The B-17 was my introduction to hobby life in Louisville. I had stopped at Scale Reproductions, Inc. when we first moved here to ask about the model jet meet that was held at South Lebanon, KY. We had attended a meet with the grandkids before we had moved and I wanted to see if it was a re-occurring thing. I was directed to Mike Hunt in SRI's RC department. SRI is one of the best hobby shops in the country in an age where many have disappeared. Mike flies model jets. We got to talking and he asked if I built RC. I did… 25 years before. He asked if I wanted to build an old Royal kit that he had. He also had four OS .29 4-stroke engines to go with it. For this he would pay me $600.00. He was a fabulous RC pilot, but hated to build kits, especially old all-balsa ones. I asked him to bring in the kit and I would take a look and see what's what. It was similar to the refurbishment of the bronze Sikorsky an year and half ago.
The kit was a beast. The balsa was all dried out and brittle. I struggled mightily to skin the fuselage which almost had more filler than balsa. For the wings I bought all new material. The results were pretty good. I machined my own browning M2 machine guns since none were available for 1:16 scale. 3D Printing didn't exist yet. I also sculpted my own pilot and co-pilot, but they ended up looking like Wallace & Gromitt… well maybe just Wallace.
The model was designed for 2-stroke engines. The engine change was dramatic. The 4-strokes were 3/4" longer than the 3 strokes because the carburetors were hung on the rear. I had two choices: mount them as the 2-strokes which would have extended the prop shaft way out of the cowling, or move the firewall back so the longer engine fit in the cowling. That's what I did. And what that did was remove the space in the nacelle for the fuel tanks, which now had to be placed in the wings. While that's where the rear ones were, in the model it meant re-routing all the fuel lines, messed with the center of gravity and just complicated everything.
I changed the rudder and elevator control scheme which required more problem solving. And so it went.
The model flew and flew well. On it's maiden flight Mike was able to rolls with it. I don't believe the real one ever did rolls…if it did it wasn't intentional. Here's a link to the maiden flight.
Because of the fuel changes Mike couldn't get it to idle and it landed too fast, the gear dug into the grass and it dove forward. It bent the gear and loosened one motor mount, but all was repairable. Mike could never solve the idle problem and so the model as a "hangar Queen."
