TiredIron's 1875mm B-17 Build

[benjack71]

Very nice build sir. Very nice

[F106DeltaDart]

Nice work! These little detail additions really help the look of the plane.

[TiredIronGRB]

Thanks guys, this is the part I really love...the flying is just a bonus.

[TiredIronGRB]

Other than the prop graphics I think she's done...got an antenna from Banana Hobby, I bugged them until they took one out of a damaged kit they were robbing for parts. You can see my runway in the first picture.

[farmflyer]

That looks great. Very nice work almost to nice to fly.

[doctormike]

What a beauty!! Doc

[Prowler901]

Boy, that's real sharp lookin'! Look forward to the maiden report.

[dkalwishky]

Looks great!

[rc-eflyer]

She's a real beauty, and I enjoyed all the pictures you posted of the build. Also I agree that doing these kinds of mods are a big part of the fun I get out of the hobby. Look forward to your next project and thanks for taking the time and effort to share.

Steve

[TiredIronGRB]

She's a real beauty, and I enjoyed all the pictures you posted of the build. Also I agree that doing these kinds of mods are a big part of the fun I get out of the hobby. Look forward to your next project and thanks for taking the time and effort to share.

Steve

Thanks Steve, I'm building a Dynam PBY (my third) that's going to be pretty cool.

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

Have you flown this beauty yet TiredIronGRB ?

[TiredIronGRB]

Have you flown this beauty yet TiredIronGRB ?

Not yet...I need to love on it some first...

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

I have 55 missions on mine. My first was almost my last. Hopefully you'll take my advice on this and junk the stock propellers that came with it. Yes they have a nice scale look, that I also loved but they are an accident waiting to happen.
One of the prop blades on #2 engine, (Pilots inside engine) decided it wanted to bail out in flight. Thank god it was on my landing approach or it would've been a disaster. This was a wild maiden for sure.. lol
When it touched down, 2 more blades snapped on #1 and #3 and the power was off.
They are too long and way to flimsy.
I was reading that people were having the same problems in another group and changed to Master Airscrew props and never had an issue again.
So this is what I've done and had 54 problem free missions since. I also don't have to fly it wide open throttle to keep it in the air like I did with the stock props because they don't flex. It also won't break a prop if you do nose over and have the power off.
This is my set up to problem free flights and better performance, and better scale flights at less throttle.
I changed all 4 props to Master Airscrew props that I got from Tower hobbies since Motion don't carry them. I wish they did....
I bought 2 Master Airscrew 9x7 3 blade G/F Nylon props part number LXVJ18 and 2 Master Airscrew 9x7 3 blade G/F pusher props part number LXGYM7 and they are $6.29 a piece.
I then bought 4 Parkzone F4F Wildcat prop adaptors and hubs, part number PKZ1918. Hobbyzone.com has them in stock but i didn't get the price.
Horizon discontinued the F4F Wildcat and don't stock the parts anymore unfortunately because I still fly a F4F alot....
You have to cut the motor shafts down for the adapters to fit right, but it's well worth doing this modification. You have too much time in this beautiful bird to have this happen to you.
I painted over the Master logos and had my buddy that has a decal shop make me some hamilton standard stickers, and I painted the centers steel to get them to look as real as possible with the yellow tips of course. I also painted the hubs yellow since I modeled mine after my Dads B-17 from the 385th BG, and his 549th bomb sqaudron identifier was yellow hubs
I'm also going to try to post some pics of mine. I even took a silver Sharpie down the leading edge of the blades to show the paint worn off...
I just want to save you the headache I had so you have a better and more enjoyable maiden with this beautiful Flying Fortress....

[TiredIronGRB]

This is a late release that had the upgraded props, control horns and ESC wiring.

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

Mine were supposedly too... I run mine on the stock motors, ESC's and use two Admiral 3 cell 2200's on mine as well

[TiredIronGRB]

Mine were supposedly too... I run mine on the stock motors, ESC's and use two Admiral 3 cell 2200's on mine as well

Are your control rod ends black or white?

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

I'm not sure because they were painted silver with it being the Liberty Belle when I got it. I then painted over them when I camouflaged it ....
Hey I just thought of something else. When you had your retacts out, dod they have a flat spot on both sides? Mine was only flat on one side but had a grub screw on both sides allowing the mains to turn on landing. I took them out and made a flat edge on both sides, and put then in with threadlock and never had the problem again...
Even though theres a second screw it was useless on the round shaft. This is an awesome plane once you figure out the little issues. lol

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

they're black because I just broke one trying to look.. lol

[Jody Shaneyfelt]

Another tip for you too on hot days.. don't glue the center round top window in the radio room.
This bird don't have exit holes for the hot air to go out so I'll pop that out so the air can exit, plus it's scale because the early B-17's like this is modeled after took it out in combat to put the 50 cal out for the radio operator.. :)
then I can just put it back in whenever.