dime scale 109 from FAC news

[semeraro]

Working on a bf-109 from the FAC newsletter. All the stringers are on now. Still have the nose sheeting and nose block to do. I tossed the first fuselage attempt due to banana syndrome. This one came out straighter. The wing and tail are framed up. I think I will attempt making a canopy out of flat material rather than molding one. There is a pattern in the newsletter. It should work out well for this model. And I will eventually have to choose a color scheme. Anyway, so far so good.

[MKelly]

That's looking pretty tidy Dave.  Can't wait to see it fly.

Mike

[semeraro]

Thanks Mike. It should look good in the air.

[FLYACE1946]

You should be pleased when you get out for flying this. So Far So Good.


Allen

[semeraro]

Back to work on the 109. Sheeting the nose and prepping the noseblock. The nose is laminated from 1/8 balsa. I cut the round hole in the sheets with a piece of 5/8 brass tube. I used the tube to align the laminations while I glued them. I slid the whole thing off the tube after clamping to dry. The nose sheet is the usual 1/16 soft bits between the stringers. Cut and fit and repeat. Fiddly but I enjoy it. Sanding it all to shape is the fun part. Lots more to go. And I haven't broken a single stringer... yet.

[semeraro]

Back to the 109. I took a break to put a jetcat together which would have been a simple task but I managed to build a twisted banana of a fuselage and had to cut another. I had also been putting off working on the nose of the 109 as the front of the cowl has a distinctive shape and I was not sure my carving skills were up to it. In the end I got a shape that is close enough I think for this scale. I have also decided on a scheme. Werner Molders flew a yellow nosed E3 early in his career. It has a straightforward late 1940 splinter camo scheme I think I can replicate. So the part I was dreading is over. Now I can build up the detail parts and work on the finish.
One other item. I have decided to give the KP-aero adjustable nose button a try. That, I hope will introduce some precision into my trimming and do away with the shims etc. We will see how it goes.

[semeraro]

Back to the 109. Working on chalking some tissue and detail parts. Pictures soon.

[semeraro]

Formed paper side air scoop before trimming.

[semeraro]

Finished up the nose block. Six magnets (3 on the block 3 on the nose) hold it in. The magnets are pretty small. I hope they do the job. All the thrust adjustments will be via that adjustable nose button. No shims on this model. Famous last words.

dave

[Joe H]

Nice build!  I'm using magnets on a tri-plane I'm working on.  The nose is so short I went with four (2 on the nose block and 2 on the fuselage), but much larger than yours.  I was actually concerned they were too strong and might damage the balsa during removal.  Weight up front on my plane is not a problem with such a short nose.  Your build looks positively dainty compared to my pile of wood.  Nicely done.   

[semeraro]

thanks Joe. Covering it this weekend. I was messing about with chalking tissue but was not happy with the results. I realized I have some perfectly good Mt Fuji tissue with colors close enough for dime scale. I think I have everything I need to finish her off. Even found a six inch peck prop to do the motivating. That's my last six inch prop. Going to have to order more if I want to build more dimers... or start carving.

[semeraro]

Starting the covering process. I really enjoy this part. I had begun by trying to do some chalking to get the colors I wanted but that didnt go well. Falling back on my known methods of cutting colored tissue and joining at the edges. I have Japanese tissue that matches the colors well enough. Stab first as always.

[semeraro]

A bit more covering. I had to redo the stab. I had the top colors reversed.

[semeraro]

Making progress on the fuselage covering. This didnt go as well as I had hoped. More puckers and wrinkles than I had hoped. Back to the wings next. Still hope to have it flyable by next weekend and presentable in time for the texas scale champs at the end of the month.

Covering tricks I used on my L4 didnt seem to work this time around. Joining the tissue colors at edges with glue stick worked much better the last time I tried it. Cant think of what I did differently. Ah well. It isnt terrible. I think the markings and detail parts will make a big difference.

dave

[bobson]

Dave,

Really nice clean build! I like the Mt Fuji colors too, been using it recently. Are you pre-shrinking the tissue? I think the tissue seams look great -- nothing to worry about!

[semeraro]

Yes, I did preshrink the tissue. I now think preshrinking for the fuse is not necessary. I could have avoided some puckers had I not preshrunk. The wings did not work out as well as the fuse. Pictures on the way. I think it will make a nice model but not as nice as I had hoped. Still learning I guess. The MT Fuji is working out pretty well indeed. Very opaque and a nice color selection. Thanks for the comments.

[semeraro]

More progress. Its been a while. I wanted to get this one done for the Texas Scale Champs but just couldn't. Here you see her all assembled and marked. The tissue job is really bad. Adding the paper markings didnt improve the situation. Im working on framing the canopy. That is going better than I expected. The landing gear is in the up position. Its a combination of tissue, marker, and colored pencil on bond paper. They came out rather nice I think. I have no excuse for the tissue job on the bottom of the wing. I have the ability to do much better but I was in a hurry and skipped a bunch of steps. Yes you need to sand the frame as smooth as you can. I know this..

Still have to mount guns, exhaust,  radiators, etc. And I need a tail wheel. Lots more to do.

The balance isnt bad with the prop on. I gave her the obligatory toss over the bed last night and it looked ok. If she flies well I will accept how she looks. I have hopes.

When I look at it I want to have another go because I do love the 109-e. Other projects await however. Maybe someday.

[bobson]

Looking good Dave. I'll bet it'll be a good flyer too. I wouldn't be so hard on yourself about the tissue job. I just shrank the Mt Fuji, preshrunk already, on my dimer and got some similar wrinkles around the rib-LE-TE interfaces -- from the pictures it looks like more wrinkles here than on your fuse. I think this stuff has a strong shrink and might just be prone to doing that with lightweight 1/16" structures (and I also could've done a better job sanding).