I purchased a 109 a few months back. Mine is running a 10 g motor, 3.5 g servos, and a 450 mah 2s lipo. It flies very well!
Juanito, I am sure your UMX electronics will give you light flight characteristics! Depending on your battery, I would be conscience of your Center of Gravity because it could be tail heavy.
I am hoping it goes well for you. Keep us updated!

lilbanks, the Bf109 flies beautifully. It has a Turnigy 1100-2900 kV driving the stock prop, and uses a Spektrum nano brick from the (just-discontinued) Habu-SAFE UMX. I have not glued the fuse halves together, because I will eventually remove the SAFE brick and substitute a non-SAFE As3X brick from a Pitts AS3X UMX. Ailerons are installed using the linear offset Spektrum linear servos mounted on the wings... with relatively low throws for now. It weighs 90 grams with an Eflite 280 mAh 2cell batt.

It flies FABULOUSLY!!! I hand-launch in SAFE Beginner mode, get two mistakes high, and then switch the SAFE off completely... unless I mess up. In that case, I push the Omigawd Panic button and the plane rights itself. I also land in Beginner mode for now, but as I get more experience and skill, I will remove the SAFE and set-up with a more normal AS3X UMX brick.

I am SO pleased thst I am now converting an old NIB Cox Spitfire the same way... except that this time, I am using an Eflite 180:3000 kv (Pitts) motor and a rebuilt prop/spinner/adapter setup., because the Stock Cox Spitfire propellers were misaligned, out-of-balance junk. that broke when I tried to unglue and true them. I will be trying out the old Eflite Beast prop (5X2.75) because I cannot find GWS or Graupner electric props anywhere these days.

I fly the Messerschmitt with the fuse half-shells held together with rubber bands... but after I trade out the brick, I expect I'll glue them together like most everyone seems to have done. Except for the half-shell hassles, i am delighted.

Tell me about your version?

juanito/jack

Graupner propellers can still be found at Tower Hobbies. I bought a few last year and all are good.

And you can get our props also at www.graupnerusa.com

Warms my heart to see Cox micro warbirds still being built and flown.

Yep. My (our) Spit MkXiV is ready to maiden. Same setup as the Bf109... but (oddly) it weighs almost half-an-ounce more. I wish I could find just the right battery, so that none of the ballast would be just lead --- but looks like my oldest Zippy Rhino 2S360 plus about 7 grams of plumbum.
No real changes in weight distribution, except the fabricated pro-spinner setup (the Spit props are unusable) and using an Eflite 180:3000 instead of the Trunigy 1811:2900. I expected it to come out nose-heavy! Maybe I'll fly it without the canopy? That helped with the Messer - which currently wears a canopy made from folded plastic sheet --- much lighter. But that's not so easy with a Spit canopy.

Best, Joe
jack/juanito

Hi all.

Firstly, apologies for resurrecting this old thread.

Secondly, I've recently acquired two Cox RC warbird kits - the Spitfire and the Bf109 (albeit in a different box).

I'm going to have a read through this topic for some hints and tips, but if anyone has anything new to add to the proceedings first, that'd be sweet!

I cannot add much to this thread discussion since all of my kits were taken by thieves. The best I can offer is to use RC gear common to models of this size and weight. You may also consider using the original kits as something to copy and save them for future sales, or projects. I call the idea a build-over plug, or frame so I can make as many copies as I could ever want, but instead of using the original kit as the build-over, make your first copy the build-over.

I’ve been going through my storage and found a bunch of these. With UMX power systems these would be even lighter, as soon as some other priorities are out of the way there are going to be some brushless conversions being done.

Originally Posted by Tsavah

I cannot add much to this thread discussion since all of my kits were taken by thieves. The best I can offer is to use RC gear common to models of this size and weight. You may also consider using the original kits as something to copy and save them for future sales, or projects. I call the idea a build-over plug, or frame so I can make as many copies as I could ever want, but instead of using the original kit as the build-over, make your first copy the build-over.

I was considering that. I could draw around the outline and make my own version.

Speaking of which.....

Cox 020 Spitfire in beercan version (7 min 50 sec)

After a bit of thinking, I've decided to build the Cox warbirds as they are, although I've yet to decide on the RC fit for them.

Anyway, please post some photos of your Cox warbirds for some inspiration!

Got this off of eBay for a pittance - $20 + 15 shipping. It was in an Estes box so is a little different than the Cox birds. Modified to 4 channel with a Spektrum brick and a BL180 motor. Should fly nice once the wind dies down here. Then I will touch up paint and fill in open in the fin where the Estes magnet rudder only control went.

Not sure if anyone monitors this thread but here are three more of the Cox planes I have converted to 4 channel with Spektrum bricks and BL180 motors. They fly very nicely and are fairly sturdy.

Nice! I watch this thread but don’t post much anymore.
The umx warbirds seemed to displce these as no assembly required and now they are brushless. I remember the days when brushless conversions of these planes was cutting edge, and now it’s come full circle where we have all these great electronics including Safe and the airframes are long gone. I kept a hoard of these, it’s good to see people still working with these models, they really are a jewel.

It's a shame someone doesn't bring them back. Little RTF warbirds (particularly Spitfires) seem to be rare indeed!