splinterz25

Okay this is the BLOHM & VOSS SEEDRACHE' ( SEA DRAGON)
By Gene Falada redesigned by Splinterz25.

BV 138C-1/U1 Seedrache

The Blohm und Voss BV 138 was officially named 'Seedrache' (Sea Dragon) but unofficially it was instead mostly called 'the flying clog'. It was built and used as a long-range maritime reconnaissance flying boat - often flying for hours far out over the sea in search of allied convoys and shipping. Fully loaded it could fly over 4000 kilometers and stay up for 16 hours. This range could be increased even further when using RATO packs (Rocket Assisted Take-offs) or when launched from catapults on board seaplane tenders.

The BV 138C-1 was powered by three Junkers Jumo 205D-1 diesel engines and although they were fuel efficient they made the aircraft very slow and gave it a maximum ceiling of only 5000 m (16400 ft). However, armed with 20mm cannons in two turrets and a 13mm heavy machinegun in an open position as well as an optional MG15 the BV 138 could often take care of itself when attacked. It has for example been known to shoot down a British Blenheim as well as a Catalina flying boat in air-to-air combat. And since the BV 138 could also take a lot of battle damage and keep flying, especially as the diesel fuel rarely ignited when hit by machine gun fire, she was generally well liked by her crews.

Although the BV 138 was able to carry small loads of bombs and depth-charges and thereby do attack missions such as sub-hunting, most operations were pure reconnaissance and surveillance, often working together with the German U-boats. But they were also used for convoy escort, air-sea rescue, personnel and equipment transport or as a few modified ones for mine-sweeping duties.

The BV 138 flying boats were used almost all over Europe and patrolled the North Sea, Skagerrack and Kattegatt, Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean, Norwegian Sea, Bay of Biscay as well as the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Major Production Models
Bv 138A-1 First production version. Service entry in April 1940, 25 built.
Bv 138B-1 Reinforced hull and floats, improved engines and armament. Service entry in Dec 1940, 24 built.
Bv 138C-1 Structural strengthening and improved armament. Service entry in March 1941, 227 built.

Other variants and modifications:
A few Bv 138C-1s were equipped with a large electric degaussing ring and used for minesweeping. Designated Bv 138MS.
Small numbers of Bv 138s were utilized as personnel transports whereby ten fully equipped infantry troops could be carried which actually required no modification of the plane. Luftwaffe's famous special-operations unit, KG 200, used for example one with this purpose.

Most if not all Bv 138s were equipped with catapult points for operation from seaplane tenders and about 20 Bv 138C-1s were equipped with a modified fuel filter to remove possible pollutants when refueling from u-boats. Some C-1s were also equipped with the FuG 200 Hohentwiel or FuG 213 Lichtenstein S radar to easier search out enemy ships and attack submarines.

Of the 227 Bv 138C-1s built, 164 were equipped with two racks for bombs and thereby doubling the offensive payload of the earlier built aircrafts. These later versions were designated Bv 138C-1/U1 although they were mostly still just called Bv 138C-1. Also some Bv 138B-1s are believed to have been modified into U1 versions.

Performance
Max speed 285-300 km/h (177-186 mph)
Ceiling 5000 m (16400 ft)
Range 4000 km (2500 miles)

Dimensions
Wingspan 26.936 m
Length 19.850 m
Height 5.900 m

Crew
5-6 members; Pilot, Navigator, Radio operator, Nose gunner, Rear gunner, Upper rear gunner.

Armament BV 138C-1
1x MG151 20mm cannon in bow turret
1x MG151 20mm cannon in stern turret
1x MG131 13mm machine gun in open position aftward central engine
(optional) 1x MG15 7.9mm machine gun through hatch in starboard side of hull

(Early version) 3x 50kg (110 lbs) bombs on racks beneath starboard wing centre section or
2x 150kg depth charges
(U1 version) 6x 50kg (110 lbs) bombs or
4x 150kg depth charges

This will be a long build and I may end up making a hand cut short kit and glass parts & vac-formed parts if all goes well.

​Alright it took me longer than I thought it would to lay out everything on the Masonite today but I got everything to fit on one sheet.
So tomorrow I'll start cutting & sanding the templates now that I have some new tools it should go much faster than how I was making everything by hand sanding.

