sbrackets

Hey Guys
Was wondering if anyone in this group ever purchase a MRC Piper Cherokee Archer RTF Kit offered back in 1976. I purchased one as my High School Graduation present to myself. I flew it once, crashed it on the first flight The crash took out the engine and and firewall area of the fuse. Everything else was OK. I have keep this airplane all these years. And I am very close to flying her again.
This plane had a fiberglass fuselage and a foam core /basla sheeted wing and a Enya .40 engine. And came outfitted with the MRC 5 channel radio and Quite a kit for 1976.
I have just recently repaired the fiberglass fuselage and replaced the old plywood servo rails inside as the wood was falling apart. I hope to paint it to it's original colors in the spring.
I would like to hear back from anyone who ever had a the chance to fly this airplane and hear what to have to say about her, as my flight only lasted about 20 seconds as memory serves.

skylane42

My Feedback: (53)

I have never heard anything about how they fly. How experienced were you when you first tried to fly your Piper. I would like to have an original kit but they are far and few and expensive. I do have a MRC Skylane in the basement. It is a all Foam plane with motor installed. It was billed as the largest ARF on the market at the time with a 60 inch wing.

fizzwater2

My Feedback: (61)

As a side note, the MRC 765 was my first commercial radio control system. Before that I had been flying a Heathkit that I assembled.

In 1976 they had a "bicentennial special" - if you bought the radio, you got a free Enya .40 R/C engine. Still have the engine and the radio, but I had forgotten about the plastic box the radio came in, thanks for posting that pic!

sbrackets

Hello Guys
Thanks for your response back. I remember that MRC also offered the Cessna 177 Skylane back in 1976, but I chose the Piper Cherokee Archer.
I just went through some of my old RCM modeler magazines and found this old Enya ad showing what looks like Two MRC Cessna's in a tug of war. So it looks like MRC manufactured the Cessna like for a few years after 1976. Look very close at the "N" number on the airplanes. The "N" number is like the year it's made in.

I also have the complete MRC 765 Radio set including the plastic box that came with my Cherokee.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

Wow ! I did see two of these Pipers back in 1979. They were built and sitting on the shop floor at a friends house. They were very nice looking. All of these years, I have never seen or heard of them again and I often wondered what they were.

skylane42

My Feedback: (53)

The Skyhawk that I have pictured above is a rare one too. I have only seen 2 of these offered in the past 10 years and I bought one of them.

maxpower1954

Actually, I think the Cessna 177 is a Cardinal; the 172 is a Skyhawk and the 182 is a Skylane (just to set the record straight!)

A friend of mine has a MRC Cardinal hanging up in his garage...maybe a phone call is in order. Russ Farris

sbrackets

Hello Skylane 42
That is quite a large model from MRC. A six foot wing span! WOW!! I would like to see some pics of it out of the box if possible.

As for my Cherokee, The first flight was my last flight and would be for a least the next 31 years. It was my first RC airplane and I was eighteen at the time and thought I knew it all. What can I say.
Anway here I am 31 years later getting ready to fly her again. The way I figure it, I Payed $500.00 for that plane and radio so I better get more then one flight out of her.

Jim

Trisquire

I saw one of the MRC Cardinals fly back in the 70's. This was at Tony Bonetti's old field in NY state.

Tom

DMiller3638

My Feedback: (1)

I actually have this airplane.. MRC Cherokee.. Got itoff of E-Bay a while back.. Slightly yellowed with age... I expect to have it flying in the weeks to come..

sbrackets

Guys I have been away from this thread for a while, but am back now. I am getting ready to start the paint process on my Cherokee in a week or two, Depending on the tree pollen in the air. I don't have a paint booth so I just have to shoot the plane outside of my garage.
I noticed that we have a RCU member who has a 1979 MRC Piper Cherokee up for sale in the Buy & Sell Scale section of RCU.
The members name is 2255, its a pretty nice plane with fresh paint. He's asking $300.00 for it without the engine and radio. Here is a photo of his MRC Piper Cherokee.
Member 2255 also has the MRC Cessna 177 Cardinal and it's for sale as well and here is a picture of it. He is asking $300 and it has a O.S engine anf Futaba Gold radio.

I will post pictures of my Cherokee repaint just as soon as I take them.

Also here is a a photo of the original MRC Logo decal from the 1970's era. This decal came with my MRC 5 channel radio. I cleaned it up in photoshop the other night. It was looking pretty rough from age over the years. So here it here cleaned up.

Regards, Jim Stratton

sbrackets

Hey Guy's
Well, I finally finished my MRC Piper Cherokee Archer rebuild. It was a year in the making, but well worth the effort. I have posted some photos of the plane of before and after the rebuild project. As you can see from the photos, it looks as if this plane was not worth the rebuild. And to do so one had to have a great imagination of a finished product.

