Mayday! Mayday!.......... I'm going down!!!

[JuZ]

Just got back from a flight, my girlfriend and I were walking the dog and I was whizzing around the field with the Spitfire, doing to nice low inverted passes and some huge spiraling power dives (which sounded fantastic!) when I pulled out of what turned out to be the final dive of the evening and re opened the throttle I had no power from the motor. I thought the battery had died as I'd been up for about 15 minutes, so closed the throttle and tried again,still nothing! It was then that something small and black flew off :eek: it turned out to be the complete spinner which amazingly Chloe found, even still had the nut inside :)
I brought her in for a surprisingly smooth emergency landing and left her where she landed, complete with controller and all recovered components while we finished walking the dog.
All is well again as it's back home, reassembled and LiPo plugged in :D

Remember chaps, check your nuts :o

Toodle pip..

[mea04cjh]

Same thing happened to me last weekend. found the spinner with nut too lol
Check your nuts if they loose have a play lol

[Anthony]

That happened to me except the spinner didn't come off until I landed, then it just bounced off. However it too was making a fantastic noise... it must have been the nut rolling about in the spinner. :D

[bullittrob]

I always add a small lock washer,.the ones that have the teeth on the inside so it wont come loose....

[Radweld]

This happened to me once, I took off, leveled off and throttled back, turned round the bottom of the field, opened her up and the spinner went one way and the prop the other. Amazingly the prop was nowhere to be seen. So after this I used a dab of thread lock as nyloc nuts were a little heavy.

[ralphp]

As Juz so poetically put it "check your nuts" LOL

All pilots walk the kite before take off....kicking the tiers!

[bullittrob]

lol.,,.,thats so true,.lol.,,.there was a pilot in WW2 named don bryn who use to kick both tyres,.then pee on the tail wheel :o before every mission!!!,..,,.lol,.hehehehe,,.honest its true!

[Radweld]

LOL did he make it?

[bullittrob]

yeh hes still alive.,.,one of the blue nosers,.,.352nd fighter group from bodney,,,,god im such a geek at times!.:(

[sagey]

happend to me too! I was over bushes so i never found my spinner. I managed to land though the spit will glide for a short time.

[ralphp]

little trick....you can use locking nuts, but some times I put heat glue on that can be pulled off if you need to remove a spinner!

[denali]

I have a brushless motor in my spit and during a high speed fly by one blade on my propeller snapped off.No problem with a dead stick landing but boy did it make a loud bang when the prop snapped off.I believe I over stresses the prop by doing too many dive bomb runs.Man do they really scream when you put them into a long steep dive.

[Anthony]

Haha you'll have to be careful you dont end up with snapped wings! :D

[bailmeout]

Hello, just got in from a couple of sorties!, after a couple of landings with my spitt ive noticed just before final touchdown, this is the point where i finally cut all power ive noticed the prop all be it slow still remains spinning untill landing!, yet before and after flight checks, the motor cuts out as normal when the throttle lever is at stop position?, is this the air rushing over the prop keeping it spinning or do i have radio/ receiver problems yet all is ok and cuts off as normal when in hand?. Thanks for the your response!.

[Anthony]

Yeah don't worry about the prop spinning after you've shut the power down, it happens all the time... I think its just the air passing it that keeps it turning.

[bailmeout]

Thanks!,.. the prop always seems to be ok,.. another few landings and i would of cut a new airstrip!, just for future ref if i need to change prop does the cowl just split open with the help of a stanley knife/, or is there a better damage limitation way of removing cowl?.

[ralphp]

Bailmeout.....little trick, at the base of the prop cowel (closest to the engin cowel) squeeze between the prop blades....the nose will pop off

Don't attack it with a knife!

[bailmeout]

Top man!, ill leave the knife edge for the clouds and not my head!. Thanks again all,.. keep it between the hedges!. B. ~o~

[nav101]

I'm thinking of upgrading to Lipo batteries what if anything will i have to change when my new spit arrives.

[bailmeout]

Hi, if your new to the Spit or flying in general i would suggest just flying it with the 'Stock' battery set up or the 1400ah (as advertised in 'spares') it plenty fast enough for your first few flights!. Remember to launch firm and levelish with arm up straight, always into wind as of landing too!, also you may want to 'click' the trim lever giving a little 'up' one or two notches aswell as 'right' trim a notch or two to take any slight torque you may get!, then centralise when flying at a reasonable height, also would suggest staying on 'Rate' A untill a few sorties under the belt, you can still 'loop' even on rate A!, (no barrel roll though!). As 4 the Lipo's (i havent bothered due to the size of park!) you dont need to make any changes apart from reprogramming the TX! (insruction for this is in the manual) + possible connector from batt to receiver!. A the Best of!. B. ~o~

[nav101]

Thanks bailmeout out.
I will take your advice on boared and will stick to ordinary batts for now. But i have use of a 90 acre field to fly in with not a tree in sight so i would like to give lipo's a go would it be that much faster.
Thanks again

[bailmeout]

Hi, 90 acre feild eh!!, forget the parkzone buy the real thing i say!, as for the Lipo's, i havent tried, but i upgraded my cessna 182 now she's gone from 'SAGA' to ' Club 18-30'!. On the Upside the Lipo's will certainly improve performance and extend flight times, the Downside.. (only rumours!,.. check the squadies forums!), some say they can rip through gearbox's + may need upgrade props for stiffer ones, best speaking to those who's 'Risen' to the occasion!, my goggles are a little misty on this, but would certainly go for it in the space you have!. Let me know if and when you go for the leap of faith!.

B ravo.. E cho.. S ugar.. T ango......... O sca.. F oxtrot !!!. B. ~o~

[ralphp]

might want to ask Bulli and Rad.....Rad seems to have "eaten" a few shafts (something to do with going balistic, vertical and alsorts of other manouvrs!
LOL!

[Anthony]

He's goin' vertical Mav! :D Haha

I can't really be bothered upgrading my spitfire or P51 to brushless... I've bought a 1400 mah battery and that is good enough for me, the plane has plenty of power to roll and loop right up until the battery cuts out. As for speed I've managed to brake a pair of Spitfire wings by re-enacting Top Gun even with stock equiptment! :D

If you are new to flying you may find the increase in speed will cause you to have a fly away, and you dont really want that, it's sometimes hard enough to tell which way the spitfire is going anyway.

[nav101]

That's it. No more talk of wings falling off and worse. i'm sticking with stock batteries from what i have learned from you all is that the Spit will be going quite fast enough as it is. So if i want something faster in the future i'll purchase a Stryker.
Keep them coming Chocks away!:)

[Radweld]

Actually I had the most fun with my Spitfire when it was stock, as soon as I started to modify it, it became un reliable. The Lipo batteries killed the gearboxes so I fitted brushless. The brushless kills the rest of the airframe so it's grounded till I manage to brace the wing.

[Anthony]

Exactly... if it was supposed to go faster it would have been built to do so. :)