Warbird Replicas Spitfire LF mk IXc

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Colin. Many thanks for the info. More things learned today

[Colin Leighfield]

All good stuff Ady. Can't have too many Spitfire buffs!

[David Barker 2]

Hi all, I am new to RC modelling. Have bought Warbirds MK9 Spitfire kit. Looking forward to the build I have aDX6i Transmitter.Can someone please advise me do I go for a 6 channel receiver for this model or more. Also what make and type of servos to use. I have gone for the servoless undercarriage. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks..

[Ady Hayward]

Hi David, Welcome to the hobby and this build blog. Any compatible receiver of 6 channels or more will suit fine although only 5 channels are needed for this Spitfire. I would suggest a minimum of a 12g servo with 2.3 kg/cm torque or more up to a standard size servo. The servoless U/C is the standard so fine there. I would suggest you check they are ok for a 3kg + aircraft as there are some made for lighter planes only, and also check that they fit the ply mounting plate provided.

This Spitfire is said to be a very sweet flyer but please, please learn on a trainer type first if you haven't started flying training yet, and also join a model flying club so you can benefit from club (BMFA) insurance and use of the club instructors. That way she should last a long time and keep you grinning like a Cheshire cat after every flight!

Adrian

Edited By Ady Hayward on 29/03/2015 20:05:06

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Folks,

As seen earlier I have chosen a more unusual colour scheme for my Spitfire with it being in desert camouflage as opposed to the more traditional Grey/ Green with optional "D-Day" stripes. The decal set available from Warbirds is for the latter markings and the mount "JE-J" of Wing Commander "Johnnie Johnson".

I found that for a very reasonable sum Warbirds can produce a special decal set to the customer requirements providing some colour images are supplied of the aircraft in question. I would assume that special additional artwork may incur additional charges.

The decal set created for me were fairly standard with exception of the addition of "Wing Commander" flashes and arrived nicely packaged by post within a couple of days of supplying the images by Email.

Many thanks to Richard and his team at Warbirds.

Adrian

[Ady Hayward]

Hi again,

I have decided to stick with the original undercarriage as mentioned earlier to keep things standard and to have the Spitfire as light as possible for the maiden. The stock units were offered to the mounting plates and a swift few cycles of each retract unit determined the wheel orientation needed to get the retract/ wheel to seat and then extend with an acceptable amount of toe out.

I have been assured by Richard at Warbirds that the toe out makes little difference to the ground handling. Following on with the checks it was found that the tyres were bottoming out on the wing ribs that passes through the wheel bay each side. A few minutes with a Dremel tool had the wheels seating nicely.

The DSR plate fixing holes were marked on the ply mounting plates followed by pilot holes and both units were fixed in position using small woodscrews or self tapping screws. The undercarriage plate area was then covered with two pieces of 1.6mm (1/16" balsa as illustrated to blend in with the rest of the wing skin.

After smoothing off the balsa the area had one layer of 18g glass cloth followed by a bit of blending in and feathering of glass edges.

The whole area then had a thin coat of lightweight filler (Spackle) which was carefully sanded back leaving the area as one with the wing skin. Weight of the wing now with undercarriage and aileron servos fitted is 755g (1lb 10.6 oz).

The U/C covers are simply ABS plates clamped onto the electrical connector fitted to the U/C leg. A very simple solution indeed.

Adrian

Edited By Ady Hayward on 31/03/2015 23:06:57

[Cliff Bastow]

Watching this with interest Ady. Looks great and I am sure it will be up to your usually quality.

can't wait to see this at the club.

cheers Cliff.

[Jon H]

Ady, sorry to be a pain again but I strongly recommend you remove your covers from the retract units and turn them into little doors. I built myself into a corner like this on my P40 and when I had a retract problem I ended up doing a lot of damage getting them out of the wings the amount of work needed to fix a simple problem was multiplied many times. All it was was a loose screw, a 5 minute job to fix. In the end it took 2 weeks as I had to hack the model apart, do the repair, fix the model, respray it and fuel proof it again. It was a total nightmare so I would urge you to make them into removable doors as retracts, especially electric ones, do pack up sometimes and need to be accessible.

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Jon,
Fear not, for I have a template of the DSR plates so it becomes easy to place over the bad DSR and simply cut around it. The balsa cover will then lift off as that area was not glued underneath just in case and at that point it will probably become a hatch.
Adrian

Edited By Ady Hayward on 01/04/2015 20:15:46

[Jon H]

Sounds good!

