Once again Pete has allowed me the honor of doing another prototype, this time the German version of the Morane Saulnier L, called the Pfalz EIII.

The Morane-Saulnier L, also known as the Morane-Saulnier Type L was a French parasol wing one or two-seat aeroplane of the First World War. The Type L became one of the first successful fighter aircraft when it was fitted with a single machine gun that fired through the arc of the propeller which was protected by armoured deflector wedges. Its immediate effectiveness in this role launched an arms race of fighter development and the Type L was swiftly rendered obsolete. The original Type L used wing warping for lateral control, but a later version designated Type LA was fitted with ailerons[1].

Built by Morane-Saulnier, large numbers of the Type L were ordered by the French Aviation Militaire at the outbreak of the war, being designated the MS.3. In total about 600 Type Ls were built and in addition to the French air force, they served with the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service.

The type was also produced under licence in Germany by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke as the unarmed A.I and A.II scouts and then the E.III armed scout.

I will be finishing the model as a Pfalz EIII as this is what Pete needs done.

Here are the specs for the plane:

Morane-Saulnier L Specifications
Country: France
Manufacturer: Société des Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier
Type: Fighter Reconnaissance
First Introduced: 1913
Number Built: 600
Engine(s): Gnôme, rotary, 80 hp
Wing Span: 36 ft 9 in (11.2 m)
Length: 22 ft 6¾ in (6.88 m)
Height: 12 ft 10½ in (3.93 m)
Empty Weight: 847 lb (385 kg)
Gross Weight: 1,441 lb (655 kg)
Max Speed: 71.5 mph (115 km/h)
Ceiling: 13,123 ft (4000 m)
Endurance: 2½ hours
Crew: 1 or 2
Armament: 1 machine gun

Once again I will be using a bunch of lazer cut parts from Manzanolazer.com to help speed things along.

On to the build!

Very nice. Pete's free mag plan IPS Morane L was one of the first electric scale models I built when I turned 'electric'. It's a nice stable flyer..if it's kept light.

I made the mistake of building the model THEN worrying about how to get the r/c gear in - make sure you plan your gear installation from the start, it'll save you some 'keyhole surgery' later on as there's not a lot of room. The IPS SE5a seems spacious by comparison.

Good luck with the build...and I'll say it again: keep that tail-end LIGHT

Steve

Neat model of a rare bird. Do you have any specs on the size and projected weight of the model?

Originally Posted by vonJaerschky

Neat model of a rare bird. Do you have any specs on the size and projected weight of the model?

Yes, its about a 32" W/S and I am thinking it should come in around 6.5 - 7 oz, at least thats what I`m shooting for.

I`ll once again be using this motor with a 8x6 GWS prop:

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...lectric/Detail

It worked really well in my Bristol Scout and Eflight SE-5A, so I have every confidence it will work well in this one too.

I had only bad luck with the GWS IPSA motors I tried (4 died!), so I`m not gonna go down that road again.

Servos will most likely be HS-55`s or I may try out some TP 5 gram servos from the same site.

And of course I will be covering her with Litespan again.

Hi dan here is my dads built from the same plan but enlarged to 42 in span uses a tower pro motor 10x4.7 prop and a 3 cell 1300 lipo.tod.

Lovely model. Got to be a floater with all that wing area.

Steve

Oooooo nice plane, that motor should work good on that sized model Dan. I can't wait for the build to get going

Dan,
I've just been looking at the specs for that motor, you may want to try 2s and an 8x4 prop. That should still give more power than you need.

Which scheme have you in mind? I know which one I like, but you probably already know that.

Pete

Pete;

I haven`t really been able to find too much info on schemes, apparently this was a pretty generic bird once the Germans built them.

At least I won`t have to worry about doing lozenge........yet.

That will have to wait for another plane somewhere down the road.

Pete;

I haven`t decided what size battery to use yet, either the 3 cell 450 or 2 cell 800, it all depends on how much room I have to carry it.

I got 15 minutes of flight time with the 3 cell 450 in the Bristol Scout, so I would think I would get similar times in this plane.

Pete;

It looks like I could build the fuselage without having to build a front and a rear section first, your thoughts on this?

It don`t look like there would be too much bending involved, so I`m thinking I may go that way.

Dan, I found it actually easier to do it this way for this style of plane.

greg

Dan,
whether built with one piece sides, or two part ones, because of the shape I'd advise assembling the rear section onto the front one - simply so that you actually have a flat surface to align over the plan. There isn't one at all on the rear frames.

I like the scheme with the red and white markings simply because it's the most different to MS type L markings.

I'm surprised you'd consider a pack as big as an 800 mAh - unless you really need nose weight. You certainly don't need the flight time it would provide. It's likely to eat into your weight estimate. I'd be more inclined to keep the tail light and use the lightest possible battery pack for an overall lighter model.

Pete

I'll second the motion for the red & white version.

Greg

I decided to start with one of my least favorite parts of the build,the wire bending.

Fortunately, its all pretty small diameter wire (18,20,22 SWG), so I proceeded to get started.

First parts I did were the two halfs of the rear C/S support "F", and got them lashed and glued to former F3.

Once that was done I have come up with a couple questions.

How do you make the bent pin rigging loop?, and how do you get the washers soldered on square?

I would bet this is important as the wings seat on them.

I posted pictures to show what I`m talking about.

I found out while building the Bristol Scout, that its much easier lashing the struts to the formers BEFORE they are glued into the fuselage.