KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Hey Guys, I ran across a deal I just couldn't pass up. I found an old KMP Bronco that has been in the hanger for far to long. I got a great deal on her. She is full of goodies. She has 9 Hitec 5645s 1 JR-8711, a Duralight Power Box and lots of heavy duty servo extentions and what seems like a hundred parson's wire clips.

She had YS 110's on her but being the closest glow fuel stop is 45 minute away I decided not to get the 110s with the deal.

I plan on going electric on this one. As this will be my first electric I have a lot of learning to do.

I remember seeing this plane fly 4 or 5 years ago. As my memory came back to me I remembered it has a hard time getting off the ground. Now that she is sitting in my shop, I saw why. This Bronco is one of the first batch with fixed gear. The owner added Century Jet retracts. However they ended up being almost 7" to far back. The gear mounts are in the right place for the stock gear. however I believe the way the CJ gear is designed, it caused them to be to far back. So she wouldn't rotate very well for liftoff. I decided too cut the old gear mounts out (pic #1) and move them forward. I can't get them exactly where they need to be so the best I can do is 5" forward. I believe this will be ok.

Pic #2 is the mounts removed.
#3,4, & 5 is the left side just in for fitting.

#6 I need to trim the bottom for the gear to come down fully.
More to come,
Kelly





I have a few other ideas about which direction I want to go so more on that later.

Edit: I've added some pics to show what she looked like before I did any work. I don't know why I didn't take some more. (duh!)

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

OK I've been busy over the last few days, I got the mains move forward about 5 1/2". The pic shows the old location and the new location in the front. No wonder the plane had a hard time rotating on take off.

The Centry Jet gear are fairly scale, but they don't retract but about 75 to 80 degs. I can't seem to get the slight forward rake of the fullscale (pic#2) and still get them retracted all the way in the boom. I've not given up yet.

I've moved the nose gear too. It was to far forward. The original owner made a mount for the gear in front of the cockpit. I notice under the battery mount that there was already a mount there. with only a slight modification of the mount I was able to drop it right in the stock/scale space. Now I need to mount the steering servo. I forgot to get pics of the nose gear. I will post some tommorrow.

I said I was going electric on this one. However after lots of searching, reading, and PRICING, it is not in the budget to go electric. Also it doesn't seem like it would fit my flying style. (10 to 15 minute flights). I will be going with DLE 20s now. I saw one fly years ago on 2 G-20s and the DLE-20s are stronger, so everthing should be good to go.

more to come,
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Ok, Here are the pics of the nose gear.

I had the replace the center pod wing hold down plate. I pulled the old one very easily with my hand.

I removed the powerbox and was able to remove a bundle of wire extentions.

Lastly a few outside shouts.
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Looks like you have it under control. Won`t be long before it gets in the air.

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Hey Rick, There's a long way to go on this one.

Here is tonite progress.
Pic #1 &2. I took the old balsa stringers out and replaced them with basswood. I also cut some new formers for the F/G nose cone. (not glued in yet) There is some trailer rash on the nose that has to be fixed. (pic#3)

Pic#4 shows the notch I made in the gear to allow for longer steering arms. These C/J gear are nice, but way to many parts. They have a lot of slop in them. There isn't enough room to put any longer arms on without doing this. The longer arms are needed because of the trailing link strut is very hard to steer. The 1st owner put an 8711 in there for steering. Notice the notch on the otherside? that is before I noticed the gear guts needed swapping around. :eek:

Later,
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Great to hear your going electric power, that's all I fly and just love it!
If you need any tips or motor ideas feel free to hit me up... I love helping out on stuff like this

looks like a fun project

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

I've talked myself out of electric. but thanks anyways.


BTW I love your mustang!

Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

No problem
Thanks for the complement and good luck with your project it's going to be great!

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Hi,

Steve from Bobs Hobby Center. Great to see you bringing this plane back to life. I love mine although I have not flown it for some time.

I have a range of spare parts for the OV10 just in case you need any


Thanks

steve

Bobs Hobby Center 407 277 1248

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Sorry forgot the pic!!!

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Hey Steve, Do you have a canopy and two cowls? The canopy is truning yellow. I would like to start with some new cowls.


I like that Coast Guard scheme.
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Ok , doesn't look like much was done tonite but what was done took time.

