Royal B-17 Build
Here's my Royal B-17. I am the third owner/builder. The 1st builder framed up the fuselage,
both wing halves, the engine nacelles, and builtand sheeted the empannage(Tail section).
AllI need to addare the ribsfor the rudder and elevators.
Thewing had been joined together by the 2nd builder, which had been modified by the 1st
builder for a working bombay, and had most of the #1 (center) rib and main wing spars
out to the #2 ribs removed, and a heavy duty forward "spar" support added forward.
Notwanting a bombay or a folding wing, I opted to scarf back in a center riband spars
with a lot ofreinforcement added. I also plan to fiberglass the sheeted wing inthis area
out pastthe # 2 ribs, top and bottom, with heavy (6 oz.) Volan cloth (I repair and restore old
classic surfboards) to avoid any possible stress issues.
The inboard engine nacelles have homemade "B-17like" retracts which operate similarly
to the real thing, but need nearly 2" of servo travelfrom "lockto lock".
I will probably replace the homemade struts with Robostruts to get a sturdier gear.
If that doesn't work, I plan to replace these units with Robart or Dave Brown mechanical
retracts.
It will be powered by two O.S. fs-26's turning M.A.9x6 3-bladed propsinboard, and two
old O.S. fs-20's turning M.A 8x6 3-blades outboard. I saw this done ona couple royal B-17's
back in the late 80's/early 90's. Theyclaimed it worked great.If doesn't work great, I'll use
four .26's. I'll add more pics as the build progresses.
~Jon~