1/3 Spitfire

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David Brown
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1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » June 5th, 2015, 1:33 pm

Having sorted the engine I have now decided to do a 1/3 Spitfire. I have purchased a prototype kit from Rob Ellis which is a fiberglass fuselage with built up wings and tail surfaces. The wings are based on the Mick Reeves 1/4 scale plans blown up to suit 1/3. I am adapting the wing to be a 3 piece wing apposed to the 2 piece shown on the plan. At present I am just getting all of the bits together and sorting out design changes with my LMA inspector before I start building.
Attachments
Spit 004.JPG
Spit 004.JPG (205.21 KiB) Viewed 21822 times
Spit wing 001.JPG
Spit wing 001.JPG (208.5 KiB) Viewed 21822 times
3rd Spit 006.JPG
3rd Spit 006.JPG (176.94 KiB) Viewed 21822 times

rob ellis
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby rob ellis » June 5th, 2015, 1:49 pm

Congrats on your purchase dave,,, any issues or probs with any items from me please get in touch as I aim to help in anyway I can,,,, canopys should be pulled in the next week,,,,,
thanks again,,,,,,,
rob.

Tinus Nielsen
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby Tinus Nielsen » June 6th, 2015, 11:28 am

What do you estimate the final weight to be?

A friend of mine is on standby, waiting for my inline to reach a level where it runs reliably, and then he´s planning on building a 1:4 Spit Mk. XVI for a geared triple. That should make it possible to run a scale size 4-blade prop. And with a little planning it should also be possible to stay below the 25 kg limit.

I´m also very interested in your planned liquid cooling. Looking forward to hear more.

sean smith
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby sean smith » June 6th, 2015, 3:39 pm

When does the 25 Kg limit come in? I thought it was just a proposal at the moment.

Tinus Nielsen
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby Tinus Nielsen » June 6th, 2015, 8:07 pm

I live in Denmark where we have a max weight limit of 25 kg ready to fly. :-)

rob ellis
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby rob ellis » June 6th, 2015, 9:19 pm

Mike booth now does a beautiful highback mk14,,,
rob.




Tinus Nielsen wrote:What do you estimate the final weight to be?

A friend of mine is on standby, waiting for my inline to reach a level where it runs reliably, and then he´s planning on building a 1:4 Spit Mk. XVI for a geared triple. That should make it possible to run a scale size 4-blade prop. And with a little planning it should also be possible to stay below the 25 kg limit.

I´m also very interested in your planned liquid cooling. Looking forward to hear more.

David Brown
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Joined: November 10th, 2009, 8:24 pm
Location: Burton-on-Trent
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » June 7th, 2015, 6:00 am

Hi Tinus, how is the Yak coming along. If I remember right you are now using a radial for power. The weight of the Spit will be around 80lb I calculated, with the engine being about half of that so no ballast will be needed. I will post some pics of the water cooled set up when I have machine time to get it done, all the design are done which include new heads and water jackets in one. There are loads of radiators for PC's available with 12 V pumps which I will be using.

Karl mander
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby Karl mander » June 8th, 2015, 6:50 pm

Love the project Dave, can't wait to see this grace the sky at Catton .
I'm just finishing putting some paint on the canopy of the firefly, it's come out at 41 kg /90 lbs so you're in the right area with your estimate for weight.
Karl

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » June 8th, 2015, 9:08 pm

When do you plan to test fly, I would like to see its maiden.

Dave

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » July 30th, 2015, 4:53 pm

A bit of progress on the spit over the last few weeks due to long cycle times on the machines giving me some modeling time. First I had to do all the mods to the wing plan and re-cut all of the replacement ribs etc to change it from a 2 piece to a 3 piece wing before starting the assembly which has taken nearly a week to do flitting between the workshops to load the machines. I am very pleased with the final outcome but my free time finishes today as the next work on the machines is all short ops. As the last pic shows I am now fitting all of the extra parts to box in the center section spars followed by reinforcement fillets etc prior to top sheeting and leading edges.
Attachments
Third Scale Spitfire 001.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 001.JPG (177.33 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 004.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 004.JPG (144.32 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 009.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 009.JPG (188.38 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 010.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 010.JPG (186.76 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 008.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 008.JPG (172.26 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 017.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 017.JPG (173.46 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 016.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 016.JPG (157.38 KiB) Viewed 21097 times
Third Scale Spitfire 019.JPG
Third Scale Spitfire 019.JPG (168.19 KiB) Viewed 21097 times

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » July 31st, 2015, 3:07 pm

I have tried the fuselage on the wing today and it looks very impressive at this stage.
Attachments
Third scale Spitfire 001.JPG
Third scale Spitfire 001.JPG (220.51 KiB) Viewed 21003 times
Third scale Spitfire 002.JPG
Third scale Spitfire 002.JPG (187.76 KiB) Viewed 21003 times
Third scale Spitfire 003.JPG
Third scale Spitfire 003.JPG (191.06 KiB) Viewed 21003 times
Third scale Spitfire 004.JPG
Third scale Spitfire 004.JPG (198.2 KiB) Viewed 21003 times
Third scale Spitfire 006.JPG
Third scale Spitfire 006.JPG (157.64 KiB) Viewed 21003 times

rob ellis
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby rob ellis » July 31st, 2015, 9:10 pm

WOW,.,.,.,.

