RE: Meister 109 rehab
Whoo Hoo! It lives! Thanks for FlyZDZ for supplying an absolutely outstanding engine. Once I got fuel up to the carb it was the old 5+5 and it started on the next flip. One little lesson I did learn was that the ZDZ ignitions seem to prefer a 5 cell battery, I had a little misfire at top end untill I swapped ignition batteries, now it runs smooth and pulls hard. Also cycled the retracts, and other than greaking a couple of nylon retract mounting bolts, everything went smooth. Getting closer to the maiden....
Posted on: 9/17/2012 6:08 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11231739

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Well, small steps I guess, seems like the results aren't quite as spectacular. Lots of little stuff done. And I still need to finalize the wire routing up front, what a mess. But everything seems to work, although the throttle linkage might need some revising. The choke works well, at least I put it on the correct side (in-off, out-on). Still no props, hopefully next week. But by then I suspect Greyhound will have a crate for me, and then I need to concentrate on getting a WWI plane ready for our Dawn Patrol event.
Posted on: 9/14/2012 1:34 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11228609

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
Mig-19
Posted on: 9/13/2012 5:36 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11227076

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
Mig-19
Posted on: 9/13/2012 5:34 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11227073

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
IL-28
Posted on: 9/11/2012 2:57 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11225406

RE: Meister 109 rehab
[quote]ORIGINAL: neville thomas its getting there my 109 balanced with a sachs 5.8 and 4lbs of steel powder and resin at 5 1/2 inches from leading edge [/quote] Holy Smokes! That's a whole 40 sized airplane.... and a tank of an engine to boot. I hope my tail is lighter than yours....
Posted on: 9/10/2012 6:48 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11224433

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Wow. Lots of work but not much stuff that's picture worthy. Did some more fitting work on the wing spar. I don't know what kind of damage the airplane suffered, but the wing spar channel is apparently not straight, or has some narrow spots. I wound up spraying some primer on the spar and sliding it in to see where primer transferred to the wing. I managed to reach into the wing spar channel and sand down some high spots, and the spar fits better, but the wings still aren't quite as tight as I like. Then there was much fun getting one of the wing bolt holes back into line. But the end result is that the wing goes on and goes on tight, I still haven't made up my mind if it will stay two piece or get turned into a surfboard. I got some parts in the mail, but no switches yet. But I pressed on and made my control panel, it's going to sit on the r/h side of the fuse up front, and hide under a hinged cover. I hope. Anyway, I made the panel, and epoxied some baswood sticks in for mounts. Nothing too technical there. I made openings for the three switches, air and fuel servicing points, and the ignition cutoff LED. I also made some battery mounts, they sit in the space between the floor of the fuel tank compartment and the top; of the oil cooler. I was going to mount the ignition battery in the fuel tank compartment, but it fits (tigbhtly) behind one of the flight batteries so in it went. I also mounted the air tank and receiver, should be fairly close to its final position. I sitll haven't figured out if I can get away with "Y" harnessing either or all of the flap servos, but I'll deal with that when I get to it. And I had to do an old school linkage on the retract valve, for some reason or other Futaba can't seem to provide an endpoint adjustment on either channel 9 or 10 on the 10c. And I apologize for the out of focus pictures, apparently I need to get a macro lens.... So hopefully the 26x10 props show up tomorrow, then I can fire this beast up! Oh yeah, and I need to come up with a sturdier tailwheel, the one that's on it just unsprings with the weight of the aircraft on it.
Posted on: 9/10/2012 1:33 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11224061

