20’ RC B-29 bomber restoration project

07/12/2026

07/12/2026

Alright Folks, the Starship has flown once again. A mostly uneventful flight with only a few squawks to take care of…

One of the nacelle hatches came off. So i’ll have to 3D print the mold and layup/paint another one.

The #1 engine wasnt happy, i really should have rebuilt the carbs before putting the engines on, i suspect that is why the engine wasnt happy.

Its nose heavy, so i need to pull some lead out from the nose and add alot of expo to the elevator as you can see it is sensitive to elevator input.

The onboard aircompressor for the gear/brake systems had its motor burn out.

I did sweep the canard inflight. It was not happy and takes full up elevator to maintain level flight. I suspect much of this is bc of the nose heavyness.

Here is the link to the video from our buddy Saul

The incredible Thomas White the 4th and his amazing Merlyn Graves 1...

07/11/2026

A little sneak peek of the renew’d 25% Beechcraft Starship.

Engine runs and sync’ing were accomplished today. Sunday is looking like the day for the best weather.

07/09/2026

Starship Update!

The silver vinyl leading edges were installed on the wing ans canard.
The tipsails had their stripes installes
The black windscreen surround was addedZ
The starship logo’s were added
The cabin entry door details added
A 3D printed spinner mockup was done.
The functional pitot and static tubes were 3D printed, painted and installed.

07/04/2026

Starship update.

The fuselage and wing center section have been mated once again. The fuselage striping on one side is also done and the outer wing panels have been painted.

More info in each photo.

07/03/2026

Starship paint update:

I got the vinyl striping for the nacelles cut on the vinyl cutter and installed on the nacelles.

I also nixed the servo operated chokes for mechanical chokes.

Next up was redoing the throttle servo linkage geometry so they matched more closely.

The fiberglass faux exhaust nozzles that i finished 2 years ago were then hysol’d to the lower cowls and the cowls permanently installed.

The center section at this point is complete and ready to be installed to the fuselage.

07/03/2026

Starship update and multie engine throttle geometry/linkage setup.

So the starship is progressing nicely and i figured yall might like to see how i do multi-engine throttle setups. The B29 has Zero mixing adjustments betweem all four engines. For those who have heard it, those four engines are nearly perfectly in sync, so here is how i do it.

#1 You want to use as much as 100/100 on your throttle servo ATV/travel. This gives you the best resolution/precision. Ideally, i select a servo arm that gives me within 100% +-5%. Whatever i do at one extreme, i do at the other. iE if its +98, i do -98, it keeps things symmetric.

#2 EVERY linkage must be IDENTICAL in length. A set of dial calipers is a must!

#3 The throttle servo arms must all be Identical in angles, otherwise you get different rpm’s at different throttle stick settings.

Those are the three basic rules. The Starship breaks rule #2 because the linkages are nearly four feet long and route differently.

With the basic rules done, its time to get to work.

Select one engine to be your master, that one you setup however you like, abiding by rule #1.

Once engine #1 is setup (the master engine), i measure the length of that linkage and make every other engines linkage match it, exactly.

I then remove the master servo from the airplane and setup every other throttle servo so that at full throttle, all of the servo arms are exactly the same angle. I do this by using s protactor. Place the servo on the table and measure the angle betweem the table top surface and the edge of the servo arm. Do this for every throttle servo.

With those two things done, use the master engines throttle linkage to determine the throttle servo mount location for all other engines. Once the other throttle servo’s are mounted, minor (less than 1 turn) of the Non-master throttle linkages can be made to ensure each engine is at full throttle.

All engine linkages can now be installed and whatever travel percentages you use for the master engine can be transferred to the other throttle servo channels. This should get you a near perfect synchronization between all of the engines.

07/01/2026

Got home at noon today, did some laundry, ate lunch. packed up to leave for work tomorrow and took a 45 minute nap after being up for 30 hours straight.

Then got downstairs and did some work on the Starship.

Main landing gear and gear doors were installed.
Ignition bec’s were put in place of batteries and Zepsus switches
Engines were installed.
Cowls temporarily installed.

Its ready for the nacelle striping to be added, then i can permanently glue on the faux exhaust nozzles and finish the final assemby of the center section. Once all that is done, i need to make up some pushrods for mechanical chokes, redo the throttle servo geometry so they are better sync’d and redo some wiring to eliminate unnecessary connections.

With all that done, the center section can get reattached to he fuselage.

06/24/2026

Yall asked for updates on the 25% Beechcraft Starship, so here you go.

I got home around midnight last night after getting back from Ireland. I checked the weather and today was said to be beautiful and it has been. So i pulled out the center wing section to the Starship, did some necessaey sanding in a flew places and got if ready for painting.

First up was a coat of primer over-reduced to about 2:1 mixture. I do this so it flows out nicely and ive had good experience using a filler primer as a sealer as well, so it saves buying a dedicated sander/sealer.

Once i let that flash off for an hour, in went the coat of white. Looking to save weight as much as possible, this was also slightly over reduced. I got good coverage over all the surfaces and let it flash for half an hour.

Then we went with the clear. I was smart this time and got the gun setup properly, so no runs!

The only items left to paint now are the outer wing panels, but those will have to wait. I have laundry to do and have to prep to leave for work tomorrow until July 8th, so it’ll be awhile unless i get out of my trip to Africa..

Next up will probly be getting all the materials for the vinyl stripes, most all of that is cut on the vinyl cutter, so it wont be tooo much of a headache to do the tip sails and nacelles.

06/19/2026

Todays Starship update….

All of the radio equipment upgrades are done.

I also got the nose gear and the gear doors reinstalled. After that the fuselage went back to the trailer and the wing can back out. I was surprised to find that other than some light sanding and a needed degrease wash, the wing was pretty much ready for paint.
Unfortunately, its been very windy today and supposed to be the same tomorrow so there wont be any painting anytime soon as i start a long stretch of 18 days of work.