Projects 1913 Benoist Flying Boat sgratch build

[grampayeehaa]

About a year ago my friend and mentor, Bruce Harlow, began to scratch build a 1/3 scale, 1913, Benoist Flying Boat. History shows that the Benoist Flying Boat, on 01 January 1914, became the first regularly schedule airline. Unable to locate any plans for this aircraft, Bruce enlisted the help of his old friend Dan Gregory, a retired Boeing Engineer, to draw up a set of plans. This biplane will be built using balsa and plywood and will be covered in an iron on Dacron fabric. The rather large, 1/3 scale servos utilize advantage leverage bars and a push pull system to operate the control surfaces. The craft will be powered by an electric motor and a pusher propeller. The size of the motor and propeller will be determined after the weight of the craft can be better estimated. The plane will have an 8ft wing span and a 24"cord. The Fuse is 8ft long. I should also mention that Bruce is a former professional photographer so don’t be surprised by the sheer number of photograph that I will display. Photos are not in chronological order. This is just the first installment, more pictures to come.
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[grampayeehaa]

Here are the rest of the pictures that I have available to me right now. I will post more as I get them.

 

[Lee]

Fantastic build. So much detail.
Will be very excited to see the finished plane.

 

[Admiral]

Great work in progress looking forward to seeing the finished project.

 

[Stambo]

Wow, that thing is HUGE.
I am not normally interested in scale builds but I certainly appreciate the skill and dedication that goes in to a project like this.
I will watch with great interest, the progress of this build.
One question though, why not petrol power on something of this scale?

 

[grampayeehaa]

Bruce, the builder, feels that to produce the power needed to get the craft off the water, a gas motor would be heavier.

 

[Tony]

Very impressive build. Lots of patience that has to go into this. Keep the pictures coming!

 

[grampayeehaa]

You aren't going to believe this but I got a bunch more photos. By the way, Bruce had to make/shape everything by hand. Hundreds of hours of painstaking work.