Mid Atlantic Dawn Patrol
Propaganda from event central: This is an event for all models of aircraft built prior to 1939. The focus will be on WWI aircraft. All scales and power plants are welcome. You will have unlimited access to the aviation museum. Camping, hangers and security will be avaliable. Go to WWW.flytrc.com for more information. This is a fun fly. We will have full size WWI aircraft demos and back drops. Sponcered by Glenn Torrance Models Linky: [link]http://www.flytrc.com/flytrc/Dawn_Patrol.html[/link] This is our club's first foray into a WWI event. If you've never been to the Aviation museuem, that in itself is a great reason to visit VA Beach. I was out with the club yesterday scouting the flying site. It's a short walk from ample parking to pit, overnight storage for R/C airplanes in the WWI hangar, and cross runways for lower stress takeoffs and landings.
Posted on: 9/10/2012 5:55 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11223546

RE: What's a good plane for this engine?
[quote]ORIGINAL: carlbecker Two in a large Westland Whirlwind. [/quote] Didn't think of that... very nice. Or how about 2 in a large Heinkel 219? With functioning annular radiators....
Posted on: 9/6/2012 11:10 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11219664

RE: What's a good plane for this engine?
Get 2 and build a 50% Mosquito... Well should have looked at their site a little closer first, now shouldn't I......
Posted on: 9/6/2012 4:19 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11219265

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Thanks again. Looking at the plane, it seems that I could remove the wing bulges without too much trouble. With the gear installed, I can justgrind them away and then install correct bulges where the wheels poke above the top surface of the wing. Ditto with the radiators.... and the flaps/radiator outlets. But cosmetic phase... gotta keep my eye on the prize for now.... Andy
Posted on: 9/5/2012 5:19 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218824

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Thanks for the info gentlemen. Much appreciated. So, again, lots of little stuff, but I did (finally) get some mechanical stuff done. Engine mounted, butnot permanent, it needs at least one more washer under each mount point to get the proper spinner spacing. And I, of course, can't guaranted that the engine is straight with the thrust lines, it looks like it is, but it may require some adjustment during flight testing. But I figured as long as I had the engine mounted, I might as well put 'er together and get some pics and an idea of weight and where it's going to balance. At the moment, I get 28 pounds, which really isn't bad. Add batteries,receiver, some extensions, and other minor stuff, and I think it's going to come in right around 30-31 lbs. Super. The down side is that it appears to balance somewhat behind the balance point, but I still have batteries, muffler, etc etc to put up front so I suspect it will be just fine. I also think I'm going to join the wing permanently. I have a big enough vehicle to carry it, and the gap between the wing halves is very pronounced. Some more work on the joiner might get rid of that, but I think it will be easeir to deal with, especially at the field, with a one piece wing.
Posted on: 9/5/2012 12:18 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218483

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Sheesh. It is indeed the 100" 109. I think I saw on someone's build thread that he had a CG marked at 5-6" I guess behind either the leading edge of the wing or the bulkhead immediately in front of the wing.
Posted on: 9/5/2012 5:52 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218116

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Seems like I did a lot today but not much to show for it... primed some areas, and sorting out the controls and radio setup. Turns out that my flap setup was all screwed up, and I had to go back and re-do some installation of some of the servos. Then, it turns out that one of the alieron servos wouldn't hold center, and the other one didn't work at all. Sooo, off to the LHS to pick up some new servos. Then, while the alieron servos were out, I discovered that the servo mounts were made out of lite ply. They were sufficient for I don't know how many years, but I don't like lite ply as structural wood, so I had to make new ones. And that required makign new linkages as well. And I discovered why the one alieron servo didn't work as well. Guess there's a lesson for me, always pull the wires and check them out. Hopefully tomorrow the engine will get mounted, perhaps a propellor or two will show up in the mail, one step closer to a re-maiden. Oh, and I still need to find out where the CG is... no plans dontcha know... Oh almost forgot, painted the spinner.. nice and simple.
Posted on: 9/4/2012 5:41 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11217639

