RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

You need to be able to fly it, and especially land it, with an empty tank.

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

I set my CG with an empty tank. With the OS 1.60 I had to move the battery back into the fuse behind the wing, but I'm set at about 117 mm now. I'd check it with the fuel tank empty, that is what everyone else uses for a reference. Seems that planes that have flown so far have been around 117 empty.

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Thanks.

1)Yes. Although I never trust any spinner, I do believe the factory spinner has just as good a chance at working as any, with an aluminum backplate. If turned true and matched to the factory mount. The backplate has threads for 8-32 socket head bolts in the factory positions. My rule,:Always inspect any spinner and prop before flight. The weak link is the plastic backplate in this models spinner.

2) Yes OS 108, 15x8 prop, enough power. Nothing wrong with more power, but I didn't want to put a big $$ engine in it at this point when i knew that my old 108 would be just right and get good flight time.

3)Yes smooth. No wind and no play in any of the flying surfaces. The model will not do anything your thumb doesn't tell it to do. For example, slam into the asphalt when I gave it too much down elevator! But still did not stall or drop a tip. A sign the CG is pretty much on the money it you level off and not hang on the up elevator.

Its forgiving if you don't pull up to early. Even though I took off at around 70% throttle, I had good air speed and did not let it get a high angle of attack until it started to get it speed up.

Next flight after Christmas. Touch and goeswith flaps, unless I get a bad touch. Then my modified wing with the slats and gear in the location to make the model less prone to nose over for me. You may have noticed, I tend to land like I'm slope soaring.

Merry Christmas, Happy new year and Happy Holidays to all.

Steve

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Made it on my Chicago Machine 7x12? (Harbor freight) lathe I have. Its paid for it self many times over.

Steve

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Thanks Steve , great info and happy holidays to you and all the RCU members .It appears that Misses Santa has delivered my Bf109 still in brown carton and off limits until 12/25 morning :eek::D-The biggest kid in the house still appears to be me !!!
I am going with gear from Lenny made for the KMP Bf109 , so I will make the mods and have a longer gear gear leg . I want more ground clearance upfront .
Love the idea on the backplate , I have two options , see if I can find an aluminum back plate on some cheaper spinners in that size or try get the guys in the maintenance shop at work to make me one !!! ;)

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

I also mounted my battery behind the wing (5 cell AA 2500Mah) What I did was make a sandwich of some packing foam (similar to plane foam) then glue it together drilled two holes through the back of the slope where the wing sits and through the first ply former... then two holes just to the front of the wing nuts but closer together... then thread two cable ties through the whole thing holding the battery in place... the wing will sit over the ties and be very secure weight still went in the rear held in by silicon rubber so it can be changed should I need to .... everyone else full of Xmas food kids down bedroom playing with new toys wife doing her own thing................Me in the Garage fitting my battery, weight, wing tank and side lights ... sigh my idea of relaxation MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Oh and settled at 115mm with an empty tank all my work is done now, just mount reciever, throws and a final check over.......

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Some thoughts on a tailwheel retract system.
P.S.
I settled for the small metal geared servo towards the front mounted on a plywood plate. I'll send pics after xmas.

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Wow , Misses Santa was good to me :D.Opened the box this morning and I guess the online pics dont do this plane justice .My evolution with CMP has been the Hellcat , the Spitfire , the Fw190 (on building table now) the 73" P40 and now the BF109 .
I have to say -what an improvement !!! Virtually no oil canning in the fuse , very nice heavy duty exaust vents , flat finsish , tons of small details , good counterbalances in the tail ect .
As far as damage only minor crack in the front of the canopy (noting I cant fix on my own ) .
I am just impressed , I sold a Pica P40 about 5 months ago and funded a KMP Corsair , while top quality fully sheeted wings ect , there is not much differance in the overall quality for $250 less !!! I know the fuse is supposed to be of less quality expoxy but based on the very well lightened fuse supports , you would not know based on thickness and flex .
All my fuse glue joints are rock solid with virtually no gaps .
THis plane is a keep and well worth the upgrades from sierra or Lenny .
At 48 years old , my wife is even amazed , considering she bought me a red box P40 when we were dating in college , she can not belive what you can get for the money these days in the rc world !!!
Hope everyone gets a nice RC surprise under the tree and has a great healthy and happy new Year :D

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Hi Everyone, Merry Xmas ! I'm getting to the point where I'm almost finished and since my daughter is home from school and knows the computer better than me I'm going to try to post some pic's.

