the Boeing XF8-B. The plane was enormously
successful for me. It is big, easy to see and fly, fast
enough, and turns tighter than most of the smaller
planes. A number of folks asked for the plans, but
unfortunately there weren't any, as the two I built were
the only "plans" that existed.
I am lucky in that my club has some very innovative
modelers. One of them, Mike Nemesh and his wife,
own a company called "Hands on Design". They
have a CNC foam cutting system and a CNC router.
Mike offered to "kit" the Boeing for me so that folks
who wanted a quick building, different scale plane that
is very competitive could have one. A word of
warning, this kit will not be cheap. It is a precision
manufactured kit to the very high standards of Mike
and Hands on Design. Final pricing has not been set
but will be available shortly. The assembly of this
plane will be very fast and extremely accurate.
Here is a look at the parts and the processes that went
into its design.
The XF8B fuse is made from Hi Load 60 Foam, birch ply, lite ply, and fiberglass rods. The concept we started with was
to use a 3/16" birch ply crutch and 1/4" lite ply firewall. Both parts are CNC routed and lock together with each other and
with the slots cut into the interior of the fuselage. Not shown are the HDPE wedges that go under the crutch in front of
the firewall against the bottom of the motor bearers to add structural rigidity. The cowl is being manufactured by a major
model manufacturer from a ABS plastic.
All th fuselage components interlock to form a very strong structure. Not shown is the servo tray that is also CNC routed
and attaches to the crutch.
Please note that the rod slots are pre-cut for you in fuselage. They form the "shelf" that the hold down dowels rest on and
are also the stabilizer seat in the rear of the fuselage. The estimated time to assemble the fuselage is about one hour.
to align and build. The 54" wings have the top and bottom glass rod slots cut into them, and have the 1/4" leading edge
slot for the polypropylene rod cut as well. If you look closely at the wing root photo you will notice that the placement
of the leading edge rod slot is in a such a position as to match the airfoil shape of the Selig 8052 wing. Also the wings,
as all other foam parts of the Boing XF8B kit are made from three inch foam blocks. This allows the proper dihedral to
be cut into the wing cores so that all the builder has to do is join the panel to each other to achieve proper dihedral and
washout.
Click here for the Construction build along