Hi there Hobbyists my Name is Waldemar, but you can call me Wally. I have begun a new endeavor in my young RC hobby career. This will be the first time that I scratch build my very own airplane, and not just any airplane but one I hold very dear to me, the Supermarine Spitfire.

I have wanted to do this project for about a year now but finances, time, family had all been a priority and all I could do was dream of Spitfires. I couldn't afford to just buy the latest one off the shelf and be able to hide that from my dear wife, so I thought why not try and scratch build my very own just for the fun of trying. I was able to find a relatively good source for my blueprints from a 1/48 scale Airfix plastic model spitfire build review. This guy is what one might call a rivet counter and he has attached numerous great cross-sections of just about every spitfire variant. Koodos to that guy.

http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/spit5b/spit5be-1.html

So now I have blueprints, made my own Hotwire cutter, cut out plywood templates, and bought a huge stack of white insulation foam from home Depot. I'm ready to go.

It's tricky getting the wire to go smoothly over the templates so I will have some spots I will need to use filler but I'm pleased with my results so far.

Nice start to a great project! There's nothing equal to scratch building!

Thanks Ken Wright 😊. I'm excited to try something new and for overcoming the challenges I will face to make my dream become a reality.

Well I've been a bit busy with life but I managed to get in a few good hours on the build. I have half of a fuse and it's starting to look like something. Now I got to focus on making the empennage and wings to complete the rest of the airframe and somehow to add some strength to it with maybe carbon fiber rods of bamboo skewers.

Woohoo! I made a wing 😎😅🤓🤘still has to dry but it's the right shape (roughly) and has an airfoil shape to it. I now have a wing though and this is only the beginning. I have to start thinking about buying a motor, ESC, servos and linkages for this bird.

Today I've made a great leap forward. I completed the other half of the wing and the tail section for test fitting. Putting them all together really puts into perspective as to the size of this plane. Only 1200 mm but it's a decent size in my opinion. Everything will be hand made except for the electronics. My next challenge will be with making a canopy, detailed cockpit and the exhaust manifolds. And of course to finish the empennage by cutting out the h and v stabs.

Going to paint this bird in squadron leader Jan Zumbach of the 303 Kosciusko squadron. Probably the best squadron in the Battlefield of Britain who drove terror into the German attackers. I preferred Zumbach because I enjoyed reading his autobiography where he tells his accounts of fighting with the 303 and previous to that with the French Airforce after the conquering of Poland in 1939. He later became a diamond smuggler and a mercenary in Africa flying a heavily modified A26 invader with home made bombs and added gun emplacements. Just a fascinating man with a great story. Plus I love the Donald duck.

The Spitfire is on my "to build list"right after the "honey to do list"! Nice build, just keep working on her and before you know, you'll be ready to maiden!

Originally Posted by Ken Wright

The Spitfire is on my "to build list"right after the "honey to do list"! Nice build, just keep working on her and before you know, you'll be ready to maiden!

Lol the honey do list never ends does it. It only grows faster than you can complete it. I've snuck in every second I could even watching the kids as my wife is working and I'm on the dinner table gluing and cutting foam lol 😁.

I covered my wing with brown masking paper using a water/white glue solution. Sort of like paper mache I suppose. This process made my wing very solid and should aid in its durability.

It was a great hot day outside so I let the sun
dry the paper and it worked great for the right wing. I had stuff to do and didn't get to the left wing til later but it had cooled down and the paper didn't dry as nicely as the other side. It wrinkled up and looked terrible. I almost wanted to reskin it. But a hair dryer and some water and I was able to make it less wrinkly. Live and learn. Hopefully the fuselage will go smoother.

Wow I'm loving the progress I've made so far. About 75% of the fuse is covered and 95% of the wings is covered. I got to get flight control surfaces ready and order my retracts, servos and power setup.

Joining in! Really great work so far! Have you settled on a power setup yet?

Originally Posted by wilmracer

Joining in! Really great work so far! Have you settled on a power setup yet?

I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to use. I'm trying to do it on a budget with stuff I have lying around. I have a turnigy 35-42, 1250kv motor kicking around but it needs the prop adapter cuz I didn't know they didn't come with them. Or I have a Parkzone 15bl 950 kV motor I took off my old FW190. And I'll probably end up buying a 60amp ESC online.


The turnigy motor might be the winner because I know it'll handle a 4s battery. My only concern is whether I will get enough torque out of it cuz it's such a high KV. From what I understand the lower the KV the bigger the prop it can turn because of higher torque. I have 4 three blade props from the Parkzone me 109 that I want to use.

http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Def...ProdID=PKZ4901

Got the wings bolted on and all flight control surfaces glued and in place. Wasn't easy getting the wing bolts to work for me, spent a few good hours of trial and error. This solution isn't pretty but it'll hold.... I believe

Looks great!