skidd1000

Well, The build has begun. The "short kit" arrived in november and I ordered my wood rite away from Loane Star balsa.My order arrived the same day that loan star's plant burnt down and would'nt you know it, I was shorted 60 sheets of 3/32 balsa. I'm sure that they will make it rite with me some day.I unpacked the box on Thanksgiving weekend and started to build.

skidd1000

I am using bass wood for the stringers and poly glue . I quickly realized that I did not have enough clamps for this project. A trip to Menards took care of that.

skidd1000

Here I have the basic shape of the fuse complete. I have not cut out the spots for the wing or the stab. I am waiting to get some sheeting on it to help keep everything straight.

skidd1000

Here is the retractable tail wheel and the push rod for the rudder

skidd1000

The last pic for now is of the horz stab. I just sheeted the foam core using an epoxy from jgreere. I have never worked with foam before and I found this stuff to be very easy to use. The work time is like an hour or better,so you are not rushed to get the glue on and line everything up before it starts to get hard. It sets up very slowly and very strong. You could not peel the wood off of the foam if you tryed.

grimmy55

Its looks so good I doubt if you,d ever see one in N.Z the frieght for Hog Bipe as example is $635 from states DHL so it puts your project out in the realms of fantasy here so all I can say is enjoy it and boy I,m so jealous of you Good luck and hope it flies real great

skidd1000

Thanks Grimmy. I also hope it flies well. Too bad shipping is so high to NZ.

Moyo

Hey skidd

I am building the same kit right now! Fortunatily shipping to Switzerland wasn't as expensive as shipping it to NZ.

I have already built the two fuselage halfs an sheeted each. I haven't joined them yet. That might cause some problems but it's already done. How do you do the stabilizer positioning??

I want to plan the wing a little bit more. Cause we don't have those huge cars over here i need to make the wing in tow pieces. The wing will be halfed in the middle. I will take two round bars to make the wing joints. To get a smoth transition of the force form the bars to the wing sheeting i will need extra ribbs. A bomb bay also is planned.[img][/img]

What engines do you take? I think i go with four old OS FP 35 or 40. An alternative would be the ASP-32A Combi wich are sold by a local dealer. http://www.top-model.ch/de-de/prdtDe...?prdtName=2310 Those are mor or less copies of the OS 32 SX but they cost less than half.

Moyo

Now that i have found out how this formum works i am able to post a picture.

This is the layout of the modifications i will do at the wing. The pipes are to take the bars that join the wings. The hole in the middle will contain the bomb bay.

I don't really know now where to but the fuel tanks. The idea on the bluepints is not good to me.

skidd1000

Hey Moyo. I'm planing .32 two strokes. The prototype flew well with .25 fx at half throttle,they even tested it with only two motors running.I tend to over build so mine will probably be a bit heavy. so thats why I feel the need for the larger motors.With your fuse already sheeted, Hoy are you going to get the tail wheel mounted? The former for the tail wheel is one of them used to join the two halfs.Also putting in the controll rods for the rudder and the elevators are going to be a challenge with the sheeting on.As far as putting in the horz. stab I'm working on that right now. I removed the top three stringers from both sides of former f10 to f13. Measured the distance between the formers and cut the stab too size. Slide it thru the fuse and make a sort of saddle for it to sit on inside the fuse.I will use torque rods for the elevators that hook up to the controll rods inside the fuse.I have not started the wing. I like the idea of the fuel tanks in the wing, the fuel line will be short and you wont have as many thing to hook up every time you put the wing on.Good luck with yours and post some pics.

don olsen

My Feedback: (2)

Good morning guys
http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...725&PN=1&TPN=1
Thought you might like to see a build and flights completed for this plane I loved mine. It was always an attention getter. Lost mine to radio interference at an airshow. Went right out and got another. Dan and Billie live a couple hundred miles from me so when there is a swap meet near by I always go and say Hi
Don

skidd1000

Good morning Don. Have you started to build the second b17? Sorry to here you lost the first one.

don olsen

My Feedback: (2)

