VMC Spitfire RC Conversion

[chrislgl]

I next created the decals. I used water slide decal paper both clear and white backed and used an inkjet printer in conjunction with my Silhouette Portrait cutter. This was useful for creating the registration letters by using the software to print a block of the light grey colour and then cutting letters out from that block of colour. I also used a similar method for the roundels, printing the outer colour ring edge larger than required and then using the cutter to cut them to size.

I should mention that the decals need a couple of coats of satin varnish to make the ink water proof before cutting them out.

The aircraft that I have modelled is in the colours of No.317 Polish Squadron restored by the Historic Aircraft Collection and based at Duxford which was also flying at this years ‘Flying Legends’ Airshow at Duxford.

I also created a set of ‘wheels up’ decals to apply to the underside of the wings.

All the decals were applied to the model using ‘Humbrol DecalFix’, both for soaking the decal and also when applying to the model. This I find gets them firmly fixed to the model.  I added some basic (aileron) control surface hinge lines with a Sharpie pen When fully dry I gave the model a light coat of Acrylic satin varnish to further protect the decals and paint.

The ‘Dave Banks’ pilot was painted and fixed into place, and finally the cockpit canopy was carefully trimmed to fit and then masked to paint the cockpit frames. Once dry it was stuck in place using canopy glue.

The finished model with battery in place amazingly balanced at the recommended CG without the need of any ballast. Although it must be noted that this may change when it comes to flying as previous experience of similar conversions has shown that the CG needs to be moved slightly forward compared to the originals. – Time will tell….

When the summer weather returns I look forward to its maiden flight.

[dputt7]

Very Nice work, a great job on the finishing, hope it all goes well for you, Kudos

[OZPAF]

I can see that nicely finished model flying very well. The matt finish , glazing and pilot (with a Crabby cookie duster) really set it off.

I would expect the longitudinal dihedral to possibly be excessive for RC - but it will depend on how much heavier than the rubber FF version and how fast it flies.

Good luck with it.

John

[chrislgl]

I have been very remiss in not reporting on how the Spitfire flies, partly because the weather became unsettled just when I finished it and I had trouble finding a suitable day for its maiden, but also I was hoping to be able to take my photographer so that the event could be recorded.

I can report that the Spitfire flies well – once I had reduced the elevator and rudder deflections by 40%! I initially set them at 5mm in each direction, but they made it very difficult to fly! Reducing the deflections to 3mm in each direction made it much better being able to make smooth manoeuvres. It is quick (and at full throttle almost too quick It is easy with such as small model to loose site and orientation at high speeds!!), but for a ‘scale’ like speed I flew at just under half throttle which gave it a comfortable duration of 7 minutes.
Landing is (usually) quite easy - just throttle right back as it glides quite well and land into the wind on grass as it has no U/C.

I have flown it a few times now – but my never when my photographer was available which is a shame. It is a lot of fun and complements my Sopwith Camel that I built from the VMC kit last year.
I believe that the conversion kit and components used to convert the Spitfire to RC are now or will shortly be available from VMC.

[Babyjaws]

Hi John,

I will not be using ailerons. The reason is that I am using a 2c 300mAh battery, the bec voltage from the ESC is 5 volts and I have not found a linear servo - like those used by eflite/parkzone models and others that can be used at that voltage (unless you can point me to one that does).

Hi Chris, fantastic build! My first post here and I will attempt to convert the VMC Se5a to RC inspired by your work!
Here's some info I found that could be useful in the future to use lower voltage micro linear servos in a 2c 5 volt ESC setup!
" If you want to use them on a 5V system (e.g. BEC output from 2S ESC), then a power silicon diode (e.g. IN4001) should be used in the positive lead from BEC to receiver/servos to drop the voltage to approximately 4.3V."

Hope this is useful!
Greetings to a wonderful forum, will post my build when I start!