400 series Battle of Britain

[Mitch]

Here is the last of the 3 pairs that I plan to fly in the next few weeks. The Beautiful Spitfire is up against the infamous BF 109...



The Spit ended up quit heavier not only becaude of its larger size, but the layed camo, and extra dope I applied...



And her light grey undersides...



She will be up against the Me BF 109...



With her two tone topsides, but no camo, she came out quit light... and her light blue belly...



There was an unfortunate incident... and I do not know how it happened but the 109 ran into Trouble, and some damage before her engine fit out...



And some damage to her tail also...



Meet Trouble... her name is Treble but I call her Trouble and we love her...



I have been working 2 jobs since I have been home and things should settle down here soon, so I hope to get the 109 repaired and all the models in flight condition soon...

Mitch

PS Also took Treble to the vet and she is doing fine and should have the collar off very soon

[sawingman]

I have really enjoyed seeing all your builds. You have done a great job, especially the covering and finishing. What method did you use for applying the layered camo on the Spit?

[Mitch]

Let me first say the injury to the cat had nothing to do with the damage to the 109. She had a Bot Fly infection,she is young, healthy and healing up nicely.

The Camo... Let's see... I want to use colored paper and dope because I like the look. I wanted to make the model in it's authentic colors... someone here asked a while ago about layering paper... I know you are not suppose to do that, but I thought, why not...

First I covered the entire model... Lt Grey bottom, Lt Brown topsides. One coat of thinned dope.

Then with the plans as a lead, cut pieces of green for the camo. I did the wing first and I did the center section first on that also. the unseen part of the wing (in the fuselage) is not covered. I cut the pieces to the shape I wanted with 1/2" overage at LE and TE. This part of the wing was tricky because of the compound curves. The first piece is very small. The next piece overlaps that (You can see the seem) and the edge of that is the curvy cut I just made freehand.

When I was getting ready to lay a piece of green on I would lightly wet the green piece with water, lay on towel to reomove excess water. Dope the area to be covered, then carefully lay the piece on... smooth it out... apply more dope on top. Now that I say how I did it, it sounds easier than done.

When alll covered I doped the model again so the camo has 4 coats of dope and I am paying the price in the wt of the model... I HOPE IT WILL FLY?

The fuselage was even more difficult because of the compound curves and not wanting seems. The seems are on top.. all in a straight line.

The Next time I do this I should have a "Thread" on this site... But for now my next Spit is planned to be a kitbashed Seafire with Light blue topside and Cream undersides... but that's just in the future... got to get these birds in the air first!

Mitch

[Wildpig]

Hangar Rash. It happens. I built a Guillow model and before I got a chance to fly it, a battery charger slid off a shelf and holed the wing. Repaired and it flies great.

Botfly on Treble? Do you take the cat with you onboard ship? I wouldn't think Botflys roamed the Pacific Northwest?

Hope you get some free time and nice flying weather, soon.

[Mitch]

The cat stays home with my daughter. She has been inside the house since I have been home, but the collar can come off soon and she can go out to play.

I hope the repairs will not cause any added wt. Although I built the 109 with scale ws (Guillows give you an extra wing rib for longer span on this model) The wingloading came out the best of the 6... because of the wt of the plane is so light. As she is now she weighs in at 54 grams. (But I still have to add ballast) So it has a good chance to fly as any of them... Moreover it has the longest hook to peg length. The fuselage is roomy enough and I moved the peg hole back about an inch. So I like the fact that I kept it with true scale ws... True to the original... When designed, the Germans put the largest engine they had into the smallest frame they could design... that was the Bf 109.

As I said this is an experiment for me... so I am looking at the numbers and making my predictions. I'm liking it to being an aircraft engineer...

Mitch

PS These models come with a black 7in prop. I will try that first, might go to a black 9in prop. Plan on flying w/o spinner as I may carve scale props for when models are "retired", I'm not sure...

[Wildpig]

When designed, the Germans put the largest engine they had into the smallest frame they could design... that was the Bf 109.

