Anyone for combat?

[stephane.savard]

I started building this last Sunday (May 20th), and now it's ready for its first combat!

[Chris Bowes]

Right then, dogfighter is being prepared! be there around 11!

[beto9]

Chickens... no one showed up!
If you want to play combat you can't be afraid of drops of water...

[stephane.savard]

I had other things to do today, but I should try to maiden the ME109 sometime this week on an evening.

Plus, chances are when I got there, you might have been too busy eating a sandwich to fly combat

[Dwight Macdonald]

Great looking combat plane Stephane!

[stephane.savard]

Thanks Dwight!

Turns out its somewhere between 3 and 3.5 lbs, with a brand new 25fx in the nose. That also means that the flight pack and quite a bit of equipment that was in the MiG is now in the Me109

Soooo, whoever speaks up first can have the Mig! It's not in it's best shape, requires some repairs, and most hardware, but its still airworthy to whoever wants to take the time to have a fast and maneuverable plane.

He's a "shopping" list of what's needed to get it airborne once again:

Wings:

* Two strip aileron control horns are needed. These are Dubro 4-40 dubro self-tapping style
* One standard servo
* Two 2-56 pushrods and clevis

Fuselage

* Standard switch harness (goes in the side of the fuselage to turn the plane on off, but I also recommend it 'cause it actually holds the battery in place gotta see it to understand, heh)
* T-style Dubro control horn for the elevator
* Two standard servos
* 2-56 clevis (for the elevator - the pushrod is included in the plane)
* Dubro 6 oz fuel tank (fits perfectly)
* Engine + motor mount
* throttle linkage (to go on a yellow flex tube, I have the flex tub, but not the clevis and threaded stud).
* Glue. One of thge formers needs to be glued back into place.

Like I said, it's seen better days, but it's free

[briankizner]

Bring it to field day, Saturday. I am interested.

[stephane.savard]

okay Brian, the MiG is yours!

The ME109's first flight did not go so well yesterday, I beleive it was just too nose heavy, and then when I got that fixed, a fuel tube broke and that ended the day. No damage from the failed launches - I'll tweak a few things on the plane, and the next flight should be great

[stephane.savard]

Tonight with Chris we finally got the Me109 airborne, for a few seconds at least. Still more problems with kinks in the fuel line, and overly long fuel tube line caused a lot of grief in starting th engine and keeping it runing. Once we fixed this problem, we managed to get it launched. Certainly no problems with power, and elevator throws were good, but unfortunately, roll authority was non-existant.

The fuel drawing problems are solved, but this aileron thing is turning out to be more difficult. I built them exactly as the plans called for (4 coroplast flutes wide) but that may be too small. Initial tries to fix it by shoving music wire (5/32?) down the flues of the ailerons does not appear to allowing the rigitiy needed. The fuselage is sound, but I may need to rebuild a new wing with larger ailerons and a better placed torque rod. Luckily, minus the painting, I can complete a new combat wing within a day

Thanks to Chris for all the help he's been providing!

[stephane.savard]

The ME 109 finally took flight! Takeoffs are hairy, but once airborne it flies nice. Unfortunately today during combat, the camoflage scheme got the better of me and I smacked it into the ground behind the bushes. Most that were at the club today heard the thud when it hit. I figure it hit the ground at full throttle, inverted at nearly a 45 degree angle.

Amazingly, just like the Mig, nearly no damage. The front of the nose is a bit squished, but can be repaired with a bit of duck tape and repainting. And I broke the motor mount. The rest of the plane is in perfect shape.

The only thing though is that paint is peeling off the airframe. I had not sanded the coroplast, which contributed to some of the problem, but the bigger is that Sico Corostop Rust Paint is NOT fuel proof enough. For those that want to paint their combat planes, stick to Tremclad, a proven choice.

Anyhow, the ME109 will fly again, but I'm going to be building another Mig too, nothing flies as well as that Mig