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Folks,
Time has come to fix the control surfaces in to position and is a straight forward operation to complete although the writing of the procedures took much longer than the operations themselves. I took this as the cue to fit the aileron servos in position making sure that the servo fixing plates were flush with the wing skin and the servo arm is in line with the centre of the aileron horn mounting plates.

First the ailerons were each offered in to their respective positions and their free play within the openings was checked. Where there was any binding light sanding was carried out to remove all interference at the root and tip. I then drew a fine pencil line along the top of the aileron leading edge where the sheet upper skin joins the aileron leading edge spar. The same was done to the trailing edge spar in the aileron cut out in the wing. This is so the hinge will lay next to the skin inside and get stuck to it when the hinge is glued in place.

Sufficient hinges for the aircraft were cut from the mylar strip provided and each hinge was folded in half then straightened and scored on both sides with glasspaper to ensure the best adhesion when glued in position.

The hinge positions are then slotted using a sharp scalpel blade to conform to the width of the hinges and the slots widened slightly to ease the fitting of the hinge in place.One by one each hinge was inserted into the aileron slot up to the fold. A small amount of C/A adhesive was released into the slot so capillary action will make it fill the void between the hinge and wing skin.

A small hole for the cocktail stick pin was carefully drilled some 4-5 mm from the hinge line ensuring it went through the hinge but not through the aileron underside.

A cocktail stick or similar was coated with a thin covering of C/A adhesive and then pushed through the hole and hinge and held in place until the C/A set fixing the pin in place along with the hinge.

The same procedure was repeated for the remaining aileron hinges. Each aileron was then offered to the wing and the hinge positions were marked and slots cut as before. All three hinges were bent upwards and the chosen aileron inserted into position ensuring the hinges inserted correctly.

The aileron was then removed and C/A adhesive smeared on the hinges before inserting the aileron in position for the final time ensuring it had free play each end. C/A adhesive was applied to the hinges as before as was the pinning process to the wing trailing edge. This was repeated for the remaining aileron. The ailerons were each moved through the full range of travel to ensure that the hinges are working correctly.

The elevators and rudder were hinged in a similar fashion except that the cocktail stick was marked and scored on the mark such that it will be about 80% the depth of the balsa it was going into.

This was so that when the pin was to be inserted, C/A was introduced into the hole, followed by the cocktail stick so that the scored mark lay just below the balsa surface.

When the C/A had set the stick was broken leaving the end just below the surface so there remained a shallow hole to be filled and sanded flush with the surface. Simples!

Adrian

[Ady Hayward]

The "Devil is in the detail" so they say and the canon blisters were no exception. I had spent a good deal of time finding detailed pictures of this aircraft as there is some discussion around the gun blisters and which type it had fitted. As it turns out there are very few pictures of it in existence on the internet but I found out that this plane was a conversion of a Mk V to Mk IX during manufacture it would have been fitted with the early wide gun blisters as supplied in the kit. It will be seen later that the conversion of the blisters to the later narrow type will be little problem just by using suitably sized formers.

The first task was to seperate the blister from the edging and this was done by carefully sanding the inside corner of the blister until the edge falls away.

Next was the sanding to match the wing curvature which was easily done by laying a sheet of glasspaper over the wing top surface and securing it with elastic bands.

The blister was sanded over the position it will lay until it conforms which took some 5 minutes per side to complete.

I used some scrap pieces of 1/4" balsa to make formers at the front and rear of each blister as shown to help fix in place, and also to give form and strength to the blisters.

A simple template was made from the plan to locate the canon positions and the blisters which were fixed in place using medium C/A adhesive.

Adrian

[Jon H]

I was just going to mention putting the glass paper on the wing and giving it a rub when I saw you had beaten me to it!

And I think its safe to say your hinges are safe. I don't bother with the sticks any more as it makes the hinges easier to cut out if the model is damaged. Also if you ever use the fluffy type mylar hinge make sure you install the surface to the wing/tail before adding the glue. If you don't the fluff will set rock hard and resemble the surface of a coarse permagrit block rendering the hinge useless Clearly when the hinge is stuck into the wood we want the fluff to set rock hard, but its not helpful in advance!

[Ady Hayward]

Thanks for the information Jon. Its these kind of tips that can save a newbee to the building scene a lot of upset.

Many thanks

Adrian

[Ady Hayward]

Further on with the detail.
I used the wing drawings provided to mark the canon positions on the wing. I then took some 12mm (1/2" square balsa and made the canon fairings and machine gun ports as seen. I used several pictures off the internet to get the shape about right before anything was glued to the wings. I used some glass paper wrapped around the leading edge to get the correct profile for the wing/ fairing interface.

