Models: Bf 109E-4
Designed by:
Kit
The fuselage, wing and tail surfaces are made of foam, which enables the model to be lightweight yet strong. The kit is supplied as and ARF so the major part of the work is done for you already. The manufacturer really made an effort in the scale looks to be prepared for many plastic details which add to the scale appearance. Of course the model come painted already including the plastic parts. It is better to buy matching paints anyway to repair some scratches that may occur during building and to paint the edges of the plastic parts. The kit includes also markings, S280 motor, Horst 4:1 gearbox, LA glue and a 3 blade FSK prop.
Construction:
Since this is an ARF the finishing of the kit is not difficult. The kit is supplied with a detailed manual, however some parts of the English version are a bit confusing. But enough has been written on the RCGroups forum.
I started with the fuselage where I first glued in the firewall with the requested thrust angles. Before this i had to sand the front of the fuse to the correct angles and glue the plastic former. After this I glued the supporting balsa parts, foam support of the fuse and elevator control push rod in the back of the fuse, servo mounting, elevator and rudder. I cut out the cooling holes and the air outlet hole under the tail wheel.
The wing comes in two parts, which are glued together. Before this I had to attach the aileron control clevises to the torque rods. The rods had to be supported by a piece of foam because they were bending during movement. After gluing the wing together I glued the ply servo mounting and attached push rods made of the enclosed wire. I decided not to build the landing gear, therefore, the wing was prepared to be glued to the fuse.
After gluing the wing to the fuse I cut out all the plastic details and glued these to the fuse and wing using UHU Por glue, which is perfect for joining these materials. I made the coolers open to reduce drag.
Finally, I had to cut out the canopy frame (which I feared from the beginning) and it did not turn out that bad. The frame is then glued to a clear canopy and afterwards to the fuse. I equipped the cockpit with a pilot and instrument panel (both are supplied with the kit).
After finishing the spinner all I had to do was glue the formers to hold the battery pack in place and this is right above the leading edge. I must have added to much weigh in the tail because I had to balance the model since it was too tail heavy.
For assembly I used UHU Por, PU and CA glues.
Parameters:
| Wingspan: | 750 mm |
| Length: | 634 mm |
| Weight: | 345 g with 7x720mAh without landing gear (manufacturer states 260 g with 7x250mAh without landing gear) |
| Wing area: | 9,1 dm2 |
| Wing loading: | 38 g/dm2 (29g/dm2) |
| Power setup: | Mig 280, 7xSanyo 720mAh NiMH, three blade prop FSK 236/200 |
| Controlled elements: | Elevator, ailerons, motor |
| RC equipment: | JETI REX 4 receiver, JETI Jes 050 ESC |
| Servos: | 1 x HS-50 - ailerons, 1 x HS-50 - elevator |
Characteristics:
The maiden took place in no winds. I plugged in the 7-cell pack and hand launched it. Well, I guess I added too much weight in the nose so there was need to add a bit of up trim. After that the model flew without any problems. The speed is pretty scale as cruising speed. After cutting the throttle it gets worse, it does not glide. You have to remember this and watch your time with regard to the used battery pack. It is better to land while you still have some power left. As for the landing you have to pick your place and land inn either tall or smooth grass so that the leading edge does not suffer. Thanks to my model being a bit over weight, the aerobatics are not that perfect. I tried a loop and a roll but you have to have a bit of imagination to recognize these maneuvers in my creations. Anyway, I always tried this in the second half of the flight time where the battery pack was half empty. You have to watch your distance as well because if you go to far it gets difficult with the planes orientation, especially when your flying at dusk like me. But I guess everyone, including me is please by low fly by's in close. The flight time was a bit of shock to me - with 7x720 NiMH I get over 14 minutes of flight and I still have some reserve. (Either that or the timer on my transmitter is cheating me). The battery pack, motor and ESC get barely warm. The manufacturer has done a good job in designing the cooling as well.
I am satisfied with this plane being the size it is and it is a nice end of the day to spend it flying with the Messerschmitt. Just a bit sad about weight I came up at. there is also a very nice Spitfire from the same manufacturer out on the market and scale looks might be even better from what I was able to see.
