Originally Posted by dbdukeboy

There has been talk of rudder use in a couple of post's. so my question is am I flying my planes wrong?

Not wrong, but you could make it easier/more scale to fly certain models: Using rudder when entering/exiting turns helps smooth the entry/exit. In that regard, many folks program in some rudder with aileron for models where the kind of maneuvering they like isn't impacted. For a scale flyer like the Spit, I think aileron/rudder interconnect (ARI) will work great.

ARI is a standard feature in many 1:1 airplanes, being programmed by speed (less rudder deflection at higher speeds), and also according to configuration.

Also, suggest trying rudder on final approach to make small heading adjustments.

Gene K

Originally Posted by dbdukeboy

Be careful with the low voltage, it makes a weird sound when it gets low and it's time to bring it down, not much time at all when you here it. I was getting about 5 minutes with e flite 25 c's

You should always use a timer when you fly. If you get about 5 minutes before getting the low voltage warning, then you should set your timer for 4:30 and try to land right away when it goes off.

Everytime you hit LVC, you're reducing the life of your batteries. Basically, you'll get way more cycles, out of your batteries, if you use a timer. Otherwise, they will die relatively quickly.

Originally Posted by brushless55

Looks to be the same gear box, but motor is set more forward than on all my other UM planes..
and check out the front of the motor... it's a different motor I think
let me know what motor you think it could be
I also noticed it has more "resistance" to it when I turn the gear box shaft opcorn:

HMMMMMmmm - BL55, I think you have a bum motor. Think about it for a minute. You and Airman had completely different experiences, and while some of that could be explained by different altitude and expectations, the difference was pretty dramatic. I've replaced more of these little motors than I care to think about, and have had stock motors that have that resistance and they ALWAYS have less power than the ones that did not. We're getting more and more positive reviews, and your experience is looking more and more like an outlier, which would make sense if you've got a motor that is less powerful than everyone elses.

I doubt this thing is a rocket even with a great motor, but it sounds to me like you may want to try a different motor on yours and see if you see a difference.

Originally Posted by coreman

Just wondering. Does everyone feel the plane has enough control authority? I know one of the first things people do with the Polecat is move the rudder pushrod in on the horn. How is the authority on the Spitfire?

nothing to right home about but it does well...

Originally Posted by RealGambler

Well, somebody here said he was doing KE with the Spitfire. (Still picking up my jaw since then!!!). Must not be so bad if that's the case. I was more worrying about elevator/power but in the last video posted on youtube, the guy is making some very decent loops (lacking of power at the top, but hey, for me, it's more "airplane" like...

doing a KE is very hard for me on this plane.. not as much speed + the 40sum % extra weight + the 4 blade prop makes for hard KEs
I can KE my Polecat and SU26 all day

Originally Posted by whichwaysup

HMMMMMmmm - BL55, I think you have a bum motor. Think about it for a minute. You and Airman had completely different experiences, and while some of that could be explained by different altitude and expectations, the difference was pretty dramatic. I've replaced more of these little motors than I care to think about, and have had stock motors that have that resistance and they ALWAYS have less power than the ones that did not. We're getting more and more positive reviews, and your experience is looking more and more like an outlier, which would make sense if you've got a motor that is less powerful than everyone elses.

I doubt this thing is a rocket even with a great motor, but it sounds to me like you may want to try a different motor on yours and see if you see a difference.

motor is perfect!
it a new version of my P-51 and we are past that one, it just feels different because we have agreed it is the newer motor

my findings and what I'm seeing on youtube line up to many on this forum..
facts are the 4 blade plus 40 sum % extra weight = more sluggish flyer than the P-51... you cannot get past that one
extra weight is more to lug around.. and many of us are looking for ways to shave off a few grams, why because we want a more zippy flying plane, and with greater authority

no degree needed to figure out that some are selling this plane because they are not impressed... just more math I would say

still a great little plane that I'm not putting up for sale...
lets see someone try and hover this thing.. that will show us how much power it really has

Originally Posted by brushless55

Looks to be the same gear box, but motor is set more forward than on all my other UM planes..
and check out the front of the motor... it's a different motor I think
let me know what motor you think it could be
I also noticed it has more "resistance" to it when I turn the gear box shaft

because of a smarter member than me, this has the newer motor than my P-51, that's why the difference in feel when I turn the shaft

I did an edit on this so no one gets caught up on the different motors
I had no idea they changed and put a better motor in the new UM planes

Originally Posted by SilentPilot

rcmaniac,

Nice pics! Nearly blew my iPad, but worth it

Your wing looks a bad fit though
Is it as bad as it looks?

