Beechcraft 17 (oz1948)

 

Beechcraft 17 (oz1948) by Walt Musciano 1976 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing. Scale biplane for control line. Musciano's Beechcraft CL scale model.

Quote: "Control Line scale machine that can win most any scale contest and of course is a fun bird! Beechcraft 17 by Walt Musciano.

For decades modelers throughout the world have selected the beautiful Beechcraft Staggerwing as a most attractive subject. In fact, over a span of thirty years this is the sixth Beechcraft biplane to be built by the author with wingspans ranging from eighteen inches to forty eight inches, in both control line and RC.

The Beechcraft Biplane model presented here is a 3/4 inch to the foot scale control line standoff scale replica that can be powered with engines from .15 to .25 displacement. We tried .15, .19 and .29 engines and found the .29 a bit too powerful and that a .19 engine was ideal. This scale gives us a wingspan of about two feet which is a very handy size for display at home as well as transportation to the flying site and is still large enough to provide some good flying fun.

The full size plane that we duplicated in model form is the plane flown by Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes when they won the 1936 Bendix Transcontinental Speed Dash from New York to Los Angeles. This was the first time a woman won the race and the first time the event was won in a stock commercial production airplane. The complete story of Walter H Beech, the Beechcraft Staggerwing, and the 1936 Ben-dix Race was covered in Part One of this article which appeared in last month's Model Airplane News. Order your full size plans now and we can begin our model.

Interior detail was installed on our model including a complete cockpit with seats, instruments and control wheel plus a door that opens. All of this is, of course, optional but we found it hard to resist.

Vertical keel and bulkheads are traced and cut to shape and are then firmly cemented to the keel. Cement one 1/16 x 1/4 planking strip to each side to hold the bulkheads steady.

Stabilizer and elevator are cut to shape from sheet balsa. Cement the elevator joiner in place and sandpaper to a streamline shape. Cement the control horn to the joiner and hinge the elevator and stablilizer to each other. Cement the stabilizer into the slot in the keel.

Bellcrank mount is 1/4 x 3/4 hardwood and is very firmly cemented to the keel and bulkhead. Attach the music wire lead out lines to the bellcrank and bolt the bellcrank loosely to the mount. Bend the control rod to shape and pass through the bulkheads to attach one end to the bellcrank and the other end to the control horn. Check the controls and then tighten the bellcrank to the mount.."

Update 18/07/2018: added article, thanks to RFJ.

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Beechcraft 17 (oz1948) by Walt Musciano 1976 - model pic

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ScaleType:
  • Beechcraft_Model_17_Staggerwing | help
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    ScaleType: This (oz1948) is a scale plan. Where possible we link scale plans to Wikipedia, using a text string called ScaleType.

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    ScaleType is formed from the last part of the Wikipedia page address, which here is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Model_17_Staggerwing
    Wikipedia page addresses may well change over time.
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