Pic# 1 is the old servo mount. The 8711 was really giving the F/G nose cone the twist. I have moved the servo back behind the gear now. I have looped inner nyrod around to the front and then back again. Pic#2.

Pic #3 is the new formers and stringer in the F/G cone. They are glued in now. This will get a 1/32 plywood skin on it to cover it up. then I can F/G it and blend it in with body filler.

Pic#4 I got the sheeting back on the bottom of the fuse pod. I will sand that tommorow.

That all for tonite,
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Anybody know what this is for?

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

It was an infa-red strobe light that was designed to confuse some of the earlier generation of hand held SAM's mainly tthe SA-7. ALQ 144 as I recall... We had one rigged on a P-3C during anti-drug patrols in the early 90's as we were afraid that the druggies had gotten their hands on some soviet block hardware....

I have a KMP bronco that I never finished... I have a set of RCS 140's on it.. I was planning on getting around to finishing it this winter but have been too busy with work.. Interesting to see your gear mod.. should work out!

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Thanks, that is very intresting.

I've been working on the nose gear this week. I've been trying to put gear doors on her. I've almost got the bugs worked out. I will post pics soon. I'm making them mechanical so I don't have to use servos/air and a sequencer to operate them.
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Ok, here are the pics of the gear doors for the nose gear. It's working very good but I still need to do a little tweeking.

pic#1 is 2 1/32 ply and 1 1/64 ply. the notches are in the middle 1/32 piece. (Press glued together.)

I haven't put the rear cover in place yet. It and the left (bottomside) rear hinge had to be made removable to remove the gear as it is offset to one side.
Some parts are taped on for fitting.


Also moved and made a new mount for the air tank and started setting the wing back up. The previous owner used Z bends on the control arms. I'm not real crazy about this but, they are tight and I can't see how they could fail. I may keep this setup.
Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Look what the UPS man brought me today, 2 DLE 20's. They came with a free NGK plugs and a muffler insert and free shipping. Still have more items from other companies come in later.


pic #2, I placed the fuel tank in the center pod as the booms will be very crowded with batt, servos and ignition.


Pic #3, I relocated the retract valve further back. Now the adjustment screws can be reached thru the canopy opening or from the bottom of the pod. (removable wing stubs)


Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

I did a little more work this weekend. I made an access hatch for my switches fuel and air. I like everything in one place. Pic #1&2

Pic #3 &4 I got the left engine nounted. Everything is hooked up and ready for running. The right engine is too but no pics of that.

Pic #5 I had to redo the nose gear streering. The loops in teh cable is the stock setup however it binded when the wieght was on the gear. I put it back in the front but made a new pount right in front of the wheel. Now it moves ALOT easier

#6 thru8 The dowl rods for the wing were not very robust and a couple have broken just from normal use. So I used a 5/16 brass tube to cut the old pins out and put 5/16 pins in there place. Much stronger.

That's it for tonite, Later

Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Sweet Kelly can't wait to see it Fly again. Kevin.

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Tonight's progress,

Pic #1 is my Redneck remote kill switches. I had the servo and the switches so that is 40 to 60 bucks I didn't have to spend on a Opto unit(s). works great!

Pic #2 I soldered a .6 volt, 3 amp diode in one of my switches to lower the voltage of my A123s to 6 volts for the ignition. I need to get another one for the other switch too.

That's all for tonight

Kelly

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Here it is. It has been flown and flew great with no problems.

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Hey Guys, I'm pulling up this thread for an update. Last year about this time I had an engine flame out on me so I had a hard landing that broke the center wing section on the left side. Well I decided to finnally fix her back.

First I found the main spar in this plane to be something simular to hard balsa stringers. So I inserted two new basswood spars down beside the old ones. The center is completely sheeted now an waiting on some glass this weekend. It is very strong now.

Here are a few in flight shots of her a few weeks before the "crash landing"

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

here she is with the new center wing in place.

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

Well, here she is agian. Ready for action. Both engine have been ran and re-tuned.

Hope to fly her this Sat. Weather sould be nice.

RE: KMP OV-10 Bronco (refurb job)
 

I remaidened her today. The engines ran great. No problems. It was a nice breezy crosswind today with 2 flights. She really weather vanes in the wind. Other than that this is a very easy plane to fly.