I installed Sierra retracts for the KMP model and moved them to the more scale position ( thanks again Scalecraft ) . It has a Saito 150 for power ( the spinner is just sitting on for the picture ) . This forum has really been helpful in getting some of the bugs out of building this plane and also some great ideas " just fer nice " as the Pa. Dutch say !:)

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Hi Scalecraft, nice video, thanks for posting it . It's also nice to see another "gray hair " out there flying those warbirds !;)

Glad to see no serious damage on the front end , looking forward to hear how you make out using the flaps . I know you mentioned before that you used the stock landing gear on this one , how did the position of it work for you , it looked ok in the video ?

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

RC horn , nice job , looks great , I plan on the same gear , I will have to look at your mods and see how you did it .
Are you going to use a 90 degree after market muffler attachment so that it all stays tight to the fuse ?

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Nice work, Dick,,,,,,,,,,,,Really like the tires and gear... Now tighten that throttle linkage! And I'll see ya in the spring! LOL :D

Rick

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Where did you get those main wheels they look good.

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

there williams brothers-wheels painted , I have them in my FW190 and now Tower has relisted them all on there coming soon area !!!!:D

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

First the gray hair. The bottle said "Platinim". Its gives a sophisticated look, otherwise all my hair would be jet black. Well not all of it??

Ok now.

I would say that the stock position will work for most with a slight forward rake. My gear actually bent way back back and out of alignment on that hard landing, which caused the nose over when it went off the run way. Spring Airs with an 1/8" wire. Also, to taxi out, on my CMP109, I was holding up elevator to keep the tail wheel with down force so it can steer.

In the video, notice that I raise the tail section to see how far I can go before it wants to nose over, not much forgiveness with full tank. The modified wing will eliminate most of the nose over problem.

Hope this helps

Steve

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Thanks guys for the nice words . LDM I "borrowed " Scalecraft's rib designs for the new wing ribs to install the gear, look at earlier postings . The exhaust is a straight tube that I ordered from Saito, come off the back of the cylinder head and made it easy to run it through the oil cooler, tight fit . That was another thing I " borrowed " from this site, good bunch !

Rick ! Merry Xmas ! Yeah I'll have to keep an eye on that throttle gizmo ! :D And everything else !

Evil Merlin ! Where did you ever get that handle ?[:-] The wheels are Williams Brothers Golden Age 3 3/4"

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Yeah , you have to watch those labels, they'll fool you all the time ! :) My daughter is constantly fooling with her hair, thats how I know .

I know you mentioned before that you were going to make a scale wing but wanted to try the factory job also . I have a friend who likes the plane and is thinking of one but isn't up to or doesn't want to go to the trouble of re-doing the landing gear so I was curious how it worked out .

So ,all in all your happy with the plane ? It sure looked good in the air . You also have got a great place to fly from the video, do you also have any grass to fly from ?

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Thanks Mr RChorn , I am gathering the facts as I sit in my shop building my Fw190 .
Much more bashing(FW190) needed then I plan on the Bf109 .
The BF does lend itself to a full interior and working canopy , it will be the easiest work on a canopy I will ever do :D.
Nice planning by CMP no servo supports in the area of scale interior details , unlike every other CMP I own lol ;)
Hey Scalecraft , did you make the backplate to fit inside the existing plastice spinner and tap it from the sides?
Thanks LDM

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

rchorn

No grass. Just nice paved runway. Less chance of nose over on pavement.

If anyone wants a ME 109F/G version in this size, you cannot get a better deal or model for what it is.. I am surprised at how happy I am with this arf.

LDM, the spinner is made to fit as the original but aluminum. It seats and attaches the spinner in the same way as the plastic one. If you want a pic, let me know.


Steve

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Steve , yes I will take one (that is a spinner ) I am placeing my order now as #1 new customer to Scalecraft Inc .Quality Made USA RC Parts :Dhahah , sorry if enought of us kiss some butt , you never know !!! Afterall I did not notice any gray hair in the video at all , all I witnessed was a some very skilled pilot flying a very well built Bf109 , ya ya that what I saw , ya that was it . I did not even see it tip at the end , I thought that was planned :).
Seriuolsy , no need for a pic dont think I could make that part the way you did , nice job !!!

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

LDM

Really, I wish I could.

(You must be in marketing!!)

Steve

**By the way, the Brian Taylor 109E has a canopy that is pretty much the same size. It has no frame work vac formed though on it.

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Close , VP of Sales :D!!!
You know I am only busting on you , you do great work , we need more people like you in the hobby .Its great to see a guy in ARfs who has the skills of a master builder but no ego;)
looking forward to seeing more from you in the future Steve
Thanks
Lou

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Evil Merlin is the nickname I picked up in flight school.

I hurt my knee rather bad and didn't like the cane they gave me so I limped around on a staff. The rest, as they say, is history.

RE: CMP BF109F BUILDING THREAD
 

Evil Merlin, I can picture that ! That explains it !