Micro rc GeeBee R-2

[anticoli]

Got the Herr Gee Bee R-2
Anyone who knows anything about this plane knows that the most amazing thing about it is that it can actually fly! I am about to build it with ultra low weight gear - Wes teck 4-gram receiver 3-gram servos GWS drive DXc

Should I do this? Anyone have any experience with a GEE BEE? Will I be pouring my time into a spectacular crash and burn experience?
Or am I over reacting? Its such a cool plane!
I have a couple stunt planes and handle them well but they are proven stable models. Any thoughts? Experience?

[hnggld]

I own the same kit. Let me know how it goes. I've built 2 Herr kits. They are awesome free flyers. I would expect the same with R/C. I'm new to the electric scene, so no help there.

[gjohnson]

I built the Herr kit as a static model to hang in my son's room. It's a great kit,goes together well, but has lots of ribs, etc. Also, the cowl has a lot of stacked balsa wood sheets that add some weight. As I was building it I thought that some modification might help keep the weight down if built as electric RC.

One of the columnists in Electric Flight International (the British magazine) mentioned that he was going to build the Page Aviation Gee Bee as an electric and would report on his progress in future columns. The Page Gee Bee (advertized in back pages of MAN) on IC is supposed to be tricky to fly, and lands very fast.

There is also a personal web page for someone in Europe (Denmark I think, you can find it if you look through enough of the personal web links on ezone) who built an electric Gee Bee. He says it was not an easy flyer.

I'm building the indoor Gee Bee from the RC Microflight plans. There's just something about Gee Bees, but they are notoriously difficult to fly. My dad and brother talked to a guy who has a full-sized Gee Bee replica that he flys at airshows and he said it was extremely difficult to fly.

Gordon

[IFLYOS]

Originally posted by gjohnson:
.
EDITED FOR CONTENT
The Page Gee Bee (advertized in back pages of MAN) on IC is supposed to be tricky to fly, and lands very fast.

Gordon

I built the Page GEE BEE, used a .48 MDS on it, and it did land fast, but wasnt tricky to fly. I considered it like my GP Extra 300, fun, fast, aerobatic, and tip stall on landing before you know it...Otherwise, it was a blast to fly. I would assume that since Herr designed the kit you are reffering to, if they designed it as a free flight, then electric r/c should not be a problem.....Let us know what happens.

Tim


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May the winds be light, and may your packs be charged!

[gjohnson]

You could be right about its flight characteristics, given that it's a Herr kit, and they have a reputation for flyability. Given that the one I built is hanging over my three-year-old's bed, I can't attest to its rubber powered performance. But, I do suspect that with batteries, motor, servos, etc. it will weigh considerably more than with only a rubber band -- hence those fast landings. Have you given any thought to building an electric version of the Page kit? I'd like to build an electric Gee Bee for outdoor and don't know whether I'd rather give it a try with the Herr or the Page kit. The Page kit would seem to require considerably more power. Anticoli, give the Herr kit a try. If it turns out to be a good flyer, a lot of us would like to know. If I can get my hands on a good scale, I can weigh the one I built to give you an idea of the weight of a tissue-covered airframe (with, unfortunately, a somewhat heavy paint job, it was built as a static, remember) to help you in your calculations.

Gordon

[anticoli]

Thanks Gordon, any help would be appreciated. I can't do the page kit simply because I cant get my hands on it. I live in Russia where the mail system is notoriously unreliable, so I avoid mail orders. Have to wait till the next trip to the States. I am planning on starting the build after I get back from a trip to Belgium. Hope to pick up a few items while there!

I'll build the kit and then unashamedly reveal the test flight outcome. Wether in Glory or just another attempt and failure to press beyond the limits of mankinds modeling abilities.. I'll include pictures!

