subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I finally bit the bullet on a giant scale B17. It should be at the house by the end of next week and on the workbench shortly after that. This won't be an overnight deal, more like several months. After allot of debate I have decided to go with the Ryobi 4 strokes, partly because the performance makes sense, they sping the right prop at the right rpm and their weight is fine. But mostly the sound and practicality sold me. I can finish the plane any way I like without concern for fuel proofing as well.

Wingspan: ............138"
Length: .................98"
Wing Area: ...........2250sqin
Weight: ................45 - 55 lbs
Requirements:
Engines: .......4x - .91~1.2ci 4-stroke glow or 20~30cc gasoline
Servos: .........4-engine, 2-aileron, 2- flaps, 2-elevator, 1-rudder, 1-steering, 2-langing gear

http://www.wingspanmodels.com/Produc...9/B17FG-9.html

Sturtz

My Feedback: (20)

Please,,, what ever you end up doing keep us posted here in RCU. I'd love to hear those quad 4's.

motorhd

My Feedback: (15)

That sounds like a great project. The Ryobi 4 stroke 26 cc are great motors and they respond well to the same carb, (WYK 16-1) and modifications as the GX31. They should turn an 18/8 APC wide at about 6800 after mods.
Keep up the good work.

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I am thinking 17/8 (or maybe 17/10) 3 blade with a nice chrome hub. I already have one Ryobi and I need to order 4 more. I figure keep the one I already have as a trimmer and strip the other four for the engines then have years of spare parts for the one I keep as a trimmer.

oldtimer2

My Feedback: (19)

Hi harbor fright has yard machine 26 cc four strokes for 69.95 reconditioned. I think they are riobi.

car54

A project like that should cost about the same as a years income for me..

I wish you luck! Can't wait to see the final product.

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

How are you planning on mounting them? They are pretty tall and cannot be inverted. I have one that was flying my flybaby 1/4 scale.

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I have one running inverted just fine. As far as mounting... not sure yet, but the nacels are so nice and long that I may just use two rails going from a few bulheads back and passing through the firewall and beam mount them.

Pics should be up tommorow of the plans and kit unboxing.

idealer

My Feedback: (4)

Just mount them inverted and fly it upside down...

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

So you are going to mount them inverted also?

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, that has not changed.

I got back home today and no box. The tracking number now says the 29th, Wed. The thing arrived at the hub about 30 min away this morning at 6:30ish AM, pleanty of time to make the truck. Yet now they are pushing it back till Wed instead of Monday which would make little sense by itself. The thing is there is a note saying a later delivery time was requested, not by me and not by the shipper so by who? Time to call and raise hell.

BillS

If it will be some time before the engines are needed you might want to consider hesitating. Industry movement to 4 strokes is likely to accelerate. When the engines are needed the choice of engine will probably be greater and the current engines are likely to be more powerful.

Just a thought.

Bill

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

It sure is, consider how far they have gone from the first generation 4 stroke engines to the ones we have now. I am a big fan of what will happen in the future with these engines. With the Stihl 65cc 4 stroke out now there is an engine for the 1/5 and 1/4 scale WWII warbirds. If something better comes along when I get to that point (summer maybe?) then I will look into that.

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

Unpacking parts:


Spars and ribs


This constitutes one nacel assembly:


Ribs:


The wing plans:


Fuse plans:

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I have the last 25% of a 1/4 scale Fokker tri-plane and the last 25% of a 1/4 scale decathlon as well as a 1/3 scale Sopwith that is just beginning that I want to fly this summer, so the B-17 is a side table project but I am beginning to wonder just how side table. This thing builds so fast with all the laser cut interlocking parts and self aligning structure that it might be framed up sooner than I think.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Cool project and a hell of a nice workshop!! Money doesn't appear to be a big issue here, so how about the Honda four strokes? Easier mounting, no problem with inverted running, and more power. One user told me when running his inverted, a very slight amount of oil drips down into the combustion chamber after you turn them off. Then when you start them they put out a very scale looking puff of smoke for a moment.

Good luck,
AV8TOR

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, the workshop is a work in progress, like many things in life.... Money is not the only issue, but it certainly is an important issue in a project like this. It would be easy to spend $1500 on engines alone going with glow, or hobby branded gassers. As far as the hondas go, they are just too large for this plane.

This thing builds so fast with all the tabs and self aligning structures that I am amazed. The pictures below are about 2 hours older than the first and during that time I also finished my to do list for tommorow, worked a little in my radio studio, soldered the wing mounts for the Fokker and had breakfast.

Rickles56

You only have room for a 16.5" prop without chewing into the fuse and btw 16x12 is scale.

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

That may be, I have to make the measurements when I get to that point and naturally I will choose a prop that fits.

Rickles56

There's a guy that makes scale props and hubs, if you want his phone number I can look it up in my build. I am running my build on RCScalebuilder.com. He does a great job on the props, even the markings but they are pricey, around $450 for a set of 4. They are 16.5x14 3 blade approx, his are exact scale size. The gas engines can turn the big props that look good. Graupner makes a 3 blade that has a simular blade shape to the scale and they are a lot less that $450.

Good luck with the build, I am amazed at the Wingspan models. I wish Michael offered them back when I started my DS B17.

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah, I would like to see what he has. I looked at the DS one, it produces a great result but it is a whole new catagory of building a giant scale plane of this sort. It framed up to the point in the above photo in about 4~5 hours. Each wing looks about the same. About the only thing I wish it had was better alignment built in along the centerline. It was somewhat difficult to keep the fuse straight down the middle when doing the stringers but nothing as bad as other giant scale kits. And of course the fiberglass package will be great to do the details that you normally sand to shape for hours.

Rickles56

The guy's name is Phil... his business name is "PK Props", ph# is 785-238-1679. He is in Milford KS. Here's a photo of some of his work on the DS 1/9th B17:

Turbobeaver

Holy jumpings that's one heck of a big under taking you have under way there Subarubrat!I think you better stock up on some of these though prior to the maiden.Your not kidding about the money factor let alone the time you'll have invested in that model by the time your done.Your way braver than me I'm afraidSeen a guy a few years back bring a 4 x.25 version of a B-17 out to the field and he had his one and only one flight on his B-17 that day.Not a pretty site.First time I'd ever seen a full grown man crying his eyes out while stuffing his wreckage into green garbage bags.Just kidding about the crying part............at least he didn't do it in front of us that any of us noticed.What a sickening feeling to see it going in and it wasn't even my plane.


http://www.depend.com/products/products_male.asp

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I was finishing off some details to go fly my decathlon and I threw down the wing plans on the slab and started to build. About 10 hours later including allot of work on the Decathlon I have the wings pretty much framed up.

Rickles56

Very nice... I am so jealous having to build the DS B17 and see your work go together so quickly and easily. I slaved over the wing for 6 months and just completed the sheeting this week. I put my first primer on the model today as well, 1 yr and 2 months after starting it. I can't get over how scale the framework looks as well. Be sure and get lots of photos of tha framework, it's a bit of artworkin itself! Good job!