Hello good people!

I am starting this Thread just to share my experiences with one Airfield Messerschmitt Bf 109 Large EPO Foam RC Warbird that I purchased used from a delightful gentleman "David" from Brooksville, Florida.

The FOR SALE THREAD where I acquired this model:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1448943

Linking the first impressions / experiences on this model at:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1453530

There was an issue with one of my Servo-less retracts not coming down during landing (I wished someone had Video Recorded the landing!) and the model was able to land with just one main gear without any fuss! No Damage, however, the offending main gear retract was having issues operating as planned and someone informed me to pay attention to the STOCK ESC as this particular model did not come with an external BEC like the other Airfield / FMS large EPO Models.

Here is the Video showing the issue on the servo-less Retract:

Airfield Stock Servoless Retracts Issue (0 min 47 sec)

Okay, fast forward......


My efforts in investigating what exactly is my Airfield Bf-109 has with respect to the Electronics controlling the motor, servos and most importantly 2.4G Receiver. I disassembled the Power System and removed the power system out of the model and was shocked to see a NO NAME ESC without any indication that it is a Switching Type of ESC nor did it have any external BEC soldered adjacent to it.

Of course they (NitroPlanes) are not open during the weekend so, I could not verify if the ESC that came with this model is in fact a Switching or not.

Not to take any chances, I opened a drawer and found exactly what I needed consisting of:

1. One (1) Castle Creations BEC PRO.
2. One (1) Maxx Products 2-ESC -to- Battery Harness with Deans.
3. Six (6) Inch Servo extension.
4. Male Ultra Deans Connector.

Disassembled the STOCK Power System from the Model:








Okay, progressing....

New Castle Creations BEC PRO and the Maxx Products 2 ESC -to- Battery Harness:





Used a servo extension cable to allow a safe manner to disable onboard BEC on the STOCK ESC:






Over-view of Power System modifications to include the CC BEC PRO:


My model (used) came with the BlitzRC 2.4G 6-Channel RX:










COMPLETE!








VIDEO showing the motor run-up, e-retracts and servos and all systems GO!

Airfield Bf-109 with Castle Creations BEC PRO 06-25-2011 (2 min 29 sec)

My particular Airfield Messerschmitt Bf-109 Model came with a functional Chin Air scoop.

The functional chin scoop on this Airfield Bf-109 allows for very good airflow into the FUSE area and very good airflow over the ESC and Castle Creations BEC PRO and reason why I installed the CC BEC PRO on the bottom foam floor area like I did, even though the CC BEC PRO has cooling fins.

Flight Summary while using Castle Creations BEC PRO:

Incredible!

The Servo-less Main Gear Retracts worked very well and the wheels seem to go in further inside the wing wheel well! NO MORE FLIPPING THE MODEL UPSIDE DOWN!!! The controls were crisp and the model was super responsive.

Most importantly, both Main Gear Servo-less retracts came down without any fuss! I am amazed how well this model flew using the Castle Creations external BEC PRO device!

My buddy was able to meet with me up at the RC Club and recorded some Video footage of my Airfield Me Bf-109!


Now for the VIDEO! SELECT THE FULL SCREEN OPTION!!!

Airfield Me Bf-109 with Castle Creations BEC PRO 07-02-2011 (4 min 50 sec)

I have to tell you that watching that Video my buddy Gerry recorded for me really bothered me at the end when I was attempting to TAXI the model back to me.

No, it was not because of the bumpy Grass field (freshly Cut just this past Friday!) but, the ugly Spinner Assembly that comes with this model. Certainly the Spinner assembly is robust and strong but, no where near the Scale effect of the Full size Me Bf-109.

I was in one of my Local Hobby Shops today and my eye got locked in to one PARK ZONE Bf-109 Spinner Assembly and would you believe they are pretty much the same size as that from the Airfield Bf-109!

I have completed fit check assessments and brain storming as to how I am going to attach the spinner cap (most important due to the spiral paint design!).

Well, I will not bore you all with the technical details here but, allow me to share some pictures of the fit checks!









Another picture showing the comparison of both the STOCK Spinner and PZ Bf-109 Spinner!

Okay, I am hitting the hardware shelves and looking for a few items that might work to attach the PARK ZONE Bf-109 Spinner Assembly onto this larger Airfield Me Bf-109.

Will report back later in the afternoon!