[gjohnson]

I keep remembering things about this kit. The rudder is fairly thick, even right back near the trailing edge. Because the kit is a free-flight, no provision was made for a moveable rudder. At the time I was building mine, I figured it would be easier to adapt the wings to have alerons than to make the rudder move. I think that the model may be more successful with elevator and alerons since it doesn't have a tremendous amount of dihedral.

Gordon

[anticoli]

Yes, Thats the plan I had too. I pondered over makeing a moveable rudder, its just too thick in the place the hinge should be and would also need a bit of construction(and extra weight in the back end). Alerons is the way to go I think. Gordon, was it a quick build? Minimal suprises? I did the Herr Folker D-7 and came into some problems with wing alignment (Typical Bipe, problems)-but never built another Herr Kit. How did your build go?

Mike (anticoli)

[jberg]

Hi,

Originally posted by gjohnson:
There is also a personal web page for someone in Europe (Denmark I think, you can find it if you look through enough of the personal web links on ezone) who built an electric Gee Bee. He says it was not an easy flyer.


look at Michael Hendriksens page http://fly.to/epilot/

Regards, Jochen

[gjohnson]

Mike,
The weight of the Gee Bee airframe (without wheels in the wheel pants or a propellor) is 123g (4.33oz). The glue-together plastic wheels that come with the kit will probably need to be replaced with some lightweight foam wheels, like those from Dave Brown. The tissue was painted with Testors white spray paint, and then the red areas were painted with a brush with Testors bottled paint. Probably the painting could have been done lighter. Or, Dave Lewis sells Microlight (9g/m2) in a lot of colors, and it is applied and shrinks like monokote. Hope this helps.

Gordon

[pade]

Hi everyone!
I'm just finishing the airframe of a Herr Gee Bee R-2 kit. I've planned to make it RC but I'm quite unsure that it will work.
Considering the rubber option; the total weight will not be very much more than 100 grammes. Compared to the RC-version when adding motor, servos etc the weight will propably double. The implications for "flyable speed" are quite scary.
I've been counting on the "theoretical" flying speed from a GWS DX-C (1:7) with a 10" prop. This would give a flying speed that is around stall speed...

Has anyone made any progress. I will try to fit a motor and a receiver (with no servos) and try some "unsteered" free-flight sessions to see if it will fly at all.

To make it fly - we propably need "Speed 400"-speed, but the airframe s not made for that weight.

Could you please give me (and the rest) an update of your progress.

Best regards and good luck to all.
Patrik

[anticoli]

Hi Patrik. Mike here. I just started the build for my GeeBee kit and have finished the fuselage and cowl.I already covered 1/2 the fuse with an Iron on covering. I used the low temp stuff that you use on Foam. It seems to be lighter than monokote. Looks sharp I might add. Even if my covering skills are a bit lacking. So far feels light as a feather.

I will be useing the GWS dxB. 1 hitech feather servo *(5 grams) and 1 wes tech 3 gram servo with a feather reciever.

I have Decided to modify the wing. I will be stretching the span either by 1 inch or possibly even 2inches. I know thats cheating but I want this baby to fly!

I think the GWS settup is a good idea, but for this plane a good battery and a ,lite battery is needed the motor draws about an amp. I am thinking about some 270 miliamp NMHs.

Anyway if this does not work there is always the 280 motor. Hobby lobby also sells potensky motors and a hot little speed 280 replacement. By the way Patrik the race in on! I have not yet found anyone who has built an RC gee bee of this small scale yet.
You may be the first! keep us updated!

Mike.
Ps I will be in Sweden in August what town are you in?

[anticoli]

Ok guys! Got both wings finished and covered. I used Econo-kote. Also as I mentioned befor I have the fue and the cowl finished. The wings seen VERY VERY strong. I attribute that to the Econo-Kote. They were pretty flabby befor the cover job. Still seems pretty light. Sorry no scale yet. Gordon as you may know One cannot just run to the local Walmart in Russia to grab a scale!

