Messerschmitt Bf109D Kit 401 build for FAC

[glassblade]

I am building a model of the Messerschmitt Bf109 from the Guillows No. 401 Laser cut kit. I have bought all of the 400 kits (as well as most of their other kits) and this is my first Guillows kit build in what I plan as a long series. I grew up building Guillows kits and enjoyed it very much. I didn't know anything about rubber, props, thrust lines, decalage, etc. back then, so I don't remember any of them flying any farther than I could throw them, but I loved the great plans and instructions, the box art, and the great fit of the die cut parts. I also learned about covering with these models, a mysterious art. I am a very experienced builder now, having built many rubber scale ships, mostly from plans, and fly competitively in Flying Aces contests. I wanted to see if I could built a competitive ship from a Guillows kit.

This one will be flying in the Spanish Civil War Mass Launch at WESTFAC next year in Arizona. I should point out that the box art, and indeed, the 3 view on the plans seem to indicate a Bf 109E. However, although the artist has drawn the oil cooler in the E fashion under the nose, he has left off the radiators under the wing, which all models of the 109 from the E onwards utilized. He also moved the supercharger intake to the right side of the fuselage, possibly just to add technical drama to the composition.

But the kit is definitely a model of the Bf109D, which was used in the Civil War. The big chin radiator molded into the plastic cowling is the main clue.
I am building the kit using the great laser cut formers and ribs, as well as the molded cowling and canopy, although with some minor changes.

Attached a few photos of the tail feathers. I didn't use the very wide laser cut outlines for the tail mainly because I don't like flat tail surfaces. I always use laminated outlines and build the whole surface 3/16" thick, then sand down to an airfoil shape. The fin doesn't look right to me when it's flat. Also, an airfoil on the stab helps prevent warps. I built them right over the plan otherwise.

More photos very soon, because I am already about to cover.

David Wagner
glassblade@q.com

[Mitch]

Hi Dave!

I am so glad to see you here. I am also building this model for WESTFAC 6... and its every other year so its October 2017.

I started mine also. Have the fuselage , punched out. Did not get any further because I have been working day and night on my model RR. 12x20 foot room 2 levels, 4 transformers. 3.5 miles of scale track...any way hope you post more pictures soon. Just had a model RR meeting at my house today, so maybe I can get back to the build with you!

Mitch, FAC Eagle Squadron

History of my guillow 109's
WestFAC 4

Mediterranean Mass Launch, 3rd Place (retired and hanging in Hobby Shop)
I think beginners Luck to get 3rd place

WestFAC 5

Battle of Britain Mass Launch, Shot down in first round of combat (retired and hanging in another Local Hobby Shop)

Okay Dave I don't want to steal your show... show us what you can do...

[glassblade]

Mitch,
Great looking model, I really like the soft transparent colors.

I believe I figured out why my earlier photos didn't come thru - too large. So here are the laminated tail structures, as explained earlier.

Wing tomorrow.

[NcGunny]

Unfortunately, there isnt a whole lot written about the Spanish Civil War and almost all kits whether wood or styrene seem to be wrong to the builder. Scattered photos here and there of planes, I think it was a whole collection of thrown together odds and ends planes that were used. I guess it wasnt glamorous enough for mounds of books to be written about it. Liking the laminations!!

[heywooood]

Here is a model of the early 109D from that conflict as modeled by David Duckett
It has the scale length fuselage..shortened by 1-1/2" between the wing trailing edge and the horizontal stabilizer.
The markings and paint are also accurate to that conflict based on reference materials and a visit to Guernica Spain

[glassblade]

Yes, I noticed that the Guillows kit fuselage is a little out of proportion. The wing and cockpit are too far forward, and this makes for a longer rear fuselage. I didn't think it was as much as 1 1/2"... However, this longer tail moment makes for good FF flying scale proportions. That is a beautiful model - I assume based on a Guillows kit. I notice the exhaust ports on either side of the nose, which look like they came from the Guillows kit. Those are classic E model exhausts. The D model had just simple pipes coming out of that area.

As NcGunny noted, you have to look around for accurate information for these early models, and for Spanish Civil War aircraft. It was indeed an amazing collection of aircraft that participated in that conflict. An example is a photo I've attached of a recent model of mine. A Lockheed Orion in Republican colors. They bought several of them and used them for transports. This one is 24" span, finished with Tamiya acrylics. It was hard to find accurate documentation for this aircraft, and I managed to make a mistake anyway. The blue on the lower rudder should be purple.

[glassblade]

Here is the wing for the Bf109D. There are too many ribs, but I like a lot of ribs, so left them all in. However, did sand the ribs down to 1/32" and drill lightening holes. Also reduced number of spars from six down to three. Added carved balsa wingtips, and used a smaller trailing edge, made of lighter wood.

I usually have knockoff wings on my models. Makes for easier crashes, but mostly for transportation. The Lockheed Orion shown earlier uses magnets, and a wing fillet attached to the fuselage. For the Bf109D, I am going old school, with removable outer wing panels attached to a center section that is glued to the fuselage. A rubber band passes through this section and attaches to wire hooks in the outer panels. Everything lined up with pins, in this case plastic tubes and very thin carbon fiber rods. Adds some weight, but actually lighter than having 8 magnets, which is my usual method.

