Triple Telemaster Flies !!
 

Yup! No doubt about it, a Telemaster 40 will fly with (3) .40's...

I bought a garage sale Telemaster with a Fox .40 in it and decided to do a twin....but first, since the Fox .40 was already installed, I thought why not build nacelles/lay in a pair of LA .40's and not bother to remove the original Fox engine....(1 plus 2 equals 3 engines!!)

And it worked! The little beast rolled about 10 feet and was airborne at a 60 degree climbout angle. Rolls, loops, stall turns, etc and then back into the landing pattern. A couple of slow flybys for the vultures watching and then a landing followed by a return taxi to the pits.

A second hop confirmed that this was really happening.

Technical stuff: nacelles slung under the wing with individual mini throttle servos and individual 6 oz fuel tanks. Tanks and servos are fully serviceable for fine adjustments. Engines are O.S. LA .40's with 10 x 5 props. Aircraft set up as a tail dragger. CG was set 1" behind the leading edge of the wing. 1100 ma power pack.

So there you have it.

The aircraft went back into the shop and I removed the original Fox engine and stripped everything down for a fresh layer of Monocoat and a return to the flight line as a Twin-Telly.

This multi-engine stuff really is fun.

Tri-Motor
 

Way Cool!

5 years ago I did kinda the same thing to an Aerostar 60....put OS 26's on the wings and an OS 72 on the nose. I nicknamed it the M.E.A.T. (multi engine airplane testcraft). Very interesting to hook the different throttles up to different radio channels and experiment with different engine-out combinations (enlarge the rudder first). The main problem, of course, is the center engine really dominated the outboards. And it sucks down fuel like an SUV.

mt

Triple Telemaster Flies !!
 

LOL sounds like you had a ball. Yeah though get that poor thing recoverd!

Re: Triple Telemaster Flies !!
 

You might like to know that some many years ago, I built an original 8 foot telemaster with no engine in the nose but rather I installed two K&B .40 on the wings and rebalanced the airplane with added weight in the nose. Tha airplane weighed 17 lbs and it flew like a DC3. On one of the flights, I lost an engine but didn't know it for quite a while until all the other airplanes had landed,
It was a good flyer.

Re: Triple Telemaster Flies !!
 

I'll bet the sound of triples was priceless. Congrats on the great test flight! I assume the "vultures" were speechless afterwards. Just a suggestion though, why not keep the triple setup. I'm guessing that you will have to add considerable weight to the nose when you remove the Fox . Why carry dead weight, when a running engine can do the same for balance? I would think that with the Fox on the nose a flameout of an outboard engine would not be as noticeable also. Besides, the uniqueness of a triple is just way too cool :)

Keep us informed, and please post pics after the recover job.

Dwight Hayden

Triple Telemaster Flies !!
 

Russ:

Nice going. Good to hear it worked.

But Alzheimer's (secondchildhood) has a valid point about balance...

Bill.

Tri-Telemaster
 

Dwight

Thanks for the great observations.

I still (after lots of years) have 10 fingers and have stayed awake at night thinking what all three of those snarling little monsters would do to a couple of them if I got distracted.

I decided that it is just too much hassle to have 3 engines....plus, I mostly did it as a personal dare just to see if I could.

The Telly should be fun and a bunch safer with only 2 engines.

Triple Telemaster Flies !!
 

Russ, Delighted to hear of your successful 'triple' flights, like the new colors to. I am sure it will make a fine twin too, it may be a bit more work but you could makes some longer nacelles for the CG thing. Oh another thought since you are going to fill in the nose how about just making it a bunch longer and run the battery all the way forward, The long nose makes them look kinda neat anyway.

John:)

tele 3 banger
 

Russ i have to give you a thumbs up! I have flown a tele with os surpass 53. I bet your tri engine probably lands better. Tellies like my senior you about have to push it down to land. I assume your engines have to be near dead to land yours. the extra weight probably helps. Great going Russ propfinger

correction!
 

os 48 surpass my ys is a 53, on ,my senior.Im 45 that gives my excuse for premature oldtimers
Russ What did you use to make your engine pods out of? Can you post a pic of the twin tele's new look. My hat is off to ya. Happy flying! Tim