Tony Nijhuis 63" Spit

[Martin McIntosh]

A 2" wide strip of 50gm/sq m is sufficient.

[Shaun K]

Thanks guys. I'll get hold of some lighter cloth. There's a commercial fibreglass supply business that I ride past each day on my way home from work so I'll stop in.

Eric - yes, it was actually a 9' sailboard that I made, though being an Aussie living only 12km from the beach and a similar distance to the largest lake in the southern hemisphere it's almost mandatory to learn to surf/sail/waterski at some point in your life.

The problem with our nice weather and the great surf beaches around our area is that there are too many toys to choose from - I have to balance my time building and flying with my other loves of road cycling, surfing, sailboarding, snowboarding in our short winter snow season down in the southern highlands, making home brewed beer for the hot summer months...

Oh, and there's spending time with the family too...

[James Wigglesworth]

Great thread and loads of hints and tips. Have just bought the 63" Spit kit (CNC and wood pack) at Wings and Wheels in Northweald. Will be my first build (since a teenager) and should prove interesting. This is more about the building at the moment, I normally fly rotary wing so I guess I  will have to get the trainer out and get some practice in so as to be able to fly this without wrecking it on the maiden flight.

  am sure I will be back with some questions. Chingle hall Model site link (from the first page of the thread) was also very useful. Particularly about the aileron servo mounts.

 Cheers,
James

[Martin McIntosh]

Just tried my Spit on a Master airscrw 12x6 three blader after reinstalling a YS63. The model looks a lot better on the ground and flies fine, albeit with noticeably less oom-paa paa but the YS is not too happy at the lower revs, making the top end needle setting rather critical. A lower revving less fussy motor would probably be OK. May try reducing the diameter very slightly.

[Harry Evans]

I would appreciate some advice.    I've just started the 63" spitfire - on sheet 1 (centre Bottom) which is the correct left hand side? Does the plan view show that the right side is shorter?

Regards

H

[Martin McIntosh]

Hi H, without looking at the plan, I assume that you mean the fus sides? Normally the right hand side is shorter to give the correct ammount of right thrust on the motor mount, which should be offset to the left to keep the crankshaft on the centreline of the model. Quite easy to draw in on the top view using a protractor. MM.

[Harry Evans]

Thanks Martin

The fus plan has mini fus sides shown for reference with the note "Fuselage length shorter on left hand side to allow for engine side thrust".  The actual top view on plan appears top show the right hand side shorter (with the main engine former angled to give 2 degees side thrust).  You have cleared up any doubts I had, it must be a slip of the hand when the plan was printed & I did not have the experience to see it (I hope).

 H

[Martin McIntosh]

Hi H, yes I remember now, there are a few little things like that to watch out for!

[Harry Evans]

 Help!  Anybody recognise thes formers,  cannot find them on the plan - F2 has been extracted.HarryThanks to Lee & Timbo for simple instructions on uplinking images - H

[Harry Evans]

To James Wigglesworth

Also 'Born again' on retirement!  Are you having the same problems as me with the Spitfire?

Harry

[Brian Lambert]

Is that the motor box for the electric version?

Brian 

[James Wigglesworth]

Harry,

I have had to shelve the start of the Spit as something else has come up and we are putting the house up for sale. Would not be a good time to start, shame since I have bought almost all but the motor.  So in asnwer to your question, No, as I have not started. Though looking at the plans there are areas I am sure that I am going to come unstuck on. Goodd luck.

J

[Harry Evans]

Thanks Brian

I was not aware that there was an electric option for the 63".  I would appreciate any further comments on the formers or confirmation that they arre for an electric option.

H

[Harry Evans]

Ref request for info on formers posted 1st aug - can anyone confirm the CNC kit  former use for the 63" - please?

Regards

H

[Andy Musgrove]

Hi all, i have been reading your threads with great interest as i am just about to start a 62" build, anyone got any views or opinions on fitting an OS FS70 ? i would be interested to hear your views as this is my first Spitfire of this size

Thanks

Andy

[Angus Cargill]

myself and another club member, Jack have started the full kit/retracts option. We are considering glasscloth and hardglaze floor varnish (cos its water based) however the threads seem to say that the solarfilm option works well,. so  this option is back on the table. we are both using thunder tiger 75's FS possibly a tad over powered but genuine new 60s' seem hard to come by.   We are not adding wash-out as per plan (but against scale, the real one had a couple of degrees) SO, Tony, if your listening our trust is in you! 

