Greetings from another 14-19-2 owner

slackl

slackl

Member
Hello everyone.

N9848B, sn 4100 had moved to snowy and frosty Russia.
I'm glad that more than a year search of a proper Triple-Tail project has ended at last.

I know this particular one was under long-going restoration by Robert Seals when he passed away.
His hand-written notes on restoration are ending with a phrase: "Discussed plans for a test flight and finishing paperwork with the owner"...
Hope I'll be able to finish project and fly this season.

As a new person to Bellanca world, I do have several (may be dumb) questions.

1. Factory support is appalling from my point of view. All (or most of us) do have different blueprints, drawings, useful notes and other stuff that could be of a great help for others. Is there any central storage somewhere on the forum or internet where we can share those between us ?

2. Is there any registry of manufactured/survived Triple-Tails besides FAA N-registered registry ?

3. Long-discussed and still no exact answer question. What is the proper tension for tail-brace flying wires ?

--
Regards,
Ivan Postnikov,
Moscow, Russia
 
Ivan,
We have enough problems finding parts, prints and information here at home. I knew Robert Seals very well and he was known for quality craftsmanship.
Alexandria Aircraft owns the Type Certificate and has all the blueprints[which are now on the market]. Unless the Smithsonian Institution has some or the FAA will turn loose of theirs, you will have a tough time getting any. Maybe you won't need any!
The FAA maintains a website that contains all the currently registered airplanes. The 14-19 series will be there but won't tell you how many are airworthy and flying.
When the McWhyte Company was still making tierods and flying wires they told me the tension should bring the wire "to a low base tone" when plucked. Not very precise, but that's what they said. If you are not a musician, find one and have he/she demonstrate.
Keep an eye out for an original spinner for the Yakovlev 18 with Shvetsov M11FR engine and [D] V501 propeller.
Dan
 
Hello (again) Ivan - glad to see that you have joined our forum! You have found a beautiful Cruisemaster (formerly N9848B) and we are all looking forward to your progress reports. If I am not mistaken the wings of your aircraft were re-built by the factory sometime in the late 1980s or '90s, which included the sealing of the spar ends - the wings looked great when I inspected the aircraft in 2015. Hope that you received the wing stands as part of the deal when you purchased the plane - they are very useful!

It is true that the factory support is limited, however my recent experience is that they have been very helpful in conducting research on parts specific to the serial numbers of my aircraft. They have also provided me with copies of various drawings. In return I have been a steady customer so it's been a quid pro quo arrangement.

Regarding the status of the fleet, about two years ago I started a "research project" to identify the whereabouts of each plane in the fleet. I have made some good progress on this list, including a summary of accident reports (mostly fuel starvation and landing mishaps). Once I have this list compiled I will of course share it with others on this forum. My guess is that there are between 15-20 14-19-2 planes operational at this time, with several more survivors in some stage of restoration. Sadly the majority of the original fleet will never take flight again. Best of luck on your effort to get your Cruisemaster back in the air again... Rob
 
The 14-19-3 service manual has this to say about the flying wire tension in their instructions for rigging the vertical and horizontal stabs:

Tension on the tie rods should be tight but not to the point of stretching or applying strain on the tie rods or brackets. When grasping a tie rod with your hand, placing the thumb above your hand on the tie rod and then twisting, one should get just a little deflection on the tie rod.
Click to expand...

It's entirely possible that the reason there's no tension number is that there never was any tension number and it was the "low bass note" or "twists like this". We fly birds with a service manual less than 40 pages long, most of which is whitespace. There's some room for interpretation in these things :? .

I, too, have had good luck getting the data and prints I need from the factory and try to buy as many of the replacement parts as I can through them. I don't feel that it would be fair to share what I have while the factory is still open, but I'm holding on to everything in case the TC ends up abandoned...
 
Ivan , Robert Sezgo is the man you need to know. He runs the club and the forum. He also has lots of info on the -2. There are a great source of people and info on this forum who are crazy enough to own a Bellanca. That is me near the top of that list. The important thing to do with the flying wires is to keep all the tension the same on the wires. Just count the treads and make them the same. You also need the javelins to keep them from flutter. Wow just like when I was a kid Boris and Natasha Mad Mag , what a small world we live in. Keep asking those questions Ivan I and the rest of the crazies will reply. Lynn the crate :!:
 
After all those nervous deliveries, waiting for container shipment, transport and customs issues...
It has arrived at last.
Here is its new home, in the lower-most hangar.
View attachment 2

Last day of March, still snow outside, more than a feet deep.
View attachment 1
 
Congratulation Ivan... please take lots of pictures and keep us posted on your progress. One note of caution, for all the years that the plane was in the hangar in Selma, CA the wood has likely dried out as this is a very dry area, so over the next few months it will likely acquire some moisture content which may cause the wood to change size slightly - just be aware of this. Best of luck on your project!
 
Hello Ivan and congratulations on purchase and safe delivery!
I am delighted to see the airplane in good hands because I owned 9848B for several years in the early ‘80s. In those days it only had a Narco Mark 12A, transponder and a Century II autopilot. It was not manageable in a strong crosswind so I put the Cleveland brakes on it.
I sold it to the man in Vincennes, Indiana who taught A&P school and I lost track of it after that.
Perhaps I can find some old photographs of it from those days, if you care to see them.
Once again, GOOD LUCK with the plane! Post lots of photos for us!!
Best regards,
John Little
 
Just a bit of an update on my work on 9848B.

I had bought it with some wood work unfinished after ground loop.
Now I'm proud to declare that all wood work have been done.

Pitot area was badly crushed. Some reinforcement, some wood work and a bit of rib restoration.
View attachment 2

Found small area of rot at the rear root of the left wing. Stripped locally skin, ensured that rot was really local and has not compromised the spar, made a patch to the skin.
View attachment 1
 
On the same wing there was a major hole in the leading edge, crushed by the failed gear leg.
Cut-off the torn parts, repaired the rib.
Due to non-rectangular nature of the hole - decided to divide the patch in to parts (by the rib) - just to make patch alignment more easy.
View attachment 2
View attachment 1
 
As my experience shows - it is very important to firmly press the wood together while gluing and to keep this pressure until glue dries.

Another extremely important point - length of wood splicing while gluing. At least 1:5, 1:10 preferred (thickness of material to the width of the splice).

This is how I achieve this.

I do fix patch with staples while gluing - with some junk cord to ease the removal of staples afterwards.
View attachment 2

Leading edge patch alignment and preparation
View attachment 1

Pre-forming leading edge skin from to layers of plywood, gluing them together.
 
Also spent some time on landing gear.

My Bellanca had brake lines totally destroyed, so I had a hard task to locate proper imperial-sized hoses, fittings and other hardware as I do not want to mess metric and inch-sized hardware together in one plane.

Left gear retraction cylinder had asked all o-rings to be changed and that was expected.
View attachment 1

Outside, while other planes in the hangar being tossed :)
 
I do understand that "Judging by a photo" is a traditionally "impossible" task :)
But may be there is an A&P or IA here on the forum, who can say whether or not my woodwork deserves a sign-off ? :)
 


I found this photo when I was back in Texas recently. It was taken from an old 172 in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s. The day after the photo I delivered it to Vincennes, Indiana to a master craftsman who had taught several of my friends in the A&P class. I lost track of it after that, other than a beautiful photo that was in Sport Aviation. I’ll dig around and maybe find a few more photos. Until then, keep up your good work!
Best regards,
John Little
 
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