BF109e Repair

On the 3rd June, late afternoon I took the 109 up for a spin. Earlier I had been tweaking the jets in the DLE 20 and replaced the awful 16 inch MasterAir
Screw with a 15x10 APC. The engine liked it at least. I have not flown the 109 for about 8 years although Jon has flown it numerous times with earlier 120 four stroke. With no flaps it does come in fast. Anyway fully aware of this, I took off, throwing caution to the wind, with no issues flew a circuit and just little bit of aileron trim then start flying like a warbird in combat. Really nice. Um! Landing. Came in fast as expected but steady touched down and expected it to roll to the end of the runway. Nope, it bounced into air again, dropped and nosed over. One retract ripped out and some sheeting.

So, today viewed the damage. The covering is strange stuff, transparent like office film and then painted. What ever it was it was not stuck down like Polyester film. I have stripped it all off and now with a bare wing planning on cutting out some flaps (see image 1) and installing some servo bays for the latter. It does mean in the future the wing will be covered with Oracover but I think I can make the shiny film dull with some chemicals.

Welcome back to the "Hack and Bash" club Phil, I don't feel quite so alone now. Have you tried water based satin or matt varnish on gloss film? Quick and easy, gives a nice finish, gets to be fuel proof after a few days.

Brian Jackson wrote: Welcome back to the "Hack and Bash" club Phil.

As it is Summer and flying weather it is not the time for hacking and bashing Brian. Except when it is raining of course.

For Big Dave. Here is one already built and ready to go.

bmfa.org/class1/id/108572

Rummaging in the roof space I fond another wing. This one must have been from the first me109 whose GRP fuselage fractured some years ago. Retract bays were mostly repaired too. To speed things up I have started to install the parts from the other wing into this one. I am going to fill in the retract mounting bolt holes and use wood screws. The idea is the screws will rip out rather than the mountings. Well that's the plan. This will give me ample time to work on the damaged wing.

Today reglued in retract mountings then punched out the retract bays 4mm spike nuts. Filled in the holes with some 4mm sticks found in my wife's gardening box. Then added a strip of birch ply as packing spacers to lift the retracts up so the wheels don't foul the wing sheet on gear up. Fixed the retracts with some self tapping 10mm long screws with oversize heads. I have left the retract bay liner out for now because they are finicky. Test operation. Done. Had to change one of the wing dowels - for some strange reason the wing had odd sized dowels that would not go through the fuselage locating holes. :huh: Anyway with radio on now set the ailerons to neutral. Recheck wing fits fuselage. Yep! Just hope the retracts stay in place on my landings. Ready now for the next mission - hunting for Spitfires.:lol: