Hobby King 1875mm B-17G Flying Fortress V2

[F106DeltaDart]

Really appreciate your help with ideas and suggestions for my airplane. I have been a fan of seeing your aircraft and helicopters, especially the Sikorsky (H-34?) retrieving the Mercury spacecraft from the water. That was really impressive to see a picture you made of it! Maybe I'll get into helicopters a bit,now that they are getting so sophisticated that even someone like me might be able to avoid crashing it!

Thanks Dave! Happy to help should you decide to get into helis. Getting photos like that Mercury Recovery shot is one of my favorite things to do with helis. Now I’ve been carrying payloads with the Skycrane, and staging rescues with my Sikorsky HO3S. The GPS stuff is new to me, but certainly seems to have made entry to the hobby much easier!

I feel your pain trying to find references for a specific airplane. The one that I modeled “Pot O Gold” had nothing but a watercolor painting that the crew chief made. No cameras were allowed on base. I met Lester Schrenk, the ball turret gunner of that B-17, at the MN Commemorative Air Force when I volunteered there in high school. His airplane was intercepted over the North Sea in the winter by a Ju-88, and the German pilot waited until they were over land before shooting down the plane. He spent the remainder of the war in prison camps and endured the winter march across Germany to move camps as the Soviets advanced. He later went back to Germany and met the pilot that shot him down. This is my tribute to him and his crew.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=V3GJ-FlzLjU

[F106DeltaDart]

I got some progress on the B-17 yesterday. Got both sides of the cheek windows/guns mods that were done on most airplanes, especially late F and all G models during WWII. It was part of the kit for the Cheyenne turret mod where they brought in airplanes to have the original "steeple chase" tail turrets replaced by a roomier and more effective gun in the tail.

I have to thank F106DD for giving me ideas on how to put in the cheek gun/window mods. I played around with the stock windows that this would cover on each side, rotated them out some from flush a little bit, filled in any gaps with canopy glue, and then attached a fairing that I made in for the raised windows. I think they came out ok, especially for a foamie. Otherwise, work continues relatively smoothly.

Looks good Dave. On mine, to make the bigger cheek windows, I used clear pieces of plastic from packaging and bent it by hand to the shapes I needed and glued them in place. You can sort of see that in the photos of my setup. Still took my share of cutting and filling, but it might be a reasonable option.

[F106DeltaDart]

The watercolor painting I referenced (along with photos of some other B-17s in Lester’s unit:

[davegee]

Thanks Dave! Happy to help should you decide to get into helis. Getting photos like that Mercury Recovery shot is one of my favorite things to do with helis. Now I’ve been carrying payloads with the Skycrane, and staging rescues with my Sikorsky HO3S. The GPS stuff is new to me, but certainly seems to have made entry to the hobby much easier!

I feel your pain trying to find references for a specific airplane. The one that I modeled “Pot O Gold” had nothing but a watercolor painting that the crew chief made. No cameras were allowed on base. I met Lester Schrenk, the ball turret gunner of that B-17, at the MN Commemorative Air Force when I volunteered there in high school. His airplane was intercepted over the North Sea in the winter by a Ju-88, and the German pilot waited until they were over land before shooting down the plane. He spent the remainder of the war in prison camps and endured the winter march across Germany to move camps as the Soviets advanced. He later went back to Germany and met the pilot that shot him down. This is my tribute to him and his crew.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=V3GJ-FlzLjU

Great story, F106DD! That is a wonderful story with someone who was actually there and a subject of your work. I totally applaud your efforts to make a fitting tribute to this crew of Pot O' Gold. I've been priviliged to meet many WWII aviation types throughout my life, including my late father in law who passed away last March at the age of 102. He was the last remaining member of his crew, and the aircraft commander for all 35 combat missions he flew. I chose to model Heaven Can Wait in which he flew three of his missions. Most of my models I have built have had much more information available, especially the fighters, and some of the pilots I got to know before they all passed away. But I'm doing the best I can with what information I have help me model.

Regarding the Mercury recovery of Alan Shepard's capsule Freedom 7, I had a chance meeting with the retired photographer from National Geographic Magazine, Dean Conger, one day waiting for our crew bus to arrive at Tokyo's Narita International airport a long time ago. Standing next to me I saw an older man with a large canvas bag at his feet. I immediately made the connection with the name on the bag, and struck up a conversation with him on the photos he took for NG magazine in the 60s. One of the most famous photos I remember was taken in the helicopter with Conger standing over a crewman with the name "COX" on the back of his helmet supervising the cable and lifting astronaut Shepard into the helicopter. I was very pleased to shake hands wtih Conger and talk about his career with National Geographic over decades. He was enroute to catch a plane the next day to somewhere in Asia or Africa to do a photo shoot of animals and natives who lived in that area. I'll always remember my chance meeting with him. He was a cool guy.

