Daren Cogdon

Wasn't sure how good it was gonna be at the field this morning, but it ended up being damn-near perfect. Very light breeze, nice temps, only marred by a tiny bit of rain at one point. Only me and one other chap at the field (who was flying his helicopters), so I managed to get three flights in with the FT Spitfire before I had to call it a day. Tried a few aerobatics and low-level flights. I hadn't held out much hope for this Spitfire to be any good (especially compared to the stripey one), but this one is fantastic!

This is the first time that the big Spitfire has had its wings "on", rather than the fuselage just sitting on the wings. I know it's not exactly big - at 63ins, it's about average for a club model - but I still can't get over the size of it. The Spitfire in the background has a 47ins wingspan - and the tailplane of the big one just looks huge compared to it!

I loved my Gangster. It was the old one, so must have weighed in at about 10lbs fully loaded (Super Tigre 63 power). It flew great, and even survived a mid-air! It was one of those I wish I hadn't parted with (same with my Splatfire).

Flew this one again last night. A bit of a breeze, so didn't do much, but definitely building up some confidence with it. I tried a loop in the stiff breeze, and it sailed through that no bother. Will try a roll but think I need a bit more movement in the ailerons.

Nobody up at the field tonight, which was probably down to it being a bit breezy, but I braved it for one flight with the FT Spitfire. We just flew a few minutes of circuits - plus a loop - before calling it a day with the smoothest landing I have ever done!

Oops! I may have started cutting foam for number 10....

Good effort!

Flew the FT Spitfire last night - for about 30 seconds! I was only up a few feet and the prop decided it didn't want to be a part of the aeroplane any more, and it decided to leave home! So, with maybe 15ft on the clock, I managed to make a full circuit and plop down at the end of the runway. No further attempts were tried as the prop nut was no longer present and I didn't have a spare! Then I tried the Balsa Basics Spitfire. It launched OK, but I found it to be tail-heavy again, like on the first flight, even though I fitted a heavier battery. I wasn't happy with the handling, so called a landing after a couple of circuits, but broke the prop and.... didn't have a spare! Still, at least they came home in one piece.

Spitfire shenanigans tonight! Test flights for the 85% and 100% versions. The smaller one flew, but not well. LOTS of trim. I think part of the issue was the battery being too big and causing it to nose towards the ground (which is weird, because the other 85%er flies with the same battery, and it seems to be slightly tail-heavy!). It needed a lot of left-trim as well, but flew OK once it was sorted. Broke the prop on landing, and didn't have a spare, so that was that. The bigger one, though..... The first flight didn't start well, as it didn't go from an underhand launch like the others usually do, so club-mate Brendan did an overhead launch, but the throttle had to be flat-out. It flew, and pretty well, but seemed to lack power, even flat-out. So, a landing was called for, and I was going to call it quits for the evening, until Mark asked if I had set my throttle limit. I said no, so we did that. And now I have a new favourite Spitfire....! (The photos are back to front - first three are the 100% Spit, the second three are the 85%.)

Spitfire shenanigans tonight! Test flights for the 85% and 100% versions. The smaller one flew, but not well. LOTS of trim. I think part of the issue was the battery being too big and causing it to nose towards the ground (which is weird, because the other 85%er flies with the same battery, and it seems to be slightly tail-heavy!). It needed a lot of left-trim as well, but flew OK once it was sorted. Broke the prop on landing, and didn't have a spare, so that was that. The bigger one, though..... The first flight didn't start well, as it didn't go from an underhand launch like the others usually do, so club-mate Brendan did an overhead launch, but the throttle had to be flat-out. It flew, and pretty well, but seemed to lack power, even flat-out. So, a landing was called for, and I was going to call it quits for the evening, until Mark asked if I had set my throttle limit. I said no, so we did that. And now I have a new favourite Spitfire....! (The photos are back to front - first three are the 100% Spit, the second three are the 85%.)

So, I had this bright idea a couple of weeks ago, where I would order a canopy for a 1600mm Flightline Spitfire IX to fit the big Spit. My thinking at the time was it would fit the big Spit OK, and would add a touch of class to it. Plus, it would show off the Spit's pilot, as nobody wants an empty cockpit, especially on a big unit like this! So, fast forward to this morning, and the postman brings a nice, shiny, brand spanking new Spitfire IX canopy to the door, and..... It won't fit. My rear fuselage is too high by about half an inch, and the canopy too narrow at the back. I think the phrase rhymes with 'clucking bell'. I had previously tried using a cut-down Coke/Pepsi bottle, but the result wasn't great. So, it looks like it will be a "closed office", like on my little PR Spit. Shame, really, but there it is.

Decided to take the micro Spit out for a run this morning. The wind couldn't make up its mind what it was doing, so nothing too mad was done.

Calling it done. This is the little 85% FT Spitfire, and it's turned out pretty nicely.

The little one got some paint on yesterday (although I'm changing the spinner colour!)

Getting there.....