The interest is for a 3 blade metal spinner. I am sure the company could cut one for 2 blades if thats what someone wanted.

http://www.ericksonmotors.com/technolo.htm this is an interesting engine... wonder what it sounds like? actually while cruising the net I found this little gem with a heap of links on it http://www.blueangels.rchomepage.com/links.htm

Regarding the retracts being designed specifically for the CMP ME-109......
I am not some go between for this. You will not have to talk to me to get a set once they have them in production(which should be soon). I am simply the one that offered to ship the wing and spinner to the company so they didnt have to buy a CMP plane and it sit on the shelf after the gear was designed. This obviously offered me the fastest turn around since Id get the gear first before anyone since they would have to ship the wing/spinner back to me anyhow.

I was never instructed not to give their name...I just was not providing it to give 'em time to get the gear finished without being swamped with requests.

That being said.....I would assume you can call them starting Monday about the gear, however, since I wont have them in hand probably till mid week, I cant provide pictures until at least then.
Please contact:
Sierra Giant @ 1-440-476-4885 and talk to Darrel.
They are also the ones dealing with the spinner. It will take longer to get the spinners going as gear is more a priorty, but telling Sierra you want a spinner will prompt em to get working on them as well.

BQ

Here are some pics to show what I'm doing. I have nine pics, but I can't get them on without timing out, so slowly I'll post.

Takes more time to think up the design then to do the job. Total time around 1 hour of shaping and cutting. Of course the other wing will be easy now.

The pic should show the new wood ribs butt up against the outside of the original CMP ribs. The inboard rib is 5 ply 3/16 and the outboard rib is 1/8 3 ply. All ribs will support.

I have put green marker on the new ribs to show them. The rear rail is 3.9"x.5"x.5" 5 ply wood. 2, 1/4" plys glued together.

I have also pics of how to get the rib shapes with a contour gauge to cut templates for the wood ribs.

Positioning the LG rails is a bit tricky to explain, and not for everybody, but easy to do. So here i go.

The sheeting around the LG ribs has been removed as shown in previous pics. Some of the original ribs will have to be ground out with a dremel and sanding drum.

1) I used the original CMP retract rail on the front retract mount. Screw the retract you plan on using to the rails, centered. Larger new hand cut rail in back position of retract.

2) Now you have a retract with rails attached. The front rail is the one that will be glued in to hold the LG in position for now.

3) Position the LG front rail against the inboard rib, extend the strut, and position the forward rake you want and LG angle. Use scale pics for reference.

4) Now note the aprox position of the rails and try to hold and retract the strut into the wheel well. Aim for the strut to pass through the center of the "wheel well"

5) When you have settled on a location where the front rail meets the ribs, use CA only to the front rail assembly.

More to come ..

Lost new pics.

I'll post later.

Steve

Hello Khaloq,

Thank you for your effort towards Sierra for better oleo retracts. I for one do not have the skills or dare to tear the wing up of my brand new plane. For me these kind of things are the advantages of discussions on this forum. So thanks.
I'v one question though. Is the geometry of the Sierra retract exactly the same as the original? In other words, in the downward position, will the Sierra version weels be a bith further to the front?. I hope you know what I mean in my Dutch kind of English writing.

Regards,

Eric Schumacher, Netherlands.

BQ

I can post only 2 at a time. More will time out.

I use a contour gauge to get the top of the rib shape and trace it onto the top of the pattern, in this case foam sheet

I use 1/16" foam from my kids craft box to get a rough shape of the rib. One can use card stock as well. It is easy to place up against the original ribs. After you get a shape you're happy with, trace it onto the wood you will use for the rib. And rough cut a rib.

The wood ribs with rail position in placing gear in a more scale location, but more importantly, will greatly improving ground handling from factory location.

Note the previous pic does not show the back rail in place. This is important. The front rail holds the gear in position, and sets up all the other components,. It will be one of the last parts to be CA'ed in. Its kinda like a jig to hold things in place.

Also note, I went as far towards the LE to still give a the retract space between the top sheet and retract. The rertacts will also be below the sheeting once covered with the balsa.

Since the rails are below the sheeting, it give one room too done a final shimming if needed/desired.

I am always thinking not to damage hardware, only wood. So its designed to break wood out in a hard hit. And if i hit that hard, back to flying school.

Kahlog, thanks for getting in touch with Sierra, I just received my BF-109 and it's great , but I was concerned about the retract installation also . I was considering going the way of Scalecraft and others until I read your post . I purchased a set of retracts for a CMP T-6 from Darrel and they are well made so I can imagine the ones he'll put together for the 109 will be just as good , I'll be giving him a call . A buddy of mine flies a P40 with Sierra's and they work good .

Someone in past posts was inquiring about putting a Gas engine in there plane, I'm hopeing to put an Evolution 26 in mine ( already got it from awhile ago, in an other plane right now ) the only concern about installing it is the front carb might be too close to the front ring of the fuse , if you can picture it . That big spinner would be tough to get a starter on and not slip off while trying to get a 4 stroke running , another reason for a gasser .

You can see the ability to adjust on rail location as well.

BQ

If you need a drawing of these ribs, I will trace the shape on paper and mail them to you as if it would help.

Steve

Sorry about the same pic

Hi Scalecraft,

In looking at your pictures I can see that the original mounting position for the retracts is really far back , I haven't started on mine yet to know what is what .

I'm curious as to what angle your retracts are ? I hear about 85* or 83* or even 90* given that the full size plane had there struts coming down at an angle .

Great job scale cract , I did the same process on my willshobby seafury

Thanks LDM


rchorn

I guess you can use 85 degrees +/- when viewed from the front. As for forward rake, I use a diagram of the 109G2,6, tail raised to level the model, then looking at the wheel axle shaft distance from the LE cord. It has way more forward rake than CMP factory puts. See 109 LAIR online for scale info.

