This is as big as I’ve gone, a 1/6 scale B-17G spanning a little over 17 feet, but I don’t think I’d go bigger and get in it. It has a 130lbs take off weight, and just over 18HP to get it up there. Like the fullsize, my Fortress takes two pilots to fly. The pilot has the inboard engines and the flying controls, while the co-pilot has the flaps, landing gear and the two outer throttles which are independant. When taking off in a cross wind, the co-pilot advances the upwind engine more than the other to control the weather-cocking!!! Pure teamwork, just like the full size.

Length – 12 feet 4.5 inches
Take off Weight – 130 pounds
Wing Area – 39 sq ft
Engines – 2 x 3W-60cc & 2 x 3W-40cc Electronic ignition gasoline engines
Radio – Futaba FC-18 & Field Force 7
Fuel Capacity – 1 Gallon ( Imperial Gallon )
Retracts – Scratch Built Pneumatic Units with 9.5 inch diameter trailer jockey wheels
Propellers – Smart Wood 22 x 8 inch Pilots – 2

Build Time – 11 Months for silver finish to test fly airplane, then 6 months of detailing and repainting into olive drab after test flight.

Surface Finish – Z-Poxy and 1/2 ounce glass cloth, with full surface panel and rivet detail. Fabric control Surfaces.

B-17G-BO-1 was only the fourth model ‘G’ Fortress made, “Hang The Expense” flew on the raid to Norway to attack the German “Heavy Water” plant. The Bombardiers compartment contains a piece of aluminum recovered from the crash site of the original airplane that flew with the 351st Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, based at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, England in 1943.

Steve

It’s hard to believe that you were able to get the plane to fly
The 2 pilots that fly that baby have a more difficult job then flying a full size plane.I wouldn’t want to be 1 of the 2 pilots . It takes perfect coordination to handle that plane- I think?
I wouldn’t take on a job like that, because it would break my heart to see it crash

Having seen the 1/2 scale P47 ‘Jug’ in Sept Pilot (sorry key!) and a story earlier in the year on an Australian Spitfire Rep, it got me to thinking…..

Has anyone built a Multi-engined Replica, such as a B17, B29 or Lanc?

In the Ship-Modelling world I have seen large-scale Aircraft carriers where the owner is sat at the back with his head sticking out of the Lift shaft!

I know that a group of Belgians built a 29 foot span Radio Controlled B29 (4 x 130CC motors!), but wouldn’t it be fantastic to have a single/two-seat replica B17 or Lancaster where it had a bubble canopy part way down the fuselage (you could replace it with a hatch cover for static display)

I will have to play with the dimensions, but the ultimate would be a 1/2 or 1/3rd scale Lockheed 1049 Constellation Super G…….

I am planning a 10′ span one for RC, but if I scale up the drawings and add a bit of balsa here and there…….fit a small seat…..

Just interested to see if anyone has as warped imagination as me…..

A radio controlled model plane club have frequent meets in the Ft Lauderdale- Boca Raton, Fla. area. Among all different types, including a jet, and a helicopter that flies, There also were quite a few British warbirds among them. I was entranced by a B-17. The plane had a 10 ft wing span ( one ninth scale ) it looked like the real thing while flying. wheels and flaps working, it was able to have smoke streaming from an engine.

The owner told me that it took 3 years to build at a cost of $10,000. He donated it to the Smithsonian Museum in Wash, DC, it’ new home