SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

[Second Air Force]

The horizontal stabilizers and elevators started to take shape this evening. It's an interesting bit of information that a number of engineers from the Northrop Corporation worked at the SAAB engineering department during the time that the B 17 design was formulated. The airplane has some similarities to the Northrop 8A-1 that Sweden purchased before the war. With that idea in mind, I searched through my kits and found that the Accurate Miniatures SBD has a very similar planform on the horizontal tail surfaces. Bear in mind that the SBD is an offshoot of the same 8A series from Northrop and the whole idea comes full-circle. I cast the parts in resin in order to properly fashion the separate elevators and stabilizers. These have a different hinge line on the control surfaces but the overall shape is very close and will need only minor work.

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

The engine/propeller/cowling also came in for some attention. The prop and spinner from the SBD kit are a perfect match for the SAAB so these were also cast in resin. The engine is a Quickboost early R-1830. The cowling selection took a bit of digging in the spares bin. Here are four candidates that I experimented with. The final choice came down to an old Monogram B-25J cowl. I'll add the carburetor intake and oil cooler scoop later. Incidentally, the cowling layout on the B 17 is also very, very close to the setup on the SBD, again showing a bit of the Northrop design philosophy. The SBD cowl is too large in diameter (fitting the bulkier R-1820) or I would have used it for this project.

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

[Sall]

Excellent!!!

[No.1]

Pile of garbage is actually embryonic phase of the masterpiece

[draken35]

Amazing work...

[Ernie]

Excellent work, and very creative! This is awesome to watch develop!
Ernie

[Second Air Force]

Again the spares bins come to the rescue. While digging about in the powerplant drawer for the cowlings I found three intake trunks for the old Monogram C-47. These turned out to be just right for the intake and oil cooler scoops. It makes some sense, too, since the B 17A and C-47 shared the basic R-1830 powerplant. Here, from left to right, are the oil cooler duct, intake, and an unmodified C-47 intake.

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

These were quite easy to build as Monogram molded the parts in thick styrene. The oil cooler was cut to the right length and the rectangular section was filed and sanded to a semicircular opening as on the original. The outlet flap is made from a bit of leftover Eduard photoetch "tree" material. I never throw anything away, even the scraps! The carb inlet is similarly just cut to length and then filed to fit the curvature of the new cowling top.

Next for the cowl will be centering the scoop mountings on top and bottom and then cutting out the cowl flaps and exhaust openings.

[draken35]

Nice progress, Scott!

[Second Air Force]

So, last night I was able to basically finish the rough outline of the cowling. First I centered and marked where the two scoops will go and then marked the openings for the exhaust stacks and cowl flaps. Here are the majority of the parts that will go into the powerplant section. I'll prime the cowl and then set this aside for later assembly. First I'll need to get the fuselage finished so that I can figure out a motor mount and the exhaust collector ring. Then I can verify the fit between the cowl and firewall. Finally I'll assemble the cowl flaps and inlet fairings and the whole thing can be installed for the final time.

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

[Sall]

 

[No.1]

No cutaway around which could help you

[draken35]

[Second Air Force]

No cutaway around which could help you

Not a problem, No.1. There are plenty of good photos on the web and the excellent website of the flyer also: http://b17blajohan.wordpress.com/

My only issue with the drawings that I found and the set that Nico found for me is that these are Bristol powered. This isn't a great problem either as most of the photos I have are of the R-1830 version I'm building.

An interesting little bit of trivia on the B 17 is that the main landing gear looks an awful lot like that on the IAR-80 series fighter, only with longer legs. I suspect the SAAB folks bought their gear legs from the same sub-contractor as the IAR factory.

[No.1]

This site you mention is really good source of info, all the rest is on you mate and you doing great

[Second Air Force]

A further bit of progress, this time on the cockpit cut-out and vertical fin.

The first step was to measure and where the canopy opening must be cut. This was confirmed by cutting out one of the 1/48 profiles and "overlaying" the cutout over the fuselage halves. Then, after careful marking, the excess plastic was removed. The filler you see is to eliminate the F4U cowl flaps and openings.

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

An Otaki Corsair horizontal stabilizer/elevator assembly looked about the right size for the vertical fin so one was measured, cut, and filed into shape:

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

This will fair nicely into the fuselage, and actually sits in the original opening that resulted when the F4U fin was removed. It's in a different position, of course, and there is some structure to be built up on the fuselage before fitting the fin. I also trimmed the very aft section of the fuselage to start achieving the pointed aft fairing of the real SAAB.

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

SAAB B 17A In 1/48 Scale

[Sall]

Wow! So good,so gooood!!!