Typically , I got the 'kit' which had warped wing ribs and the fuselage sides were missing the cockpit cutouts also the edges were well off being straight . the instructions for the side thrust were wrong --------its OK ,I always get these ones. i have learned to work around these difficulties. its comming together OK though now---I think. 

I am still happy with the kit, what a great designer I am hoping to try the hurricane next----but Tony designs faster than i can build!   ----keep them comming Tony i just love to drool over them.

  

[Harry Evans]

Andy

I have a fs70 surpass which I am trying to fit to the Spitfire but now find that the total distance from F1 to the nosering is increased by 1" . I've not much experience so am not sure if this is acceptable.  I would welcome any comments from the forum.

 H

[Shaun K]

Harry,Tony Nijhuis mentioned in his build article that the Spit took 8-9 ounces of nose weight to get the C of G right. I have the same Magnum/ASP 61FS that Tony used.

I haven't finished my build yet, so I have no flying details to give, however in attempt to avoid adding 9 ounces of weight I did my own mod on the plan and added 30mm to the length of the nose to get the engine further away from the C of G.

It remains to be seen exactly how much difference this makes to the balancing act, but it certainly hasn't ruined the overall look of it in my opinion and it wasn't difficult to do. I'm probably only a few weekends' work away from finding out how much (if any) lead I will need because I've also got a 5-cell 3800mAh subC NiMH battery pack ready and waiting for duty if more nose weight is needed. With a long nose and a big battery pack I'm hoping I won't need any dead weight.

Bearing in mind the balance issue, a little longer in the nose and a little heavier engine with more grunt on offer won't be a terrible thing. Good luck.

[Harry Evans]

Shaun

Thanks Shaun, that gives me a bit of confidence to carry on with the bigger engine & the extra 1" on the nose.  This is my 1st build after many (many) years away from the hobby.  I am just about to fit the front top planking (9mm) between F1 & The cockpit.  I assume the tank is fitted from underneath?

H

[Shaun K]

Yes, I'm sure there's plenty of room to fit quite a large tank in through the wing seat.

[Andy Musgrove]

Hi Harry

i did approach Tony regarding fitting the 70 and he thought the additional weight wouldnt be a problem, but just to be careful on the throttle! i wouldnt have thought the additional lenght would be a major problem either - i have not actually started mine yet so i am glad you brought it up. good luck.

[Harry Evans]

Thanks to all for their advice. Great to know there is help out there.

H

[Shaun K]

Hi all, if anyone's still listening on this thread, after an unwanted 6 month break from my Spifire build I have a silly question. Again...

 

I've bought the standard white plastic Du-Bro control horns which look great for an aileron whose leading edge is anything less than 12mm thick and I'm interested to know how others have fitted the aieron horns to the quite thick (around 17mm) leading edge of the aileron.

 

Should I put the Du-bro plastic horns in the spares box and get some other type?

 

Just use longer screws than those supplied?

 

Scrap the machine screws and use small wood screws?

 

Dig a square hole into the aileron to bed the horn and back plate into?

 

Advice would be appreciated.

[Martin McIntosh]

Shaun, do as I do. Chuck the commercial plastic horns and make your own to any shape you wish from 1/16" epoxy glass printed circuit board ( from Maplins). Epoxy into place after drilling several small holes to grab the glue. Only use ball links as a quick link will soon wear out the hole.

[Shaun K]

Thanks Martin, once again with great ideas.

 

By the time you had replied I'd already bought another Du-Bro adjustable horn and I'm sure it will do the job just fine.  It's really just a long screw with some extra bits attached.

 

Finally I can now say that my contruction stage is complete and I'm ready to move onto the covering and painting. Woohoo!!!

 

Harry Evans asked some time ago about fitting an OS70 and needing to add one inch to the nose length. For the sake of attempting to avoid adding lead I also aded 30mm to the length of the cowl, mounted the ASP .61 30mm further forward on the end of a 60-120 size engine mount and used 5x 3800mAh sub-C cells behind the firewall for the flight pack. A complete fitout of all parts prior to covering sees the CoG sit on the front edge of Tony's suggsted range with no added lead. That made me one very happy camper.

 

Here's a few pics of my progress. The keen eyed readers will notice a few small changes to a mk VIII fin/rudder and a more scale stab and elevator. I don't think the extra 30mm in the nose makes it look stretched. Hopefully it won't affect the flight characteristics too much.

 

 

Don't you just love that outline! I know I do...   I might need to be a bit conservative with control throws with the extra area on those elevators too.

Shaun K.