ICM Bf 109 F-2/4. Engine

Nice vintage picture of an unmounted DB-601 engine 

Original kit engine 

DB-601 on BF 109 F-4 

To facilitate the engine mounting, the engine dock is firstly built 

Another take fo the engine dock with the central oil radiator painted and mounted 

Engine body glued. Note the drilling in the cap that will be used later for pipes 

Front side glued 

Initial fitting shows an incorrect spacing in the engine front part when compared with the real engine (see photo #3 in this album). The engine bay must be modified to allow the engine moving to the front. 

To allow the engine moving to the front, the motor axis hole inner part is enlarged. Special care must be put to only enlarge the inner -and not the outer- part. 

 

Rear part of the motor mounted. Special care must be put in not breaking those pivots shown in the rear bottom part that represent pipes. A better idea, as will be shown later, is replacing them by wires. 

Special care must be put in properly aligning the rear part to the center of the engine. 

Rear view. As can be seen, one of the pivots (bottom right) is missing and the other (bottom left) is almost broken. 

Time to mount the turbine. To get it properly aligned with the engine holders, the centralpivot must be filled to allow the turbine being closer to the engine side. 

Here can be seen the turbine already mounted. The optimal position is aligned to the engine holder. 

Some filling job is necessary to allow the cilinder heads being perfectly fitted in the engine sides. 

Cylinder heads and exhausts mounted. 

Before the glue dried, check that the exhausts are properly aligned by mounting the engine in its dock. 

Here can be seen the result of the previous job done for moving the engine to the front part of the plane. As can be seen, the distance between the first exhaust and the motor holder is minimal, but it could be event lower. Again, some additional job was necessary to allow the engine moving to the front 1-2 millimeters. 

Even having moved the engine, the engine bonnet fits perfectly. This half bonnet is being opened, but it is necessary this check since the other half bonnet will be closed. 

Time to make some job in the original oil reservoirs. They are too squared, so their angles must be sanded. A couple of strips are added by using masking tape. 

Also, a couple of reservoir caps are added to make them more realistic. Note that the original pipes have been removed, they will be replaced by wires. 

This is the aspect of the standard engine finished, with the exception of the changes made in the reservoirs. Only the oil filters are pending to be added. Regarding these filters, the instructions are incorrect regarding its placement as will be seen in the next photo. 

The engine with pipe working finished. Wires from 0,5mm to 0,2 mm have been added, plus the jacket of a thin cable (green) . Overall, eight pipes are added. Front side picture. 

The engine with pipe working finished. Upper front picture 

The engine with pipe working finished. Upper rear picture. 

Detail of the fuel pipe running from the fuel pump to the fuel rails. Note the wire in the bottom that replaces the pivot referenced in previous photos. 

The engine with pipe working finished. Rear side picture.