Tony

Can anyone confirm this by taking a picture from the side? Maybe it looks like a bad fit because the picture was taken from the side... Still waiting for good weather

Originally Posted by brushless55

nothing to right home about but it does well...



doing a KE is very hard for me on this plane.. not as much speed + the 40sum % extra weight + the 4 blade prop makes for hard KEs
I can KE my Polecat and SU26 all day




motor is perfect!
it a new version of my P-51 and we are past that one, it just feels different because we have agreed it is the newer motor

my findings and what I'm seeing on youtube line up to many on this forum..
facts are the 4 blade plus 40 sum % extra weight = more sluggish flyer than the P-51... you cannot get past that one
extra weight is more to lug around.. and many of us are looking for ways to shave off a few grams, why because we want a more zippy flying plane, and with greater authority

no degree needed to figure out that some are selling this plane because they are not impressed... just more math I would say

still a great little plane that I'm not putting up for sale...
lets see someone try and hover this thing.. that will show us how much power it really has

Shedding weight would not increase speed, however, shedding weight will increase vertical performance(loops), which is the area we are most worried about, wieght doesnt affect speed very much, its the same with cars. I guess what you are experiencing is the low end of what to expect, these motors are never consistent, thats a fact. Also the cooling holes that tell you this a newer version than that in your p-51 would not cause the resistance you feel, often less powerful motors have more resistance in them and thats a sign of its power. I would call it immediately a bum motor, you can do more flying and see if you enjoy it even though it might not be the most powerful. Sometimes if you call HH they will send one new motor as a courtesy. The best thing for motor longevity is to give it a minute to cooldown between flights, but thats been debated if it helps or not.
So if you want to go buy an sx motor from rcbabbel, i assume you dont have to many motor connectors lying around, I have plenty, so if you want to pull the plug on an sx motor, I might have an old burnt out motor you can send battman to put on an sx motor, that way you can still fly without having to sacrifice your spit's motor while rcbabbel gets your order ready,

Originally Posted by rcmaniac098202

Can anyone confirm this by taking a picture from the side? Maybe it looks like a bad fit because the picture was taken from the side... Still waiting for good weather

same as mine I'm sure this is how they were built.

hey guys,
i just ordered mine and it'll be my first plane i would like to stock up on some lipos before it gets here so i was wondering which ones i can use. is it the same battery that comes with the blade nano cpx and msrx heli?

cheers,
masterfgee

FLIGHT REPORT:
Maidened my Lil Spit this morning and WOW! She’s SWEET!
Well trimmed straight out of the box! The wind was supposed to be 3-4 mph…light and variable. Well, it was…close to the ground. Once I got her in the air (after an effortless hand-toss launch w/o LG), it became evident that the wind was blowing considerably harder the farther up she got. When I got home, the TV said 9 mph. So I’d guess it was blowing 6-8 at least “upstairs”.

The air was unstable with a cold front approaching. I kept her below 100’, but still, she was blown up and down vertically along her flight path as much as 6-12 inches. Didn’t take a chance trying low passes in that! (After flying the Spit, I flew my F4F Wildcat …and the winds did the same thing to her!...although not as much since she’s a good bit bigger and more powerful.)

In truth, Lil Spit did beautifully! She had more than enough power to take it on! She's definitely a performance step above the other UM warbirds, IMO. None of them could have even flown in this wind. (P-51 maybe, but it would have been ROUGH!) Her AS3X got a workout, but worked perfectly. She was very stable!!! Beautiful, axial barrel rolls! Did have trouble doing a loop from level flight. But I can’t hold that against her yet. Variable winds would have played a part, plus I don’t fly WOT on maidens…not ‘till I get the motor and new battery broken in.