[davegee]

Hi F106DD: thanks for detailing the cheek windows on your airplane. I will probably address them a little later to add some a little larger and more scale.

cheers

davegee

[davegee]

Work continues on my Heaven Can Wait B-17G. I got the graphics from Callie a few days ago, and am applying them today. Right now I am painting the diagonal red stripe across the vertical fin and rudder. I hope to get that finished painting later today.

Danger Dan and I are working on an experiment to see if it is possible to fly a detailed but very light replacement for the molded kit fuselage tail cone. I found another fuselage on HK that was on sale, so I got it the other day and carefully removed the tail cone. My biggest concern right now is the weight, at the end of the moment arm of this long airplane. I have no idea if we'll be successful with this or not, but if it ends up too heavy, I do have the scratchbuilt one that is sufficient, for now. Should this idea work and we get the look and weight where we can work with it, I'll probably remove the tail cone of my present airplane and glue our printed Cheyenne turret onto that model.

I think it is worth the try, a lot of good experience can be gained for both Dan and me as we proceed.

I'll attach a pic of the fuse and the wing currently in-work in my rather messy shop!

Cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

davegee,

There are alternative LW PLA (Light Weight Poly-Lactic Acid) filaments available.

I have used several different LWPLA and I like this one best.

It comes a 2-3 different colors and prints well once you get your printer dialed in for the filament.

https://colorfabb.us/lw-pla-gray-silver

More importantly the print weights can be 50%+ lighter depending on complexity and wall thickness.

One caveat is strength as wall thicknesses should be thick enough to allow good printing.

Make certain your walls are sturdy with minimum interior reinforcements in the design.

In the end, the parts are printable just like PLA, though I'd recommend acrylics as the default primer.

Just my $00.02 USD, Gentlemen.

Best, LB

[RRHandy]

davegee,

There are alternative LW PLA (Light Weight Poly-Lactic Acid) filaments available.

I have used several different LWPLA and I like this one best.

It comes a 2-3 different colors and prints well once you get your printer dialed in for the filament.

https://colorfabb.us/lw-pla-gray-silver

More importantly the print weights can be 50%+ lighter depending on complexity and wall thickness.

One caveat is strength as wall thicknesses should be thick enough to allow good printing.

Make certain your walls are sturdy with minimum interior reinforcements in the design.

In the end, the parts are printable just like PLA, though I'd recommend acrylics as the default primer.

Just my $00.02 USD, Gentlemen.

Best, LB

But your $00.02 I will pay for.

R.

[davegee]

davegee,

There are alternative LW PLA (Light Weight Poly-Lactic Acid) filaments available.

I have used several different LWPLA and I like this one best.

It comes a 2-3 different colors and prints well once you get your printer dialed in for the filament.

https://colorfabb.us/lw-pla-gray-silver

More importantly the print weights can be 50%+ lighter depending on complexity and wall thickness.

One caveat is strength as wall thicknesses should be thick enough to allow good printing.

Make certain your walls are sturdy with minimum interior reinforcements in the design.

In the end, the parts are printable just like PLA, though I'd recommend acrylics as the default primer.

Just my $00.02 USD, Gentlemen.

Best, LB

Hi Elbee: thanks, that is good information! Assuming we get to the point that we have a printable piece to start out with, I'll order a roll of the material you recommend to get a print. I did do several preliminary prints with PLA, but it was really heavy. Strong, but probably too heavy to put on this model. I don't expect a lot of stress on this airplane if we put on a Cheyenne turret. The tail is plenty of distance from the ground so I don't expect a tail strike, unless I really screw up the landing. But everything I've read and seen videos show it to be a really stable and good flyer, just like its big brothers 80 years ago!

I'll let you know how the new lightweight PLA goes when we get to that point, hopefully.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Contiuning on with the build/asembly of Heaven Can Wait, I got the vertical fin/rudder painted just now, and added Callie's decals which she did her usual superlative job.

I won't glue in the horizontal stabilizer and vertical tail until we are sure that our plan for a lightweight Cheyenne turret is a certainty. If it doesn't work out, I'll just use what I have already made for a turret and fly it that way.