[woundedbear]

You gentlemen at more than simple model builders you are artists I am inspired by your work. As for the Spanish Civil War, it was used as a dress rehearsal for the Luftwaffe. The German pilots gained valuable experience during that war. After president, Jimmy Carter pushed "the freedom of information act" through,"the UFO community was hoping for a treasure trove of information". Of course, I don't know much about UFOs. I became interested in the UFO thing back in the 5th grade but by the end of my 7th-grade year, I lost interest in UFOs for the most part. Of course from time to time I do read about some of the things folks take snapshots of can not be easily explained, but I have become too cynical over the years to take too much notice of such things. One thing that did come out of "the freedom of information act" was a lot of information about the 1930s' , it seems that the 1930s' was a time of great intrigue. There was a lot of spy vs spy and cloke and dagger stuff going on at the time. During a time of my life, I became a bookworm. The ladies at the library where I spent about two hours every two weeks were real good about getting books through the North Carolina library internal loan system. One of them in imparticular took an intrust in my curiosity about everything. This was a time before the age of personal computers and the internet. Anyway, she got me interested in the 1930s' and all of the things that happened during that time in history. Up until then the only things I knew about the 30s' came to me from my mother and uncles. The reasons the cloak and dagger things that happened during that time went unnoticed was because most folks at that time were more concerned about the more basic things of life. Like food, clothing, and shelter. I can recall hearing my mother and uncles talking about how nobody had any money and if they did there was nothing to buy. We're lucky that the Guillows company survived those troubled times. There was one of those books I read back then about the Luftwaffe and how the German aviation industry got around the restrictions of "The Treaty of Versailles" that Germany was forced to sign after the First World War. I can also recall reading that some of the people at the time called WWI "The Great War" and it was said it would be the war that ended all wars. In that book, they included a photograph of the Focke-Wulf Fw. 200 Condor. It first flew in 1937 and was a very modern design for its time. Yep, The 1930's were a time of great struggles for my parent's generation, but it was also a time of much intrigue. Well, Model on Dudes It's the greatest hobby of all

[glassblade]

Trying again to post wing photos...

[Chris A.]

Nicely done and replicates the Bf 109 wing panel attachment points. On a Bf 109 the gear could be dropped and the panels removed with the plane sitting on the landing gear. As for different versions of the 109, I'd like to see a flying version of the Bf109T-2, the fitted out carrier version with the extended slotted wing. I've never seen a good picture of one.

[Mitch]

Nice job on the wing and tail Dave, looking forward to see the Fuselage.

Items of note:
The 109 I brought to WestFAC 4 was my first Guillow kit I diverged from the build on the plan. I used 1/32 sheet and used the wing ribs as templates and cut new ones. I lightened the wing TE and Tail and Fuselage. At WestFAC 4 she did NOT have an adjustable Thrust angle. Don DeLoach spent an hour with me the night before bending the wing to get the proper washout what looked right to him.

The 109 I brought to WestFAC 5 was built specifically for that event and represented the Zenith of my abilities. I had a bent balsa tail. I made the tail with Guillow parts and used that as the Buck. So my tail was slightly larger. I used kit parts for wing ribs but dropped half. She had a fully adjustable Thrust angle. I had 2 motors ready, One for testing and te second for the Competition.

In WestFAC 4 I was very lucky to get 3rd place and I am proud of that achievement, in WestFAC 5, there were many more planes in competition. My plane flew as I expected but was not enough to make the second round and I was eliminated. (Other planes came down before me, so mine flew respectably)

For WestFAC 6 I am planning on using Guillow paper and paint the model so it will have a different look. I liked the way my FW looked and it was not much heavier. 1 or 2 grams.



This FW flew at WestFAC 5 in scale competition. I did not place. As I said there was a lot of competition. I scored okay on the appearnce judging and the plane flew. I used my recorded times at this event for the Guillow challenge. This model WON the Guillow challenge last year. This model was made with ALL Guillow parts in the kit. Of course I lightened it up. I used the Guillow paper also. Of course I used a 9 inch prop and had an adjustable thrust angle. I blew a motor in this model, Replaced that and continued to fly. This model is retired and is hanging in another LHS.

Mitch, FAC Eagle Squadron, Keep building, Keep Flying, Keep Imroving

PS: My builds of these 3 planes here on this forum

[glassblade]

Mitch,

Would be interesting to me to see how you built in the adjustable thrust line while using the Guillows cowl. I will be showing my method in the next post later today.

Here showing my fuselage build. I squeezed Sigment over the large keel openings in the formers while they were still in the sheet. Then sanded down the whole sheet (with an orbital sander) to 1/32" thickness, then cut out, leaving just small slots where the big keel slots used to be. Held the matching formers together and hogged them out with a dremel tool.

More in a minute

[glassblade]

Replaced large keels with just two strips of light 1/16" square glued together with CA - got them wet first to remove tension. Everything else is just 1/16" square - I don't feel you need the big side keels. I built the whole half fuselage on the plan, then wet all stringers so they dried with no tension. This works fine - when I removed from plan, there was no tendency for the fuse to bend, so I just went ahead and repeated the other side in the air.

Now the fuselage is built and ready for installation of the front end inside the cowl

[glassblade]

Bf109D front end

I added a 3/32" former on the first former, notched it for 4 keel pieces to hold a laminated disk right at the round hole cut in the cowl. This whole arrangement is covered by the vacuum formed cowl and gives the airplane a secure front end to fit a thrust button and prop and can handle thrust adjustments.

I have to say one of the joys of building a Guillows model is that almost all of the stringer notches line up. This is a rarity in most all kits, even the very expensive ones.

There is still usually some confusion at the bottom of the fuselage, and so you have to be creative there.

I will probably vacu form my own spinner. The kit one seems a little too rounded to me.

[David Lewis]

To help keep the fuselage straight I continue the keel through the cockpit. The keel forms a continuous, uninterrupted loop. After the fuselage is complete you can then cut out the portion of the keel that passes through the cockpit. I also agree with you the side keels are unnecessary.