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Bf 109 landing gear question...

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  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Bf 109 landing gear question...
Posted by lawdog114 on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 1:32 AM

Hello,

I'm building the 1/48 scale Hasegawa Bf 109 G-6 and have reached the stage of installing the landing gears.  I have the gears themselves assembled and have been dry-fitting them into the undercarriage.  With the understanding that the legs are supposed to be angled outwards, my example has the wheels themselves angles outwards at the front (if looking at it head on from the ground).  Is this the correct "camber" (lack of better description) for the tires on a 109...angled slightly outward?  I would be more inclined to believe they should be on an angle with the legs but positioned straight?  Believe it or not,  cannot seem to find a single picture of a 109 on the internet showing the plane from the front ground level.  I would like to try my luck in a contest someday with this plane and I would hate to be disqualified for something trivial like crooked wheels.  The input of any 109 experts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, I hope this description made sense, it is late at night here.

Joe

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2012
  • From: Belgium, EU
Posted by Ninetalis on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 3:15 AM

I'm not a total 109 expert, 
but Maybe you can make something up from these pic's?

 

Hope this is what you're looking for...
you could search, 'Bf 109 on ground' on google to...

Regards Ninetalis 

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: Scotland
Posted by Milairjunkie on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 10:22 AM

I'm no 109 expert either, but as far as I understand, as well as having the obvious negative camber, the 109's landing gear is also toed out - if you were to look down on the landing gear from directly above, the toe would look something like below, although nowhere near as pronounced;

             Front

    \         /

             Rear

This picture sort of shows it;

  • Member since
    February 2012
Posted by Vongreim2 on Thursday, March 8, 2012 8:09 AM

Not sure if I'm an expert, but IMHO they should NOT be exactly parallel with the struts, they sit with a touch of outward camber.

I found this online which should help

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/Photobucket:550:0]

 

From directly above, the fronts half of the wheels should be peeping out from under the wings, but that should be taken care of by the engineering of the parts plug right?

 

best regards

 

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, March 8, 2012 8:45 AM

They are slightly angled out from the top...they are not in-line with the struts...

Good angle:

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Bent River, IA
Posted by Reasoned on Thursday, March 8, 2012 10:00 AM

From your personal collection Manny? VERY nice!

I've read offten about the take off and landing challenges of the 109 (due to the under-carriage), one would think if the a/c was using a concrete strip that the wheel alignment would cause significant tire wear.

Science is the pursiut of knowledge, faith is the pursuit of wisdom.  Peace be with you.

On the Tarmac: 1/48 Revell P-38

In the Hanger: A bunch of kits

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Illinois
Posted by wjbwjb29 on Thursday, March 8, 2012 10:06 AM

That always looked to me like an engineering mistake.

 

Bill

On the Bench:   Trumperter Tsesarevich on deck Glencoe USS Oregon

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, March 8, 2012 12:11 PM

Reasoned

From your personal collection Manny? VERY nice!

Yes...

I believe that the very early 109's thru the E model may have had tyres that were in alignmnet w/ the struts but the extra weight of the F model on caused engineers to increase the tyre size and the alignmnet on the struts...eventually, with the G model, the tyres became so large that "bumps" were placed on the wings to accomodate them when retracted...

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Bent River, IA
Posted by Reasoned on Thursday, March 8, 2012 12:47 PM

Manstein's revenge

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb110/dblvisions2001/German%20Aircraft/Bf109/Luftwaffe028.jpg

 

 

You know, the above pic got me thinking about the sync cowl MGs firing through the prop arc.  With the width of those prop blades, I'm still fascinated how they were able to sync the firing mech to not shoot the props off!

Science is the pursiut of knowledge, faith is the pursuit of wisdom.  Peace be with you.

On the Tarmac: 1/48 Revell P-38

In the Hanger: A bunch of kits

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Thursday, March 8, 2012 3:58 PM

Thanks for the help folks.  I knew I was not going crazy.  How does this plane roll straight?  As pointed out, I would imagine the germans went through alot of tires due to tread wear.  I would post some pictures of it but I'm new to this forum and can't figure out how to do that.  I'm sort of "challenged" in this regard.  By the way, you are all excellent modelers!