I'm waiting for a new spindle sander to sand down the inner hubs of the rubber tires that I have ordered. I'm hoping the Robart 3.5" diamond tread tires will work, and I will probably have to sand the printed wheel halves so they don't stick out too far on the sides of the tires. I'm hoping I'll get them completed this weekend or early next week.

Here's some pics of the latest updates.



Also, for anyone interested in more information, I found a short video about the memorial at Polebrook, England. They flew out of here from 1943 to 1945. One of the notable crewmembers for a time was actor Clark Gable, who was working on a movie about the 8th Air Forces and flew on some combat missions as a gunner. I was there in June of 2000 with my father in law, mother in law, and two otther crewmembers and their wives who fllew with Fred on his 35 missions in 1944-45. It was an unforgetable experience. I wish I had gotten going on this project in time for Fred to see it, but at least it is finally getting done now. Plan on flying it this spring.

Davegee





https://www.google.com/search?q=351st+BG+memorial+at+Polebrook&rlz=1C1ZNU K_enUS1177US1177&oq=351st+BG+memorial+at+Polebrook &gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCjEzMzk1ajBqMT WoA giwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:990c39ad,vid:jAi_WseDnmY,st: 0

[jetfool]

Your work is very impressive. If your wheels are wider after you thin the tires you might just sand the inside flanges on a flat table and not affect the scale outside, if it comes apart like the Robarts do.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Thanks, Rex. I believe this will work. I have been sanding a lot on the inside edges of printed wheels. I have ordered a pair of Robart 3.5 inch diamond tread tires and I’m hoping they will be a little “fatter” than what I’ve tried so far. I should be able to work these parts to fit on the axles of the stock gear of the B-17.

I’ll report my results after the Robart tires when they arrive in the next few days.

cheers

Dave

[f4u ausie]

The red on the tail really makes it pop. As always ur doing an awesome job Dave. Times have changed.. nevertheless,, lest we forget.the past men and women
You yourself do an incredible job of that. Kudos to U.

[davegee]

Thanks, Craig. I grew up with the Greatest Generation as parents, friends, and mentors. My father in law who passed away last March at 102, lived a quiet life of honor, dignity, and service to our Country (USA). Going through what he and all the rest endured was absolutely terrifying yet they gave it all they had, and 26,000 in the 8th Air Force alone gave the last full measure of devotion, as they say.

I’m honored to carry on their stories through even rc planes like what my father in law and dad flew in combat over 80 years ago.

For some reason, I never built an r/c model of a B-17 before, but I’m glad to be doing this now.

I agree, after I painted that iconic red stripe on the tail today, it really made it “pop.”

Cheers

Dave

[Elbee]

davegee

Here are a couple of instructional videos on printing LW-PLA.

I found these invaluable.

Happy Printing.

Best, LB

https://colorfabb.com/blog/post/how-to-print-with-colorfabb-lw-pla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmgzwgi2UI

[davegee]

davegee

Here are a couple of instructional videos on printing LW-PLA.

I found these invaluable.

Happy Printing.

Best, LB

https://colorfabb.com/blog/post/how-to-print-with-colorfabb-lw-pla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmgzwgi2UI

thanks, Elbee. If we get a good stl to use as a model to changes as needed, I'll definitely buy a roll of that lightweight filament. For other projects that need to be lightweight, it would be good to have it around for those jobs.

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

I spent several hours today printing scale wheels for the main gear of the B-17, and then attaching them to the tires. I used two different sizes of tires in this experiment: two main wheels that fit the Robart 3.25" tire, and two main wheels that fit the 3.5" diameter Robart diamond pattern tires. I'll probably use the larger pair as my primary wheels, but will have the 3.25 inch wheels ready as a standby. The 3.5" wheels are very slightly oversized, but they seem to fit the plane's gear better. Both sizes easily clear the wheel wells up and down.

I will let everything dry overnight with clamps holding everything in place until they are solidly dry. I might do some very preliminary taxi tests later after Thanksgiving Day festivities to see how they do. Still a long way off from thoughts of a maiden flight, but we'll see.

Here's a pic of work being done putting the new wheels and tires on the mains. The wheel sitting on the table is one borrowed from my Flightline B-25J for testing. There are a few details to add onto my new wheels, namely a tire pressure fitting and hose like is shown on the B-25 wheel.

Cheers

Davegee

[F106DeltaDart]

Looking good! Loved your Mercury recovery story as well, very cool!!