Laser cut Spitfire build

[Steve Blanchard]

I purchased a couple of the laser cut 400 series kits and decided to start with the Spitfire. I modeled after the night fighter version as I really like over all black look and haven't seen it modeled before. I am planning on flying it in FAC WWII mass launch so I had to consider the weight when I was building. This will have to be able to fly well to be competetive. Here are some bones shots. I removed a lot of the wood in the fuselage formers and I only used half the wing ribs.

[Steve Blanchard]

I laminated the outlines for the tail group. This will give a strong yet light structure with minimal wood. I always felt the stab and rudder on most Guillows kits had too much wood. This is an easy way to save weight and I believe it looks better. I also increased the size of the stabilizer by around 10%. This will help tremendously with stability. The next few shots show how I did the laminations. They are 3 strips of 1/32 balsa around a meat tray foam form.

[Steve Blanchard]

This is how I dealt with the nose area. I thought about replacing the plastic with built up balsa but realized that if I did it correctly the plastic would work fine. This shows how I put balsa in the back end of the nose so it would mount better to the fuse. The other shot shows how I laminated pieces to create a place for the removable nose plug.

[Steve Blanchard]

I usually use Esaki or Japanese tissue on all of my builds. I decided to use Easy Built Light tissue on this because the wingspan is so large that weight was less of a concern. Also when I do a black covering job with Esaki I have to chalk the back with black pastels to get a nice opaque finish. With the Easy Built tissue I didn't need to do this.
The panel lines are white gel pen with gray marker over it to dull it down a bit.

[Steve Blanchard]

I spent a little extra time on the cockpit as I may enter it in scale. Even though there are no points given for dressed up cockpits in FAC scale judging, I believe it lends to the amount of care and work put into the model which would hopefully persuade the judges when looking at all of the other structure to be judged. Besides I like a moderately complete looking cockpit.

[Steve Blanchard]

The next shots are the finished product. I did not use the decals supplied. They were not the same as the version I was modeling and that definitely counts toward judging. I used inkjet printed plain paper. It was adhered using UHU glue stick. Oh yeah, I strictly used glue stick for all of my covering. The canopy lines are tissue strips glued on with glue stick. After all of the panel lines are done and the markings are glued on and dry, I spray all of the parts with Krylon Crystal Clear. Then I put the whole thing together and start to add details such as the gun sight, cannons, guns (these are tubes inserted into hole I drilled into the leading edge of the wings per FAC rules of 3-D guns), antenna and wire (lycra thread colored with a sharpie) and canopy. Glide tests show the model really floats and at 67.5 grams with a 158 square inch wing area I have a wing loading of .43 grams per square inch which is very good for a model this size. I am hopeful it will perform well.





The prop is a Peck 9" prop. I will start trimming with 2 loops of FAI 3/16" Super Sport at whatever length gives me 15% of the total weight of 67.5 grams. This is to adhere to the 15% percent rule we fly with locally. That's all! I hope you all enjoy the pictures and I will follow up with flight reports hopefully soon.

Steve

[flash52]

You have a great looking Spitfire. An interesting change from the camo version. The Spit is one of the harder planes to trim for free flight. Any special tips for trimming this model?

[BassettsAllSorts]

Hi Steve

That looks fantastic! I really love the detailing you have done especially the cockpit.

I think the black paper finish looks really good and showing the way you saved weight on the stabiliser and rudder was very informative.

I can't wait to hear about the flights.

Great job!

Tom

[jpuke]

Nice job, the panel lines against the black tissue are terrific.

I'd love more info on the laminated/curved surfaces for the stabilizer and rudder. Did you use CA glue as the adhesive? I keep wanting to try a laminated outline for tail surfaces but I don't think I know what I'm doing.

[Phugoid]

Stunning, a really nice job

[Steve Blanchard]

Thanks everybody for the kind words.
Flash, I will handle the trimming as I would all of my other low wingers. I have wash out in both tips about 3/32" right now. I will add more to each wing individually as I begin to see what tendencies she has in flight. I will more than likely start with a shim of about 1/8" for down thrust and as I watch the powered flights I will adjust for side thrust and possibly more down as needed. I don't believe in forcing a model to follow a predetermined path. Low wingers are normally best going left in power and right in glide but there is the rare occasion where it just wants right in power and will not do well at all to the left. I try to listen to the model with each test flight until I get it dialed in.
jpuke, I use Titebond watered down 50/50 for laminations. I just paint it onto the strips with a small brush and then layer them together and then pull it around the forms. Be sure to coat the edges of the form with wax (I use crayons so I can see the coverage) so the laminations won't stick stick too bad to the forms.
The rest of my build is with thin CA applied with a tool I made that is just a balsa stick with 2 pins coming together at the point. I can pick up a tiny drop from a pad of wax paper and apply it to the 2 parts that are already positioned together. The bond is instant and I move on. Contrary to popular belief I feel this is one of the lightest ways to build. I use much less glue than if I did it it with any other method. I will show pics of this method as I start the Cessna 180 build in the group thread.

Steve

[Steve Blanchard]

Looking at the shots again I realized I haven't made the tail wheel. I will do that tonight. I also will move the rear peg up to the trailing edge of the wing because I already need nose weight and I want to reduce the amount of weight I am going to need to fly this. I will put a sleeve over the rear peg inside the plane so the rubber can move and twist freely as it unwinds and eliminate the chance of it bunching up at the peg. I will post more pics when the changes are done.

Steve