When done I glued the machine gun fairings in place followed by the fixed part of the canon fairings. I cut the last 25mm (1" off the fairings so to make them removable and fixed the wing portions in place making sure their alignment were the same and pointing directly ahead.

I let a section of brass tube into the long section of the fairings and used that to mark the corresponding position in the wing parts which in turn were drilled to accept a short piece of brass tubing that will accept a cocktail stick. The canon was assembled with the cocktail stick holding the canon fairing in alignment and a 7-10 mm section was sanded away on both parts to allow for a card collar to be made.

The wing portion had a further 1mm or so reduction in diameter and a card collar was made and glued in place such that it matched the diameter of the long section of the fairing.

Another collar was made from card that was fixed to the long fairing and covered the wing portion as well so it created a sleeve. This was then carefully removed and strengthened using C/A adhesive and then filler (Spackle) was used to blend all the parts as necessary to get the final shapes such that the long portion of the canon fairings becomes removable.

The fairing can then be removed for transport or in the event of a landing in long grass the fairing can come apart without causing much damage apart from a broken cocktail stick.

Adrian

Edited By Ady Hayward on 14/04/2015 17:12:38

[Ady Hayward]

The radiator ducts were simply detached from the waste moulding and attached to the wing using thick C/A adhesive.

Before the scale purists reading this make note that the duct walls should be parallel, the tapered walls are for ease of release after moulding and simplicity. These will do the job well and should withstand the occasional belly landing should the need arise.

Adrian

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Folks. I've been a while researching some bits n bobs about the Spitfire here and sorting the paintwork as photos are very few and far between. Thankfully the actual Spitfire is modelled by "Gemini Aces" so it is as close to authentic as I can get it. (Mind you though. The researchers for this aircraft failed to notice that the rear view mirror was housed internally which is a little disconcerting). Many hours were spent adding primer and cutting it back until I was happy with things, and then I had to get used to a new spray setup to airbrush the plane.

Here is the first stage of painting. Thus far two 18ml pots of acrylic have gone on to the primed surfaces prior to any cutting back. Respective current weights are: Wing 802g, Fus 897g, Cowl 147g.

Adrian

[Tony Bennett]

looking lovely sir.

[Ady Hayward]

Many thanks Tony.

I have now found that dual action airbrushes are a skillset unto themselves.

Adrian

[Danny Fenton]

Looks great, you have obviously cracked it well done

There are a whole raft of skillsets to learn, that's the fun

Cheers

Danny

[David Barker 2]

Hi Ady, Is it best to join wing skins together then place on ribs first or in sections. As I am ready for this stage. Thanks Dave B

[Jon H]

Most kits suggest joining them first but personally I do them individually as they are far easier to deal with one at a time

Paint looks ace btw!

Edited By Jon Harper on 30/04/2015 17:02:52

[Ady Hayward]

Hi David,

Sorry for the delay replying. It is best to join the panel sections off the wing as they do form a 3d curvature once glued. Just be sure to do each half separately for the relative wing panel and fix in place once satisfied with the fit.

Adrian

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Folks.

It is really good to have support from the kit manufacturer and  Warbirds certainly sets the example of great support.

Richard Wills at Warbirds has asked that I include a note about the build of the motor mount/ battery tray in this blog to assist future builders.

Due to the differing sizes of motors and types of spinner used the motor mount as supplied may need a simple modification to ensure the best fit possible of the motor, propeller and spinner to the cowling. He suggests that the battery tray is not glued to F1 and F2 until the cowling is fitted to the built fuselage and the power system is checked for best fit. This will allow the builder to shorten the "Motor Mount Support" plate as needed by shortening the plate at the rear edge (As shown by the hatched area) and the lower locating lug to allow the built battery mount tray and motor mount to slide to the rear to obtain the best fit to the cowling. The tray can then be fixed fully when satisfied with the motor / spinner fit. Richard suggests that the FMS 3 blade Spitfire spinner is an easy compromise **LINK** These are available from example Wheel spin ( And should have a "N" suffix after the part number) but peoples may choose different combinations so this information will be very useful to prospective builders.

Adrian

 

Edited By Ady Hayward on 05/05/2015 22:55:00

Edited By Ady Hayward on 05/05/2015 23:02:42

[Ady Hayward]

Hi Folks. Sorry for the time delay. Unfortunately I have developed a few health issues that have caused rather too much delay on things than I would have liked, and will be on-going for a week or two more.
The Spitfire is still progressing and has the paint and decals applied. Just working on some cockpit detail, painting pilot etc at the moment. Flight will not be too long now.
Adrian