1/12 Spitfire for aircombat contests

[Timo Starkloff]

Next year will be the first aircombat world championship since 2018. The last ones have been postponed because of the Covid situation.

https://www.wasg2025.de/

 

Once there was a great group of British 1/12 aircombat squadrons, but contests ceased some years ago. I'm still in contact with some of them, they're very nice people. It would be great to have a restart for aircombat in the UK. I'll soon post some other news about this exciting contest with cheap and easy to build models and contacts to many European countries.

 

So this is a good time to start a new project! I've had some ideas for a 1/12 Spitfire sind some years, but never managed to start proper drawings. I've built and flown plenty of different fighter planes in contest, but the Spitfire was still missing. The main goal is a tough and easy to build/fly model. But beneath the different versions (Merlin/Griffon & flat/razorback fuselage) there is the difficult decision, how much simplified and how scale the model should be. I think I'll build two versions and compare the outcome.

 

Wish you all a Merry Christmas,

Timo

 

 

Edited December 22, 2024 by Timo Starkloff

[Timo Starkloff]

Preparing a wing with the AG35 airfoil as a test, flat bottom and hopefully easy stall characteristics.

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

Second wing with proven S8052, fast and manouverable. It's already easier to build than the AG35, since the shape of the airfoil with a soft curve is easier to be cut by hand. And bottom and top sheeting have nearly the same dimensions. Center piece is simplified, too.

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Why not a 3d printed one, a club member printed a nice one.

[Timo Starkloff]

They’re occasionally flown at our contests but don’t survive contact or collisions with other models. Quite often a not so perfect landing leads to breakage.

 

Timo

[Timo Starkloff]

First wing panels are nearly finished and the fuselage already started 🙂

 

Timo

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Interesting use of stressed skin construction Timo - unless my eyes deceive me, there are no spars in the outer wing panels and they are simply glued to the root ribs...  What are you covering with?

 

When I competed, blue foam was the material of choice for both wings and fuselage, covered with brown paper/PVA (double layered across the centre).  Strong enough to not require any internal spar (although I did reinforce some with a couple of spanwise carbon tows under the brown paper to help resist bending loads).  This construction made models eminently repairable with fast epoxy after a collision or other "whoopsie" - often mid-contest.  I recall some raised eyebrows when one pilot turned up with a balsa model and he was adjudged to be "a brave man"...

 

One pilot (who regularly contributes to this forum) produced a number of models with very lightweight moulded glass fibre/carbon fuselages which were very successful (he still flies them for sport occasionally) and he pioneered electric power although a 7 minute combat bout was marginal on the LiPos of the day.  Are IC power plants still in common use or are EP considerations responsible for the choice of balsa airframes?

[Timo Starkloff]

Foam is still the choice for most aircombat models, in many cases still covered with brown paper. The toughest planes are built like F3K gliders with reinforcements and a smooth and high quality surface, they need some special building skills. But you can build and fly whatever you want. A small company in Moldova is specialised on hollow glass fibre models (including the tail). In my case, I like building with wood. I did models from foam, but many people still have an adversion to cut foam wings or fuselages. Since I publish many of my plans I try to design them, so it's easy for others to build them, too.

EPP is only used for EPA class. It's slow with low power brushless motors and just 3S1300 accumulators - but it's lots of fun.

 

IC engines and brushless are around 50-50 in contests. The classic .15 models are slightly better with an electric setup, the bigger .25 aber mostly equipped with ic engines. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but again, it also depends on personal decisions.

 

Which models did you build for aircombat?

 

Timo

[Timo Starkloff]

It's also possible to have a tough aircombat models built from wood. On my Typhoon I coloured the repaired parts silver until there wasn't much brown left, then painted it in camouflage again and started applying silver a second time on repaired parts. And of course, the Yak-9 is also hard to destroy and has plenty of lives. It not only depends on a tough design but also on good repairability 🙂

 

Timo

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

Today I started building the fuselage.

 

Timo

 

 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

5 hours ago, Timo Starkloff said:

Which models did you build for aircombat?

 

Timo

I started off with Mainly Models' Hellcats and won one of their BF109 kits.  After that, I built an "own design" Me309 - legal as the prototype flew in period although it was dropped in favour of further development of the FW190.  It was reasonably successful but I came across another prototype that took my fancy - the Hawker Tempest MkI which had a drag reducing arrangement with radiators in the wings rather than the chin radiator of the MkV - both using the remarkable Napier Sabre engine.  Much faster than the MkV, it was dropped due to Air Ministry concerns about radiator vulnerability - odd, as the Mosquito had them and they were adopted for the Tempest based Sea Fury.  Happily for me, my Tempests (I built 3) flew beautifully - and more importantly managed to blunder into enough streamers to win me the UK championship in 2009.

 

 

 

 

[Daren Cogdon]

I remember when this was the new thing, back in the late 90s/early 2000s.  Still got a couple of David Boddington plans for a Spitfire XIV and Me109E, but never got around to building them.  

