Newb help B17G conversion to rubber

[bratwurst3]

This will be my 3rd balsa plane, not alot of experience, but up till now I am good at following directions, i'm not an engineer. This project is for my father. He was in the service in the late 50's and built a B-17 with a buddy, but it was freeflight rubber powered. As I understand the story they were flying it at a beach and over-wound something. Somehow that caused it to bank and catch fire. The last they saw it it was a fiereball, over the sea of Japan. I have not been able to find any rubber powered kits, and was wondering if anyone had tried to convert this, or could lend any assistance with ideas. Thanks everyone.

[BillParker]

First of all see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiJA4rXm-2w

Single prop on the nose...the others are scale and free-wheel.

Then:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-UMsR1uf0

Now, this is a B-24, with 4 rubber motors... There's a Guillows kit of this ship. However, the one in the video was scratch built.

Bottom line is these are very complicated projects. Ultimately doable, don't get me wrong. But you might be well advised to practice on a few projects that are "less grand," before tackling a 4 nacelle build. Besides, I promise that if you make a single prop plane fly a big circle in the sky, your Dad will flip! Mine did, as he taught me how to build these things. He's nearly 80 and I'm 50 something...

*G*


bp