The Blitzkrieg on Poland

[dirk gently]

The logo is very nice (it was later reused by 303 Fighter Squadron in GB), but the squadron didn't have any P.11a in its inventory, just P.11c

[Mitch]

The Luftwaffe is preparing for test flights... I have decided to remove the servos and prepare my 20 y/o Stuka for test flights:

This model was built per plans and planned for electric RC... it was never finished...
Now I plan to use this as a test bed for RUBBER POWER:

The tail will need to be fixed in position for FF:

The plane is nearly complete!

The plane has been waiting for its moment of FLIGHT!

...but now it is raining, I will be building a NEW Stuka, we will see what I have learned in the last year, and will be able to test the improvements!

...come back in 2 weeks to check out my NEW construction methods!

Mitch

[davidchoate]

you should complete the RC version if your making a new one anyway. .you already did the hard part,but you gotta mount the servos way more foward.

[Mitch]

Thanks for the input. The receiver was to go under the pilot. I wanted to have the stuff accessible from the cockpit, for adjustment. I really think I will take out the RC for now. I really want to get these birds to fly on rubber. I think I can make a good comparison between following kit construction, and what I have learned.

We will be back in a few days (bypassing Dutch Harbor) I am working on the new improved Me 109. Pictures to follow when I return.

Changes since my last 109. Less wing ribs, and increased dihedral.

Mitch

UPDATE: I have having difficulty bending balsa... I was trying 1/32 strips... Now I am soaking 1/64 balsa cut into strips.
I hope to make a very light tail for my 109... Hope it works out... The 109 tail has very tight turns.

My wing should be the lightest so far with built in washout, built to "long" wing on Guillow plans!

Pictures in 5 days...

[davidchoate]

That Polish Plane is beautiful. I Love the wing shape. As pretty as it is, I dont see it having a snowballs chance in Hades against an ME-109. I Love your work Mitch, and would like to tell you that in the last year or more I've been involved on this forum, I have noticed an incredible growth in your building skills. Must be that new workshop, right? I dont want to piggyback your build post, but I have a question, and I dont its worth starting a new thread on, but my recently rebuilt Javelin of Rubber power has not given me the expected results I intended on. I know you know a bit about rubber so I want to ask you why does she fly better under no power than when I wind up the motor? I know everything is straight and balanced. When i test glide Her, no kidding, if I catch the breeze right It'll sail or glide straight as an arrow for as much as 10 second if launched from a hill, or the top of the bleachers,. But as soon as I do a powered flight it either flies low to the ground, or maintains the release altitude in a gentle left hand turn until, due to the turn, it loses what little altitude it had ,and lands. I guess what I want to know is Why wont it climb? I have adjustable wing and thrust settings that can be changed in seconds. If I am going to get longer flights I gotta get altitude.Javelins have an airfoiled tail so I dont know if I can add a bit of up elevator with success. any suggestions?

[Mitch]

Thanks for your input, and I am also still learning on rubber power. My guess would be to try to change the angle of the wing. Also as you say the tail might be adversely affecting things... I am not sure. Maybe you can start a post for your flight testing.
But now is build season for me... We made a short trip so I decided to build the Me109 as I would not have enough time to build the Stuka.

Here are some pictures, The skeleton:


The Tail:


The Wing:


Packed up to bring home for finishing:


I will be home for 3 days so I can answer some questions or show more pictures if needed. Here is what I did. This production model is mostly kit parts. I made the tail as per instructions, then used them as a buck to make a bent balsa tail. Used half the wing ribs. drilled lightening holes in the fuselage frames. used contest balsa stringers in wing and fuselage. The main 3 stringers in fuselage above and below the thrust line are from the kit. I built with out a scale but will weigh the parts now that I am home.

Mitch

UPDATE: I just weighed the skeleton, although there is more work to be done and more weight added... the skeleton parts weigh in at 24 grams!

