Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

You mean the Soviet built Tu-4s. Of the 1200 or so that were built, I believe only two still exist. Ones on display in Moscow and the other in Beijing. There is a very good documentary video put out by the History Channel called "Stealing the Superfortress". It shows how the Soviets interned 3 B-29s that emergency landed in Russia during the war and then built rivet for rivet copies of the planes. Very interesting to watch.

acdii

Yep, they even copied the repair patches where bullets hit the plane.  I believe China still has one or 2 that were modified with turboprops and still fly.  Of course, not everything on the internet is true, but if I come across that link again I will post it.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

Still alittle more work to do on the nose canopy, but it's starting to take shape. I made it out of thin ply and balsa and was able to cut up and use most of the original plastic nose canopy.

Now that the fuse is all glassed, It's time to cut out the nose gear doors and fit the nose retract. I had to make up a new pair of scissors for it as the ones that came with it were way too big. They would hit the air cylinder and not allow full retraction thus not allowing the gear doors to close. (Not the best design,but I'll make it work). If your using a Robart nose gear retract, this won't be a problem.

Next will be to rig up some sort of steering system for it. The steering arms are at the base and not the top of the unit so it will be alittle more difficult to rig something up.

To be more scale, all the retract struts should have been made about 1 inch longer than they are. But they were probably made to the original plan designers specs. so unfortunetly, It's gonna sit abit lower than I would like.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been doing alot of prime, sand, fill, prime, sand, fill. I figured thats pretty self explanitory and not worth posting the process. I did finally get the steering system and nose gear doors set up. The gear doors gave me abit of trouble for awhile because of the extreme curve in the doors, but I finally got them to work with a bit of hinge re-engineering. I decided to make all the gear doors servo operated on this one instead of using pneumatics.
Everything is a project within a project with this plane.

D_wilbur

My Feedback: (8)

Looking good Warbird Man. keep up the work. I'm about a year behind you. with mine. I removed the main formers for the engine nacells to rework them so my Robart gear fits. I'm about 3/4" on the narrow side for the main whees to fit.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

I'm working on the mains nacells now. The wheels are a tight fit and rigging up the gear doors will be a challenge. I might need to rework mine abit as well once the brakes are installed but I won't know until they arrive. The nacell design definetly should have been wider.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Warbird, do you have an image of the pull pull cables with the gear retracted? Dan.

D_wilbur

My Feedback: (8)

It interesting that we are having the same issue you are building the 141" wing span version and I'm building the 196" one. Part of my problem is the Robart gear, Gene Bartin wheels with brakes. I think the wheels and brakes where built to fit the Century Jet Gear. I will be machining the gear and brakes along with spreading out the former to make it all fit.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

No problem Dan. After several attempts at a reliable setup, this is what I came up with. I fly off grass runways so the cables are a bit heavy duty. But I figure the nose gear is going to take most of the abuse. I set it up so the cables flex when the gear is retracted behind the nose gear box and not in it. This prevents the cables getting sloppy and catch or binding around the gear. I also set up the cables natural curve to work outward at the servo thus preventing any binding or interferance.

Note the setup still needs alittle refinement.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

DW, I kinda wish I was building the 169" also. I assume the 169" plans are just a blown up from the 141".

Glad to see I'm not the only one building one of these. At the rate I'm going, you'll probably catch up to me.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Got it. Thanks, Dan.

D_wilbur

My Feedback: (8)

Correct the plans are blowen up version. with some changes to wood demission. Mostly the sticks.

angrysnake

What engines are you planning on using? I'm considering building one myself

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

AS,
Currently, I'm planning on using RCGF 15CC gassers. See post #126

Boomerang1

Have been watching your thread for a while now, a great build!

I have a smaller B-29 (100 inch) which used to fly on 2 x 20 & 2 x 40 size engines.
It is almost 20 years old now. Currently the glow engines have been removed & sold
& it's awaiting a conversion to electric power.

I had to solve a lot of the same problems as yourself. For the nosewheel steering I
ran the cables back to a large bellcrank, then drove that with the servo saver arrangement
you have used.

If you are worried about the slack in the cables just loop a light rubber band around each
one. This will hold them tight & out of the way & put little load on the servo. - John.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

Thanks for the tip John. We'll keep that in mind.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

Doing alittle work on the main gear doors.
Trying to fit the retracts, wheels, brakes and a gear door linkage in a 6x5 area is abit of a challenge as its a very tight fit. Although using air cylinders probably would have been easier, I decided to operate both sets of main gear doors via one servo in order to save weight, cost and a rat nest of problematic air lines. The doors are controlled by a retract servo setup just like mechanical retracts in a .40-.60 size plane located in the front bomb bay. It might be overkill as far as torque but with the retract servo, there is positive open / close end points with no servo stalling. The nose gear doors will be set up in a similar fashion. It just takes some time to get it all setup and working correctly.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

My Robart brake units and wheels finally arrived yesterday so I went to work getting them fit onto the gear. After a nights worth of work configuring and modifying, I'm happy to say I didn't have to cut out the nacell formers to fit the wheels in when retracted. Had about an 1/8th inch to spare on both sides.
I was able to fit the Robart brake units on to the Century jet retracts without any trouble other than to move the scissors up alittle.
I used plain (no spoke ) brake ready rims on the out side wheels only and made a fixed simulated wheel hub to make the wheels alittle more scale looking.
The full scale B-29s had a very large center wheel hub and it did not rotate.

D_wilbur

My Feedback: (8)

Any work going on with the B-29. I started a job about 6 months ago and it is consuming my life only good thing is the money is good. no progress on my B-29

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

Ya, I kinda got the same problem. Working puts a serious damper on this hobby
Haven't done much with the B-29 over the summer months, but now that the flying season is just about over, It's time to get back to building

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

Ya, I kinda got the same problem. Working puts a serious damper on this hobby
Haven't done much with the B-29 over the summer months, but now that the flying season is just about over, It's time to get back to building

acdii

DejaVu

kilr

My Feedback: (8)

I hate to jump a thread, if anyone is interested in the 169" version is just listed the retracts, cowls and glass kit in the classifieds. I have checked this thread several times, the contruction is looking so good i was tempted to start building, it looks good warbird man, if you want me to remove this post no problem, just thought anyone else drooling over may be interested, keep at it.

Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

Not a problem. I now kinda wish I was building the 169 version instead.

I know this build has been on hold for awhile. Had alot of issues and other priorities come my way and just haven't had the time to work on it.
I hope to resume the build soon.

trisdisp57

any update on the 29..... read the hole thread.... did you finish it yet?