Okay, I finally found this topic and I'll do what I can to stay on topic to keep Dean Wormer happy.
I bought a hangar queen and didn't know any better so I paid dearly for that decision as Wormer enjoyed pointing out the other day when he caught me playing on his lawn. Very few mechanics have a clue when it comes to these airplanes...fewer than 100 were ever built. I prefer this model to the later 14-19-2 for several reasons, none of them practical. I wanted a genuine Bellanca, built at the original Bellanca factory in New Castle, Delaware. I like the look of it compared to the -2. It has a longer and more stately nose, the panel reflects an earlier era and is made of metal, the spinner is enormous, the the front of the cowl has a big grin. The example I bought was a particularly good look example, and was featured in Michael Terry's Aviation Legends Calendar in the late '90s. It's as fast or faster than most -2s, it doesn't climb as well but the climb rate is wonderful compared to most certified GA aircraft.
The O-435 is a WWII military surplus engine: 435 cubic inches producing 190 horsepower. It's over-built which is not always a bad thing. The prop is an adjustable pitch rather than a a constant speed propeller. The original hydraulic power pack is impossible to get overhauled. The back-plates for the prop spinner reflect a poor design as they are attached to a hub with raised letters, the aluminum is thin, and all of them have stop drilled cracks. Someone built a batch of better back-plates, along with instructions on how to install them without suffering the original problem, but that was decades ago and, to my knowledge, I got the last one. The same fellow tried to produce replacement spinners of fiberglass but that did not work out. The spinner is massive and requires a sturdy inner structure to hold a phenolic block in place that meets the propeller shaft. The engine is no longer supported though you can get the cylinders overhauled. Mine were done by ECI in San Antonio but they went through at least a dozen before they found six that were suitable, and then applied the Cermi-Nil process they use for their new cylinders after they overhauled them. My mechanic, Joe Sills who also patrols this forum, overhauled my engine and managed to find several important NOS parts including a new camshaft, but I'm certain many of these were the-last-one affairs. The model of the O-435 in the airplane is peculiar to the Bellanca I believe, and has a different accessory case than other models. Put it all together and it comes down to this: you have to love - LOVE - this make and model of Bellancas to put up with their unavoidable difficulties.
Since I've had mine I've needed two prop overhauls - one due to an unavoidable gear-up landing after an annual that went bad. In fairness to the fellow I' poked fun of at the beginning of this post, he was on the phone with the shop that day while I was circling around trying every goddamn thing anyone could think of to get the gear to lower, and he tried his best to come up with something. I'll always appreciate and never forget that. But there was no answer apart from tearing out the passenger seat in rough air in a very responsive airplane and trying to cut the hydraulic lines, so I decided to belly land it. The prop hubs are nearly impossible to find, though I did manage to, the hydraulic system was totally replaced before it worked right again, and required a conversion from the original power pack to the one used on the -2.
Add it all up: complete engine overhaul, replacement of most hydraulic lines, overhauling the actuating cylinders, re-plumbing the venturi powered vacuum system, all sorts of prop problems subsequent to the overhauls due to bad repairs by the shop the copulated with the canine to begin with, bad repairs by earnest mechanics, engine driven fuel pumps and generators that are almost impossible to find, an orphan engine, weak seat rails (though those can still be had) - an immense and long list of things that Judge Murphy slapped me with and....hangar queen or no, this make and model aircraft comes with formidable challenges even if you, unlike me, have a knack with a wrench.
Do I enjoy the airplane now? Heck yeah! Would I swap it for a -2? Hell no! Mine even has the original stainless steel cowl trim, is nearly original overall, and I feel an obligation I cannot explain to keep this aircraft in airworthy condition for the sake of the type, as well as for my enjoyment of flying it. It's not rational to suggest to anyone that they follow my lead, even if that person was someone I didn't like very much.
With the -2 you get the same handling, a better and more efficient engine/prop combination, slightly better useful load, the same high Vne, and - if you find an excellent example - the finest GA aircraft ever created, and the last certificated complex, high performance four place conventional landing gear aircraft ever made. Cruisemasters also have extraordinary short field capability, and those enormous flaps that can be extended up to 46 degrees give you such flexibility over glide slope and descent rate. No certified aircraft has the sheer range between stall speed and top speed as the Cruisemaster has. You can bring it in at 65, and it lands so easily its not fair to call it a taildragger. The tapered wings have two large Sitka spruce spars at the heart of them. Metal is made of compressed crystals that work apart as they flex. Wood does not fatigue, has more flex to it, but will not tolerate being left outside. These aircraft MUST BE HANGARED.
With any Triple Tail Bellanca, as well as with Vikings, speed is quite variable. Most of this has to do with the wings. They are works of exceptional craftsmanship but no two Bellanca wings are the same. These employ the Bellanca B airfoil and it's not a simple one. Thus it all comes down not only to the wings your plane has, but how well the two are matched to each other. This is why some Vikings, let's say, will always be 150kt aircraft whereas others will achieve 160 or more. Don't expect more than 140kts with the Cruisemaster. The better ones cruise in the 160-165mph range.
What helped me endure seven years of on again, off again flying with my 14-19 was the fact that I also own a Luscombe. A Cruisemaster as a first airplane with a high dispatch rate? I love them but I think not.
I doubt you'd go wrong if you chose a 182 for the mission you have in mind RIGHT NOW. It won't be the sensual flying machine a Bellanca is, but it will be a flying machine.
Jonathan
