Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 12

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 12 Do you like it when all the separated parts of a project finally begin to come together? I certainly do, and…for me anyway… that’s what starting work on the fuselage of a new model airplane is all about. As you’ve already figured out, I nearly […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 11

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 11 We finished our last building session with the basic structure of the wing, as well as the engine nacelles aft of the cowls, all built. All that was left to complete the outline was the flaps and ailerons, and I’m going to build those now. […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 10

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 10 I finished off the last session (Part 9) by promising you a “prodigious mess of balsa shavings” that would result from completing the job of shaping all four engine nacelles. Doing that turned out to be an exercises in using a sequence of traditional model […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 9

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 9 Part 8 of our “building the B-17” story ended with my giving you a sneak peek at the first of the aft nacelle fairing blocks stuck into place. In showing you that (as a hint of things to come) I got a little ahead of […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 8

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 8 I finished our last session of B-17 building by closing-up/sheeting-in the forward section of one of the one of the engine nacelles. I’ve been doing nacelles for quite a while now and I’m sure it has occurred to you (as it did to me when […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 7

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 7 I finished our last building session by closing up (adding the last of the 1/16”balsa sheet skin) the lower surface of both wing panels and doing some final reinforcement and preliminary sanding around the flap well access. With that done, the next step is to […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 6

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 6 We finished our last session in the shop with my showing you the E-Flite 10-25 electric RLG (retractable landing gear) system that’s going into the B-17. As I suggested then, there are a lot of things that have to happen…and a lot of decisions to […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F - Part 6

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 5

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 5 Last time I finished cleaning up the leading edge of the bottom of the wing and explained why I chose to leave the rear portion of the underside open for now. I also mentioned my reasons for getting the entire leading edge “closed up” before […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F - Part 4

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 4

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 4 During our last B-17 session in the shop, I finished closing in the top surface of the wing using my favorite “wet balsa sheet” method. You may have noticed then that I made no provision for the cutouts in each leading edge that are going […]

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Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F - Part 3

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 3

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 3 As I promised last time, during this session in the shop I’ll begin the actual assembly of the wing and you’ll get to see how the modifications for flaps (openings in the original structural design) that began as some newly cut-out places in several ribs […]

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