Trevor Crook

The structure of the Angel and similar models is certainly not built to withstand crashes, but is designed to be factory assembled and is very light. Before lockdown I took my Angel and Ballerina to the field, and pondered the differences, given they are almost the sams size, and both are powered by a 3s 4000 setup. The Angel has much better vertical performance, and lands at a much lower speed, due to its weight. Of course, it will also perform aerobatics very well, that's what it's designed for. This isn't a dig at Peter's Ballerina, which is a brilliant sport model, and, crucially, one which most of us can build easily. If a full set of drawings were available for the Angel, building it would be a massive challenge. For me, it's horses for courses. Depending on the end result I want, and taking account of my limitations, I build some from plans, some from kits, buy the odd wooden artf and have several foam warbirds. The choices we have available nowadays is one of the joys of the modern hobby.

Glad it was useful info. Yes, Tony's designs are primarily for ep. This has a couple of advantages for aircraft like the Spitfire - no sticky-out cylinder head or silencer to hide (and keep cool), and, with the appropriate motor, the ability to swing a scale multiblade prop. Mind you, having looked at a couple of projects from Jon of Laser Engines, he's managed to keep the engine bits almost invisible in a slim nose.

Clive First of all, apologies for my assumption that your Spitfire was the TN one, I think it's about the same size! My son has sent over a couple of photos of the Flightline Spitfire prop arrangement, which I have inserted below. The threaded part of the adaptor which passes through the prop hub assembly is 8mm in diameter. Hope this helps.

I'll get him to measure it and will report back when I get an answer, Clive. (He doesn't live with me).

Clive, certainly worth persevering, Tony's models always seem to fly well. I just downloaded the build article from his website, but couldn't see any reference to a specific spinner. I've had trouble sourceing scale looking spinners etc for my builds in the past. Keep us posted with progress.

Well worth the effort if you are enjoying the work. I've got an Angel 30, and it's a superb flier, and was an expensive model.

It"s probably a bit late, but there are all sorts of parts for a similar size Spitfire here: https://www.motionrc.eu/products/flightline-rc-spitfire-mk-ix-1600mm-pnp Motion RC provide a good turnround time, too. Don't know if the spinner could be adapted, but it's intended for a scale 4-blade prop with individual blades. If you used the right kV motor, the prop and spinner could be used, but I think the motor you mentioned earlier in the thread has too high a kV rating. Shame, as my son has this Flightline model, and it has power to spare with the factory 6s powertrain, and still performs well on 5s.

Richard makes a very good point about orientation issues with camoflaged models. However, with the Tempest you can pull the same trick that I did with a 56" Typhoon - model an aircraft used in the D-Day operation, those stripes are a massive help, as shown in the picture earlier in the thread.

Not sure what size your Spitfire is, but it appears these are in stock in the uk: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/avios-spitfire-plastic-scale-detailed-parts-mto.html This one is 1450mm span. I've got one, and have attached the cannon and radio aerials using rare earth magnets glued to the part and its location on the airframe. They hold on firmly, but "unclip" easily for transport and storage, and also in an "incident", without damaging the airframe. They are cheap enough, and the other parts could be used if the size is right. On my Typhoon of the same size, sealant nozzles were used, but they are a slightly different shape on that aircraft.

Have you checked whether Futaba make a wireless dongle like this one for FrSky: https://www.t9hobbysport.com/frsky-xsr-sim-usb-dongle Spektrum also make one for their systems.

Certainly kills the theory that some folk have that "all makes of foamy come out of the same factory". I love foam warbirds, the finish and general quality has improved tremendously over the years. My modelling abilities and patience don't stretch to building my own Spitfire, so I bought the Avios one and really enjoy pretending to be Ray Hanna. I don't mind the material it's made from, the real one wasn't made from balsa either!

