Flightline Spitfire 1200mm with sound module

[Kester Paine]

I saw a video on YouTube from David Ashby showing a clubmates Flightline Spitfire, fitted with MrRCSound. Does anyone have experience of fitting this sound system to the 1.2m version of Flightline Spitfire ? I'm thinking of doing just that and would love to hear of your experience, please.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I've not fitted it to the Flightline Spit, but I have done so to the FMS P51 - that was straight forward and worked well. Clear instructions etc.

I do have the 1600mm Flightline Spit and was considering putting a module in that. I haven't looked at this closely and I could be wrong, but my first impressions were that there wasn't a lot of suitable room - a bit of a squeeze. As I say I can't be sure of this but it might be worth checking the dimensions of the unit and making a card cut-out and experimenting with fitting it in. Remember you have to find space for the transducers as well - though that isn't such a problem. You might also want to consider a separate battery for it - and that's even more room and weight.

BEB

[Kester Paine]

Thanks. When you fitted the MrRCSound to the P51, where did you mount the transducers, fuse or wings ? And did you use one or two ? I not sure if to mount 2 xTT-25 in the radiator scoops of the Spit, but I think I might need to point them 'up', so that the wing transmits the sound, but then I'm not sure if most of the sound will be directed upwards.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Here we are... just iPhone footage I'm afraid. It did sound good though. 

I'll ask him to drop by if he can but Brain Collins' article on sound systems from the May 2018 issue might be a good starting point.

 

 

 

Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 21/09/2018 09:36:52

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Dear David , everything is on a high level as well as always

A lot of heartfelt greetings

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Hi Kester,

I mounted the transducer in the fuselage - on the side. I used just one for that aircraft and found it was fine.

You probably already know this, if so I apologise for repeating it, but the MrRC stuff works differently from most other sound systems. They are tranducers, not loudspeakers, so basically they are resonantors or shakers. Basically they work by being fixed to the wall of a big "boomy" box! They shake the wall of the box, that shakes the air inside the box and out it comes as sound. So to work best they need to be in a big hollow box!

Its exactly the same as how a violin works. The noise from just the string is tiny - but the vibration of the string (pssing through the bridge) transmits to the upper panel of the body - which is basically a big hollow box. Its the vibration of the air in that box that we hear.

So all this tells us that sticking the transducers to solid objects, or very small hollow boxes, won't work as well as sticking it to the biggest box we have - ie the fuselage!

One issue is: the system works fine in foam models, but obviously foam, by its nature, is rather softer and a bit absorbant of both the vibration and the resulting sound. It works best of all in a wooden box - then it really is loud! But don't get me wrong, even in a floam model its loud enough!

Hope this helps, again apologies if you had already sussed all of that but I thought it might be useful just to review it.

BEB

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Posted by Josip Vrandecic -Mes on 21/09/2018 10:51:19:

Dear David , everything is on a high level as well as always

A lot of heartfelt greetings

Thanks Josip, hope all's well with you

[Kester Paine]

Thanks BEB, that was useful. I had realised that MrRCSound uses transducers and that these need to resonate a surface, but hadn't twigged that it's best to fit them to a hollow box. Of that makes life a lot easier in terms of fitting

I was a bit concerned that adding the mrrcsound to a smallish plane might make it too heavy and a pig to fly, but I think with a 2800mAh 4S, and sound module, it'll probably be around 1870g all-up, which is the equivalent of fitting a 3300mAh lipo. The model spec says it should be able to cope with a 4000mAh lipo, so I think I'll be fine.

Still keen to know if the 1.2m flightline Spit is roomy enough inside to install the sound module without having to hack out a bundle of foam !

[Kester Paine]

Posted by David Ashby - Moderator on 21/09/2018 09:36:17:

Here we are... just iPhone footage I'm afraid. It did sound good though.

I'll ask him to drop by if he can but Brain Collins' article on sound systems from the May 2018 issue might be a good starting point.

Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 21/09/2018 09:36:52

Thanks David. The article you mention was very good. Indeed it started my thinking on this and made me realise that I'd need to look at the more expensive end of the sound module range if I want it to be heard !

Looking forward to seeing your clubmate on this thread