 

I built a Flite Test Spitfire scaled down to 85%, which works out at around 36ins span (so roughly 1/12 scale), but probably not tough enough for combat! 

[Dickw]

While we are waiting for the next instalment of the Spitfire build I will add my own combat history.

 

My interest in combat developed at the same time as I as was also thinking about having a go at "moulding", and being all electric I obviously had to include that as well. The result was a Hawker Hurricane which was sort of OK but pushing the limits of electric power systems, particularly as the rules at that time limited me to a 9x5 prop, and I decided I needed a bit more wing area to handle the battery weight.

 

Looking around for something suitable I came up with the Ki64 for which a prototype had been flown before the end of the war so making it combat legal (just!). That worked a lot better and subsequent rule changes allowing bigger props really made it come alive. The Ki64 is a fascinating plane (look it up), and as the Japanese only managed to fly one prototype I have now flown more than they did!

 

The plug for the fuselage shape is carved from blue foam and covered with glass cloth and epoxy, from which a mould can be taken. The wings are blue foam and were covered in brown paper for the Hurricane and glass/epoxy for the Ki64. Tail feathers are sheet balsa.

 

Dick

Edited December 26, 2024 by Dickw

[Timo Starkloff]

Thanks for sharing pictures and stories! That looks great 🙂

The huge advantage of aircombat flying is that you get lots of experience in short time. Building and even designing your own models, flying in all weather conditions. Repairing the models afterwards 😅

 

I'm close to finishing the wooden parts.

 

Timo

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

A quick update ob the latest progress 🙂

 

The outer part of the ailerons is glued to the wing. The three wing parts are just glued together, no reinforcement needed just lots of glue on the surface to connect the wing sheeting.

 

The wing area is a good portion wider than the Bf 109. Useful for aircombat flying 🙂

 

Regards, Timo

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Timo Starkloff

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

3 hours ago, Timo Starkloff said:

The wing area is a good portion wider than the Bf 109. Useful for aircombat flying 🙂

 

Regards, Timo

I'll second that.  My 109 was a handful with a couple of streamers on one wing - cost me 200 points when it flicked off a turn and splatted the wrong side of the safety line!

[Timo Starkloff]

Yes, that can be difficult sometimes 😁

More power helps!

 

I've added some reinforcements for the fuselage and ailerons. Servos will be installed very simple, not nice but useful in contest. It did take longer doing all the sanding, but the result looks great. Next task is applying colours 🙂

 

Weight is a bit higher than usual with around 330 grams, due to the fact that I used mainly hard/heavy balsa (leftover from previous projects) and maybe I reduce the part number by a few pieces for the next one.

 

Timo

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

Some last minor jobs.

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

Weight is ok, although a bit heavy for contest. As it is just a proof of concept plane I used leftover heavy balsa. Weight always sums up quickly 🙂

 

Happy New Year!

Timo

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

Comparison with the different 109 wings. The upwards shape of the Spitfire cowling should be better for hard landings, the prop is higher and better protected.

 

 

Edited January 4 by Timo Starkloff

[Timo Starkloff]

Some last jobs & changes. I put the ailorn servos further away from the fuselage. Seemed like a good idea, but they're too close to the fuselage in case of a collision or crash (fuselage would damage the servo). It's also the place where the exhaust fumes pass by, should I change for a .15 engine. The big wing fillet leads the rubber band too close to the aileron, so I switched to screw & dowel.

 

Weight is ok for the model, but should be lighter for contest. This one is just for testing, but the next one will be simplified and lighter for contests.

 

Today I've made the first flight of the Spitfire 🙂

It went fine and succesful, the way we always wish. Hand start was good, no tendency to the left. A bit of trimming and shew flew nice. Rolls should be quicker, turns are tight and nice without effort on the elevator. Absolutely no tendency for stall, even when pressed with low power and increasing elevator. Landing was easy, motor off and a good glide, touchdown at very low speed. Flying is really good, visibility of the withe stripe is perfect.

 

I'll have to do some improvements concerning center of gravity (getting rid of the extra 15 grams and trying to bring the accumulator further forward, or moving elevator servo forward. But I'm really looking forward to the next flights! And I have some work to do for improving the plan. It's not very long until the start of contest season.

 

Regards, Timo

 

 

[Timo Starkloff]

Double posting due to very slow website, is it possible to delete one of them?

Timo

Edited January 12 by Martin Harris - Moderator
Deleted double post as requested

[Steve Adams]

On 04/01/2025 at 10:54, Timo Starkloff said:

Comparison with the different 109 wings. The upwards shape of the Spitfire cowling should be better for hard landings, the prop is higher and better protected.

 

 

Do you have plans available for any of your aircraft including these Timo?

[Daren Cogdon]

Like the look of the Spitfire XIV.

[GrumpyGnome]

I'm probably in the minority, but I like late mark Spitfires with pointy fin, Griffon engine, bubble canopy and clipped wings....