Bruce

splinterz25

These plans were given to me by a friend who had bought them many years ago and when he heard me mention I was looking for plans for the BV-138 he had a copy made for me he'll be building one also as soon as he gets finished w/ his
DC-3 but I bet he starts sooner than that.

I'll be making changes to the design and making templates as I go it will have removable wing tips & booms and the ELV,STAB will also be removable.

The first thing I changed was how the booms were being made Gene had a
1/4"x 1/4' balsa box frame and balsa formers top & bottom I'm making them all one piece 3/16" thick light ply w/ spruce stringers. This was done because of everything being removable it has to be very strong.
He had called for 1/8" mohogany door skins down the sides of the balsa boxes; but since I've beefed up the frame work I'll skin w/ 1/8 balsa everywhere.

The 3 engines will be Glow fuel OS FS 95-V's.

I've built a scale static display model from Supper Models it gives me a good reference because there's not much in the way of info on this bird out there.

I've found one site on the web there are none intact left in the world just one rusty part of the hull in a museum in Holland.

Here's what I've looked at how the engines will fit and redrawn so far.

Bruce

splinterz25

Here's some photos of the BV-138 there aren't very many

splinterz25

Anybody seen or heard of this war plane? and do you like it? Will you follow along here on this site of ARF'S
w/ an old school build it will be all hand made from tip to tail and I'll be offering a short kit in awhile after I see
how it all goes together.


Bruce

splinterz25

I'm guessing there's not many here into this old school build of this plane here on this site; so I may not take the time to post here.

Bruce

tunakuts3d

Hey Bruce, I may have asked you this before but I don't remember, Have you seen the info, pics etc., on the german Luftwaffe website
http://www.deutscheluftwaffe.de/index-englisch.htm. they have some pretty good photos and drawings that show some details you might find useful.

splinterz25

Someone has not sure it was you TUNA....But thanks for the link.

Okay had a small set back this morning I had to fix one of the guide bearings on the band saw this morning but once that was done the cutting started.

I cut large sections from the full sheet w/ my new jig saw then cut close to the lines w/ the band saw. My new sander makes short work of cleaning up the edges but I can't get in the corners so those will be hand sanded.

I've started w/ the fuse formers because I'll dry assemble the whole fuse and see how everything lines up.

I broke away from this because I had to cut down our TV cabinet removing the top section because were getting a larger screen set.

But it's under way so once I drill out the lightning holes I cut the ply parts and start to build my assembly jig and cut the Spruce stringers then dry assemble the fuse.

Bruce

splinterz25

Okay a quick update I've cut the larger holes in most of the fuse templates w/ my jigsaw and sanded them w/ a drum sander in my drill press.
Next I'll go back and drill all of the smaller holes then cut the notches for the stringers / longerons; sum of the corners have to be hand sanded because the
belt / disc sander couldn't get in there.

Chipping away at this,

Bruce

splinterz25

And the drilling continues I'm just taking my time with this and the balsa order came in today so now once the templates are complete I can make the ply and balsa parts.

Bruce

glazier808

My Feedback: (1)

Pretty dang cool!

build on sir!

Casey

splinterz25

Casey this one should be a great challenge and fun also glad your on board.

Bruce

splinterz25

And the drilling of the templates continues

JUST A FEW HOLES and there's still more yet to go.

IT'S GETTING THERE,

Bruce

Warbird AL

My Feedback: (10)

Pretty cool, I have not heard of this plane before. It is interesting as time goes on how much I can still learn! Will be following

splinterz25

Glad you like it and welcome on board AL I have a very long way to go so if you have any questions just ask everybody.

Bruce

splinterz25

Templates for the fuse are all cut out and I ripped out all of my spruce stringers tonight.

I'll be spending the day tomorrow making the building jig and test fitting all the templates checking for imperfections and making corrections where needed.

I did a random check of the former templates to see if both sides matched but they were very close for a hand drawing; the mock setup will show more.

Bruce

splinterz25

Alright this morning I lay out the drawing on my building jig tape it down and cover it w/ clear plastic sheet; then I cut all of vertical supports the main longerons will rest on top of them there all cut the same height.


So the plane will float above the building board and the vertical supports will hold all twenty of the formers square; I've left out a few at the ends for now because of space but they will be added in when needed.


