Paul Jarvis 1
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Unitracts ???
Paul Jarvis 1 replied to Paul Jarvis 1's topic in R/C Retailers / Distributors / Manufacturers
Hi, Thanks for the info. Spoke to Tony at Unitracts and ordered Nihuis 62" Spitfire retracts which are in stock. Dont suppose there are many companies making quality custom retracts, so hope Unitracts keeps going.... Paul -
Hi, I have tried calling unitracts phone and fax this mornign to order some retracts and both phone and fax seem to be disconnected. I have double checked the numbers on their website, I am sure I have not mis dialled.. Does anyone know what the situation is ? Thanks Paul
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Hi, Still enjoying flying my spit, what a plane ! and its still in one piece ! I found the ESC getting really hot when pushing it on two flights using the 4max set up so I removed the front intake scoop and hollowed it out with a Dremel and cut out a hole in the fus so now the intake really is an air intake !!.... hopefully cooling the electrics "Engine" cowl's held on wth magnets...
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Jim, I notice your comment ... " It seems the general opinion is that flaps are all but essential on this model " and to put my mention of retro fitting flaps to my Spit in to perspective, I should add that this is my first plan build and I am a relative "novice", If TN designed the model with no flaps I am certainly not saying it needs flaps, simply that I personally had issues with fast landings and bending the retracts before, and I ve found it much more "friendly" to land with flaps fitted. And I did not find it to be major surgery, one night or so's work to fit - easy. Fitting the push rods internally would certainly work IMHO. I have simply epoxied 4 small hinges embedded into the existing balsa skin at each flap, yet to see how long these hold up, but they seem strong enuf. Regards Paul
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Hi, Simples... I cut away the rear underside balsa (from the fuse fairing point almost to the aileron), and to just rear of the rear beam / strut thingy. I replaced this with 2mm lightply backed with some uprights on the top side for rigidity. cut out a hole between the rear side of the wheel housing and rad intake and placed a Hitec HS81 in each wing with external push rod on each wing and after feeding a wire thru, pulled the servo wires thru alongside the existing aileron servo wires (bit fiddly). It would be neater to place the servos under the air intakes and push rod internally, but I was too lazy. Easier during the wing build admitedly, but not too much hassle and well worth the effort !
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Hi, I have just retro-fitted flaps to my 62 Spit and I cant beleive the difference it makes ! In calm conditions when it flies at its best, it used to barrel in at a rate off knots and bounce way past me up the runway invariably buckling the retracts. So I cut a quick-access hatch in the underside to allow release of the retracts and constant re-bending of the legs (I even wedged a suitable allen key in the air intakes). But now with 50 or 60 deg of flap it floats in for a gentle landing (or take off) at my feet and no more buckled u/c. I would defo recommend flaps on this Spit ! John... I would suggest Unitract sport retacts with their Oleos are the way to go. Paul
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I used the Unitract standard sport retracts as recomended in the build and 3inch wheels, I believe the build says sheet the wings, top and bottom, and then join the two halves with 3 inch glass tape / epoxy, this is what I did. PS.. Ensure the wing is held in the correct profile somehow when sheeting as I got warping of one wing when weighing down the wing / sheeting during gluing. Paul
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Hi, Exhaust stacks are now fitted, just gotta add some lettering. I used Unitracts, not sure whether oleos would help stop the legs bending, I doubt it as I guess the wire at the top would still bend. Flew a good 10 to 15 mins today on two "parallel wired" 3S 2200 lipo's at halfish throttle, flies beautifully ! 10 to 15 mph wind and a smooth shallow approach but it still came in rather fast and bent a leg, kinda wish I had fitted flaps now. Havent dared fit leg covers as I need the clearance a bare leg offers, gotta improve my landings and / or smooth the runway down considerably ! Final all up weight 3.0 kg (7 and a bit lb). Initially I broke a few props on take off as shes nose heavy and kept tripping up on the suggested elevator throws, now cured this problem with LOTS of up-elevator on high rate for take off and £1.50 props from giantcod. Paul
