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My B-17G 'Hang The Expense' is now grounded, and heading for a museum.


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January 27th. All four engines were fitted into the cowls. A small servo screw was fitted in the centre of the ply disc. This was to align the engine. The back of the engine and crankcase had a bead of silicone applied to attach it to the disc. The servo screw was then nipped up to squeeze the silicone.

 

The cowl was then packed up 1/4 inch off the bench while the front of the engine crankcase rested on the bench. The ply disc was then tacked in place with cyano. This joint was then reinforced with a fillet of polyester resin and milled fibres.

 

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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All four of the original engines were test run on Monday and Tuesday, ready to be sold. The two 3W-40cc's took a bit of effort wetting out the carburettor diaphrams before they'd run. I did expect this, because although I'd left a bit of fuel in the B-17 tanks, the engines hadn't been run for seven years. Once wetted out, they started up and ran just as well as they used to. I do however have two very sore shoulders from all the prop swinging.

 

The two 3W-60cc's were run without problems. Choke closed, turn the prop over until the fuel was pulled through to the carb, and within about three to four swings, they both fired up and ran smoothly. Just as well, as I don't think I could have spent another couple of hours prop swinging!

 

The money raised will go towards a nice 8 inch reflector telescope and mount; another hobby I've got!

 

Here's a short video of one of the 60cc engines being test run

 

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When I first built the B-17, it was finished in a basic silver scheme with little detail, until the test flights were done. All four engines were 40cc's

 

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Once the model had flown, it was painted in the olive drab matt finish, but with such a large wing, tail and fuselage area, the extra drag from the matt paint, made take off runs much longer, and the climb out had to be more gentle.

 

At the end of the '96 season, back at the Elvington show, the B-17 was badly damaged. Soon after take off, during the first turn, the model went failsafe ( throttling back all the engines ) and it dived into the ground from about seventy feet altitude, and about seventy degrees nose down, with the wings fairly level.

 

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The take off run had been long due to the drag from the matt paint, so the model was some distance away before I had enough height to turn safely. With the model still fairly low, and a long way away, a ninety degree turn was made to the right. The electric motors that wound up the screwjack landing gear were operating as the receiver aerials lined with the transmitter during the turn. This gave the weakest signal at the worst time, allowing the landing gear motors to swamp the radio.

 

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When the model was rebuilt, I added 60cc engines inboard to give a reserve of power.

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Well the wing area is virtually 40sq ft. So double that for the top and bottom surfaces. The tail span is over seven feet, bigger than my Thunderbolt wing at the same scale. Then add the fuselage area, which at the widest point is about 18 inches diameter, and you get an idea of how much surface area there is!

 

The wingspan of the B-17 is about the same as a fullsize Pitts S1 Special, and only a fraction smaller than a Tipsy Nipper.

Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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  • 2 weeks later...

No progress lately. I need to get the main section of aircraft out of the trailer to strip the rest of the radio equipment out, but with all the cold weather and heavy rain recently, I need to wait for a nice day. I also need to make some spacers for the firewalls to set the new engines and cowlings at the correct distance from the nacelles.

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With a dry, but cold day forecast today, I got the B-17 out of the trailer to strip out the rest of the radio gear. The four aileron servos were still in the outer wing panels, and four throttle servos in the bottom of the nacelles. There were also four sail winch servos near the trailing edge of the wing for the flaps, a retract valve servo, and tailwheel steering lock servo in the rear fuselage. To access everything, I had to stand the B-17 front fuselage vertically, as the receivers and some other equipment was located in the bomb bay.

 

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Here's the pile of receivers, Rx Buddy and mounting tray from the bomb bay, along with a load of wiring and air line.

 

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After a quick sand to shape, the areas were primed, followed by the top olive drab along with some dirtying up. That's all the touch ups done now, so just the dummy engines/cowls to mount onto the nacelles, then the job is done. I'm planning to take the B-17 to a local airfield for some ground level photos with the dummy engines in, and a decent background before the Fortress goes into the museum.

 

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One last addition this morning was the missing cheek gun. Like several other very early B-17G's, 'Hang The Expense' only had the starboard cheek gun fitted. Originally the cheek guns were deleted from the B-17G's at the production line, but theatre modification centres added them back on. Why only one may have been due to availability of the pressed window frames, I don't know for sure, other than only one was fitted, and the wartime photos of the aircraft confirm this.

 

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  • 6 months later...

hi steve,.not sure if you will remember but i bought a 137" span p47 in to phill & your self,i didnt know you became ill & wasnt there any more,,.,.anyway was that due to the job? ,..,.,,,glad your ok though,.i myself have a big interest in the 8th & all things usaaf,,,my own willys mb that im re painting will be an 8th aaf jeep.,.,.although only made up of my imagination ,,it will be 78th FG ,.,anyway i know what you mean about having such a big model to cart about & think youve done the right think with her,,.,.i also sold the 18ft b17 i bought,,.ive driffted more into the electric warbids,,they just seem easier to haul about & flown more closer look just as good with the right modeling skills,,.,.heres my 73" "foam" semi scale fort...anyway just thought id say hello,.,.,.

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Edited by cripesamighty3rd
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Nice Fort, the natural metal finish is good too; not easy on any model, but especially foam. My Jeep & Dodge get around quite a bit, so no doubt sooner or later we'll bump into each other again at a show.

 

I no longer have any connection with Fighteraces, and haven't had since June 2011. It was nothing to do with illness. I've put as much distance between myself the the proprietor as possible for a number of reasons best kept out of the public eye. His now ex-wife would be able to fill you in on much of it.

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I've done one or two plastic models over the last couple of years, but nothing R/C. I'm too involved running my Jeep and Dodge, plus rebuilding the '43 Ford. Then there's the family, astronomy, photography and little time or money for much else!

 

B-17 hangar Queen

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Cutaway P-36 Hawk

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A-26 crash recovery diorama

crash1.jpgcrash2.jpg

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I'll keep the Ford for a little while, but sell it after. My garage and workshop are both about 4.2 x 6.3 metres in size, but half of the garage is taken up with my first jeep and trailer. Currently the rebuilt chassis is in the garage, and the tub is in the workshop being worked on. There's a false floor in the garage about 5 feet off the ground which is a store for our tents and some jeep parts. Three other cupboards in the workshop have Jeep bits in them. Once in bits, they really do spread themselves around!! I could do with at least twice the space I have, but will have to make do.

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