Messerschmitt Bf109E (oz15468)

About this Plan

Messerschmitt Bf109E. Free flight scale model German WWII fighter, for rubber power. Wingspan 22 in.

Comet Super Stars Bf109 kit #1625. Uses "Super X Speed" construction.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 12/2/2025: Added kit review, thanks to Pit. This is the 4 page 'Flying Scale Column' article by Eric Coates from Aeromodeller, Dec 1973. This broadly covers all kits in the Super Stars range.

Quote: "It was with interest that I received via the British importers, AA Hales, the new range of rubber powered flying scale kits, from that venerable American manufacturer Comet for review. In a commercial world, geared for the wants of the young, whether it is good for them or not, it was inevitable that WW II fighters should predominate the range. Out of six models sent for review no less than five are of this category: Spitfire, Messersehmitt Me 109E, Focke-Wulf 190A, P-51D Mustang and Mitsubishi A6M - the odd man out, and obviously the best flying choice being the Piper 13 Cub.

As with most American presentations, the kit box is a riot of colour - each depicting the subject of its contents in victorious combat against a contemporary adversary! This must do wonders for sales promotion but must be a tremendous let-down for a young purchaser when he realises that the tissue-covered stringered machine he is expected to construct will bear little resemblance to the metal-clad fighter depicted on the box lid.

As aeromodelling designs, the structures are quite novel - all featuring cardboard motor tubes and geodetic wing construction. This latter I find quite acceptable for the fighters which had metal clad wings and therefore the stringer-covered geodetics probably looks better, under painted tissues, than conventional chordwise ribs with their attendant tissue sag. The same structure however is used for the Piper Club; which of course had chordwise ribs and covering sag on the real thing. Needless to say this looks most odd on the finished model.

All parts are die cut from rather hard quality balsa, which makes for easier handling by the younger builder but naturally cuts down on performance. The accuracy of the die cutting unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired, particularly with the alignment of the stringer slots which, unless modified, produce a very wavy stringer line along the fuselage. A reasonable plastic propeller is included but the nose button and wheels provided are of hardwood and rather heavy. The rubber supplied is of good quality but insufficient in quantity. The models vary in span between 22 and 26 in and retail in the UK at £1.50, which is more than the price of their competitors, but one must bear in mind that they produce a larger model and that the parts are die-cut. Nevertheless at this price I think a moulded cockpit canopy and transfers could have been provided rather than the sheet of celluloid and printed paper decals.

Well how do they go together? I am grateful to D Clarkson and T Manley of the Blackburn A/C club who built the A6M and Spitfire, respectively, for this review and the young Hudson brothers: Mark, aged 14, who bult the Cub and Alex, aged 12, who built the P-51D. I had a go at the 109E and will describe the assembly, which is typical, in some detail.

Fuselage construction is relatively simple using the motor tube to line up the forrners at the nose end. It is a considerable weight penalty, though and could have been dispensed with if normal crutch construction had been followed. It does promote rapid building which I suppose is what is wanted by the younger constructor. The wings are also very quickly constructed, the geodetics producing a very torsionally-stiff structure to resist warps when the covering shrinks.

Having rapidly got this far I was aware that the model was becoming rather heavy for much hope of any real performance with rubber power. The plan shows a conversion to a Cox .010 engine and I would recommend anyone hoping to have any prolonged flying with these models to seriously con-ider such a conversion - I have seen people fly models very successfully with this unit. Not wishing to purchase one specially, I rummaged through my engine collection to see if there was anything suitable. I did briefly consider my brand new Brown Junior CO2 motor but decided that it needed something better in the way of a model and in any case the model would probably be too big and heavy for it. This was later confirmed by John Stennard who tried one in the A6M and reported a failure.

My next thoughts, naturally, turned to fitting one of my Mills 75's but alas this really was too big. I then gave serious consideration to fitting an ED. 46 which must have last been airborne 20 years ago in a Miles Hawk! It could just have been squeezed in, but would have stuck out a bit. The beam mounting also would have been troublesome. A better bet would have been a DC Dart (still in production). The final choice fell on a rather worn Frog 50; of mid 50s vintage. A rapid check showed this engine could be buried almost completely, within the confines of the Mc 109E fuselage, in an upright position. with only the rather large compression adjusting screw protruding.

I therefore sawed through the stringers and motor tube immediately in front of former B and glued a 3/8 sheet former to the front of B faced with 2 mm ply, to form a radial engine mount. The ply lacing was angled to give about 3° right side thrust - guessed that with the thrust line acting just about through or, if anything, a bit above the centre of drag no downthrust would be necessary. I built up the nose contour around the engine with scrap block and sheeted-in between the stringers back to the cockpit with tle in. balsa. The fuselage cross section on top of the fuselage, in front of the cockpit was corrected with 3/32 sheet as for some unaccountable reason this builds up to a flat-topped section here if one follows the plan and cut out formers - a mistake perpetuated also on the kit box illustration.

The only other modification I made to the structure was the substitution of soft block wing tips to give a better shape when carved than the built-up tissue-covered ones would. I did not fabricate the various radiators and air intakes from the printed card as the drawing showed, but preferred to carve more accurate shapes from very soft 1/4 in balsa sheet..."

Supplementary file notes

Decals.
Printwood.
Review.
Templates.

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