B-17 Underbelly Color.

[Thebuilderofthings]

Did you see the 1/6th version? 17.25' Wingspan!

Indeed I did. That one won't fit in my Z3.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Fit? Hell you might as well ride in the airplane.

Beautiful work man!

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

....then I took the cut piece and filled in the gap where my mistake was.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

Fit? Hell you might as well ride in the airplane. That's what I get at work too.

Beautiful work man!

Thank you again for your kind words. It means a lot. It can be trying at times, you know that eh?

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. The other point I was going to make out was the transition in the crutch. It's too drastic to simply wet and bend. I just cut the thing and snapped it at the cut to make the bend. It works just fine. Also notice the crutch sticks out above the formers. This is intentional. As the planking gets laid down this snugs right up to the crutch nice and tight and flush. The planking will be the right thickness.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. Here are the last two formers with pen lines laid out for placement.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. Same technique applies here as well to settle yet another bend.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. And there you have it. Next you'll see this nacelle take shape through a process called strip planking. Take care.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work, and progressing well. Looking forward to the rest of it.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

 

[B-17engineer]

 

[muller]

Just found this thread. Amazing work man! 8)

That bird has more wood in it than my kitchen!!

 

[Cyane]

I would like to know where you got your plans. I want to to build a 1/8 version that I can fly in.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

I would like to know where you got your plans. I want to to build a 1/8 version that I can fly in.

These came from a set of Don Smith plans. Here is a link to them.PrecisionCutKits.Com. I've also got his 169"inch B-29 plans, Ziroli's P-40 94" inch, A6M5 Zero 91" inch, Stuka 100" inch and Wendell Hostetler's Cessna 421C Golden Eagle Twin at 27% 133" inch span. Don't ask which one is next though I've been leaning towards this...Photos: Cessna 421C Golden Eagle Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net. Great site if you guys like this sort of thing. I do. There are warbirds in here too so don't run away too quick.

 

[Cyane]

Thanks for the info. Can't wait to see the finished bird. I hope you can include some video of it in flight.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. Now I have a tool here to help me make strips of balsa for the technique of strip planking. It uses a hobby blade inserted so just the very tip sticks below the edge by whatever thickness the wood is. Actually I come up a little shy of that so as not to dull the the blade on the glass surface I use as my bench top.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. I have modified it a bit by using black silicon as an adhesive to glue a 1/8"X/8" inch piece of balsa to the bottom edge to allow the cutting tool to cut my strips at an angle. You"ll see why.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. If you study the photo long enough you'll understand how the tool works. The knob rotates the assembly with the blade out you see in the other photos. In this case its 3/8" inches. There are graduation marks on the tool for this so you can't go wrong. I have the wood up against the edge of the tool with the blade tip rotated out 3/8" past the edge of the wood and I just simply slide the tool down the length of the edge of the sheet of wood.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. It took me about eight minutes to do this much work.

 

[Thebuilderofthings]

. Now here is the first piece you get every time from the edge of the sheet. A flat side and a bevel cut. The flat side will go up against the crutch.