FLYING YOUR SPITFIRE MK1a.
Before flying make sure you have followed closely the set-up guidelines on pages 6 through 9. Start
by taxying on the ground a little to get use to the handling. Be sure to always taxi with full up elevator
held in, flaps retracted and gentle use of throttle. This will keep the model tracking steady and true
plus has the added bonus of looking far more scale. For take off you'll want to hold in some right
rudder to counter the rotational torque on the initial roll out. Slowly advance the throttle whilst
holding in just a little up to keep the tail down as you begin to build up speed, correcting direction
with rudder as needed. As speed builds, ease off the amount of up elevator you have held in, then
as soon as you reach 3/4 throttle you'll start to see the Spitfire lift of the ground.
Once in the air retract to the landing gear as soon as you are comfortable and start exploring. If on
3S you will find you can cruise around happily on 75-85% throttle. On 4S however 50-60% is
sufficient for scale paced flying. Of course opening up to full throttle is very exciting, but generally
only need as desired. A full 'airshow' routine can be performed on either the 3 or 4S set-up including
loops, rolls, low banked passes, Slipt-S's etc, all vertical maneuvers being as large as you wish with
the 4S set-up. Flight times vary according to set-up and throttle use. An average flight of mixed
throttle flying will give you approximately 5-6 minutes on the 3S set-up. However flight times
upwards of 7 minutes can be achieved on 4S (as less throttle is needed). Your Spitfire may drop a
wing if really pushed into a stall, that said once it does stall its quite benign and easily recovered
from at height by centering all sticks and application of power thereafter.
Landing the Spitfire Mk1a is a pleasure and a real treat for those who like to practice 'scale' type
approaches as the Spitfire will need to be 'flown' onto the deck through a powered decent. Bringing
the retracts down shows no noticeable effect on the model nor do mid flaps. Once you have the
Spitfire fully lined up to the runway and no more than 8ft high full flaps can be deploy if desired (be
sure to maintain good throttle management). As soon as the Spitfire settles onto the ground hold in
full up elevator to prevent the model from nosing over. Flaps should be retracted before taxying
back to the pits.
11
Durafly 1100mm Supermarine
Spitfire Mk1a
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