RE: Meister 109 rehab
I had that book, Warplanes of the Third Reich, for many years, but lost it in the last flood. It is a great reference, and a great read,as there are some very interesting stories about development, test flights, etc etc. Not a lot of advancement on the front, lots of sanding and glassing and epoxying though. I couldn't get ahold of any finishing resin, so I wound up using nothing more than thinned down 30 minute epoxy for the 'glass covering. It came out fairly well, although it's painfully obvious that I haven't done it very much. The oil cooler came out fairly well, I still need to plank the fuselage to fill in the gaps, but that will have to wait untill later on. Labor day duties intervene. The servo hatches are all done, although I'm still not sure I'm not going to modify the inboard flap so that the servo mounts in the hatch. The cowling is mostly done, although once I get the engine mounted and get the B&B style muffler installed I'm sure there will be more modifying. Jack Smith balanced the spinner and backplate, and did all machine work that he does so well. He said that the backplate was in perfect balance as received, a credit to Gene Barton. Then, as I see it, Leak test and mount the fuel tank Make and mount the switch panel Hinge the cover over the switch panel Figure out where the batteries are going, and verify the CG as well Mount the air tank for the retracts Mount the retract valve Throttle linkage Choke linkage Put it all together Run the engine Paint spinner Test the retracts Verify all the throws Go over the plane with a fine tooth comb Fly........ And if all goes well, down the road, I'll do it all again.
Posted on: 9/3/2012 8:21 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11215636

RE: Meister 109 rehab
I said I wasn't going to do any cosmetic stuff but sometimes things just happen. I was at a buddy's house to use his belt sander. I got a new spar with the airplane, but it needed some abrasive 'lovin to fit. He wound up doing all the work (thanks Mark for that!) and I wound up standing around looking at my fuselage, which happened to be sitting next to his Meister 109's fuselage. We both agreed that the oil cooler had to go. There's a pic of the old wing spar. Nothing wrong there, right? I actually considered gluing some carbon strips on the top and bottom and flying like that but good sense got the better of me. I decided to follow Mark's lead and make the oil cooler removable. There is a good sized space underneath, if Ineed to move batteries up front of place ballast it will make a good mounting location. Plus if it gets damaged again repairing it will be a lot easier if I can remove it from the plane. Also, I found a broken stringer...... so not entirely cosmetic I went the brute force route and made it from thick balsa. Then I Moved the whole operation outside to commence sanding..... I applied some more glue to hold it all together, and will fine finish sand it and smooth it out today. I hope. Then a little sheeting, and some putty to fair it in, and we're done. Last pic is the fuel tank mount, it's going to hang from there. I would rather have it sitting on the mount but then I won't be able to insert it in teh fuselage. The spinner is getting worked over as we speak, another good friend of mine is balancing teh backplate and doing all the cutting and drilling. So as long as I can come up with a muffler, I should have a completed plane by the following weekend, and hopefully have a maiden report.
Posted on: 8/31/2012 6:11 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11212484

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Yeah, it's kind of a mutt. But those wing bulges are functional, they allow the retracts to come up all the way. It should have also have bulges on the sides of the fuse to clear the guns but they're not there either. Maybee in the cosemtic phase... So I'm gonn set the fuse aside for a little while and do some work to the wings. My major concern is the flap actuation system. IT uses a very small servo and a sloppy linkage. So I think I'm going to just use two servos, one for each surface. I'm rapidly using up all the channels on my 10c, but I think it'll all work out in the end. So in pic one you can see the old flap linkage. One other problem is that the inboard flap servo is rotated 90 degrees from the rotation of the flap. It's probablly not an issue, and I considered turning the servo to lay on its side, but I think I'm just going to leave it where it is and use a ball link to take up the motion. Guess that rates another trip to the hobby shop to get a smaller ball link. The outboard flap was actuated via linkage and bellcrank from the inboard servo, but I think I'm just going to use another servo out there. Just to make things a complicated as possible, I'm going to mount that servo to a hatch. I considered doing that for the inboard servo as well, and may still wind up doing it that way. Still need to do the other side, and fab up some new linkages, but we're well on the way. I'm going to leave the alieron servos alone, maybee make some new hatches for them but otherwise they seem fine. Next step landing gear. The plane came with fun-tracts, as supplied by Meister back in the day, and I don't see any reason not to reuse them. Especially since that means not having to make new landing gear mount plates.....
Posted on: 8/28/2012 7:07 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11209738