Thanks,

Joe 

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2012
  • From: Belgium, EU
Posted by Ninetalis on Thursday, March 8, 2012 4:15 PM

posting pic's is not so hard,
when you are writing a reply, just copy your link between a code
[ IMG ] your pic [/ IMG] (no spaces between the [ ] but otherwise the post won't show what I wrote

When you don't have a place witth your pic's on the internet, photobucket works great for this, they allready provide the codes you need!

Regards Ninetalis.

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Friday, March 9, 2012 3:38 PM

I finished the 109.  Here it is.  I added a True Details cockpit, Quickboost guns and Eagle Cal decals.  I think the grass is a little too yellow so I"m gonna have to tweek it some more.  Comment and criticizms are welcome.   

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: MN
Posted by Nathan T on Friday, March 9, 2012 4:17 PM

Nice Gustav, landing gear looks good from here. Those cheap TD cockpits really look nice when all painted up and weathered, they compete with Aires in my op.

 

 

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Bent River, IA
Posted by Reasoned on Friday, March 9, 2012 4:49 PM

Looks great lawdogBeer, never seen a yellow spinner on a 109G, yellow nose of course, just not spinner.

Science is the pursiut of knowledge, faith is the pursuit of wisdom.  Peace be with you.

On the Tarmac: 1/48 Revell P-38

In the Hanger: A bunch of kits

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Friday, March 9, 2012 4:59 PM

Manstein's revenge

 Reasoned:

From your personal collection Manny? VERY nice!

 

Yes...

I believe that the very early 109's thru the E model may have had tyres that were in alignmnet w/ the struts but the extra weight of the F model on caused engineers to increase the tyre size and the alignmnet on the struts...eventually, with the G model, the tyres became so large that "bumps" were placed on the wings to accomodate them when retracted...

Yeah, the fairing in the upper wings' surface were there to accomodate the wider, low-pressure tires, which were also toed-out from the strut much farther, which increased it's "bite" into the runway, and resulted in fewer (but not THAT many) ground-handling accidents...  The early, high-pressure tires were toed-in more along a parallel line with the strut, and didn't need the fairing, but were much harder to deal with in taxiing and take off, since they had only about a third of the tread is in contact with the ground when compared to the high-pressure tires... 

The strut-length was also reduced on the late-G and K-models, vs the B-F as well...

How does this plane roll straight?  As pointed out, I would imagine the germans went through alot of tires due to tread wear. 

Wasn't a lot of tread-wear because they generally operated of grass and dirt fields, rather than concrete... As for rolling straight, well.. They did quite well, right up until you applied power, lol... Then the torque would bite a new 109 pilot in the azz, lol.. More Bf109s were lost in ground-handling accidents than any other cause...

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: Scotland
Posted by Milairjunkie on Friday, March 9, 2012 5:39 PM

lawdog114

I finished the 109.  Here it is.  I added a True Details cockpit, Quickboost guns and Eagle Cal decals.  I think the grass is a little too yellow so I"m gonna have to tweek it some more.  Comment and criticizms are welcome.  

One Criticism - there aren't enough pictures!

That's one seriously lovely looking 109 you've made there Yes

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Illinois
Posted by wjbwjb29 on Friday, March 9, 2012 5:46 PM

Very nice 109

 

Bill

On the Bench:   Trumperter Tsesarevich on deck Glencoe USS Oregon

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Friday, March 9, 2012 9:27 PM

Nathan T

Nice Gustav, landing gear looks good from here. Those cheap TD cockpits really look nice when all painted up and weathered, they compete with Aires in my op.

I agree Nathan.  True Details products are hard to beat, whether its their tires or cockpits.  I think I paid 9 bones for this one.  The Aires resin does look nice, but they just seem way overpriced to me.  Some of them are more than the kit themselves.  Their 1/48 P-51 set is like $80 or 90 bones....get real!  I can get three Tamiya P-51's for that and I almost always use the TD cockpit in that kit when I build it.  I like the Ultracast seats too but they tend to be hard to find, even on e-bay. 

JRegards, Joe

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Friday, March 9, 2012 9:42 PM

Thank you for all the help and kind comments.  I'm glad I joined this forum as there are certainly many knowledgeable, and friendly modelers here.  I should have joined years ago.  As requested, here are some more pics. 

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

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