Eddie Clanzy-Hodge

Sorry - forgot to add this. Make sure you put a canopy on it as per the plan. This gives more side area and it helps with rolls and knife edge. Eddie

I built mine from the outerzone plans early this year. It has 2" dihedral under ONE wingtip with the other panel flat on the board. The rudder response is neutral with this dihedral and that is what is needed for a competition pattern ship. Other things to do are 1) Get the COG at the rearwards point shown on the plan with either an empty fuel tank or with batteries etc. if electric. An electric conversion is tricky since the nose is relatively short for the lighter electric motors..2) If running off grass increase length of nose leg (1/2" to 1" or so) so that you have some positive wing incidence on the ground. It will then take off on its own as you build up speed. Zero incidence on the ground is OK for tarmac because you can do a smooth take off run. On grass it gets a bit bumpy and it is tricky to do a proper competition style smooth take off. 3) Keep the weight down. An electric conversion is likely to come out heavier than specified on the plan/article. They say to keep it below 6lbs but mine came out at 6lbs 5ozs RTF as an electric conversion. 4) Thrust lines. On the plan it shows zero down and zero right. I changed this to 1 degree down and 2 degrees right. Again, this is how my F3A pattern ships were set up in the past and it has resulted in clean vertical climbs and no changes to attitude under different power settings. My Moonglow flies very similar to my F3A competition models from the late 1990s when set up this way. That shows what a good design it was in the late 1960s. The only real difference is that, with the rearward COG, it flick rolls so quickly that it is tricky to do just the one controlled flick. The axial rolls are not quite as axial, possibly due to the outboard ailerons. .Eddie

A quick update on my winter plans. Thank you all again for your comments.- most helpful. I have now decided to build an electric Moonglow using the PP 4260-600 that I already have. George at 4Max thinks it would be OK for a typical Sunday flier but not for competitions - i.e. not much vertical performance. I will try it out with a 5S LiPo and see how it goes. However, I will build the firewall/engine mount so that I can quickly upgrade to something like the PP 5055 as recommended above. I will ensure there is enough prop clearance for the larger motor and I will get the ESC etc. suitable for the larger motor. This saves me from immediately buying another motor but I can if I really do need it. Now the Merco 61. After the Moonglow I will build a Harry Brooks REB and put the Merco in that. It should work OK since the original started with a Merco 49. I did put the Merco 61 in a Gangster 63 and that was OK until I flew it into a tree. I will look at silencers from Just Engines and hopefully gat a wrap around mount since I'm not sure about the screw threads in the Merco crankcase. Hopefully I will be able to meet you all at one or more of your events next year.

For Jonathan W. I have tried the 5-40 bolts and they do fit OK as you said. I also managed to get the 6ba allen bolts from the web. So, thanks for the good advice. Now I am looking at the silencer bolt threads. They look as if they could be 3/32 Whit assuming Merco used all Whit sizes on the 61. A 6ba bolt will start to grip but it is just too big. Would a 3-48 UNC fit? It is about 5 thou bigger than the 3/32 Whit but has same TPI. Is that too much to get it in the thread? If I cant get the silencer bolts then I can resort to a silencer with a strap.

For Jonathan W The Merco 6BA threads are fine. I haven't got the tools to tap them out accurately so will try your link.. Thanks again for good advice.

For Jonathan W Thanks for the advice - it makes sense. I will try Model Fixings since I have used them before. Do they have an equivalent for 6BA? I also have a Merco 35 which I have just cleaned up. It looks to be almost new with very little burnt caster. This uses 6BA screws.

Does anyone happen to know the thread size of the cylinder head and backplate bolts on a Merco 61 Mk II? According to Harry Brooks' REB plan it shows a Merco 49 and says to rear mount it with 4BA allen bolts. My Merco 61 does not have either 4 or 6BA threads. I have just tried it. I was going to replace the Philips screws with allen bolts.

For Percy It is an old Purple power 4260-600 that I was given by a club member. Supposed to develop somewhere around 750-900 w. If the Merco developed somewhere around .9 bhp then the 750 w should work. It looks as if I will need 5S and I can prop it for more duration / less power. Well that is my theory. I could be wrong since my only electric experience so far is a WOT 4 Foam-e that I bought to get back into flying before trying the old pattern ship.

Hi All, Thanks for all your comments. I now think my winter projects will be 1. Electric Moonglow. I was given a purple power motor that probably has similar output to the Merco 61. This will be my main pattern ship for next year. 2. Merco 61 powered Harry Brooks REB. It seems sacrilege to put electric in Harry's model. I know that he used a Merco 49 at first and then a McCoy 60 for the World Camps but a Merco 61 is in keeping with the era. How do I know. Well I built the REB fuselage for Harry when I was a teenager doing C/L with the Worthing Bald Eagles Club. One day he came to me with a very urgent request. Would I repair the fuselage fairly quickly because he had pranged it in a frequency mix-up at the field near Shoreham. I did this and gave it back to him. Little did I know at the time that he was in the UK team for the world champs at Kenley and this was his No 1 model! He never ever said anything about that. It was only later when we went to Kenley and I realised he was flying the model that I had repaired. I never really appreciated what was going on at the time and certainly not the importance of the result. So, I have a soft spot for the REB and feel it is worth resurrecting with the Merco in Harry's memory. Also, since I have recently restarted flying, I am currently using my old Hanno powered bitsa based on LA-1 wing + either a Summit-3 or LA-1 stab (cannot remember which) and O/D fuselage based on LA-1. The LA-1 bit the dust! I had forgotten what it was like to fly a 1990's pattern ship. Performance is awesome when you are 73 years old!

Thanks for the prompt replies. I will look at the BCM silencer from Just Engines. I know that I could put another engine in the plane but this is all about nostalgia and I want to recreate my old Moonglow with my original engine as much as I can. It may well have been pre 1970. I do remember that another member of the Leighton Buzzard club built a Superstar at about the same time and I don't think the Capricorn had come out then. It was all a very long time ago! However it could have been around 1969-1970. I got the brand new Merco mk II from Harry Brooks at a "special" price and that prompted me to build the Moonglow! The other possibility is that I use the Merco in Harry Brooks' REB. Has anyone tried building one of those yet?

Just joined UKCAA and I am contemplating building a model that I flew in the early 1970's. A Moonglow VI with the Merco 61. I still have the Merco and I have just taken it apart and cleaned it all up. The original black dust-bin silencer bit the dust when I crashed the Moonglow. The only think stopping me now is a silencer. Does anyone know where I can get one? Thanks in advance Eddie Clanzy-Hodge