[Edmonton]

I know a guy selling a beat up PZ Messerschmitt for $25 (without receiver) but have a receiver I can use. What would be involved in changing things over use the Messer electronics to get a brushless lipo SC? Where would I put the battery? Any thoughts, concerns etc?

[Max]

I am a little confused about what it it you want to do. Your header mentions supercub but to lipo. The last time I checked, the supercub was already lipo capable with a brushed motor/ESC combo.

Then in the body of your message, you talk about an ME 109 that you have a receiver you can use. Can you clarify what it is exactly you want to do?

[russ]

the rx's on the HZ SC is the brains of the organization. You have two paths that you can follow...

1. Buy an Rx & BrushED ESC. If you go chinese (Orange Rx & HK 20 or 25 amp ESC)- it can be done for less than $30.
2. Buy the HZ FM Rx (assuming you have a HZ 27 MHz radio) and then you will have a LiPo capable Rx with built in brushED ESC.

If the ME109 is a Lipo RX it "should" work as long as it's 27 MHz & a built in brushed ESC.

[Edmonton]

Thanks for the response Max and Russ, I will try to be a bit more clear. I have an older SuperCub that runs on NiMH batteries and has the 27 MHz radio, I also have a DX6i, and have ordered a AR6110e RX from a guy for $10. Another guy has a beat up ME109 that he is selling for $25 so it would have the ESC, brushless motor, servo's etc. that I may need to change out (but he is keeping the RX) So if I wanted to go Lipo and brushless to get more power and flying time, would it be easy to do? And is it worth it? When I start adding up all the parts and throw in a couple batteries I am not sure it will be worth it, also I am not sure how to do any of this or where to put things like the battery etc.

[Max]

Originally Posted by Edmonton

Thanks for the response Max and Russ, I will try to be a bit more clear. I have an older SuperCub that runs on NiMH batteries and has the 27 MHz radio, I also have a DX6i, and have ordered a AR6110e RX from a guy for $10. Another guy has a beat up ME109 that he is selling for $25 so it would have the ESC, brushless motor, servo's etc. that I may need to change out (but he is keeping the RX) So if I wanted to go Lipo and brushless to get more power and flying time, would it be easy to do? And is it worth it? When I start adding up all the parts and throw in a couple batteries I am not sure it will be worth it, also I am not sure how to do any of this or where to put things like the battery etc.

Now you are talking.

First, it is perfectly do-able.

Lets take a look at what you have to do:

1. Like Russ says the older SuperCub [I will call "SC" from hereon in] has all the "brains" built into the RX. If I am not mistaken, the servos in your SC also have a 4 conductor leads on them, making them pretty much useless. So basically what you are going to do is gut the SC and remove the existing servos, receiver, ESC(probably built into the receiver) and motor.
   
2. Take the servos, from the ME109. Put them in the SC. No problem
   
3. Install the Receiver you say you have into the SC. No problem
   
4. Mount the brushless motor from the ME-109 into the SC. this could be a little problem. The SC uses a geared motor. Not sure what you have in the ME109 since I never looked inside one. is it geared? The most probable way I would mount it is direct drive. You will have to make a plywood motor mount box to mount the motor onto. The motor box is simply glued to the firewall of the SC, and the dimensions of the box is such that is positions the propeller the right distance from the cowl after the cowl is installed. I usually reverse-engineer the the motor mount box by removing the existing motor, putting the cowl on and then using a ruler to measure from the front of the cowl to the firewall. Subtract the dimension of the brushless motor to determine how deep your motor mount has to be. One word of caution: the SC has DOWN THRUST and RIGHT THRUST. Make sure you preserve these down/right thrust angles on the new motor mount or your plane will fly like crap
   
5. Once the brushless motor from the ME109 is mounted to the SC, all you have to do is install the ESC and plug it into the RX. No problem.
   
6. Battery position: I am not sure how big your battery box is for your SC at the present. [can you upload a picture??] You also dont mention what battery size you intend to use. The new Lipo based SC's have a small rectangular hatch just behind the LG (right over the CG) on the bottom of the fuse. The battery is a 3S 1300mah battery. That is enough for over 10 minutes on the brushed version of the SC. You will probably get more with a brushless setup. If you are using a bigger battery, it is hust overkill IMHO. In short, cut/hack/modify your SC and make a battery hatch to position the battery just behind the landing gear.

Good luck

[Edmonton]

Thanks Max, do you think the time and $ will be worth the return? Guess that I could also add ailerons since I will have the servo's, just don't know if the effort will yield much return.

If I don't do this, would it still be worth buying the ME109 for $25? I've got a PZ Corsair so am wondering if part failure is an issue and if things would be transferable?

[Max]

The ME109 and corsiar probably have the same parts, so I would imagine they are transferrable.

One thing I forgot to mention: the ME109 is a bigger plane (like the Corsair) than the SC. So it has a BIGGER motor than what you would want to use in the SC. BIGGER= HEAVIER. So keep that in mind, if you dont have the ME109 in hand, that the motor might be too big to put in the SC.

Still for $25 I would get the ME109, just for the parts alone. Then if the motor was too big, I would get a smaller $10 brushless motor from Hobby King and use all the other stuff from the ME109 and you would still be ahead.

[russ]

Lot's of guys are putting the Corsair motors into the SC LP's - turns 'em into a real ripper If you're not sure about the mount angles, Headsup RC has a metal motor mount for the SC brushless conversion.