RE: Meister 109 rehab
Thanks Dave.
Posted on: 8/28/2012 3:14 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11209489

Meister 109 rehab
coming up on a year or so ago, I was working in Savannah, TN and headed up to the Nashville swap meet. A very nice setup, right at the fairgrounds, and as is not ususual I didn't get away clean. I bought a Meister 109. Now I'm not a biig 109 guy, I prefer the 190 myself (Round engines dontchaknow) but I couldn't pass the bargin and it looked to be in good shape. I had a good look over the airplane and found some things I didn't like, and some I did, and decided it would make a worth project to refurb it. I'm actually going to try and do it in two parts, first it going to be getting the mechanical systems in and working, and test fly it, and then if I'm still sufficiiently motivated, cosmetic restoration. The airplane appears to be a sort of a "K" model, but I'm going to lure my 109 expert buddy over with Goulash and Spaetzle and get his opinion. I've never seen the paint scheme on it anywhere before, but 109's aren't my forte. It does appear to have been crashed at one time or another, there's a lot of shattered wood glued back together, but it seems solid enough. It obviously had a magneto engine on it, the firewall wasn't drilled but the existing bolt holes had been filled with dowels, so I assume the previous owner was getting ready for a re-engine project of his own. It came with retracts, some original Fun-Scale retracts as supplied by Meister. They seem servicable, the only issue I have with them is the struts appear to be pinned in with some screwy geometry, but I'll address than when I get to that stage. Pics.... somewhere in there is the plane in my van on the way home from the swap meet. It's a beast, but the fuse without engine is suprisingly light. I took it down to the Syblazer's field and put 'er together to get some pics. Not a bad looking plane, but I'm not sure how scale the wing bulges are....... It has the split flaps, but the actuation system is one servo with a bellcrank linkage. I beleive that will become two servos. The elevators are driven off a single servo also, but that may have to stay being as the other options require major surgery of the fuse. I would also like to set up a scale tailwheel, but that I think falls into the cosmetic category.
Posted on: 8/28/2012 3:13 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11205655

RE: Meister 109 rehab
I really wish I could go back and edit the name of the thread...... oops. So one of the issues I have to deal with is the cowl. This plane was built with a completely removable cowling, in two pieces. And not really in a way that makes sense to me, but I'm sure it made perfect sense when the plane had its original engine. What I'd like to do is to build the cowl like everybody else seems too, where the top of the cowling is a permanent part of the fuse and the lower cowl is removable, but that seems to be a little more work than I want to do right now. So I'll just deal with the original cowl. Being as I have to cut out the opposite side for the muffler, I'm going to make it one piece. It's not the best option, and its going to add weight to the front of the airplane, but my guess is that with the ZDZ up front I'll be adding weight anyway. At this rate I'm going to have to invest in a belt sander and jigsaw...... So at this point I've got it all one piece, and finishing it up is going to wait untill I have the muffler on the engine, and some finishing cloth and resin on hand.
Posted on: 8/28/2012 8:23 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11208983

RE: Meister 109 rehab
A little more work on the engine, still needs some spacing and it seems to have some up thrust. Or perhaps the cowling isn't fitting correctly. I'll ahve to take some measurements from the spinner backplate to the firewall and see. But will be easy enough to fix with more washers. I'm going to have to do some mods to the cowl, of course, close up one side and open the other. I'm debating making a new cowl, or shopping around for a fiberglass one, but I think I'll leave it for now and worry about it in the cosmetic phase. Threw the spinner on just to get an idea. I put some fiberglass reinforcement inside the firewall, it probablly dosen't need it but what the heck. I'm sure its going to need a little weight and it can't hurt, right? Next time I'll get some real resin instead of using 30 min epoxy. I barely got the cloth on and wetted before the resin went nuclear and melted the cup I mixed it in. But it cured up good and hard, and the cloth is adhered well so I think I got away with it.
Posted on: 8/26/2012 6:12 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11206989

