I added some chin scoops on the bottom of the cowl to get air inside. I didnt want to leave the front of the plane without a spinner since I thought it looked rather bad that way.

There are 3 little scoops. ive not had any cooling problems at all.

Originally Posted by demeeks

... I too am going to open up the firewall
for increased air flow for not only the motor but ESC as well. I liked the open
area in the nose for an air inlet, I will probably install a NACA duct in the cowl as well...

Hi Don,

I did dremel out three large air exit holes under the cowling, the motor needs plenty of airflow, at least in my case.

I also have the rocket nozzle open at the very back of the fuse.

.

After four successful flight it was finally time for some paint and decals

Some weathering and panel lines will come later.
.

Incidentally, since I thought originally I burned up the motor as well, I went ahead and ordered a replacement motor for what I have in there right now, which is this one (L5055B) :

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=19617

At the time I actually wanted to get this 5055 SK which was sold out & backordered :

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idProduct=7071

which I knew is a good motor (I have one in the CMP Spitfire, two years of abuse).

Then lats week a friend at the field (Don) pointed out to me that you can get the exact same SK 5055 motor on E-bay , so I ordered one

Item No. Item No. 220934697630 or SK 5055 580kv 1580 watts 45.97 free shipping

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220934697630...#ht_3555wt_927

.

Hi Herb
My ME 163 is old and was made for normal glow motor, so there is made room for the muffler in the fuselage.
But now this is a perfekt outlet for cooling air.

Wow Herb !

Looks great, looking at the video, it didn't seem that the landing gear slowed it down much
and for the mean time a simple solution for first flights. We can work on a dolly system later.
I've flown scale sailplanes for years and thought about a single center wheel with tip skids.
There is a real ME-163 that is being flown as a glider and has a single center wheel.
I wonder what the ground handling would be like.

Great job Herb!

Hi Don, Thanks !

Yes I found that fixed landing gear to be extremely useful ...

You fix one problem at a time, first you get the Me-163 in the air, trim her out, fiddle with the CG maybe, enjoy her for a while.

She is very easy to takeoff, and very easy to land. No hairy takeoffs and no wingtip scrapes on landing yet

I am still thinking about the dolly / droppable gear.

I want something that is 100% foolproof, which means that it will have to have a mechanism by which it gets released in flight (as opposed to just drop off by gravity). The latter is a bit too unreliable to me (I've done it with EDF jets before).

To reduce complexity, I am thinking of a second (orange fasst) receiver attached to the dolly, so that the (heavy) release electronics & mechanics is on the dolly, and not on the plane. The Me-163 will just have e.g. two steel studs on the sides, close to the keel bottom. I am thinking of using a leftover hitec retract servo for the release.

Nevertheless I think if you have a center wheel, or even just the skid, it is most likely that it will takeoff fine if a friend / helper holds the plane straight & level on the ground (maybe on grass) while you apply power prior to takeoff.

Anybody tried that with the Me-163 ?

Good Morning Herb,
I"m working on the idea of a drop off gear but using the idea along the lines of
what we use on the scale sailplanes as a tow release, much more reliable than just a dolly.
Will let you know how it goes and post pics when I get to that point.

Don

Do you have a picture of what you mean? A four-wheeled or a two-wheeled dolly ?

Good Morning Herb,
The release I'm thinking of is a simple pin pull system that works with a servo
and a wire pin. It should be easy to adapt the stock gear, the only draw back
is that you would have to land on a skid, not the greatest for hard surface
runways, that's why I am considering a single wheel like our scale sailplanes.
I have attached a picture of a tow release we use for our tow planes.
I'll have to sit down and draw up something and then I'll post it for you.

Don

I think I now get the idea ...

The keel on the Me-163 is very strong ... you could glue a metal strip to it.

I would be worried more about the wingtips, you need those nylon dubro skids on them.
.

Some simple basic paneling added

.

Hey Herb,
Looks awesome !
What did you use to do the marking? and where did you get the markings, they look
really great !

Don

I used 2 things to protect the wings, 1st I applied a urethane tape strip
aprox, 8X3 in. to the wing leading edge, 2nd a large dubro wing skid, I
trimmed the the skid to flat profile, this allows the plane to skid sideways
the original pointed shape would dig in the grass .
The tape tape is aviation grade, originally designed to protect full size
aircraft leading edges and radomes, is applied with soapy water much
like a decal, is very though. I also use it on fuselage skid area, my field
has fairly shoft grass, so it's held well.
On my second 163 I'm planning on adding a harder material to skid
area in front of landing gear, possibly alum, or teflon, still in work on that,
I also installed alum doubler to reinforce landing gear bolt holes.
I've found my gravity drop gear works great!!.
Some pics, BTW I have a huge roll of the tape, be happy to send you
some, LMK. Allen The orange marks show taped area.

Thanks for the pictures !

Yes those are all good ideas, it seems the gravity drop off dolly has worked well for you - that is good to know.

I am having too much fun with mine, and did a few more flights yesterday with the new ESC. I looked a the esc log and it only recorded 79A on my setup. I changed the timing to "medium" but did not notice much of a difference in flight (this parameter choice is I think better for a 12-pole outrunner like the 5055). Not sure why the first TGY Brain 100A HV esc burned up. Maybe too much reduced throttle operation with limited cooling ...

The wind blew at 20+ knots and early in the afternoon I was the only soul at the field

Yesterday I did another "low cost / no work" mod , i.e. put smaller wheels to reduce drag.

It took off & landed twice no problem with the tiny wheels , in spite of the very low prop clearance. It is a bit faster and has a nice whistling noise now (from the axles or the alum. gear mount?) .

.