cut them in half to make them less stiff.

Great job on your AT Spitty! The pilot looks GREAT and the instrument panel looks great, too! I'd be interested in a pilot or two if you'd sell any. The size of the figure is really good for many of my planes which have pilots that are a little too big.

No Edge767,
I really don't want to get into even mini-mass production . Either buy one of the many commercially available (though it is hard to get good ones already painted) or make your own! It was easier than I expected and the materials required (like the original pilot!) you either have already or are easily obtainable. The skills learned are very useful in general modelling.

For painting the pilot I followed this very useful guide:
http://www.justpilots.ca/painting_guides-LUFT.htm

You just need a good magnifier, a fine brush and a reasonably steady hand, but mistakes with acrylics you just wipe off with a damp cloth.

I attach the instrument panel .jpg, which is just a photo of the real thing printed at the right size and of which there are many available with a web search

Best of luck

No problem, Richard. I have no problem with painting; it's the figure making that I'm not keen on doing just yet, but I may do it anyway.

Thanks for the instrument panel image.

I want to upgrade the Spitfire's stock bell motor to another bell motor, 900kV, same dimensions, same mount. What's the best way of doing it?

Accessing the 3 screws on the bell motor mount is impossible with the huge bell in the way.

So is it better to remove those 4 smaller screws that secures the plastic mount to the firewall, in order to get the old motor out? Or should I just loosen the set screw on the old bell motor mount, and just "change the bell", so to speak?

remove the grub screw holding motor in the mount and replace with your new one..

Originally Posted by dazza44

remove the grub screw holding motor in the mount and replace with your new one..

Thanks for the suggestion.

But unluckily, the new bell motor could not fit into the metal mount of the original bell motor.

Anyway, turns out I had no choice but to remove the original bell motor, mount and all - which involves removing the attached plastic mount as well... Good news is that the new motor is IN, with a 30A ESC, and it is really charging up the Spitfire! This new motor is a 900kV meant for the Art Tech 1100mm F6F Hellcat...

My neighbor just ordered this as an ARF and it didn't come with a manual. I found one in Chinese online and it says 11 - 11 1/2" from the front of the nose cone...
I thought that odd as CG is usually measured from the leading edge of the wings.

Anyway...can you tell me what the proper CG measurement should be. Running stock with the 1300mah stock battery and the pilot in.

Much appreciated!

Morning all

First post. Relatively new flyer here. Dabbled a few years ago and used to fly control line when I was a kid. Now I have the bug (doesn't my credit card know it!, but hey, I can afford to indulge myself.)

So far I am learning on a Mini-Swift and a Wilga 2000. These are my crash and smash learners :-). Using a Turnogy 9x and a DX6i.

I have ordered this Spit (and a P51, both Art Tech) and also have a T28 sitting in the spare room as well.

I have recently discovered that the prop is the most consumable item; not surprising really. So, I want to keep the original props on both planes for static display (especially as they'll sit on my storage rack for a few months while I compete my training) but have been trying to work out which prop/spinner to buy (2 bladers) to use when I actually get around to flying these 2 planes.

Seems 10x5 (Spit) and 10x6 (P51) are good options from what I have been reading. Question is, will either of these 2 options do for both planes? And what spinner will suit? Is a prop adapter required? I have no idea about these things.

And the more I read and look on here and the HK website, the more confused I become.

I'm also trying to consolidate my HK Hong Kong purchases so i'm not putting in an order every week.

Not looking for speed so much. Scale flying is more my style at this stage.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

Hi Mike, been there and done this!

The Art Tech Spit is a nice plane. The big question on Prop/Spinner is whether you will use it with or without wheels. My l/g (the plastic bit under the wings) broke on the first grass landing so I was forced to go without gear, but I was going to do this anyway as the plane looks much better in the air without it. If you land on a paved strip it is a different story. Anyway, post your reply and I will respond if you plan to land on grass without the l/g - the other I have no experience with.

Hi Richard

I'll probably leave the landing gear on for now, but I'll mostly be on grass, so lets work on that assumption. I'm sure it's easy enough to remove.

Thanks for the quick reply.

:-)

Mike

Well, I use a this 10 x 5 APC type prop from HobbyKing and a 50mm spinner that I bought at a Hobby fair, but have since seen through Google. I actually mount my prop via home made adapters on a prop saver, but you could probably get away with a standard mount as the APC type props are quite tough. The eternal curse of mounting props is that most prop mounts are in metric while most prop rings are in imperial - who knows why! You need super accurate drilling or good luck to drill out props.

emp 10x7x3 blade works well just a little trimmimng of stock spinner,
remove pilot he is heavy,
i rewound stock motor with 13 turns of 22awg wire used a 8x6apc prop 130watts at 11.6amps gave spitfire a lot more ooomph..
sadly spitfire is nomore..

Originally Posted by richard9999

Well, I use a this 10 x 5 APC type prop from HobbyKing and a 50mm spinner that I bought at a Hobby fair, but have since seen through Google. I actually mount my prop via home made adapters on a prop saver, but you could probably get away with a standard mount as the APC type props are quite tough. The eternal curse of mounting props is that most prop mounts are in metric while most prop rings are in imperial - who knows why! You need super accurate drilling or good luck to drill out props.

I'm using a 10x6 2 blade on mine with no issues. (Stock motor)

Best to use a prop reamer instead of a drill to keep centered

Thanks for that Coreman, I didn't even know there were such things! Have ordered one already.