ok a till do mate thanks coreman

I've been flying my little Art-Tech Spitfire a lot in the past four days as a relaxing "in between the bigger/faster planes" plane. It fits the bill nicely. The spinner makes noise at anything past half throttle, but that helps remind me to keep the throttle down during the flight for more scale-appearing flight, and it also lets me hear that the plane is at full throttle when I run it up.

I hand-launch and belly-land this plane, and neither has been an issue. I've got 3 hours of flying time on this plane with over 32 flights, and it's holding up quite well. I've had no issues since the landing gear mounting broke.

I find that this plane almost always goes out with me regardless of what other planes i take as a backup and as sort of a "no stress" plane. It would do better with a bigger motor/ESC, but as-is, it does well enough.

What kind of glue is safe on this plane? Just got mine from hobbyking and the rudder is broken off.

Originally Posted by butaford

What kind of glue is safe on this plane? Just got mine from hobbyking and the rudder is broken off.

I have used UHU por on mine and would imagine Beacon Foam-Tac would work as well

Anybody know where to get a replacement canopy?

Banana Hobby---$2.90 includes pilot seat.

Hey guys. Looks like this is the thread about the Spitfire that has had most recent activity, so I'll ask here.

I'm loving the spit, had a few mishaps, the nose broke off completley due to me being a coward with the throttle; and one of the landing gears broke off in the weld. Think I have gotten it sorted out though.

However, I am having massive problems getting the cowling for the propeller to stay on. I have tightened the screw on the propellar on as much as I dare, but the cowling/spinner just wont click on. Any of you guys that can recommend a fix to this, or recommend something I can order from hobbyking that can help, a different spinner or something ?

I am still using the stock-motor. I got a "spare" from HK, the 750 KV one. Anyone have any experience with this motor, is it a noticable upgrade?

Haven't had that spinner off for a very long time. As I recall it took a lot of force to get it to snap onto the backing plate. You just have to really muscle it on. No experience with other than the stock motor. She's still my favorite model in the hangar.

Yeah, I keep breaking the props, first time was along with the broken nose, and second time was because I had to use it as a belly lander when the landing gear gave out. But it's usually not an operation I do regularly. I have really tried to muscle it in, like I had to do the first time during assembly, but with no luck....

Could it have any damage from the nose overs and broken props? Perhaps it is out of round. You might try moving it from one slot and blade to another while trying to fit it. If it is out of round, the spinner will match the plate, one of the 3 times. Or perhaps a very, very light sanding of the plate where the cone snaps on. I remember I had to put a thin coat (very thin) of vaseline on a spinner to get it to snap, but it wasn't this model.

Well, It could be damaged thats true. Doesnt look it, but when it's so tight from the start, it's not going to be much to make it impossible to fit.

Thought I should post the solution. I did manage to get the spinner on by trimming the grooves on the spinner. And I have also figured out the reason this had to be done.

The spare propellers I used are not the same as the ones that came with the plane. It's the three blade prop from the corsair, and they have a slightly different pitch (same size though). So, mystery solved. I am very excited to start flying again after a long and cold winter here.

All the best, Steffen

Be carfull that if the prop has more pitch you may over amp the esc and motor

After just over two years of active service, seeing nearly 4 hours of flight and 40 individual flights, my Spitfire has been retired from my fleet. Last weekend, while flying on a cloudy but windless day, the Spitfire was flying along just fine at 1/3 throttle when it began flying erratically and control was lost, resulting in a crash. Fortunately, the damage was only to the fuselage (snapped right behind the wing) and the damage to the firewall/front area was very easily repaired. However, when I plugged everything back in, the ESC was emitting a loud whining noise, and the servos began jumping around. I tried a different receiver just in case the servos moving on their own was a receiver problem, but it was not. It appears the ESC has sustained some sort of malfunction which caused the plane to crash.

I repaired it, and while it's in flyable condition, I transferred ownership to a junior member of our flying club who is without an airframe right now. He was excited to get the plane, and I'm sure it'll be put through its paces here in short time.

So, thus ends my two-year journey with the Art-Tech Spitfire. It was a good plane, and brought me many calm mornings of beautiful flying. If I didn't have 12 other warbirds in the hangar, I'd have probably continued to fly this one after the repairs, but I think it's in better hands now with someone who will give it a lot more attention than I was able to.

I thought thread founders were required to keep flying the subject model until it is no longer remotely flyable AND has been discontinued such that it can't be replaced. You have to buy another!

Bon voyage, Edge. Thanks for getting the thread going with your great review.

Scandalously, I still have not yet flown mine. Had too many other planes (and a little heli named mCPX) distract me, but I *will* get her up this Summer, and do a victory roll in your honor!