I don't use the degree to set my gear as much as I use a scale drawing and try to make mine look right when it sits on the ground. You can always shim a bit or even slide the retract closer to the fuse side or wing tip.

A little shimming on the retract goes along way at the axle.

Steve

Has anyone tried a Saito 200ti in this plane.I know its pricey but oh the sound. I,m waiting on my kit now and trying not to jump at the motor yet

A quick and easy mod I found was to add some decals. The Major Decals .60 size german decals improves on the stock wing crosses and are not to bad size wise. I stuck them on right on top of the stock crosses. The Swastika on the Rudder seems to be about the perfect size. I will spray a bit of Polyurethane over the decals to make them dull and keep them from peeling up. Here are a couple photos, before and after shot of the wing top, and the rudder decal.

Thanks for the offer for the rib tracing. If it's easier, take a head on shot of each rib and post it. Label each rib with the length, spar to L.E. My computer has the ability to scale things up in 1% increments.
So I can scale it up to the desired length and trace it on the screen.. After seeing your method, I scrapped mine and changed overe to yours. One further question, is that a dummy strut,if not how do you plan to attach the axle? Another comment, My drawing show the gear inside the full scale fuselage, just inside the joint with the wing, at a scale of 5.4/1 the wheel tread is 15".
Bob Q.

Hi BobQ

If you can give me an example of the picture you need, I'll post it. I'm a bit confused about what image you need. . Also the 15" tread refers to what, the circumference of the tire. Please explain and I'll try to answer the question.

Remember, the 109G2 came with not only the larger 660mm dia tire (wing humps resulting) but also with the small spoke wheel. Size somewhere in my books. I'll be using smaller tires and try to create the spoke hubs. Maybe fabricate a scale tire as well if my buddy helps out.

By the way, the method you began to configure is how all our Scalecraft LG were configured in our composite wings years ago. Very strong. The 1/4" 5 ply plate would destroy retracts before they broke out. Good and bad. I went with rails because I needed more flexibility in the individual rail components to set the gear position.

Is one way better than the other??

Who knows.

I may use the strut shown, drilled for an axle. Or I'm thinking of maybe putting an alum sleeve over the end of the strut that has been drilled for an axle pin. Both pin and sleeve will be secured with allen set screws. The idea of the sleeve is from my 48"span 109. It has alum axles and works well. I can land it like a trainer now.

True, the 109 scale gear are attached at the fuse/wing joint integrated into the engine mount. But for this model, its close enough if it looks right. My 48" span is at the correct location and is a challenge to keep straight on take off. Small models are really quick to bite you!

Steve

AS far as I know...yes they should be positioned slightly forward when down. Cant do any better then this until I have the set in hand and can take photos.

A question for some of you who have the wing tore apart. How much space is there for a larger wheel? I'd like to keep the gear in the stock position but want to use a wheel that is larger than the stock 3", maybe a 4" or so.

I believe the full scale plane had 660mm tires (about 26") which at 1/5.4 scale would equal about 4.8" Not likely I'll be able to get true scale size, but I'd like to make them as big as I can without major mods to the wing.

The Dubro 4" wheels are only 1.15" thick. I would imagine that any larger wheels would start to get too thick for the wing even if there was room between the spar and the leading edge.

Steve,
The picture I was refering to was to take one simular to the one with the ribs on green paper, only taken from dirrectly overhead, with the distance from spar to leading edge marked on each rib. The 15" tread that I mentioned refers to the distance between the main wheels as they rest on the ground. As yet I don't have a duplicator that you show in your pics. Looks like a handy tool to have.
The scale tires that you refer to, 660 x 160mm are for a late model G-2, while the CMP kit is for a BF109F-2 wich had tires that scale out to at a scale of, 5.4/1, to 4.739" x 1.094". You can only STUFF a 4.0" x 1.0" wheel in the area between the main spar and the leading edge.
Even then part of the tire is above the plane formed by the skin. A way around this might be to thin the width of the tire and even with that, the strut is way above the plane of the skin. Also you will find that as you move the pivot point outboard to improve ground handling the available room for the wheel gets smaller. You almost have to set the tire in the well, flat against the top skin and touching the main spar, this lets the wheel travel up AND forward, clearing the leading edge. Then determine the angle that the axle makes with the strut and use that to set the strut/axle angle. On the subject of the strut, what are the diameters at the ends and what type of al did you use? I have a lathe and milling machine and could fabricate the struts. On getting timed out, every so often I do a ctrl C on all the text and if I get timed out the majority of the text is still available with a ctrl V. My flying buddy cured his ground handling problems on his DR1, with a gyro controling the rudder. Tracks straight down the runway without a hint of ground loop. As you my have guessed, I'm retired and hateing golf, spend most all of my time in the workshop aka garage, with my moto being "It's never to late and you're never to old to have a happy childhood."
Bob Q.

Ok BobQ

I'll get the pic later today.

By the way, I believe our wings are a 109F, , but our fuses are G1, G2s . Small cowl scoops on sides give it away.

Steve

Just because they put the scoops (added in the G to cool the spark plugs) doesn't make it a G fuse. I would say it is more likely that CMP goofed up and added the scoops. Then again it's possible it was a field mod that could have been added to older F models (that's one story). If I was painting the model I would have no problem making it an F or an early G. It's not like it will be entered in the scale masters or anything.

Just like CMP to add more detail, only to find that it should not even be there.

yes, but those small scoops are useful for bringing in air to cool your glow or electric motor.

Now as far as wheels fitting ni the wing....if you use thin style Williams Brothers...like the Vintage...you shouldnt have an issue.