Pitts Challenger Project

 
 

The first project thread is of a 50% Pitts Challenger being built by Tony Robinson. Tony is an IMAC competitor winning IMAC UK overall champion 2004,2005, he has a lot of experience with model aircraft after being in the hobby for almost six years with constant building and flying. Tony is also engine literate having spent most of his life around engines working as an automotive senior diagnostic technician for Renault UK.

The Pitts Tony is currently building was brought to him by Ian Nichol of IAD Models in Scotland. The model is 70-80% complete. This 50% Pitts has two servos on each aileron, two servos on each elevator and four servos on the rudder, they will more than likely bit high torque digital servos as these provide the most torque for the surface, 14 in total. The throttle will be controlled by a single standard servo. All these servos will more than likely be connected to two 9 channel PCM receivers. The engine used in the 50% Pitts will be a ZDZ 160 RVJ (160cc Petrol engine) possibly flying with two kans.

This Pitts model is made by EMHW (Exclusiv Modellbau, Harald Weiershäuser), the real Pitts was designed by Curtis Pitts in 1944 and is now build by Aviat. It was more formally know as the Pitts Special there were two versions of the Pitts the S1 and S2B, the more famous Pitts being the Pitts Special S1. The full size Pitts was made famous as one of the top aerobatic bi-planes of the time, it was powered by a 200 horsepower engine made by Lycoming, which featured a flat 4 cylinder engine. There have been many different Pitt’s pilots throughout the years but one of the more famous pilots is Jim Leroy of Team Bulldog.

This project thread will take you through several stages of the build, complete with pictures, articles, design tips and the occasional video.

 
 

Here we see the whole plane on the bench ready for building. As you can see the basic frame has been made already the first part of the build is the rudder section of the plane.

 

 
       
       

 

Next we see the rudder being prepared for the tail. The first picture shows the rudder flat on the table with the hinges being installed. The next photo shows the rudder in place with those hinges lining up. The last photo shows the rudder locked in place using the hinges,

 

 
       
       
The next two photos show the support strut being lines up on the front of the plane.

 
       
       

This photo shows the build so far, with the rudder attached and the support strut in place on the front.
       
       
The photo shown here shows the elevator rate, which is most impressive. Combined with the digital servos this will make for a great responsive 3D rate.
       
       
Next we see the cowl being installed, originally the cowl did not fit. But with some minor tweaks the cowl now fits nicely on the front of the plane.
       
       
Here we see what build so far on the plane. The rudder is in place along with the elevators, and most of the fuselage has been sheeted with balsa. The rudder and elevators have been finished  in Pitts red film done by Dick Wilson.
       
       
Here we see the engine box being held together for the glue to take.
       
       
As the Pitts Challenger is nearly complete the seams on the spats and cowl have been coated in primer in preparation for painting.

 
       
       

 

The picture of the wing sections shows the fabricated servo cover. Below that we have some pictures of the fuselage. The fuselage has been covered in Profilm (Ferrari red), the cowl and canopy frame are painted in Audi laser red. This is a closer match to the film than "Ferrari red paint "
 

 

  

 

 
       

Below shows the completed project with its proud owner.
       
       

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