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Not sure if this is of interest, but I thought I'd share my latest project. Following on from the short but bright life of my Cambrian Funfighter Spitfire. It's still alive, but has eaten props and ESCs at an unacceptable rate so is on the naughty step to think about what it's done. I felt that a similar model would better suit my needs. I loved the way the funfighter flew once it was up, but getting it there and then back down without something breaking was getting a bit tiresome. I love what we used to call 25-size models. And now I have 3S 2200 packs doing nothing. So I have a design brief: Around 42" span and around 2- 2 1/2 lbs. That will mean decent performance on the 3536 1200kv motors I have, and 6 minutes of fun It needs to be a spitfire; that itch is not fully scratched yet I want retracts. I don't care if they are impractical. I may even still hand launch and belly land (fling and flop as we used to say), but they give me options for taking off, landing, and looking cool. So, with huge thanks Peter Miller and Richard Wills (and in absence, Ian Peacock), a hybrid plan is hatched. Peter has designed some beautiful models. Currently he is enjoying Destiny at our strip, and it is possibly the best looking sport model I have seen. In this series of models is Harmony. 42" Span and with a wing platform that is virtually identical to a Spitfire. In my stash of plans, I have a plan by Ian peacock for a 42" Spitfire. There we have it; Harmony wing, Spitfire fuselage. My adherence to Ian's design is very loose. I have been hugely impressed by Richard Wills' design strategy of using a 'crutch' and few formers. This ensures the fuselage stays straight. His use of foam decks makes life very easy, and I happen to have the 'scrap' pieces from inside my Yak decks, which looked a similar size. So I have used Richard's fuselage idea with Ian's dimensions. I chose to use a large battery hatch from spinner to behind the cockpit. This is to solve the terrible access to the motor the Cambrian kit has, and to allow me to access the radio gear. This is necessary becausue the model is one piece. Makes life a load easier and withstands belly landing in our tall crops that surround the strip. The wing is close to Peter's design, but the section is thicker Peter kindly printed a set of rib patterns at 14%. I think the original is 12%. This gives me room for the retracts. I have moved the main spar back by 10mm to make room for 2.5" wheels, and used a slotted lightply main spar to save another few millimeters. Out of interest, I used foamboard for the outer ribs. A nice material to work with. The wing is fully sheeted becasue see-through spitfires are just not right! The sheeting is a little heavy due to the lockdown balsa shortages, but it's OK. Here's a few pictures of the build so far. She is A Harmony/ Spitfire hybrid. A Harmfire, if you will... Graham
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