Landing approach was sweet. She came in (with some power on) for a perfect pancake landing on the grass. Would have, too, except for that 9” tall invisible grass stalk that caught her left wing between the fuse and cannon. It spun her around a half turn and down into the soft grass. No damage at all.

But she’s a great flyer and looks very scale in the air. Sky was sunny with some high clouds. She was easy to see and I had no orientation problems at all. LOVE her appearance w/o the LG! Can’t wait to fly her in calm air. Will fly her with LG on sometime just for fun ‘cause I love doing ROG’s and landings.

If you’re sitting on the fence on this one…don’t!

Tom

Ok, ok , at the risk of beating a dead horse ill respectfully jump in here and add my 2cents.
First off knife edge,, I've knife edged mine many many times,, will it knife edge as easily as pole cat??? Of course not!! But pole cat is symmetrical airfoil with 0 dihedral,, but I find it does knife edge PRETTY well ( your milage will vary ) . Update on my spit,, as I related before,, on 2nd flight of my maiden at hobby store , their tranny went dead and I lost bind, it crashed into roof crinkling nose . I took my initial radar readings that afternoon and got my controversial speed readings . Quite a few flights later I started noting gearbox making funny sounds she seemed slower,, so,, took her back to LHS told them I would give them back that plane which they could fix and use as store demo and they could sell me a new one at their cost ( seems fair right??) they agreed. Went out yesterday with a friend who's flown ALL the micros, wind was blowing about 10 mph,, we were both surprised at how well this little 1s guy handled the wind,, not perfect but pretty good,, but more importantly , my buddy who's flown ALL the micros extensively exclaimed : WOW !!! That things pretty quick for a 1s!!!! Of course with the tailwind it was much quicker ,, but surprising how well it penetrated straight into the wind. Think I might have to pull out the ole pocket radar again with this brand new pristine spit and try and get some good readings on a perfectly calm day no dives. :-). One thing we both noticed this time is this little spit picks up speed very rapidly from even a shallow dive,, so maybe part of explanation of my prior readings was from that????? So far I have 4 different pilots that have seen or flown plenty of micros at least saying this thing at least subjectively seems to have much more speed than the other micros. Was also flying my e flite 300 brushless Zero yesterday side by side with the spit,, my buddy and I both agreed it really didn't seem THAT much faster,, and its been clocked a couple of times at around 40s

Yes it is the same battery, from that im assuming you fly the msrx and the nano cpx? If you can fly those two helis, the transition to flying airplanes should be pretty smooth, you already have orientation and all the controls down, just be wary of stalling and you should be ok!

thank you for your quick reply. actually i am flying the mcpx but on the pictures the batteries looked similar to the ones from the smaller helis. i hope you are right about the transition and i will keep the stalling in mind shepflyr's review just got me even more excited. gotta order some lipos now

Originally Posted by airpower

...shedding weight will increase vertical performance(loops), which is the area we are most worried about,

"We"? What, me worry?

I respect your concerns as they reflect your expectations and your resulting opinions, but hopefully the majority of folks who get or are getting the Spitfire will appreciate it for the scale warbird that it is.

I think there's been a disproportionate number of critical/negative posts about this little gem by a persistent few, to the effect of turning off potential buyers.

In that regard, why not start the Spitfire Mod thread now where motor mods and flight control realignment can be discussed...along with advice on how to scale-down that beauty by removing gear covers, spinners, and modifying propellers, battery hatches, etc?



Gene K

Originally Posted by Airman74

So here's my last 10 readings held in memory on my pocket radar all taken on my last radar run done Sat. Afternoon without landing gear,,, they're in order from last to first, so first number you see is plane gliding in power off. The rest were done in relatively calm conditions but with an Ocassional puff of wind possibly up to 4-5 mph ,, tried to have my wife take the reading when plane was close and coming straight at us. So here they are straight off the memory of the pocket radar

15 mph
29
33
30
43
35
33
43
42
40
I have NO reason to make this up or lie. :-). It is what it is

So here's a reposting of my controversial radar readings,, after what I saw yesterday with my new undamaged spit,, I'm beggining to think maybe not too inaccurate??? We'll see when others reports come in