We stunt flyers enjoy a wide variety of shapes to choose from when we design our next creation. Normally I’m not overly enthusiastic about military craft. I think we shouldn’t glorify what is daintily described as “war bird”. As an aesthete however I have to admit that some of these machines have beautiful lines and shapes which can inspire a creative mind to transfer these into a pleasing aerobatic form. So one of my first airplanes was a Messerschmitt 109.

Now, the 109 is not an overwhelming beauty. There are other prototypes which have much more pleasing lines and harmonious proportions. A somewhat awkward formed fuselage, the unwieldy fin, the narrow stiffy undercarriage, and - most of all - that glass box called canopy hardly can please the aesthetic eye. But - the 109 has CHARACTER ! You really trust it to do the job it was intended for. For us stunt flyers it’s very easy to duplicate this picture by just copying or even exaggerating those details and voila! - easy to recognize the 109. My model was made from a Graupner kit in the typical fashion of those days. Span 60 cm, 2,5 ccm ( .15 ) diesel engine, and the outstanding ability for level laps. Since my skills at that time had already improved beyond that level, this exercise soon became somewhat boring ( maybe this experience strongly dampened my enthusiasm for the scale world forever ). However the Me 109 picture had been left in my mind.

Over the years I’ve built a few scale like airplanes. These had not much to do with the scale idea. They were strictly built by aerobatics numbers even if they had a slight resemblance to a Mustang, a Focke Wulf, a Messerschmitt 35, a Ryan, or some racer style models. Dimensions were never allowed to deteriorate aerobatic performance. Just copying the fuselage shape, wing planform, and some details can easily produce the desired look. And after all - painting can do the trick.

In 2005 I felt it was time again to plan another trip to the VSC ( Vintage Stunt Championships ) in Tucson, Arizona. So I was looking for a new airplane to build, and it had to fit into the Classic event. Browsing through old magazines and books I came across a well used Aeromodeller yearbook with a suitable design. The 15 X 22 cm page showed a detailed sketch of a Me 109. Designer Ignacio Gil had published this plan in a Spanish model magazine, and the reduced version had found its way into the yearbook. It was a typical 35 size airplane, powered with what else than a Fox 35. My thoughts began to circle around constructing this model. As luck would have it at the same time I sowewhere found the Email address of Mr. Gil. So a mail went to Spain asking for the vintage of this design. The reply was overwhelming, including several photos.

Ignacio had built several of my own designs which had been published in Aeromodeller long long ago. He was delighted to see that I wanted to build one of his own airplanes ( he had obviously forgotten about this design ). I got some information about the 109 which had originally been designed by his father and flown in 1970.

Now I began to draw a plan, scaling up dimensions from the small Aeromodeller sketch. Some months later Ignacio surprised me by sending a full size plan he had copied from the original plan. I checked the dimensions, and apart from a small error in the wing span ( I had calculated a few Centimeter too short ) my drawing was as precise as my limited mathematical skills permit.

Construction had to be a little different from the original. Since many years I build all my airplanes in a “take apart” mode. That way the parts are easier to build, easier to paint, and all kinds of trimming devices can be incorporated - and easily reached.

Mounting the wing, the tailplane, and the fin to the fuselage requires some additional parts and a different building method. Also the fuselage rear end cannot be built as narrow as can be done on a one-part model. You have to have access to the elevator horn which has a slider function to be able to change deflection continuously. Also a solid seating of the tailplane is essential for rigid mounting, so the fuselage rear end is some six mm wider than the original. I do not consider this deviation to prevent me from competing in Classic.

Specifications span 135 cm 53 " original had 138 cm area 37,2 dm 575 sq in   tailplane 20 %   of wing area weight 1600 gr 56,5 oz with 50 gr lead in nose wing loading 43 gr/ dm ~ 14 oz/ sq in ouch ! engine OS LA 46   home made venturi propeller 12 x 5 1/4   Brian Either carbon tank 138 ccm ~ 4,8 oz uniflo, no muffler pressure fuel 10 % nitro   50/50 castor/ syntetic venturi 6,6 mm 0,26 in spraybar is only 3,2 mm lines 20 m 66 ' 015 handle to thrust line flight time 6,5 min

Thank you very much, Ignacio, for your inspiration and help.