Parkzone Spitfire

[19000rpm]

A few years back I bought my first war bird, a PKZ Spitfire. I've always loved the tapered wing on this plane. A real beauty in the air. secure.hobbyzone.com/PKZ1700.html

Over the summer I did lots of mods to the Spit: I added 2.4, lipo, rudder and landing gears, but kept the brushed can motor. It flew great until one day a wing folded and the beautiful Spit hit the parking lot with such force the motor shaft made an inch whole in the asphalt and came out the back of the motor. Goodnight Mr. Spitfire. It was great knowing you. Time to move on to bigger and better war birds.

Well, a few days ago, I came across most of the airframe on "scratch and dent" at Hobbyzone and said, "Me self, "I think I need one of those again." ;D

Note: The Spit will be discontinued soon in favor of another plane, don't know which one yet, that will be made of "Z" foam instead of the first generation build of foam and plastic that Horizon used on the Spit, "Ferocious Frankie" P-51 and Folk Wolfe.

I brought the Spit home and tore out the stock 27mHz radio and dropped in an AR6110, PKZ 480 BL motor on a beautiful CNC motor mount made for the Spit and Super Cub (soon to be available from Hobbyzone) added a 10x8 MAS prop, but left the plane aileron and elevator only with no landing gear. Maybe later I'll add the gears and rudder, but for right now I'm going to fly it again as a simple belly lander. Just as I first did, but with a lot more power than with the original one.

With some luck with the weather I'll maiden it tomorrow AM. I'm really looking forward to seeing that elegant tapered wing silhouetted against the sky again. ;D

[19000rpm]

The maiden, this AM, went well and I flew her 3 more times. She is as beautiful in the air as I remember. And for some reason the quietest of all my war birds.

She's pretty quick with the brushless 480 power due to a weight of 27 oz's, or so, with no drag from a landing gear.

I got the CG just right. I added some strips of magnetic adhesive backed tape to the underside of the horizontal stab to counter the extra weight of the motor and aluminum motor mount. WOT produces a very slight climb, the glide is perfect and the landings are very smooth.


Remembering the first Spit I immediately added some reinforced packing tape to the hard plastic and foam on the under belly to increase durability. In the upper right hand corner you can see the "Scratch and dent" damage to the wing.


The fuse damage was at the vertical stab. It's completely invisble now. I still need to add a few decals and a spinner to complete the look.


The PKZ 480 motor has plenty of zip and the aluminum motor mount is really slick.


The damage on the wing didn't come out with the hair dryer like the new "Z" foam. It's not so noticable from a few feet away with the camo paint treatment.

[akent]

Man, I sure hope they come out with a Spitfire version in the same scale as the P-51 Gunfighter! Then a zero and a 190!!
A fleet of these in the air would be just awesome!

That plane looks NICE, 19k!

Combat anyone?!?!?!?
Kent

[19000rpm]

I know Horizon has got a ton of customer feedback recommending all three of those planes, actually they were the top three requested, to be made in "Z" foam, so I'd say there is a very good chance at least one of them will be the next war bird.

I weighed the Spit yesterday and it came in at only 25 oz.s. I'm estimating about 50-55 mph.

I picked up the rest of the decals and a spinner. The prop slots on the spinner base needed to be dremeled out so that the 10x8 prop would fit. I put the nose cone on it and spun it up. In about one second the cone came off, flew across the room and busted into three pieces when it hit a big pot. ;D I'll use some silicone on the next nose.

[19000rpm]

On my 12th flight I misjudged the speed on landing and to avoid one of the 8 soccer goals on the field, I tipped a wing and snapped it under the fuse. It really wasn't that big of a hit, but I could hear the pop when the wing tip snagged the grass.

Stripped the single aileron servo too. That I can rebuild for 2 bucks. For now I replaced it with a PKZ 30M digital that I had for my Super Corsair. Although these are digital and metal they don't center very well. That's very curious to me. I think I'll call Horizon about that.

Looking at the break in the wing I was reminded of how cheesy the wing foam is on this plane. It crumbles when you look at it. Good thing they went with Z foam on the newer PKZ's planes. The foam is also very thin, in particular, the foam going toward the trailing edge. Not a very rugged design, or choice of materials, but probably state of the art for when this plane was first planned.

I epoxied the wing break and added a 3mm rod through the thicker foam about 2 1/2" back from the leading edge that extends past the plastic fairings on the wing; the weakest point in the wing. I added reinforced packing tape to the top of the wing in the fuse area also. These steps should help prevent any further cracking or a wing folding like the one that occurred on "Spit 1".

Back at the field the wing held up in the air during high speed loops and rolls and I purposely landed it a bit hot with a wing slighly tipped to see if the repair and mods added to the plane had worked. The plane hit and spun around. No popping sound on impact. Looks like it will be good to go...At least for awhile.

[akent]

That plane sure looks nice, but it sure sounds like it's pretty funky foam. Sounds a little like molded Depron. That stuff looks good and is stiff when new, but man is it fragile and becomes a crumpled broken mess with a little abuse.

I sure hope they come out with a Spit in the new foam.

[19000rpm]

Depron is like cast iron compared to the foam in the Spit. ;D

The only saving grace for the Spit structure is the sheeting they use over the foam. It's some kind of vinyl or plastic that has an adhesive back and it's shrunk over the foam. The two materials combined provide a light weight structure, but it's too fragile.

The plane also needs a carbon or fiberglass spar in the wing; another thing they've learned and use on their newer warbirds.

[19000rpm]

Never being able to leave well enough alone I'll be dropping in a 10 motor. Just hope I don't rip those cheesy foam wings off. ;D

BTW, that aluminum motor mount is awesome. I'm going to put them in all my birds. They have one for every HZ and PKZ plane. secure.hobbyzone.com/CRCA1021.html

[Gabe]

Power 10? Good motor 19K. I had that on the T-28D until I got power hungry and went to the 25.

[19000rpm]

Actually, a Exceed 1100kV Monster 10. I've used them on both Corsairs and the P51. Good motor.

If I used a 25 on the Spitfire I'm certain it would tear it apart. ;D

[Gabe]

Ah, I see grasshoppah.

[19000rpm]

This is my period of wierd crashes. First the Super Corsair wing folding and now the Spit.

It was windy, with 25mph gusts, and I was bringing the Spit in for a landing. She was dead stick and a few inches off the ground, just ready to settle, when a a gust caught her and she turned 90 degrees and started flying again right up a little slope and into an parking sign post; spinner point on. CLANG.

The wierdest part is that the flimsy spinner and cowling were undamage, but the plastic skeleton of the fuse under the foam SHATTERED. I don't mean it just snapped, it busted into a bunch of pieces.



Everything, but the fuse survived. ;D

OK, the foam is crappy and the fuse plastic skeleton is fragile, but I'll get another fuse because the plane flies so well and looks so great in the air.

[Gabe]

That sucks! At least the fuse is cheap and all the electronics survived. I hate when I lose expensive equipment because of something like that.

[akent]

Wow! That foam looks like paper!
I'm sure glad they ain't makin em like that no mo.
Kent

[19000rpm]

She's the last of the PKZ birds like this. They're discontinuing it soon. Hopefully they'll bring it back in Z foam.