From: torsten@rnivh.rni.sub.org (Torsten Leibold)
Newsgroups: rec.models.rc
Subject: Re: Suggestion on prop for ASP .75 ?
Date: 14 Nov 92 17:03:14 GMT
Organization: Rhein-Neckar-Informationsdienst Viernheim

elec140@csc.canterbury.ac.nz writes:

>I've built and modified a Dynaflight 40 sized Spitfire, so thought I'd
>throw in a few comments.

Great, I'm interested in that kit also.

>It's a good kit to modify, since you don't feel bad about cutting
>into or discarding a beautifully shaped kit part...

;-) That's the only positive point on that topic ...

>The Spitfire also has quite a thick wing, and this does make it fly
>nicely. It's also not particularly scale (e.g. flat rear fuse bottom),

How about the wing outline ?? Is it really as round as the original ??
How has that been done ? By shaping large balsa trailing edges ?

>into the larger Mustang alright. Having said that, to get the retracts
>in I had to move the wing spar back 3/4", which meant recutting all
>the spar notches in the ribs. I added extra ribs and ply reinforcing

Oh, recutting would have been no problem, cause I had to do that
anyway. The notches were much too small to fit on the spar ...
It's a pity that I'm just finished with covering the wing (with
nylon), so I'm not quite keen on doing it again to add the retracts.
I'll give it a try next time...

>interfere with the aileron servo. To take the extra weight of the
>retract setup I replaced the balsa wing spars with spruce and fibreglassed
>the centre section.

I had really bad experiences with balsa spars previously, so I chose
to install pine spars in every model from then on. So I did with the
Mustang, but I'm still wondering whether the center section will stand
the forces - I did not glass it, the brace seems to be ok for that
light ship.

>I noticed that the cutaway diagram on the Spit instruction sheet also
>showed the wing attached with rubber bands. Thankfully the kit provided
>dowel and nylon bolt attachment.

Hmm, maybe I got an old kit and they added that in later kits ...

>I mounted my engine upside down, and it's totally hidden within the nose
>outline (except for the silencer). The plans called for mounting the
>engine on hardwood bearers - I added extra ply laminations to the
>firewall and used a commercial radial mount.

I thought about that also, and added two ply laminations on the fire
wall, which a bit weak anyway. But when I thought about installing a
radial mount I realized that the nose would be quite weak without the
maple spars, and so I decided to install the engine like the plans
suggested. Did you strengthen the nose in your setup ?

>Over all, the kit's seem to be what you pay for - quite cheap. However
>if you don't mind a bit of work in the building stage they produce good
>models - the Spitfire flies very nicely indeed, even slows right down
>for 3-point landings without tip-stalling.

:-) I hope so. Would be real bad if all that work would be wasted on
the first flight...

Bye,
  Torsten.

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