If you ever see an Me-109 in person, it is a small aircraft. This is really evident when parked next to a P-51.

As I said this is an experiment for me... so I am looking at the numbers and making my predictions. I'm liking it to being an aircraft engineer...

Take plenty of notes. Looking forward to your results.

[Mitch]

Thanks so much for your compliments... I was expecting people to say "Where's the mg's or antentae, and I didn't drawn any panel lines" I really appreicate that someone compliments my work... I suppose we are always our own worst critic. Believe me I made mistales in every one of these 6 models... and I don't need to point them out.

I plan to fly these models and don't want to destroy them but I will fly them and I expect they will take some "Battle Damage"

I still consider myself a newbie and hope to join a club, if I can find one that does "Rubber Free Flight"

If I built a model for a contest I know I would need more details, and Landing Gear... These are test airplanes and will be flown to the point of destruction if I can still learn something.

One can spend all the time it took me to build one of these models on one small detail... That was not the purpose of these models... I enjoyed the basic build and when it was done I did another... Moreover I tried something new on each build.

Point is we should all have fun in our hobby and I had alot of enjoyment with these builds and hope to have tehm in the air soon.Mitch

[Wildpig]

Sounds like the right attitude to me.

Does your daughter show any interest in what you are doing? Always good to hear when young people get involved with hobbies, especially family members. A few, short years ago, my daughter would help with building and flying my models. She actually built/flew a sheetwood glider and would use a stopwatch to time my model flights. Just curious. If nothing else, you might could use an assistant.

[scigs30]

The builds all look great and I admire the fact that you want them to fly. The Mustang should do all right but the others can be a bit difficult. These kits are great kits and look fantastic when built, but they are a bit on the heavy side. They take a lot of nose weight and a lot of rubber to get a few seconds of flight time. I have built the Mustang years ago and she flew pretty good and that is using the old die crunched balsa. I built the Laser Cut Zero last year and still working a getting a decent flight. The 400 series is all laser cut now and the quality of wood is excellent and these would make great electric flyers, rc or freeflight.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2027

[Mitch]

Thanks for the feedback on my quest. Good to know I should only expect a few seconds of flight.

Making the required repairs to the 109 wing



and tail



Discovered some more damage on the wing but will leave that alone... I think she will be flight worthy...

I'll try to get a few of these planes balanced tommorow.

I don't mind making repairs after flights but before...ARGHHHH

Mitch

[Jason K]

Hey Mitch I plan ordering one of these 400's the 190.Just how hard are they to build vs the 500's?? I hope I get good as you.Your planes are nice Mitch good job on them


Jason

[scigs30]

Since the 400s are all laser cut they go together faster and easier than the 500 series. Once the 500 series goes laser, then they will also be easy. Right now with the 500 series, you have no idea what quality of wood you are getting.

[Mitch]

Sorry for the delay... have been busy and had a nice 4th of July, hope you did also.

Basically I believe that the bigger the model the easier it is to build, as long as you do not get obbessed with details.

All my models are basic builds. I think the key is sand everything nice and put the paper on neatly. Of the 6 models I built 2 were still the diecut versions, and they came out just as nice. The lazer is a little quicker to go together. The 109 is repaired and ready for gluide testing. I think I will leave the cross off the port wing as this is the start of "Battle Damage" and repair



The 109 weighs in at 71g but still has to go to flight testing and add rubber and prop.

Mitch

[Mitch]

I know its been a long time, Home Life gets in the way of playing with my planes...

Was balancing the models this AM and some test glides. The Spit verred to the right one time and hit a landscape Rock wall. The reinforced nose held up well.

Well I should be ready for rubber install and go to the park next.

The 109 weighs in at 70g and the Spit is a heavy 112g. It's a bigger plane and I am paying the price now for that camo finish and extra coats of dope.



Mitch

[Wildpig]

Glad you got in a few test glides.
Now for the technical questions:
How much of that Spit's weight is ballast?
About how far are these models gliding?