alpinestar

Well, final assembly is almost done!! The only things left to do are mount the dummy engines, program the radio, and balance the plane. I will need a substantial amount of nose weight to balance.... So far the plane weighs in at 19 lbs & will take another 2 to balance it. This puts me squarely in the 40-41 oz/sq. ft range for wing loading..... Seems way high but I am used to 40 size sport planes, at which size 40 oz would be a nightmare. Hopefully the mega-thick wing of the B-17 will help make it flyable. Any thoughts on how this thing might fly??

av8r4aa

My Feedback: (82)

I was told by Wing Mfg. that they removed the outer engines.
and flew the plane around with the 2 inboard engines.
They did it to prove the plane really flys on the wing
and not a engine power only aircraft.
I think you will be surprised that the Fort will land like a trainer
and handle like a waterbed.

alpinestar

I fired up all four engines and voila...... Oh what a nice sound. Then the right side inboard died & while restarting, I decided to stop the outboard engine with my hand. Results: trip to the doctor, 6 stitches, and a self-written prescription for some of Delaware's finest!

alpinestar

After adding 3 POUNDS!!! to the nose, the plane is balanced at what seems like an incredibly far forward location. Dan at Wing insists that he has confirmed this many times both with the designer and in practice... I'll take his word. All-up weight is a porky 21.5 lbs over 1125 sq inches..... Good thing I added flaps. Be sure to provide access to the very front of the fuse; I added an entry point through the bottom of the chin turret and made a simple cover that looks right at home. All I can recommend is to KEEP THE TAIL LIGHT if you're building one of these!! I could have moved the servos further forward, both in the fuse and in the wing.... keep this in mind!

alpinestar

I've gotten in the habit lately of making special stands for planes that I build... simple forms cut from scrap OSB, 2x4 spreaders and pipe insulation for padding. it's especially handy to have something like this for a plane with guns sticking out everywhere that are just begging to catch on something...

alpinestar

Well gang, 6 months later and I have yet to fly this bird; plenty of time spent taxiing around the neighborhood but none in the sky. The fact of the matter is that I'd rather build than fly complex planes like this, so the now-complete B-17 should belong to someone else. Look for the classified ad posting for it soon (here on RCU)....... So long & stay tuned for the next build (Probably the Wing Mfg P-38 kit that I bought at the Toledo show this year... Whattya think, Saito 91's/retracts/flaps???????)

alpinestar

The bomber is for sale (sniffle...)

See the ad here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemID=217894

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

It looks like the plane is sold. I don't know if you saw my thread on the electronic engine synchronizer in this forum but I would like to find someone with a four engine plane to start working with on the 4-engine version of the TwinSync. Can you email me the buyer's email address so I can see if he is interested working with me...

Thanks,

alpinestar

Update on the bomber from the new owner in Florida..
At 21.5 lbs & with the OS-30 four strokes, the plane flew scale-like & took a lot of runway to get off the ground. This is with the flaps up.Once in the air, it reportedly flew just the way is should: Full throttle, solid, and just the right speed. Landing was just fine, also without flaps. I think I will be building another one of these, the next one might have bigger 4-strokes (I fly from grass), or quite likely electric power to cut down on a whole lot of maintenance and up the (to me) enjoyablility of the plane. Placing the $$$way too many$$ lipo cells in the nose (instead of having engines on the wing plus 3 lbs of nose weight) would greatly reduce the overall weight of the plane as well.
Stay tuned for B-17 #2... But please don't hold your breathe waiting.

( i have no idea why the word "maintenance" shows up as a link, it doesn't go anywhere...i've tried editing... oh well.)
(fixed now..sheeesh.)