Cal Branton

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Some pictures of the Norden bombsight for her.

samparfitt

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cool. It looks like a full size one.

Fly4Real

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That 1/5 "top secret" Norden bombsight looks so real, I think Cal was just arrested by the MPs for posting a picture of it!

kram

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Good to see the project nearing completion.

Y'all have put yourselves firmly in the upper 1% of builders!

Any chance it will make an appearance at Owatonna this year?

Speedracer (has chimed in on this thread) recently had a bad experience with stab flutter on maiden with his 1/9 scale.

That makes at least the second such incident with a Wingspan Model, not including the 1/9 Tim lost to "propeller vibrations."

That's enough to make me nervous as owner of the once-flown FRENESI 1/9 scale.

Any thoughts?

Dispersions have been made about the strength of the horizontal stab assembly and/or elevator servo/linkage, but you know what? My 120" 25 YEAR-OLD Westcraft has probably 500 flights on it (97 by me) and only rubber bands pull down elevator!!!

Is there some subtle aerodynamic design flaw that pre-disposes Wingspan to tail failure?

Who is smart enough to figure this out?


mt

wphilb

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Can you please explain what you mean by the rubber band statement?? I don't understand what you are saying.

whit

kram

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I didn't explain that well at all.

There is a linkage inside the tail that uses two large rubber bands to pull the elevator into DOWN when the servo is off. When the elevator servo is powered, the servo overrides the rubber bands to achieve any position other than full down elevator.

So I guess you could say it has rubber band-enhanced down elevator.

I don't know why. I don't question it.

The plane is 25 years old and has many hundreds of flights and is a joy to fly

I just change the rubber bands every winter

wphilb

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OK that's a new one for me, but since it's only worked for 25 years I will reserve judgement until you have some time on it.....

Whit "tough to argue with success"

Cal Branton

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A few more pictures

samparfitt

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Nice rivet detail.

MEMPHISBELLE

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I hope to finish the nose art tonight. I moved on to a few other things that need done to get a break from all the hand painted detail.

MEMPHISBELLE

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Count down to Toledo is very short but it will make it.

hairy46

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Wow! Very nice"

Cal Branton

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Some additional photos. One shows the oxygen bottles behind the pilot and co-pilot and the other shows the supercharger from one of the engine nacelles. By the way the incredible Norden bombsight from a previous post as well as the oxygen bottles and several other internal parts were made for me by Dynamic Balsa. What an incredible job they did on these parts. The bombsight is just fantastic. The pilot and co-pilot are from Best Pilots. They look fantastic as well and have been sitting in theirs seats for a very long time.

hairy46

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What a beautiful it is, would love to see it fly one day"

hairy46

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Sorry what a beauty,,

acdii

Will this be at the Toledo show this April, or did I misread that?

Cal Branton

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It will be in Toledo this April.

acdii

Excellent, Dont be surprised if you have someone drooling over it. My friend will be with me, the one who owns the B-17E being restored.

flyingchef

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Cal,
Will we see her at Warbirds over Denver?

Cal Branton

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It is possible, Bruno. Hope to have her flying by then. Getting down to the wire to get her to Toledo. New props that Dynamic Balsa made are being fitted.

flyingchef

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Very nice Cal!
What about adding couple of those ?

Cal Branton

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I wish I had a pair of them. They are a little hard to get these days. They are collector items. Wes hand painted Margaret Polk on this afternoon. He is the Picasso of nose art.

flyingchef

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Cal,
You to bring this beauty to Warbirds over Denver!
I didn't realized how pricey those are going for but here are links where you can get them.
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Tim-Cob.../dp/B0013B44L6
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragon-Billy...item20e1431d20
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragon-WWII-...item4d198de2b2
http://smalljoes.com/cgi-bin/pgen.cg...Item=DRF-70603
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Billy-Hicks-...-/120193517724
http://www.aikensairplanes.com/tim-c...ardment-group/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/3509550...ectorid=229466

Wing span sells a nice looking crew as well!

Cal Branton

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Thanks Bruno. Here is Margaret on the starboard side sporting her red suit.

Cal Branton

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This is a picture of the lower section to the top turret. The bags hanging down are the collection bags for the spent brass shell casings.