I have not started the new one yet as I am in the middle of a 1/4 scale cabin Waco at the moment and it takes up a considerable chunk of my shop.
I like the way the 17 flew, no surprises just a solid predictable flyer does sloppy rolls and loops but they were never meant to do them. I traded thoughts with with Dan at Wing and we came to the same conclusion, the CG on the plans is a bit forward. I feel we could go back about 1/2 in and still be in the forward CG area. Mine would nose down in a bank and run out of ele on landing, a sure sign of a nose heavy condition. Its probably why it does sloppy rolls. I had Magnum 32 two strokes in mine at 19 lbs and it flew well at 1/2 throttle, a rocket at full throttle.Low passes was its cool thing full tilt at about 4 ft and really slow at 10 ft. The pic of the nacelles shows what I did with the tanks but I didnt use retracts

skidd1000

Great pics Don. I did get retracts from robart for mine so I can not do the fuel tanks like yours. I am a bit surprised about yours being nose heavy. Everything that I have seen or read about this plane is that they are very tail heavy, and to keep everything as far forward as possible.

don olsen

My Feedback: (2)

I balanced mine at the recomended CG with 2 1/2 lbs of weight it was only after that I talked to Dan that I deciced that it was nose heavy. I had probably 100 flights on mine and felt the CG recomended was forward a bit. This plane has good authority in all axis at all speeds while flying, even with an engine out a little rudder on a go around is adequate no real tendency to snap with 1 out (it will if you let it) I flew it on 2once( Didnt care for that) but it did go around for a landing

You will not taxi with an engine out I tested all 4 engines out seperatly and had no problem in the air, on the ground forget it, it will just drive in circles

skidd1000

Well, not a lot of building got done this weekend, however I was able to get the horz. stab. finished and put in the plane. I did find time to get out and fly my little mustang. It is the .20 size kit from house of balsa that I converted to electric.We saw 40+ temps on sunday and I couldnt resist.Here are the pics of the stab. I did install hard wood dowels in both the leading edge of the elevators and the hinge edge of the stab. because of the foam core. I dont want the pin point hinges pulling out.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Skidd:

I called this thread up so I could tell you about Don Olsen's plane, then saw his posts. It was a magnificent flyer.

Don: I'm real sorry to hear about the radio problem that caused the loss. I started having problems with my FM set this summer (the DR-1 was doing all kinds of strange things) and I switched to 2.4G, the Futaba 6EX. I still can't believe the difference it made in my flying. Feels like I'm really connected to the airplane, now.

don olsen

My Feedback: (2)

Hey Bob
My radio prob is still unexplained to this day[sm=47_47.gif]. I checked it out after I got home Radio cked out 200 ft antena down operating perfect, all the gear now flying in other planes no probs reciever was sent in checked out fine Your guess is as good as mine[sm=cry_smile.gif] Will think twice about flying in a busy airshow with all that work $1200 is too much too lose for "fun ", working on a 1/4 Waco now but we will see it at our field only. This one is at $4000 so far[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

Back to the originaly scheduled B17 thread, I loved the way mine flew I was confident with it from the first flight . Its not a 4 star nor a 3 D machine but was fun to fly. I will do another soon

skidd1000

Well, I was able to find a little time this weekend to work on my plane. I started to sheet the fuse.I also decided to change my plans of putting the clevises for the rudder and the elevators inside the fuse. A friend of mine advised me that having the all of the connections inside of the fuse would make pre-flight inspection nearly impossible. So I moved them to the outside of the fuse.

skidd1000

For some reason I cant get the pics to upload. I'll try one more time.

skidd1000

Just a Quick update. I Found a little time to work on the plane and here are the results. The servos are in for the ele, and the rudder, and tail steering. Also mounted the air tank and servo and valve for the retracts. I also added a bit more sheeting to the fuse.

skidd1000

Well, I finally did it. I locked myself in my little building room and told the wife not to bother me unless the house is on fire. I was able to get both halfs of the wing sheeted and put together. I also started to work on the inboard nacells. Here are som pics to shoe the progress.
Steve.

nchrome

Glad to see on of these being put together I'm in the process of getting my wings figured out for wing tubes. I plan on using OS 26 fourstrokers, spring air retracts, possibly bomb drop too. Hope to get mine maybe done this year?

don olsen

My Feedback: (2)

let the fun begin this is the part I like most gittin it all lookin like a plane

skidd1000

Hey Don. Thanks for checking back in. With my job and my family I dont seem to get enough time to work on the plane. But every spare minute you will find me in my room trying work on the plane.I find the build going pretty good for this being my first "short kit". I hope to have it ready for its maiden this spring. If your in the area, maybe you can have the honors of taking her up for the first time.

Steve