bryanmiick

new landing gear with anchor points for flying wires that aren't attached to wheel pants.


fiberglass wheel pants off of a friends Howard. (they were the wrong shape for his plane) they are a little too narrow but the price was right and fiberglass specialties didn't have a shape that I liked

these are about 1/2" too narrow and made for a smaller wheel but I think with some creativity I can make them work

fiberglass filler strip added, I will also shape the bottoms down to the line drawn on the pant. The profile won't be exact but pictures of the real plane show several different shapes

cowl being painted.

bryanmiick

Got things finished up last night and flew today, still have some bugs to work out, flies great in the air, but I need to get a little more speed on take off as it wanted to stall until it got some air speed. It also nosed over on landings. I may have something binding in the wheel pants when the tires flex after touch down. All in all it was a good couple of flights.

wheel pants painted and installed

they don't look as nice after today's flying, and need some repair

sensei

I have silently enjoyed watching this thread since January, and because of your thread I looked for and found a new in old box 70” wingspan Mystery Ship in Fredericksburg Texas, I drove there from San Antonio and met an old guy that had owned it for decades and decided he just didn’t have the steam to finish it any more, I say old guy because I’m near 66 and he was maybe 20+ years older than me.

anyway the kit came with nicely done fiberglass fuselage, cowling and wheel pants, the tail feathers, wings and ailerons are all built up from balsa and some plywood, once I get into the build after I complete my current project I will be covering with ceconite and the Stits system followed with automotive topcoat as I have done many times over the years.

Thanks for the inspiration to search and purchase this jewel of an airplane!

Bob

bryanmiick

looks like fun, what kind of power do you plan to use?

sensei

probably my DA 35cc, not sure yet.

Bob

Chad Veich

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Interesting tidbit for Mystery Ship builders who want to be accurate, the full size aircraft was actually red with extremely dark blue trim and very thin green pin striping between the two colors. See accurately depicted replica in the linked picture.
https://www.airteamimages.com/travel...282_large.html

bryanmiick

I thought about doing the trim but the pin stripe tape I had wouldn't lay down on the curves so I decided that most people wouldn't know or care. In the past I have had trouble getting stuff to stick to doped finishes.

bryanmiick

It's been a little while since I've posted an update so I thought that it was time. other things have gotten in the way this summer but I've now got an astonishing 11 flights on the mystery ship. each flight has had some bugs that are being worked out, I'm on my 3rd different landing gear and think that I've got a workable set. It has been moved forward from the plans location to help with nosing over and the wheel pants are no longer on the list of priorities though may come back later. I've also been playing with the engine and prop size. On takeoff it leaves the ground almost at a stall. I went to a 20-8 prop instead of the 18-8 that I use on my Top Flight Stinson, both with OS GT 33 engines. The Stinson is 4lbs heavier but has a smaller cowl. the larger prop runs 1800 rpms slower but the engine isn't broken in as well as the 10 year old Stinson. the 18-8 on the Stinson runs 8300 rpm, the 20-8 runs 6500. Not bad but the heavier stinson moves a lot faster than the Model R. the bigger prop has helped on take off just by pulling more air past the cowl. yesterday I had 3 flights, 2 good take offs and 2 good landings. the first landing ended in a nose over and broken prop during the post touch down roll out. the 2nd flight was good on both ends. the 3rd flight tried to nose over on takeoff, when I used elevator to pull the tail down it left the ground at stall speed and wobbled into the sky, the landing was perfect. I think that I rolled in to the throttle too fast causing the engine to pull the plane over before the tail had enough air going over it to hold level??? this also happened on my 2nd flight attempt last spring resulting in broken cowl and wheel pants.

latest landing gear, 4 flights and no repairs needed.

mystery ship and stinson both with OS GT33 engines

bryanmiick

I made some more adjustments to the landing gear, not as scale but makes flying better. gear is 1" lower, 1" further forward and 10" wider. Got rid of ground loop on takeoff, and nose overs after landing during roll out.

ronorion9

On the Cleveland print you show, I don't see any layouts for ribs or fuselage formers.
Are they on another sheet?

Thanks

bryanmiick

Yes they are on another sheet that came with the plans, I had a copy made and then cut it apart and glued to the wood and then cut the pieces
both plan sheets

glued to formers for shaping, I stacked 2 pieces of wood and made both sides at the same time

main plan sheet had another several feet of instructions for rubber band powered plane

first half

2 halves clamped together

bryanmiick

By the way, the new landing gear makes this plane a joy to fly. no ground loops, no nose overs on landing etc.. I have considered a bigger engine but it flies fine, just not as fast as it could be