I've just started building a He-177 from a Traplets plan, basic specs are:

Wingspan: 60" (1525mm)
Weight: 2lb. 4oz. (1008g)
Motors: TBD (suggested 2 x geared 400’s)
Props: TBD (suggested 8x6)

The plans I have appear to be very basic, which should help it to go together quite quickly. I've also sped things up by getting someone to convert the plans to CAD and had them CNC router cut. I could have drawn them up myself in AutoCAD but the guy with the router cutter did it all real cheap.

Once I’ve finished basic construction I plan to fit flaps and possibly retracts depending on weight, if I go with the retracts they won't be scale, as two sets of retracts will definitely be too heavy!

When the He-177 takes a bit more shape I will also work out what motors to put in, ideally I’d like to have scale 4 blade props swinging off them but I haven’t had much luck finding props at the right scale (they need to be 8" probably with a low pitch)

Nice choice for a build. Dont see many of these. Will be watching.

Originally Posted by madbomber

Nice choice for a build. Dont see many of these. Will be watching.

Cheers, if all goes well with this one I plan on making a much larger one. I've got plans for a 2.7m one, but may end up designing my own.

I spent some time looking at the traplet site. They have lots of short kits and plans that I didnt know existed.

Dear Mr. Krinkle:

The PIPE Here...and the He 177A Greif (pronounced like "gryfe" in German, and meaning "griffin") is about the most fascinating WW II design from everything I've read about it, especially from THIS book on it...it's not "too" easily acquired these days, but it IS the definitive book on the aircraft and its developments, with my review of that book at Amazon.com viewable here.

I've been acquiring LOTS of info on the He 177A, about as complex a WW II aircraft in EVERY SINGLE RESPECT as could be thought of, regarding its origins, what it was meant to do, and how it was engineered, just to mention a FEW facts about its existence...and if you're in need of ANY help on ol'Gruesome (the He 177A), please ask, and it's likely I could help you with it, at least a small bit.

A LOT of the content in the English language Wikipedia's pages on the He 177 itself, and its He 274 high-altitude version, as well as the NEVER-BUILT He 277 Amerika Bomber contract contender that was based partly on it, were authored by yours truly, directly based on the info from the Manfred Griehl and Joachim Dressel-authored book I got through Amazon.com nearly a decade ago.

In August of 1942, Fat Hermann (Goering) was of the opinion that the troubled He 177A actually had "four separate engines", instead of the twinned-up DB 606 "power systems" hauling it through the air...if you head here, and look in the "Sourced" quotes of his at Wikiquote's page for him, you'll find that Goering's disapproving view on the DB 606 and later DB 610 powerplants for the He 177A is simply summed-up in the term "welded-together engines", and it was that very quote that drove on the peripatetic development of the real-world He 177B prototypes through the autumn of 1943, with four of them eventually ordered, and three of them built to completion and flight status.

Again, if I can be of any help to you on your RC He 177A project, especially for info on the full-scale aircraft, PLEASE "ask away", to your heart's content...I've even got links to where you can see HOW messy the retraction sequence of the He 177A's complex, four-strut main gear was...for a model of it, perhaps you might want to leave the gear "fixed down" after you got a look at those......!!

Hope to hear back from you, whenever you've got the time!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE....!!

P.S. - for a GREAT looking German RC model bomber project, give Ilkka Klemetti's Ju 88A RC Scale scratchbuild thread here at RCGroups a serious checkout...he's got a great, scratchbuilt example coming along in 1/10th scale, for powering with a pair of Saito 6.5 cm3 FA-40a four-stroke glow mills, and fully scale 90º twisting main gear for it.

Hey Mr. K,

Fascinating model, and one of my favourites since I built the Revell 1/72 scale plastic version decades ago as a teenager. Will you be connecting two Speed 400 motors to each prop through a gearbox...

Steve

Dear Steve85:

The PIPE Here again - if you head here, you'll find that someone's done a review on a 1/48th scale plastic display kit of the Gruesome Griffin...as the He 177A was a Flying Fortress-sized bomber in full scale, if you've ever seen the old Monogram plastic 1/48th scale kit of the B-17G, the mentioned He 177A kit reviewed SHOULD be just as big when completed as the Monogram B-17 ends up being.

The online Squadron.com firm still apparently stocks that kit, even though it's out of stock these days...just thought I'd let you know about it...!!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE....!!

Aerocinema.com had a great video on the Amerika Bomber, especially if you like CGI airplanes (they do pretty good, especially considering their budget).

Andy

Originally Posted by The PIPE

Dear Mr. Krinkle:

The PIPE Here...

...Hope to hear back from you, whenever you've got the time!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE....!!

P.S. - for a GREAT looking German RC model bomber project, give Ilkka Klemetti's Ju 88A RC Scale scratchbuild thread here at RCGroups a serious checkout...he's got a great, scratchbuilt example coming along in 1/10th scale, for powering with a pair of Saito 6.5 cm3 FA-40a four-stroke glow mills, and fully scale 90º twisting main gear for it.

Wow, you sound like a wealth of knowledge on this subject! A great person to have around during a build I hate to dissapoint, but this build probably won't include a lot of scale detail, this project was mainly to get me building to motivate me to design something bigger (with scale detail ) I'm hoping for this build to take only a matter of months, maybe even weeks...

I checked out the Ju88 link you sent now that is an impressive build!!! I can only hope to ever get close to building something as nice as that!!!

You mentioned knowing/having a video of the He-177 gear sequence? I would be very interested in seeing this, as to date i haven't been able to find anything on how the LG cycles and am very curious!

Originally Posted by Steve85

Hey Mr. K,

Fascinating model, and one of my favourites since I built the Revell 1/72 scale plastic version decades ago as a teenager. Will you be connecting two Speed 400 motors to each prop through a gearbox...

Steve

Steve, i would love to hook two motors up just for the nerd factor , i have found this (Twin power stick) at HobbyKing, but think it may be a little overpowered and uneconomical at that price... If the plane comes in at the planned 1kg mark, I would expect i would only need a combined power output of around 200W for scale performance.

Originally Posted by AndyKunz

Aerocinema.com had a great video on the Amerika Bomber, especially if you like CGI airplanes (they do pretty good, especially considering their budget).

Andy

Andy, thanks for that, I watched the preview for the He-177 and think i might just have to sign up with Aerocinema to watch the rest

Subscribed!
Don't think I've seen this one modeled her on RCG yet.

Phil

Originally Posted by Smokin' Beaver

Subscribed!
Don't think I've seen this one modeled her on RCG yet.

Phil

I've managed to find one other one here http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221207 It appears to be the same one I'm building, but there are no finished pics

On another note, the rest of my balsa came in today, so should start to get some progress soon