A circular cowl has long been a favourite of mine. We don’t see many airplanes with this feature. At last Al Rabe with his intelligent articles ( thank you so much, Al ) has convinced me that there’s no mystery about round cowls. So my M 35 came into life.

The Messerschmitt M 35 was a full size aerobatic machine of the 30s. With Willi Stoer she earned the title of German Aerobatic Champion several times. The image of power and competence makes her a suitable pattern for control line stunt applications.

My M 35 was built with a detachable wing. Mainly because I wanted to have access to the flap horn (s), because this would allow easy trim adjustment changes. The tailplane was fixed ( I wouldn’t do this again !). The circular cowl was built by gluing trapezoid blocks around multiple edged formers ( I’ve explained this method on another place here ). The rest of the fuselage is a simple box shape with additional fillers at both sides of the fuselage front. The wing is basically a trapeze planform with rounded tips, so it’s not difficult to build. Span is 156 cm ( 61 inch ); wing area 42,6 sq dm ( 661 sq inch ); weight 1750 gram ( 62 oz ! I never got that light again ); engine was ST 60.

Oh, I forgot - this is not a “scale model”. The dimensions have been tailored to fit stunt dimensions, and even the overall shape has been “beautified” a little to satisfy my requirements of line and shape.

How can one judge the quality of an airplane, considering that it was flown 20 years ago? The stunt scene has changed, the competition has changed, and our flying skills have changed. So how can I rate the flying qualities of the M 35 ? I don’t know. Anyway - I have had the greatest contest successes with my M 35, including my best WC placing ever.