Gordon, I looked and looked for an artical about a "brick" could'nt find one. If you are discussing building a heavy model -then yes I am building it a bit heavier then some of my other models. I like to go for strength and try to compensate the extra wieght with other things to balance it like a greater lift.
So:
I Increased the wingspan a total of 3 1/4" Thats about as dirty cheating as one can get but it looks great, not "oversized" so to speak.

Figureing out the cowl attatchment at present. I think I will do a "Turn and lock" type attatchment for easy removal of the bat and radio. Now if I can just find some 1/16th ply!

I'll keep you all updated!
Mike

[pade]

Hi Mike!

Try the good old rubber band fastening for the cowl. Try to get everything as light as possible - build to fly, not to crash :-) See in the RCMicroflight for "free articles" where Tom hunt describes this.

The enlarging of wingspan is a very nice way of extending the possibility of getting airborne. Nice put ehhh?

How did youdo the ailerons? I'm planning on doing them between W11 and W7. What do you think about that?

Patrik

[anticoli]

Hi Patrik, I think thats the right idea, putting the alerons at the end of the wingtip like that. I wonder if you will get aerobatic capabilities with such a small control surface though. I am sure you will turn alright but barrel rolls -I am not sure.

I wish I made mine a bit longer than I did. I started my alerons between w6 and went 4 rib spaces back. Wish in retrospect that I started at w7. However I think that the added 1" of control surface will get me doing some low pass High speed barrel rolls! (And you wonder why I build for crashing and not for flying).
Mike

[anticoli]

Ladies and gentelmen- Its almost in the air!
had to use a 25 gramm reciever on this one but think all will work out well. I Have an 8 cell 210MHA NMh cells. JSet up the ailerons today and radio gerar. Just need to reinforce the wings with the thread riging. (real important to help in trimming and adds lots of stength). had a motor test run with the GWS DX-b Motor and a "apc 9x6" prop from hobby-lobby and got 3 minutes of full power. did not run the battery till dead - guess it might have gone for at least another minute and a half at 2/3 - 1/2 power. LOTS of thrust. Think it will go well. Will finsih this weekend. If the weather hold out I will do a test flight. (Boy these things scare me). I will ,et you all know. By the way I do have photos but I have still to get my scanner running!
Mike

[anticoli]

Well... Not so good folks. I attempted 3 hand launches only to discover that the gws dxb will not power this plane. It seemed promising but cant even get it to stay up in the air.

Any Ideas? I have a Mig 280 with a 4-1 gear drive. It would need 350mha Nicads to power it, the motor hs a 6 amp draw at full throtle and load. Anybody have a guess on wether this power system will work?
Mike

:eek:

[gjohnson]

Mike, is your 280 a ball bearing version? I have one that is, haven't used it yet, but Sal at Northeast Sailplane said it had considerably more power than a standard speed 280 when he sold it to me.
--Gordon

[anticoli]

Hi Gordon. No ball bearings on this one. However it has 2.3 times more power than a standard 280. It can produce 7 ounces of thrust vs the 3 ounces that a stock 280 can. the problem is the high current draw. The measurments given for these stats were from hobby-lobby and were without gearboxes. The motor and gearbox are considerably more heavy that the GWS however.

MIke

[gjohnson]

Mike, I think the 280 is the way to go. But, you will probably have to resort to NiMH cells to keep the weight down and have any kind of decent flight times. Still, using the batteries you have and the 280 will probably give you an idea if this is enough power, even if the flight time is only a minute or so. My guess is that with this combo you will be able to fly it. Further experiments will probably be needed to determine the optimal combination (e.g., using NiMH for duration and then going up one cell count for a slightly higher voltage and more power.
--Gordon

[gofli]

Greg Gimlick, who writes for S&E, has a Page Gee Bee...I think he's still have heating problems with the brushless system in it, but it looks like it flies well. He's on ezone if you want to ask about it over there, I'm sure he'll provide details. I have thought about the little Herr also, but have too many projects at the moment.

Later,
David