[Mitch]

Okay... for testing and comparison field work I am putting Miss Emil back in service:

This was the first model I built in recent times... The model weighs 70 grams w/o motor and prop. She was built as per Guillow plans with only the change being location of rear peg.
The plane will be receiving a new adjustable front end:

It's not so pretty under that cowling. This will be cleaned up...

and the plywood ring will be the backup to the adjustable nose.

Then the adjustable nose block:
There will be a few other changes... I will be replacing the horizontal tail as this one looks like a potato chip:

...and I will move the rear peg forward 1 or 2 bays. When I built this model I thought longer was better.

Actuality I an pleased with Miss Emil and surprised how light she is...

We will see how light my new "E" is...Since the new Emil is destined to fight over Poland I will have a new color camo...something like this:

I plan for Olive Green top, Light Blue underside and Light Grey on sides with MAYBE some airbrush work!

Mitch

[Mitch]

End of the Day Report:

So I sanded down the 4 support posts and glued on the Thrust Ring:

When this is all dry I will add more 1/4" balsa posts to fill in the entire ring with support.

I cut away the front of the cowling and everything fits nice:

15 grams of ballast has been removed and I expect to only install 12 grams of plywood, screws and balsa. The cowling can still come on and off to add ballast but winding and thrust adjustment will be easy!

I decided to add my leader markings:

I was also able to straighten out the tail with some steam off a boiling pot of water, it worked very well and the tail plane is now straight!

Although this plane has not been in combat it has had it's share of teething problems and test flights, The plane did suffer a cracked port wing as you can see the patch in the paper, and a new cross was added! This plane has only flown with Guillow grey rubber and the kits 7 inch prop. I plane to pack in the tan rubber and start with an 8 inch prop, maybe go up to a 9 inch prop.

If the weather is nice I will do some test glides tomorrow! Mitch

[Mitch]

Morning Report:

My E model is ready for new test glides and balancing. Powered flight will have to wait as my building toolbox is on the ship and I need to finish the thrust adjustment portion:

Since I have modified Miss Emil, I plan to make repairs on Miss Freddrich, she flew to 3rd place in the desert of Perris, CA, but had a near fatal crash in the mountains of Denver, CO. From the impact she broke her cowling, the force of the impact transferred to the fuselage where you can see the torn paper, but the real damage is that she broke her wing. I think I can remove it and make repairs in a few hours. Far less time than to build another plane. I would like to at least repair her for flight condition so I can study improvements in my generations of Me-109's.

You can see SOME of the damage in this photo:

I also plan to go to Skyway Hobbies today to pick up my new Guillow's Spitfire, and Dumas Hurricane. I decided to build the 400 series rather than the 1940's version. I will show the owner of the store my Me-109 E model and see if he has room to hang in in his NEW Guillow section!

Mitch... Building and Flying Guillow models is FUN!

[Mitch]

Flight Report: Test glide only.

I also have several pennies in my tool box as they are an easy way to add a measured amount of ballast.

After a few low tosses, I thought she was trimmed okay... First toss from overhead she stalled and came in, recovering just before impact. I added 1 penny for ballast (3 grams). This will also be the weight of 4 screws I plan to add. I also added a little trim tab as the model wanted to fly to the left.

Her final test glide she flew 24 paces or just over 70 feet.


Here she is back at home for post flight inspection.

The Guillow's 7 inch prop assembly weighs 6 grams, the same as the original ballast I had, so for test glides with extra screws and prop I will start with NO ballast. If I decide to keep the trim tab I will move it forward under the wing and add colored paper to it to match the plane.

I weighed the E and find she is at 77 grams for glide condition. My F in the same state weighs 79 grams. I find this interesting as I recall my F model weighed less when I built her. Maybe its all extra trim stuff I put on the F?

That will be all the testing until I finish the nose, and move the location of the rear peg. I plan to move it forward to match the plans. Mitch

[Mitch]

Well, I brought my camera back, here are a few pics of the skeleton of the Stuka:










It really went together quickly since I omitted all the "extras". I plan to lighten the tail by "scalloping the C and D parts. I dropped half the wing ribs. Moreover I will plan to increase the dihedral just a bit, and do some more "lightening". I will be home for a few days, but plan to finish and skin these 3 models after my next trip. I will be home then for a month!

