Hello everyone, my name is Dan and I am returning to modeling after a 15 year leave of absence.  I Live on the east side of Washington state where we get four seasons a year, and it is nearing the end of the building season and coming upon show off season.  Upon my departure from modeling, I wisely stored much of my gear and kits with my flying partner, my father.  As a result, I am able to pretty much pick up from where I left off and where I was then was primed and ready to jump into scale competition at our local Scale Masters qualifier.  Ah, but it wasn?t to be and now there is no local competition, at least not within a couple hours drive, now it will be more like 8 to 10.  I know it sounds like whining, and it is.. but I remember the good ole days and we were spoiled here.

 Coming back to modeling has been eyeopening and quite exciting too.  I love the new radios with the spread spectrum, the new power plants that have come along and the number of ARFs and RTFs (no RTFs at all when I left modeling) has exploded and the quality near that if not as good as an experienced modeler could produce.  I know, because I had to buy a couple of trainers, none left in the hanger from the good ole days and I wanted to get my thumbs back before flying other craft in the hanger.  We lost the first one because we didnt do the smart thing and upgrade the radios asap.  We also cycled old batteries several times with good results and felt safe using them.  We weren?t and it cost me way more than the price of a new (more efficient and lighter) battery and upgrade module/receiver for the 7 ch. Futaba.  Needless to say, the radios are upgraded, old batteries are used strictly for set up during building, ie centering servos, servo direction.  They will be finding their way to the recycle bin this Spring when I have finally replaced all the batteries.

 I have since gotten my thumbs back, but somehow have lost some of my vision over the years.  Getting old is a pain yet the alternative sucks!  Though the ARFs and RTFs are awesome, I am left with a hollow feeling when I fly them.  Yet, take out a bird I built and that feeling disappears.  I love to build and I didn't really realize it until I had the choice of buying something assembled for me versus something I had a hand in creating.  With very little choice when I was modeling, building almost seemed like a chore because you HAD to build it if you wanted to fly.  Guess you really don't know what ya had till it?s gone.  I am nearing completion of my Pica 1/5 scale Spitfire, covered and ready for paint.  Unfortunately, I didn?t find this site until after the fact and some of what I have read about the Pica kit (other than the lack of true scale lines on it, very obvious) has made me extremely nervous about its maiden flight and actually characteristics.  I didn't build it for competition, just practice for the techniques I needed to remember and new ones to learn.  I have a Giant Royal kit of the F-4U Corsair (no longer in production) that I plan to use for competition purposes.  This may change as I am finally coming across sources for kits for scale modeling and would like to find a Spitfire to serve my purposes.  I have heard of "Yellow" spitfire kit, but no info or idea where to get them or if they are even in production any longer.  Any suggestions and info from you will be greatly appreciated.  I am already grateful for what information I have gleaned from the posts on this site.

A pleasure to meet you all and I look forward to interacting with all of you in the future.

Dan,

Welcome back!  Yellow Aircraft are outstanding kits (www.yellowaircraft.com) and while I have not built their Spitfire I did their P-47 and it was a great experience.  I highly recommend them.

Thanks for becoming a site supporter and you will find some of the best builders on the planet right here.  I hope you do a build thread on your next build so we can learn from you as well.

David

Hi David, thankyou for the warm welcome and the info regarding Yellow aircraft.  I will be heading there after I post this.  I thought I would post some pics of the Spitfire as it is right now.  It will be shelved for some time unless I can get the paint situation solved.  I am really thinking about latex with a coat of polyurethane clear (glow fuel powered) especially after what I have read here.  Unless I hear from Warbird Colors about the paint I would like to order, that may be the direction I am left with.  I am hopeful.  Do you know if they are still in business, I see WBC mentioned in many posts but they are older ones and the website said you have to email him with your info, which I did but haven't heard anything yet.

At any rate, here are some pics... it is covered in 21st Century fabric and Worldtex fabric.  I ran out of Worldtex quickly and had a 30 ft. roll of the 21st Century stuff sittin around.  I only had enough to cover the bottom of the fuse, wing and flight control surfaces with Worldtex.  The fuse has received its first coat of primer and sanded.

Hard to make out, but I made false ribs for the tail surfaces with thin strips of balsa, looks great with the fabric covering over it.  I forgot to build in the trim tabs though, so I will just be happy painting them in.

The business end of this has an O.S. 1.60 2 stroke glo engine with a pitts muffler.  This was recomended to me by a hobby shop owner as plenty of power for this kit.  I am at 16.5 lbs right now, and have not balanced the aircraft yet.  From what I have read, I may need to go to as large an engine as a 50cc gas burner.  If so.. my paint problems are pretty much solved.  But then I have and engine problem.

I am currently building a Sig "Four Star 60" to be my wife's first low wing trainer.  She is getting pretty good with the high wing craft, time to put the fear of Gravity back into her.

I would love to do a build thread once I am done with her plane, and maybe I will be so fortunate as to have a Yellow Aircraft kit to do it on.  She already feels bad I built the Spitfire before learning of some of the modifications it needs.. just a little push and I bet...

Thanks again for the welcome and as I said any suggestions or information is always appreciated.

"Gravity is my Nemisis"

Chuck from WBC is absolutely in business and I have ordered several times in the past 12 months.  The best way to place an order is via the website but I  just saw that he is having website issues.  Send him an email with you order.  Chuck will take care of it for you.

David