It all started with the unexpected purchase of a LEO .12 engine.

I did not have any plans for such an engine, but it was very cheap, so I had to have it.

I put it aside for a possible ½ A size project that may happen in the future sometime.

A month or so later, the local store that sold me the LEO decided that it really was no longer interested in dealing in model aircraft and that a lot of stock must go. Very quickly. And cheaply. I paid them another visit and discovered a LEO .15 hidden at the rear of the display cabinet. It was even cheaper than the .12, so I had to have it as well.

I was then faced with a dilemma.

What am I going to do with two of these bloody things? Well, maybe I would build a twin combat model? A few of the guys over here are into combat so I thought I would give it a go.

The ideal really appealed to me. Minimum effort building with maximum fun flying.

But somehow things went very wrong. Five months of toil later, I ended up with the Messerschmitt.

The Bf110 seemed like a good choice for a first attempt at a scale model. A box shaped fuselage, an easy to build wing and the minimum amount of those nasty compound curves that are usually found on real aircraft. Simple. Or so I thought.

As work on the project progressed, I realised that I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew so a few short cuts were taken along the way. It is fair to say that the finished item is less scale than what was originally planned.

Searching the Internet, I could not find any plans for a Bf110, so I ended up purchasing a 1/72^nd model kit and used the plans from that. The enlarging function of the photocopier at work came in real handy.

The fuselage and wing are both conventional construction, built up from balsa.

The original design had fixed gear to keep it simple. But as construction progressed, retracts were installed. This added a lot of extra time and expense to the model, but it did seem like a good idea at the time. They are mechanical and are driven by a single servo located in the centre of the wing. Likewise for the engine throttles.

A metal cable that runs through the tailplane connects the rudders and tail wheel. Unfortunately the cable is prone to jamming, so a bit more work needs to be done.

The finish consisted of a coat of fibreglass resin followed by automotive spray putty. Once this was sanded back smooth, the model was airbrushed using Humbrol paint found at the local hobby store. I chose a matt paint for a more realistic finish but this turned out a disaster. It looked bloody horrible. A quick fix was to spray the entire model with clear gloss enamel. This made it look even worse. Sanding the thing back with wet and dry and then rubbing back with a cutting compound produced a respectable finish at last.

The first attempt at flying was a failure with the model spearing off the runway when power was applied. This was due possible uneven tuning off the engines and an unresponsive rudder.( My next twin project will have a tricycle undercarriage and a conventual tailplane.) All successful take offs so far have required the assistance of a helper to release the model once the engines were run up to full power.

The Messerschmitt actually flies very sweetly. It goes like stink when the engines are wound up to full noise and it is a real hoot to drive around. But most importantly, it SOUNDS GREAT.