Royal B-17
 

Seeing the other post about a kit made me wonder how many of you have built/flown one. I am just starting my kit and would love to hear/see some ideas and problems on how the kit builds/flies.

Also how did you cover it?
Retracts?
Flaps?
Final cost?

RE: Royal B-17
 

I just purchased a partially built one. It looks quite impressive. I'd like to know if the tailwheel is supposed to retract as well as the mains. I have a feeling that a lot of weight is going to be needed in the tail of this plane. With the weight of 4 engines and the main wheels retracting forward there's gonna be a lot of weight that will be needed to be compensate for. The CG will shift when the wheels are retracted. That could mean a tail heavy situation on takeoff and landing. Lots of thinking to do.

RE: Royal B-17
 

A buddy of mine flew one back in the early 90's, pretty straight forward plane. I helped him build and finish it, no retracts or much scale detail. Balance was right on if memory serves me, not much weight needed . He had O.S. .25 FP's on it, the power was fine, but I would go with a better engine if I were to do it again. Finish was just OD Green Monokote. He wanted to keep cost down for this project. Not sure on the final cost, but it was not much with the cheap engines, no retracts or flaps, and the mono covering.

Plane flew great ,actually one of the best I've flown ( when all engines were running). BUT like most mult-engine planes, it will spin like crazy if you lose an engine....or two. LOL He had it go into a few spins, recovered ok after he cut the power quick and worked the sticks, he had some good altitude to work with. He took the guts out and then sold the plane. :D Good Luck!!