“Haven't put it together yet but it sure is big and beautiful. Nice finish and lots of detail. It was worth the wait. Line from the Battle of Britain movie.....You can teach monkeys to fly better than that!”
“Very nice model, great detail and paint job. Applying leading edge yellow stickies was a challenge and the waterslide decals are opaque so the edges stand out. I can live with that. The gear are superb, all three! The Spitfire is a real joy to fly and land, not so hard to handle on takeoff like the Me 109. In the air it looks just fantastic, with a sound card you are there.Good job Motion.”
“I spent last winter building a Top Flite Gold Edition Spitfire. Great kit but on the 4th flight I managed to tip stall it on top of a loop. It caught me out, as it half righted itself before going into a spiral dive, crashing hard, to the point of being unfixable. I was contemplating what to do, get a new kit etc, when someone at the club suggested I look at the Flite Line 1600 mm Spitfire. It is the same size as the Top Flite plane, so I went ahead and pre ordered it. Luckily it came into stock only a couple of days after I ordered. It was shipped Friday afternoon and I picked it up from UPS on Wednesday. I opened the box and was completely blown away by the quality and detail of this model. Everything fit, no forcing screws into holes that don't quite line up, nothing like that. Forget most of the instructions, they are written in some sort of mixed language, but it is a simple plane to assemble, and everything fits. Took it out to the field for it's maiden, and boy, did it get attention. It is a beautiful model of a Mk IX. Ok, the maiden. quite windy, about 20 km hour wind, but pretty much right down the runway. This thing flies beautifully. It is not a trainer but it is rock solid. The suggested CG is correct. I feel the manuals suggested control throws are way to high. I have found warbirds in particular to be very easy to over control in the pitch mode. What FL suggests for low rates, I use for high and also use about 30 % expo. The ailerons are not as bad, but they too, I feel, have to much authority if you are using the suggested throws. One of the things that I thought was wrong was the suggestion to mix UP elevator with flap, because in my experience if I add anything it is a bit of down with the flaps. The UP interaction is correct, it needs it or it dives with the application of flaps. The plane will easily perform warbird type aerobatics and has no tendency to tip stall, although I am careful about abrupt, full up type stuff. So, to sum up, the plane looks great, goes together in no time, and flies really well. I highly suggest this model. If you are on the fence, consider that to build the TF model I spent 5 months and about $1300 dollars, and I got this one, in Canada, after taxes for less that $500 Canadian. If you want a spit this size, this is your plane. Now lets hope for a similar FW 190”
“I'm in the process of putting my FL 1600mm Spitfire together, just started today. Absolutely stunning finish, does not look like a foam model. Landing gear and struts look very substantial. Looking forward to flying it.”
“It would rate a 5 if the main hear was raked forward just a tad more to help nose overs but that is the nature of a warbird. Plenty of power and solid build that took 1 hour box to flying. Top of the rudders on theses foam taildraggers could be made of plastic for those nose over flips that scrunch the foam every once in a while”
“The new FlightLine RC 1600mm Spitfire Mk.IX is the finest foam ARF WWII fighter ever produced and currently on the market in my opinion. The engineering, fit and finish is second to none in its class. It's not a big thing but the only area of finish I would have changed is the vinyl insignia and waterslide decals. Although they look great, have good color and are historically accurate I would have preferred a different type of decal material. There is a very minor panel line detail error but the overall scale fidelity of not only the wheels, landing gear, propeller and overall model are outstanding. As for performance and flying qualities this model has raised the bar even further. If you want vertical performance this model will climb out of sight straight up. The overall handling is precise and very well mannered. For a WWII fighter its slow speed stability and handling is unbelievably docile. Landings and takeoffs are a breeze if you have any taildragger experience. Once you take the time to setup the model properly with the low rates spelled out in the book it handles very predictably and I would recommend this model to an intermediate flyer that has some tail wheel experience. If you are a Spitfire or WWII fighter enthusiast this is a definite buy in my book, especially so at its price point.”
