About the Plane:

This is a simple to build, yet realistic 1/8 scale model of a beautiful pre-WWII airplane. The fuselage is a simple box, with a 1/64" plywood turtle deck. The wing has a very slight gull-wing shape. The large, wide spaced gear is scale. Good proportions, and plenty of room inside for any size radio, and a 6 oz fuel tank.

Flying the Model:

This plane has not yet flown. I had problems with the K&B .28 Sportster engine when I tried to fly the plane. A head bolt had broken, and I was not getting enough compression. The plane taxis nicely. The wide landing gear makes for great ground handling, just like the real one.

The engine has been repaired, and will fly this spring.

Construction Highlights:

This plane is very straight forward. The fuselage is built up from balsa sheet, plywood doublers, balsa and ply formers. The turtle deck is balsa sheeted and balsa blocks. The tail surfaces are solid balsa. The wing is fairly conventional, with balsa ribs and sheeting. The wing spars are 0.007" thick carbon fiber. You could easily substitute conventional spruce spars.

The model is big inside. I used full size servos, 450mAh battery and a full size receiver. Everything fit without a problem. I used a 6 oz fuel tank and a K&B .28 Sportster.

One unique feature is the steerable tail wheel. I made a cable pull-pull system that is internal to the fuselage. The construction is shown on the plans.

The real Heinkel He-100D was a competitor to the Me-109. Its unique surface evaporation system on the wings eliminated the need for draggy radiators. The only project from the fuselage is the oil cooler. I built my model with the radiator in the extended position. The cooling system was probably too innovative, and ultimately the Me-109 was selected over the He-100D. The He-100D has great lines, good tail moments, and a long, wide spread landing gear. The pre-production planes were used in propaganda photos with phony unit markings. The same plane wore different marking to give the illusion of many units with operational He-100D's.