Flite Test Spitfire Master Series Electric Airplane Kit (1220mm)

I have built several of the "Master Series" planes and this was my favorite construction experience. This plane features a solid backbone that is used to mount the fuselage formers, which are in turn used to attach the "molded" foam fuselage panels. This backbone results in a much less frustrating experience, as you have a solid base to start with. It also provides a firm anchor for the servos, which was the downfall of the Corsair (in my opinion).

Don't get me wrong, this is a challenging build. But with a few normal foam designs under your belt, the right tools, and some patience you can get a fantastic model out of this. I put some painters tape over my joints, smoosh them down, and then paint it. I cannot get those perfect joints that Overstreet does, but this gets me very close.

In flight, this is a very stable model. Mine was trimmed out from the first second of flight and it happy to cruise along, but still have some good performance and what I like to think are scale flight characteristics. A good warbird.

I am running a big 3536 motor upfront with a 11x7 prop with a 4S/2200mAh battery. All of these Master Series designs crave nose weight, so I have just started using a bigger motor with all of them. You get some more wing loading and I don't have to fight the battery into the perfect position. Speaking of battery, this plane has the best hatch FliteTest has come up with yet, with the exception of the Explorer-based planes.

My only want for this plane is a landing gear, preferably removable. The Edge 540 has a great removable landing gear that I wish could be incorporated into more designs.

This is my First Masters Series aircraft. The build was more straight forward than I expected and John’s build video was a huge help. The aircraft goes together quickly and once painted the finished product looks like a store bought ARF. I added a pilot figure, canopy and decals. The only negative I experienced was a defective ESC from the Power Pack C that I ordered with the kit. During the maiden flight the motor would cut off when the throttle was reduced then suddenly come back to life a few seconds later. Was able to save the plane - but was a little disappointed in the Flite Test ESC. However Flite Test was very quick to help me troubleshoot the problem and rushed me a new ESC. Their customer support was excellent.
The aircraft is very easy to fly and despite it’s size (and running a 4S 3000mah battery) it is very “floaty” in the air. 4S gives you a very wide speed envelope, 3S would probably be a little more scale at WOT. Overall this is a brilliant design and the kit is well worth the money.
Cheers,

Paul D.

I needed landing gear so I placed a 2in by 4 inch plywood on the inside of the wing and used screw and some plastic wire holders from Lowes and 5mm wire. The top and the bottom of the wing did not match with the gap present in the demo build. If I had followed the demo build the bottom part of the wing would have extended the same distance (divided by 1/2) past the top part of both ends of the top part of the wing. I added extra foam on the fuselage is glued to the wing to give it more glue surface. After gluing the extra wing attachments to the wing and the fuselage I became concerned about the reliability of the glue joint in case of rough landings. I added liquid nails construction cement to those joints, which add a lot of strength. I used Loctite interior construction cement to the landing gear for extra holding power.