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Hugh, Did the broom handle trick work on straightening your wings ? Bob, I painted with dulux match pots... a ver y cheap option but difficult to get good spitfire colours and lots of brush marks, so then I sprayed with car paint which added a sheen and showed up the brush marks even more, wish I d used car sprays to start with. The model flies lovely... only one problem.... I bend the legs on each landing
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Hope this does nt post twice as the first doesnt seem to have gone.... Does anyone know why ailerons linked with a Y lead would giltch at appox 85 % travel and "back up" 10 degrees or so, then continue to 100 % travel . They are in a new model flown twice, new 2.4 RX and mini servos, newish tx. I increased to EPA to 130 % and then noticed the glitch in the workshop but reducing back to 100 % and without the linkages attached the glitch is still there in the servos? Have I pressed something in the TX`set up by mistake to cause this ?? I cant think what is causing it.. Thanks
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Hi Bob, Yes the plan and article descriptions are incorrect, I checked this with Tony N, the opposite is needed to give right thrust. I just covered mine (silver solarfilm) and test flew it last weekend, after a few ground runs and dummy take off's it flew perfectly from initial set up needing only very slight down trim. I used the 4 max recommended electic setup and needed 7 oz of lead at the motor mount to get C of G balanced. This was my first ever build and it was fairly straight forward, the only issues for me were... I would probably have tried to pre bend the wings main spruce spar (is this possible ?) as this introduces some upward bend at the tips, and the wing sheeting distorted the wing because I didnt bolt the wing skeleton down to the bench. Im gonna try Dulux emulsion test pots to paint it...
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Hi Hugh, Thanks, you confirmed what I thought. So I rigged a a couple of wood blocks and broom handle lever and wetted and twisted the port wing overnight, with only a small patch of lower surface sheeting lifting near the wheel due to compression. This morning... AMAZINGLY... the wing stayed set at the new AOA... in fact one last tweek last night means Ive overdone it slightly.... oops Still its much better than before and hopefully will fly out at take off now rather than burying itself. The fuse is not warped I just havent shaped the lower section yet. Cheers Paul
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Hi, This is my first build and its generally gone really well, except, since sheeting, the wings have warped. I joined them despite this mismatch and now I need to remedy it. In front view the L.E. tip of one wing is "raised" compared to the other, and the T.E. of the opposite wing is raised compared to the other. Seperately each wing looks fine, and blends in to the fuselage line, so my dilema is not knowing which wing is correct and which needs "bending" to match the other. I have checked the rib profiles, laid a ruler on them, checked against the plan, looked at photos of full size spits, but nothing really tells me which wing is correct. Has anyone any ideas how to confirm which has the correct angle of attack? Or does it not matter much ?
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Fantastic ! ! thanks very much everyone for taking time to post the advice... I am now cracking on confident that I m doing the right thing. Really enjoying my first build.... Best regards Paul
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Hi Ken, Thanks for your reply. I have read several of the Tony N builders threads. Its not really a question for Tony as I am just asking generally what the procedure is for building fuse / wings when adding the "curved" bits, as I assume the process is fairly standard. I am soaking and bending the wing LE balsa and seeing how it goes, I guess I should do the same with the fuselage stips.... Regards Paul
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Hi, I am building the Tony N spitfire 62", and it is my first build other than an aftf. Could someone give me guidance, I have googled a LOT but am still not sure on the curved balsa bits... I stuck the 18mm triangle soft balsa to the lower rear fuselage with the fuselage flat on the building board. I then realised the fuselage is curved towards the tail and with the triangular balsa ofcourse the tail cannot be bent without huge tension... is the standard method to pre bend the triangle balsa by soaking ? OR to glue it in place with the fuselage curved to produce the curved fuselage tail section. Similarly with the built up wing, I am about to apply the 6mm balsa leading edge to the ribbed wing,but I noticed the tip curve produces quite a bit of tension, which I guess will distort the wing. Is it standard procedure to pre bend balsa sections such as this to get the desired curve, if so how ?, soak in water, oven steam, just apply water to rear surface ? Sorry for the lengthy question but its basically just one question. Thanks Paul