I pushing to get some of the templates on the jig this afternoon w/ longerons & stringers.


Bruce

splinterz25

I didn't get as far as hoped today I just ran out of steam
Did I say man this thing is BIG
Here's what I did after the last photos all of the verticals are screwed in there correct places and I started to cut out the slots for the longerons that will sit on top of the verticals.

Still have a long way to go but the longest journey begins w/ the first step

Wagon1

Hi Bruce. She's looking great, I'm enjoying your build. I've never seen a plane built with masonite. How does it compare to ply/balsa in terms of strength, weight, cost etc (I'm a kit builder but someday hope to build a devastator I have plans for) .

splinterz25

The Masonite formers are TEMPLATES, I'll be offering a short kit of this plane. I'm setting them up to be sure everything lines up correctly before cutting the co$tly birch ply; I was told there were some discrepancies w/ this set of drawings, so better save than sorry.
A 4' x 8' sheet of Masonite $8 A 4'x 8' sheet of Baltic birch $120

Bruce

splinterz25

SHE'S going to use some timber that's for sure I'll list what I'm starting w/
12 pc 24" x 30" birch ply 40 pc 4"x 36" 1/8" balsa, stringers & longerons one 8' x 6"x 3/4"and
one 6'x 4"x 3/4" Spruce and 8 pc 3"x 36" 3/8, two packs 12 ea 1/4"x1/4" x 36 balsa and a bunch of different thickness plywood 6"x 12" sheets and more I can't think of right off.

Lots of wood and I bet I order more yet,

Bruce

splinterz25

Well like Martin said there's some discrepancies w/ the stringer slots lining up the main longerons seem fine but I will have to make corrections to my templates.
I'm done for the rest of the weekend here's photos of what I've done today.

Bruce

splinterz25

Okay the morning was spent filing out the 1/4"x 1/4" stringer slots and fitting the stringers in place, or should I say trying to figure out where they fit.

Most are straight forward and are going in nicely but in the bow there's a discrepancy where the windshield metes the fuse.

You'll see in the photos there's NO STRINGERS DRAWN AT ALL?
There is the water line curves though.

Maybe Martin will chime in on this since he has already gotten this far.

I've had some inquires about the plans/ kit this is not a cut - glue & dry type short kit I'm making you will have to do a lot of the work and have to be a experienced builder.

What I've put together so far is very strongbut the one place where I think there should have been stringers is at the shoulder (the curve) at the top of the fuse.

It was most likely left this way because he was thinking planking instead of sheeting; I'll leave the templates this way for those who still build this way.

But I'll be adding 1/4" x 1/4" balsa sticks in between the formers here so when I bend my sheeting it doesn't get concave; that will come much later though.

Next I'll make the pieces you'll see in the photos w/ dotted lines that make up the apex of the curves on the fuse; These will come w/ the kit but the keel will be up to the builder because some want ply and others solid spruce.

Check out the progress photos I finely feel like I'm making some head way on this project now.

Bruce

splinterz25

Alright I did a little bit today I made the top curved braces that connect the formers
out of 1/4" spruce while I was at it I cut out the keel also.

I also checked the sides of the formers w/ a straight edge and they all look very close BUT former B -13 seems to stick out a bit to far? puzzling All the others line up when using a 12" straight edge BUT NOT 13??

I try to find a close up shot of the side on the scale plane to see if there's a step in the side or and unusual dip or something?

I'm waiting to see Martins photos to see what he did here??
I know the sides of the scale plane were less than perfect from the photos I've seen. But this seems to be a bit much?

Check the photos,

splinterz25

I'm going back and restarting the assembly process; checking the drawing at each former and screwing it in place to my jig.
We'll see what I get then, because after checking the width of ea. former w/ a square they were correct.
Sometimes it's just best to start over from the start because once one part goes off the rest seem to follow.

Bruce

splinterz25

Martin / Guys this is what I'm talking about; I think Gene just made a mistake here on this former B-13 at the bottom it's off the thickness of the stringer and tapers to the top where the radius starts.
What I did was instead of putting a long stringer through I used two smaller ones and made them end at former B-13.

Check the photos they show it better,

I'll make the corrections on the template and maybe start cutting some ply parts today.