Nice spinner. Pls post side pics for comparison. Txs

Originally Posted by Tartago

Nice spinner. Pls post side pics for comparison. Txs

Okay, due to over whelming demand, I worked on my Airfield Messerschmitt Bf-109 large EPO Foam Warbird last night and here are the some data.

Try Number #1:

For the efforts in the PARK ZONE Bf-109 Spinner with the Black Gloss and Scale Spinner with the Spiral White Paint, I tried using a regular Push rod wire and bent it to shape to attach at the eye hole from the STOCK Prop Adapter Nut.

Since this Wire comes through the middle of the PARK ZONE Bf-109 Spinner I used a Wheel Collar in an attempt to secure the Spinner towards the Plastic back-plate. This did not work well even though I had all the angles correctly because the Wire was slight smaller in diameter than the Hole through the STOCK Prop Adapter nut. This caused the Spinner to slide away from the Back-Plate during rotation and an ugly vibration would have occurred.

Some Pictures:

Try Number #2:

Okay, I got thinking that some sort of threaded attachment needs to happen at the frontal of this Park Zone Spinner (The Park Zone Bf-109 Prop Adapter will not work for this model as the Airfield's motor is mounted reversed).

I then bent several GWS EPS-350 Reduction Gear shafts that are threaded and finally got one not the snap. You have to be careful not to bend this shaft anywhere the threaded area or it will snap!

Again, my goals to have it threaded through the STOCK Prop Adapter Nut "Eye Hole" and the angles were critical otherwise the Spinner would not go all the way towards the Plastic Back-Plate.

Again some pictures of my attempts








PARK ZONE Bf-109 Plastic Back-Plate and APC Prop Spacer!


PARK ZONE Bf-109 Plastic Back-Plate and generic Aluminum Back-Plate for spacer:

Try Number #3:

No matter what I did for getting the Correct Critical Angles on that GWS Reduction Threaded Shaft it was NO JOY as the Spinner did NOT slide all the way towards the PARK ZONE Bf-109 Plastic Back-Plate as planned.

I then, sat there at almost 3:45am in the morning and thought, wait a minute, how about carefully re-bending the GWS Reduction threaded shaft and have it attached to a Strong Plastic Tie Wrap?

The Tie Warp would be feed through the STOCK round retaining nut "Eye Hole" and looped about to allow for attachment of the GWS Reduction Threaded Shaft!

The need to Critical Angles disappeared and BINGO, the PARK ZONE Bf-109 Spinner Assembly was finally complete on my AIRFIELD Me Bf-109! Of course I found some additional GWS Propeller Converters / Spacers to go into the Hole of the Spinner itself to avoid any lose fitting and thereby avoid vibrations.

Some Pictures:

Additional Pictures showing other items investigated:




3M Brand Double Sticky Tape to avoid rotation during Propeller Tightening!



I used the 3-Blade Master Airscrew 13 X 7 propeller because the the STOCK 3-blade had a deep frontal depression at the Hub base which did not allow for good tight fit based on where the Propeller was on the Prop Adapter. Meaning this depression allowed the propeller to spin even though I had already tightened the Nut!

How well did this Modification Turn OUT, you ask?

Take a look at the VIDEO!!! Select Full Screen Option!

Airfield Messerschmitt Bf-109 Spinner Mods 07-05-2011 (1 min 46 sec)

Well, it seems that at very high RPMs the Spinner assembly puts out vibration and lots of noise.

The parts inside such as the Tie Wrap and GWS threaded reduction shaft is of course not balanced so, it will vibrate.

I made an emergency landing without any power and the landing was not perfect but, no damage. It hit with slight wing tip contact and the model tipped over on its spinner.

I am searching for a nice Scale Spinner for this Bf-109 but, it appears to be hard to get a more robust spinner.

Also, the MAS 3-Blade, 13 X 7 X 3 was totally inadequate as far as air speed!

Going back to the STOCK Spinner and Propeller!

Not all modifications are successful....

there is a great thread created by Tom Hunt.
He did a lot of good stuffs to turn this
cartoon 109-E into a state of art scale ME-109E.
His magic touch is so great. If you want to build
a great scale ME-109E, there are many good stuffs
to learn from Tom Hunt Thread.

also check the parkzone 109 thread to learn some tricks
fixing the balance issue of the troublesome spinner


.

Attempting a better Video

Stay Tuned!