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 2nd, 2015, 6:18 pm

A bit more done today while the wife was out visiting family. The tail feathers are a good fit considering they are not from the same plan as the fuselage.
Attachments
3rd Spitfire 001.JPG
3rd Spitfire 001.JPG (149.09 KiB) Viewed 20884 times
3rd Spitfire 002.JPG
3rd Spitfire 002.JPG (156.03 KiB) Viewed 20884 times

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 3rd, 2015, 5:25 pm

More pics of the assembly with tail feathers.
Attachments
002.JPG
002.JPG (211.43 KiB) Viewed 20776 times
003.JPG
003.JPG (195.24 KiB) Viewed 20776 times

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 7th, 2015, 7:31 am

A bit more done on the wings, first of 10 skins fitted to one of the end panels. I have used 2 mm Lite ply as it will do compound curves if you wet the top surface. Because of the size and the fact that all ribs are ply I have capped them with 3 mm x 8 mm strips, this has allowed easier sanding to level off any miss-alignment and I can be sure that all of the ribs are glued to the skin without gaps with a bigger contact area. It seems to have taken ages to get to this stage after the wings were assembled, I have added extra vertical grain panels to create a box spar along with triangular fillets to lock in the wing main tube.
Attachments
3rd Spit 001.JPG
3rd Spit 001.JPG (158.19 KiB) Viewed 20612 times
3rd Spit 002.JPG
3rd Spit 002.JPG (134.31 KiB) Viewed 20612 times
3rd Spit 003.JPG
3rd Spit 003.JPG (116.52 KiB) Viewed 20612 times
3rd Spit 004.JPG
3rd Spit 004.JPG (165.24 KiB) Viewed 20612 times
3rd Spit 005.JPG
3rd Spit 005.JPG (142.72 KiB) Viewed 20612 times
3rd Spit 006.JPG
3rd Spit 006.JPG (171.84 KiB) Viewed 20612 times
3rd Spit 007.JPG
3rd Spit 007.JPG (194.61 KiB) Viewed 20612 times

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 7th, 2015, 5:46 pm

Off the board this evening and fitted the aileron ribs etc. Note the difference in the tip profile, the skin is to the Monforton drawings and the built up tip is to Mick Reeves plans. I will sort it when i come to sheet the underside.
Attachments
3rd Spit 008.JPG
3rd Spit 008.JPG (130.79 KiB) Viewed 20550 times
3rd Spit 009.JPG
3rd Spit 009.JPG (127.51 KiB) Viewed 20550 times

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 11th, 2015, 8:35 am

more progress, both tips sheet-ed top skins.
Attachments
3rd Spit 001.JPG
3rd Spit 001.JPG (193.42 KiB) Viewed 20414 times
3rd Spit 002.JPG
3rd Spit 002.JPG (189.14 KiB) Viewed 20414 times
3rd Spit 003.JPG
3rd Spit 003.JPG (181.95 KiB) Viewed 20414 times
3rd Spit 004.JPG
3rd Spit 004.JPG (185.44 KiB) Viewed 20414 times
3rd Spit 005.JPG
3rd Spit 005.JPG (188.07 KiB) Viewed 20414 times

Wayne Cox
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby Wayne Cox » August 11th, 2015, 9:30 am

Hi Dave,

Been following your build and looks great cant wait to see her fly.

Keep the photos coming

Wayne

David Brown
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 11th, 2015, 1:56 pm

A Sample of the M4 ball joints arrived today, I have had 3 mm holes for the servo end and 4 mm for the control surface end. They look very good quality, German manufacture I believe from Rapid Electronics.
Attachments
3rd Spit 007.JPG
3rd Spit 007.JPG (140.78 KiB) Viewed 20370 times

David Brown
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Joined: November 10th, 2009, 8:24 pm
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Re: 1/3 Spitfire

Postby David Brown » August 15th, 2015, 7:25 am

I have managed to get some mill time and knocked up a retract frame for setting up the mounting rails. I have also made up a fixed leg to mount a 8" wheel on. It all looks good with the angles in general but I feel I still need to increase it from 96.5 degrees to 98 degrees to get the down angle correct. One thing I have changed is the pintel angle which sets the rake forward, this is to help ground handling and reduce the risk of nosing over on landing and take off's (those big props are expensive)
Attachments
3rd Spit 001.JPG
3rd Spit 001.JPG (257.39 KiB) Viewed 20098 times
3rd Spit 002.JPG
3rd Spit 002.JPG (238.31 KiB) Viewed 20098 times
3rd Spit 004.JPG
3rd Spit 004.JPG (241.11 KiB) Viewed 20098 times


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