Dragon/Cyber Hobby 1/32 Bf-109E Cowl Fit Problem

[ringleheim]

I'm working on the Dragon/Cyber Hobby BF-109E4 right now.

 

I know these kits are infamous for having a cowl fit problem, but I'm creating this thread to ask if anyone has ever solved the riddle or knows of a way to make everything fit.

 

I have everything dry fitted and the cockpit floor and fuselage sides are all together, along with the firewall area.  It all fits perfectly fine and is actually very precisely molded.  Nothing is painted. 

 

The problem comes when you try to put the rear part of the upper cowl/engine cover on over top of everything.  It's all way too wide or the cowling is too narrow.

 

Of note, if you leave all the guts out of the 2 fuselage halves and just bring them together, that rear upper cowl piece fits like a glove. 

 

Clearly something related to the cockpit/firewall area is causing an interference.  I have just been studying this for an hour and playing around with different ideas...can't make it work.

 

Did anyone ever figure out how to do this?  Or does everyone just display these kits with the upper engine cowling removed?

 

I actually intend to do just that, but it still bugs the heck out of me! 

 

Thanks,
Jim

 

PS:  The "L" shaped rear engine cowl in yellow, still on the aircraft in this photo, is the part I'm talking about.  

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by ringleheim

[LSP_Ron]

It's a bear to make fit but it can be done. But.... you have to decide cowl on or cowl off because you need to sand down many of the bits under the cowl to make it fit.

 

Here is my build from several years ago where I did get it to fit

 

HTH

 

Ron

 

[ringleheim]

6 minutes ago, LSP_Ron said:

It's a bear to make fit but it can be done. But.... you have to decide cowl on or cowl off because to need to sand down many of the bits under the cowl to make it fit.

 

Here is my build from several years ago where I did get it to fit

 

HTH

 

Ron

 

Thanks Ron.  That kind of answers my question in that I do want to display it cowl off.

 

It makes me feel better that I didn't do anything wrong.  I was trying to get it to fit without destroying any of the plastic under the cowl piece.

 

Your linked build looks great!  And it's funny!  That photo you posted in your build thread showing "the problem" is IDENTICAL to what my model looks like.  

 

The kit is just engineered to be ill-fitting.

 

Your got your cowl panel to fit great!

 

 

 

 

[LSP_Ron]

Glad it solved your question

 

Good luck

 

Ron

[LSP_Ray]

When I was looking at my copy, I noticed the conflict. I was thinking you might be able to scrape some plastic from inside the cowl part, or is the interference too great?

[LSP_Ron]

5 minutes ago, LSP_Ray said:

When I was looking at my copy, I noticed the conflict. I was thinking you might be able to scrape some plastic from inside the cowl part, or is the interference too great?

 

I honestly can't answer that as it was a long time ago.  Maybe?

[ringleheim]

2 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

When I was looking at my copy, I noticed the conflict. I was thinking you might be able to scrape some plastic from inside the cowl part, or is the interference too great?

It's off by a lot.  Like several MMs.  I don't know that you'd be able to get the cowl to fit properly without gutting the stuff that goes underneath it. 

 

 

[LSP_Ray]

Ok, thanks.

[Avenger2614]

From my personal experience, you do have to choose whether to display the cowling closed, with almost nothing inside (I had to delete everything on the upper deck with the exception of the gun barrels, and only the barrels, not the breaches), or open with everything displayed. I ran into the same issues with the engines on my Dragon 1/32 Bf.110C. 

[ade rowlands]

I recall a lot of sanding and thinning of parts. I wanted to display mine with the cowlings all glued in place. I started from the bottom up. There was some snipping and a lot of sanding and a lot of swearing and a putting back in the stash. I've got it to a point I was happy but not perfect. I have built the E-3 and E-4 and have another E-4 in the stash which I again intend to do cowlings glued on with. I'll crack the problem eventually. Even if it means leaving most of the internals of the engine out. I seem to recall a lot of fettling with the area the machine guns mount to and leaving off the canvas rear cover of the instrument panel.

[ringleheim]

11 hours ago, ade rowlands said:

I recall a lot of sanding and thinning of parts. I wanted to display mine with the cowlings all glued in place. I started from the bottom up. There was some snipping and a lot of sanding and a lot of swearing and a putting back in the stash. I've got it to a point I was happy but not perfect. I have built the E-3 and E-4 and have another E-4 in the stash which I again intend to do cowlings glued on with. I'll crack the problem eventually. Even if it means leaving most of the internals of the engine out. I seem to recall a lot of fettling with the area the machine guns mount to and leaving off the canvas rear cover of the instrument panel.

All of that makes sense.  I've read enough, combined with my own experiences, to know that the kit is simply not engineered correctly.

 

If you include all the interior detail, the cowl won't fit.  If you want the cowl to fit, you must gut the interior contents.  

 

As I mentioned in my long first post, if you simply dry fit the 2 fuselage halves together and then rest that "L" shaped cowl on top, it fits perfectly, so obviously everything goes wrong by inserting the cockpit floor/firewall/gun platform module inside.

 

I can understand why Eduard adopted the approach they did with their 1/32 Bf-109 Emils.  They make you decide up front if you want to show the engine or cover it.  If you cover it, they have you gut the engine bay so the cowl will fit.

 

 

[ade rowlands]

There isn’t much tolerance in the pegs of the fuselage floor where they plug in to the fuselage sides. I suspect that might go some way to explain the issues that exist when fitting the bare fuselage halves together versus the loaded up fuselage halves. I am determined to work out a better solution on my next build. Even if I have to sacrifice it and find another one later on. 

[J.J.]

On 3/29/2019 at 5:55 PM, ringleheim said:

All of that makes sense.  I've read enough, combined with my own experiences, to know that the kit is simply not engineered correctly.

 

By "not engineered correctly" you mean they have moulded a fuselage with the correct dimensions and an engine with the correct dimensions, but their representation of the cowling thickness is overscale, right? You can't have both.

 

Jens