From the description of the flaps, they must have changed this model since I had mine some years ago. There were recesses for flap servos, but none fitted, and the flaps had slots moulded in the top of the wing, but you would have to cut the ends chordwise to make bottom hinged plain flaps. Totally non-scale, so I taped over the slots and blended it in with paint. I could have left it at that, but I performed surgery on the underside and fitted split flaps, albeit without the third centre one. I also carved 3-port exhausts from balsa as the 6-port moulded ones supplied are incorrect for the period, although at least one Hurri flying today has them. The model looks right, and mine flew pretty well, with plenty of power. I always found it tricky to land, though. I had an elevator servo stop working after a few flights, fortunately during a ground check. The speed controller also behaved strangely, it would be hesitant to run the motor up unless you jiggled the throttle to let the prop spin up. I could have changed it but once running it was fine, and never gave problems in the air. I was able to live with these issues because I bought mine cheaply at a show. I probably wouldn't buy another Dynam, which is a shame as they have modelled some interesting types (Marauder, Black Widow etc.). I would agree with the positive comments about Freewing/Motion RC. Hobbyking's Durafly and Avios models are also pretty good, I've had several with few problems.

Rapid seem to have a fair selection: https://www.rapidrcmodels.com/slim-wing-servo-165-c.asp

Btw, Bob beat me to it with his response!

Clive, I'd suggest a 6s setup will be needed to fly that size of Spitfire. It's a little bigger than the Avios MkV (1450mm) and a little smaller than the Flightline MkIX (1600mm), and both of these are designed for 6s. I don't know what the AUW of yours will be, but my Avios is 6lb with a 6s 3300 Turnigy on board. These are not too expensive - I paid about £30 for mine. My model is fitted with a 380kV motor to turn the scale 15x10 3-blade prop, and has an 80A esc. I haven't done any power measurements on the Avios, but we did with my son's Flightline when he was thinking of using a 5s pack. It read 1200W with the 6s, and 950W with the 5s. The 5s flew it acceptably. Hope this data helps, feel free to ask any further questions. I know the models I've got access to are foam ARTFs, but they are not super light, and are of similar sixe to your project.

Years ago, Kodak Instamatic from my mate's Yamamoto when he was trying aerial photography. Never found it. More recently, I learned that it's a good idea to threadlock the screws holding the rear of an outrunner to its x-mount. Said motor launched itself from the front of my SE5a, but luckily stayed plugged in to the esc so the cg stayed managable. The prop ate some of the nose before I could close the throttle, but I managed to land it without further damage. This photo was taken about 2 seconds before it happened.

The OP was using a Spektrum radio. To avoid any confusion on his part, with Spektrum you just have to make sure that you bind the receiver to a model number in the tx that isn't already used by another receiver. You don't have to assign a number to the receiver when doing this, as you do with the Frsky system. Modelmatch will work perfectly if only one receiver is bound to each model memory in the Tx.

Indeed. I buy what I can from UK suppliers and my "local" (half an hour away) model shop, but have several of the excellent Durafly and Avios models that are only available from Hobbyking. Always ordered them from the UK warehouse though. I've ordered the odd small item from overseas, but only of a value that I can afford to lose, though that hasn"t happened so far. Not tried Bangood though.

If your charger can perform a discharge/charge cycle, it may be worth trying this. I've restored several NiMh packs that have been neglected by using the charger to discharge at 1A to 1V/cell, then perform a delta peak charge at 0.8A. I've found that charge current avoids false peaking, and that a couple of cycles restores most of the capacity. If you do this though, leave the battery for a few days then test its capacity, either on a charger or in the tranny, in case it was a temporary recovery. If in any doubt, obviously replace the pack. Modern Eneloop types are very good.

Still waiting to try my Provost. I had an unsuccessful attempt pre-lockdown when it wouldn't climb away from launch, but that was with a 25C battery. I now have a couple of 40C packs, which boost the thrust from about 450g to over 500. Haven't been able to try it yet as I don't want to self launch for a maiden, and musn't use anyone else at present.

I've used ic props on many electric models in the past, when I haven't had the correct size electric prop. They work fine, but I'd agree they are not as efficient as a decent ep prop. I've never had any problems with their long term use on the motor. The ic ones I used were mostly the Graupner grey ones, left over from my ic days. I have found APC electric props to be very good, but as said above the tips are quite fragile. The Master Airscrew look better, but when I put a pair on my Mosquito to replace some APCs, there was slightly less thrust for the same current.

Postponed until next year now, probably wisely.

It looks fantastic, well done. The radial really suits it.