Stearman PT-17 (oz9079)

About this Plan

Stearman PT-17 Army Trainer. Stand off scale model for radio control.

Quote: "R/C Bipe for .40 to .60 engines. Stand-Off Scale PT-17, by Nick Ziroli.

What the Curtiss Jenny was to pilot training during WWI the Stearman PT-17 Kaydet was during WWII. More pilots earned their wings in Stearmans than any other plane during the war years. The Stearman was first evaluated by the Army in 1934, and in 1936 twenty-six planes were ordered. This was the PT-13. By 1942 six hundred and sixty-five more PT-13's had been delivered to the Army.

In 1940 when the engine was changed from a 220 hp Lycoming to a 220 hp Continental, the Stearman became the PT-17. By this time Boeing had taken over Stearman and transformed it into the Wichita Division of Boeing. This factory turned out 44% of the Army and Navy's primary trainers during WWII. Production ceased in February 1945 to make way for the production of B-29 bombers. A total of 10,346 Army PT-13, 17, 27's and Navy N2S trainers were built. The N2S was the Navy version of the PT-17.

These planes can still be found at many airports and any fly-in that is held will usually include a number of them. Many were bought by civil pilots after the war and converted to crop dusting or acrobatics. Stunt pilots such as Sammy Mason with his re-engined (450 hp Wasp) Stearman and 'Jato' device used to thrill air show crowds back in the late 1940's with his daring flying. He was among the better known post war acrobatic pilots that made good use of the Stearman. There were many others flying up a storm in brightly painted Kaydets.

The PT-17 has always been fairly popular as a modeling subject. Lately the wide interest in Stand-Off Scale, plus an increase in the popularity of biplanes makes it a good choice to model. Just about everyone recognizes it and there are many versions that can be modeled, both military and civil.

Our PT-17 is approximately 1-1/2in = 1ft scale. This gives a 51 in top wing and a 48 in bottom wing for atotal area of 765 sq in. Any .40 or .60 engine can be used for thrust. A Super Tigre .51 was used in our model and it was plenty of power.

A lot of detail can be put on the model to really dress it up if desired. At the time the photos were taken no scale trimmings had been added to the original. We were anxious to see how it performed before going ahead with the extra work of a dummy engine, rigging, wing walks etc. It has been flown as often as possible and the extras still have not been added. With or without them it still looks good.

Building the Stearman is not at all difficult or as time consuming as it might appear. MonoKote was used on the original to save time and weight.

Construction Notes. Cut out the sides and 1/2 in sheet doublers. Cement or epoky the doublers and uprights to the sides, letting them overhang the front 1/4 in. While this is drying, cut out the parts for the lower wing..."

Stearman, Flying Models, November 1973.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 17/08/2017: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy at 400dpi, thanks to theshadow.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
Previous scan version.

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