Primi

To everyone
I like to share the experience of my build of my Gee Bee R4 82" (the poor man R3 version)
When the parcel arrived it started already with problems as I expected that something will be damaged! And this was also the case.
One wing tip pushed in, canopy cracked and fuse cracked on multiple places. Luckily the parcel was insured and payed a substantial amount of the purchase price, uch!
On inspection of the quality, disappointment was just mildly expressed, unfortunately it was the last kid available and it looked also as the last one build on a Friday afternoon 4pm!
I hope some people can share their experience and success with this model as it looks certainly very cool when finished.

Primi

Fin on fuselage was broken
and split
also on the top
Cracks on the canopy
left and right
tail wheel mount was cracked

wing tip damaged
most fuse formers are broken, not glued and not square glued


After assessing all the damage and the build quality I decided for a rebuild of the entire plane, now not an ARF anymore!

Primi

First I reinforced all fuse formers with glass and epoxy


The fire wall needed some special care as it was very weak build, not enough glue or not glued at all.
Especially the corners with cowl recess would be a very weak point, as I planed a decent engine for this plane (DLE 120) I had to prepare for this force.


Reinforced all seams with carbon fiber and put some torque strips from the firewall to the sides of the fuse, as I have seen cracks before on fuselages from big engines!


Next stripped the wings and cut servo hatches instead of the servo holes before glassing the wings also found a few balsa sheets not glued together, it was a good chance to fix all these misses up.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

you said "it was the last kit available",, well, being the last kit, it's most likely it was re-kited,, meaning they sent you all the damaged parts that was returned back to them, and they stuck the damaged parts in a box and sent it to you,, I had that happen to me once, I wont say the brand, it will start an argument, it's funny that on the plane I got I could see an 18 inch long figure 8 gouged into the bottom of one wing but the company couldn't see it when I sent the kit back to them, they said I lied and wouldn't refund my $40 for the shipping, well that company is not selling RC any more

good luck, post pics when built

Jim

Primi

In a next step I glued the landing gear stay wire mount into the bottom of the fuse, unfortunately the supplied bracket was too short, a new one had to be cut.



A new landing gear had also be engineered and manufactured, the only part used was the legs and the wheels.
Fitting the wheel base into the current fibre glass leg was not easy as the mounting floor was not square at all !!!!


Mounting the firewall to the fuse, I found the fibre glass from the fuse was not glued at all to the inside timber plate, I cut the most off and compressed the front firewall together with the back and with lots of glue.

Primi

Hi Jim,
Yes it is always risky to buy a model over the net, it's like Christmas you will be surprised, sometimes not positive, as we know now.
At leased I got a good insurance pay which covered a good part of the purchase price.
The only thing I have now to invest is time.

Rgds
Michael

Primi

Also I replaced the wing tube sleeves in the fuse as they were out of electrical conduit and the glue was not holding at all, I used carbon fiber sleeves as well as carbon fibre wing tubes, which replaced the aluminium once.

After removing all the painted covering, I started to cover all with glass fibre.



As the wings have a dihedral the landing gear legs were square mounted to the wing which looked wrong with the legs bend outwards. Getting the legs into the right position and filling the gap with epoxy did the trick, this way the legs are straight down!

the finished product, the legs mount which have the exact shape of the wing.

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Texas RC now sells the CY models line. I have the TBM and I am very happy with it .
I did an online bash making it more "standoff scale" lol but none the less but I was happy with the overall quality.
I made the mistake of using the original distributor name ( same as this thread) and I got totally bashed by the RCU community as if I was promoting the original distributor lol.
Oh well so it is and was .
Anyway if you want a CY model or parts try Texas RC, the guy is great to deal with and very customer friendly

Primi

Hi LDM
you did a nice job on your TBM, good to have good customer support also my supplier is very good to deal with, it's the manufacturer which is not quite up to the game I believe.
Some other RCU member stated in a message that it is not a kit, it's a collection of useful parts, which is not bad as long as the price is right.

Primi

Some more progress with this plane, got in the mean time all parts covered in glass and filled, engine mounted and some part finished painted.


BTW non of the supplied aluminium parts for landing gear or the fly wires mounting were usable every part had different holes and measurements!

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Thanks for the kind words Primi I am enjoying your build as well.
I stopped posting due to lack on interest but getting ready to finish the electrical connections.
I have my powered canopy linked to the flaps and all that is left now is work on the life to power up the servos.
I am looking forward to your continued build, your really doing a great job.
Thanks
Lou

Primi

helinut1

You are right I am re doing one at this time also . I got mine 2 years ago and had problems with it also . Tail was split and there was damage to my cowel . After some doing I got C Y to replace the cowel and they knocked some off the price of the model for the tail damage . I finished the plane almost a year ago with a DLE 111 and flew the plane 2 times both were very bad flights . The second flight I had a buddy of mine who is a expert rc pilot fly it and when we finally got it down he handed me the transmiter and said dont ever fly it again. The plane has sat for a long time and 2 months ago I got it out and decided to find what was wrong . We found a lot .Put the plane on a set up table and began linning everything up . first was the gear as you mentioned they do not line up right . After doing a lot of digging I found this was a critical part which has to be right . So far the co has sent me 3 right gear legs , they are not right at all both the way they sit on the wing and the surface for the gear to mount do not end up right . I finally like you ended up fixing them for myself . The second major problem was the main and tail wing incidence . I had glued my tail on and so I had to use it as my zero point , when we checked the main wing it had 1 deg negative down thrust . Did a lot of looking and digging and this is what we came up with for the specks that this plane should have or I think should have . The original R2 had 2.5 deg posative incidence . 2deg down on the motor and 2 deg right thrust . The motor center line I put as close to the airframe center line as I could . This would be the line in the fuse about 2 inches down from the canopy line . I am using a DLE85 this time and 1.8 deg posative incidence. I hope this will make the plane fly right and I hope this will help with yours , please check all your measurements before you fly this is one crazy bird to fly and I concider myself lucky to have gotten it back 2 times already .