Mitch

[Mitch]

Getting ready for the Blitz:

The old, in for battle repairs... the new 109 wing receiving its washout before covering. New wing built with all Guillow parts but half the ribs, and the trailing edge scalloped to remove excess weight. This will also make wing easier to warp and get desired washout. I prefer to add some washout before covering. Magnets are 3/16 inch thick.



I recently bought a 1/18 scale, 1940 BMW 328 on ebay for $13.01. Price on box $14.99. I have seen a picture of a German fighter pilot getting out of his BMW sports car in front of his BMW powered Focke-Wulf.

HISTORY UPDATE: I believe just ONE of the terms of surrender in WW2 was that BMW is NOT allowed to build aircraft engines or planes anymore!



Balsa was sprayed down with water. I will check when dry and repeat if necessary. When wings have desired washout I will assemble the 3 parts and do some finish sanding. I will then cover with ONE piece of paper on bottom and FIVE pieces on top. Top will receive separate pieces of paper for Center, Port, Starboard and Each wing tip.

Mitch

[davidchoate]

very nice mitch. I am fond of 109's myself. once I learn to keep my weight down . i think I will do much better flight times. I have tried changing prop sizes, and with mixed results. sometimes bigger aint better. Its like a elec. motor. the more prop the more watts it pulls, so bigger prop, I 'm guessing needs a more loops in motor? I have so much to learn, but thats why I do it .I have an interest in figuring it all out.And when U get that right combo, or lucky wind, and a good flight, there's nothin better.

[Mitch]

I agree 100 PERCENT! My planes flew fairly well at my local field built exactly to Guillow Plans, then I went to my first contest and changed too many things. My only partial success was my Afika Korps 109 because my new FAC friend Don DeLoach helped me for about one hour the night before getting the 109 ready! That plane flew for 38 seconds and Don's P-47 is still flying somewhere over Central America.

UPDATE: The washout held and I like the look. So I will glue up the wing over the plans next. I will be setting the dihedral higher than the plans. FAC rules are maximum to the bottom of the canopy... so that's what it is!



...and, yes, some of those little pieces on the end are loose. They need another touch of glue. I think the water loosened them up.

Mitch

I'm Back... just checked the plans. The longer wing (ALL of my 109's have the longer wing) has a dihedral of 1-5/8 inches, I will be going up to 2 inches. This will be the first generation of 109's that I have built after I have joined the FAC. I will be putting in everything I have learned from FAC. I will make a summary of the changes I have made when the model is complete! For any of you who have NOT built the 400 series 109, Guillow's provides an extra rib to increase the ws. The scale plane would have a ws of approx. 3 INCHES LESS! The 109 was a VERY small airplane with a VERY big engine... and GUN!

END of the Day UPDATE:

The wing is set... actually I lowered the dihedral just a bit as it looked like too much!

I will remove from the board in the AM and insert the wing brace. This was already trimmed at the new angle. I hope it will slide right in!

[Mitch]

AM Report:

The wing brace fit in nicely.

...and since it is thinner than original it will recess into the wing, below the surface of the finished skin.

NOTE: There was a small gap where the LE butted together in the left side here so I pumped in a little glue and inserted a small balsa wedge to fill the gap!

All the major pieces getting a fit check.

The wing still needs to be sanded a bit for proper fit, I will do that after the glue is dry, this PM...

now off to work, although I am off the ship for 4 weeks I will work in the office for 3 weeks.

Mitch

NOTE: Another change I make to these 109's is I make the rear bulkhead in the cockpit out of balsa and run the stingers to that. I do this purely for looks as I cover with colored paper and do not like the look of any painted plastic, so I trim the plastic canopy to that.

Although I still want to do an experiment with placement of the rear peg, this plane is planned for the peg forward of what plans show. The center of the rubber will be over the CG of the plane. There are lightening holes in fuselage frames after that point. I will sand all the parts again and increase the size of any lightening holes.