Will post video the her flight as soon as I can.

Thanks for looking
Jim

Deadstik

My Feedback: (8)

Jim,

What is the wingspan and engine size for your Cherokee??? I have a NIB MRC Cherokee but it has a molded foam fuselage /wing/stab and came with an Enya .19 R/C It Looks to be about the same size as yours but not a glass fuselage. Anyone know when this kit was sold??? I'll take some pics tomorrow and post. Thanks,


Dan

sbrackets

Hey Dan
The wing span on my Cherokee measures 58" . Yes, Please do post your photos of your Cherokee.

Jim

Free Bird

Very nice job on your bird Jim! It looks great! Please post a flight report, we're all interest on how it goes this time.

FB

dwoolridge

My Feedback: (4)

Hello all,

A friend of mine just bought a bunch of stuff from an estate and one of the planes is an MRC Cherokee Archer (best I can tell). Looks just like the pics of the MRC, and has a wingspan (straight across tips, ignoring dihedral) of 56".

I've just finished going over it and hope to test fly tomorrow. I'll let you know how it flys.

QUICK QUESTION.... Does anyone know the CG location? If I don't hear otherwise, I'll be doing the initial flight with the CG 3" back from the wing's leading edge (the straight part of the wingnot the fairing). This is 31% chord, so it's not likely to be too bad.

Doug

dwoolridge

My Feedback: (4)

I gave the CG some more thought and decided to move it forward a bit. I put an oversized spinner on to get the CG to 26% of chord which is a bit more than 2-3/8" from the LE.

sbrackets

Hello Doug
God luck with the maiden flight. Can't wait to here the flight report. Especially on the CG position since I am guessing about the placement myself.
Is your Cherokee Red white& blue in color? Or red white and green? The red white & green has the "N" numbers N1977M. Seems that MRC made these planes in 1976 & 1977, not sure if they were made past that. Does anybody know?

Can you supply photos?

Good luck with todays flight.

Jim

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Jim very nice restoration indeed you did a beautiful job but I fear you have a larger problem. And that is your old wide band radio system and if the orange and white flag are the original then that also means its on 72.40 a no longer legal channel that has been delgated strickly for industrical use. This means everywhere in the US.

Its true the older systems on the 27mhz band are still legal because they were never subjected to the 1991 narrow banding that the 72 mhz band was. This narrow banding resulted in many more channels for our use however it also required recoding of the band and resulted in the loss of some of the older channels of which 72.400 was one.

John

sbrackets

Hello John
Thanks for your kind comments about my Cherokee. Yes, I Know that my Transmitter in the photo is now Illegal. I just placed it into the picture for nostalgia.
I have changed all the electronics over to the "NEW Spektrum DX7 2.4 system.

I hope to fly her soon.

Thanks, Jim

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Thats a relief and I do the same with some of my vintage stuff displaying the old tranny with it. I wish you well with the maiden, its a neet project.

sbrackets

Hey Guys
If your interested, I You can read and see more of my rebuild of my MRC Cherokee Archer on that other forum site. Just look for (Airplane -Fuel-Airplanes) Scale Fuel planes, page 2 to see the whole rebirth.

Regards, Jim

sbrackets

Hey Guys
Well I just completed my Taxi video this afternoon at our local Middle School parking lot. It's mot much, but it's something for you to drool over

Watch and enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGPiGEKebIs

Hope to make the maiden flight # 2 this coming Sunday. Will capture video of the flight.

Regards, Jim

sbrackets

Hello Group
Well, I maidened the Cherokee today! We had windy conditions most of the day. It wasn't till 5:30pm till I got the chance to get her airborne.
All I have to say is that she flew like a dream!!! I was a little concerned about the C.G balance but it seems to be OK. She wanted to climb so I has to adjust the trim a little for level flight.
Thas O.S 40 FX does this bird well. I flew around at 1/3 throdle and pleanty of power to spare.
I'll tell you, it was hard to keep a tear from my eyes just seeing her fly again. It was like a dream come true for sure. I couldn't believe it. My baby is flying again.
I just flew a circle pattern around the field, nothing speacial or fancy, Just played it cool.
I say I flew her for about eight minutes and still had 3/4 fuel tank left. Keep in mind that I'm using a 12oz. tank.

The landing was sweet, and everything went well through out the flight. This bird will fly again.

I did manage to get video of the flight with the help from a fellow RC Pilot.
Guys, Give me a day or two to edit the video and load it to the net.
I believe you will be pleased.

Thanks to all of you guys who followed my build and thanks for all of your suport.

Regards, Jim

sbrackets

Hello Group
Well I maidened the Cherokee this past Sunday, and she flew GREAT!! No problems. I know you are all wanting to see the video so lets get to it.
I hope you like the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL6Ma...eature=related

Jim