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
I guess my 20 years gets the better of me sometimes, I never knew the Army experimented with the technique, I figured it was all Navy. Learn something new every day....
Posted on: 8/26/2012 10:02 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11206495

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
Can't be an airship in US service, they were all commissioned into the Navy...
Posted on: 8/26/2012 4:19 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11206241

RE: Meister 109 rehab
I wondered about the wing bulges also, but they look fairly symmetrical and are close in to the root so hopefully they don't have a major effect on how it flies. And I, too, walked away from it at $500 but I guess he was getting tired of toting it around, and took a lower offer.... Andy
Posted on: 8/26/2012 4:03 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11206236

RE: Meister 109 rehab
So after some prioritizing and much thinking I got started today. I acquired a ZDZ-80 engine from the marketplace here, seems like a good all around choice for the plane. I do need to find a different style muffler, the wrap around pitts that came with it won't work. (it should show up in the marketplace in a couple of days). So unless I can find something local here from one of my club buds, looks like a call to Bennett is in order. I also got a spinner from Gene Barton, a very nice piece. I did get a spinner with the airplane, but it appeared as the prop holes had been cut with tin snips and the backing plate was a little warped so it's going in the scrap bin. Or I'll make an anti spy satellite helmet with it. But with the engine and spinner in hand, I can now mount the engine. I got my trusty ladder, and duck taped a piece of 2x6 over the top rung. Hanging the fuse vertical, I was able to set the engine on the firewall and install the cowl. Top it off with the spinner backplate, and I can move the engine around to my heart's content to get alignment as perfect as I possibly can. Then I removed the spinner backplate, the cowl, and marked around the standoff blocks I had made. They had previously been marked and drilled with the engine mounting holes. Removing the fuse from the latter, I lined up the marks on the blocks and made some pilot holes. But wait... one of the blocks seems to be crooked. Nuts. I downloaded and printed off an engine mounting template for the '80. There were existing center lines drawn on the firewall. Placing my trust in the previous builder, I lined up the mount template, and made some allowances for where the marks were I had made a minute ago. Drilled up some holes, slid the engine back on with bolts, and the alignment looks spot on. Whew. I hate that part of building or assembling an airplane. Next it was on to making a hole for the carb. It's going to poke thru a bit, typical for a rear carb. A bunch of plywood dust later and I have a carb shaped hole in the firewall. Now it's off to Ace to get some 2 1/2" 1/4-20 bolts and locknuts, a bunch of washers and some fibreglass resin. I plan on laying a ply or two across the backside of the firewall. I really don't think I took that much strength out of if, it appears to be 3/8" plywood, but what the heck, can't hurt. I included a picture of how the elevator linkages are split. Personally, I would prefer to have twin servos with twin pushrods. But that would require either a lot longer drill bit than I have or some exploratory surgery in the aft fuselage. Servos in the stabs would be an option also, but would also require surgery to route wires. The existing linkage works, and is relatively slop free, but it's tight and requires a lot of effort ot operate. At least there's a fairly large servo in there.... Updates as the situation warrants.....
Posted on: 8/25/2012 12:28 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11205671

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
I was afraid I had nailed it, being as that was my last shot at the internet while traveling. You know, it matches the Douglas pretty closely as well, at least the first two clues...
Posted on: 8/22/2012 10:36 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11202251

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
Douglas O-46
Posted on: 8/19/2012 2:12 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11198431

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
Me-264
Posted on: 8/6/2012 1:21 PM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11183142

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
Bristol Beaufighter
Posted on: 7/27/2012 8:07 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11171191

RE: ESM Storch Build...
Glad to see this thread is still picking up some action. Thanks to work, I haven't been able to finish mine yet, but hopefully when I return from this trip it will fly. At last.
Posted on: 7/22/2012 1:23 AM by Author "a65l" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11164196