wjglynn

Larry,
Its great to hear that there is a cadre of Flybaby fans out there. I have finished hinging the wing and mounting the servos and aileron horns. The original horns on my plane fastened to the inner end of the thick aileron. I moved the mounting point outboard as far as I could considering the servo location. I drilled a 1/2" hole and epoxied a drilled dowel rod into it. This may be overkill but the originals just looked too wimpy to me. Last night I hinged the elevator and am preparing to hing the rudder. My elevator and rudder have hardwood mounting points built into them so I will put the quarter scale horns there. I did not like the tailwheel protruding from the rudder so I cut it out. I plan to use a quater scale Sig leaf spring tailwheel system so I am rebuilding the hardwood ramp that slopes down from the fuselage to the bottom of the rudder. In this way the shock of landing is not transmitted into the rudder.

We are also making provision to put the flybaby on floats. Here is a picture of the naked bird on the floats when we were determining where to put the hardpoints before covering.

How about some pictures of your project? I can send more if you like?

Bill

larrysl

Bill, Thanks for the reply, I hafta run but will post pictures soon as I can. Larry

larrysl

Bill, Your model looks great. I will try posting a couple photos I have. I need to set up better lighting. My indoor photos with
on camera flash don't have much snap to them. Larry

wjglynn

Larry,

Yours looks alot cleaner than mine. I have had to do a lot of sanding and redesign. I can see that the designs are significantly different. I contemplated fabric but am deferring to ultracote since this airplane is a rebuild and not new construction. I just hope it flies.

Bill

larrysl

Bill, the removable cockpit section is something I added. It's not original. I couldn't see how one could work on the servos or fuel system thru the cockpit hole. I'm mounting the servos from the top instead of the bottom as the dwg shows. I also plan on boxing in the cockpit to keep out dirt and oil. The manual says some thing about a cockpit kit, I don't know what that is like. Larry

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

I'm waiting on my cockpit kit from tower hobbies. It includes instrument panel, seat with belts, luggage pod (dont think I'm going to use that one) etc. I just purchased an already built Fly Baby. Just need to go over everything to make sure all controls are good to go. I love the look of this plane and have not read any negatives so far. I would like to re-work the cockpit area to ease access to the rec. and tank. Can you guys post some pictures of your mods so I can get an idea. Hey check out this pix of a pretty fly baby!!! Mines is the blue one

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Sorry about the pix size trying to get a grip on posting pixs

larrysl

Sneaky, I found that by clicking on your photo it comes down to normal size. I'm trying to decide on colors and color scheme for mine. Thinking about daytona white and Stits cuby green. Not sure about the cockpit. Possibly photographing my Citabria panel and trying to reduce the photo to size and mounting a Spectrum Flight Log under it. Definately going to use Barby Doll as pilot. Larry

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Larry one change I'm looking at is swapping the engine. Currently, the plane came with an ST G90 ,new, but I wanted an inverted 4 stroke. What's your take on the Magnum 120. Yes I would have to purchase a new cowl but how would the Magnum muffler system work with the cowl. Thx

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Larry, do you think a pull-pull system would work on the rudder. Kinda binds with the installed push rod system

wjglynn

Hey Guys,

My orginal had a Webra 91 mounted in the nose with a hugely thick cowl and a ton of lead as the picture shows. I am opting for a Zenoah G-26. I am also moving the servos from a pull pull in the belly to push rods in the back. I want the belly open because I want to add a smoke tank later. I have added pictures of my mods. Shown is the refurbished tailwheel assembly, the new aileron hinging, and the insertion of hard points for elevator/rudder horns like the one's shown on the ailerons. Using the ball link swivels and hardware like on the aileron I do not expect any binding. I mounted the servos last evening but still have to fab the pushrods. These pics show the new plywood added for the elevator & rudder servos in the back.

I have my sights set on that Red and Black Fly Baby scheme. It looks to be a replica of a South African Fly Baby on the full scale website. I am not building to exact scale so I plan to cover using that scheme in Teal/Blue. I like the scallops!

Bill

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Good choice, I love that combo. Would you mind sharing how you did the elevator setup. I would prefer a one piece elevator then use the other servo spot for the rudder servo. Also, how can I make the plane lighter. I was suprised how heavy the plane was when it arrived.

larrysl

Sneaky, the red and black Flybaby sure is pretty. Thanks for posting. The Magnum 1.20 I got with mine is used and doesn't have the greatest compression. I bench ran it with a 16-6 wood prop. It starts easily and idles well but doesn't seem to have a great deal of power. hobbypeople.com sell them. They were on sale last spring when I bought a 52 four stroke and put it in my 84" Quaker. I love it. Some of the guys at our club have them and really like them. I tried mounting mine with the muffler and there will be some interference with the cowl. Somebody made a cut part way through at the inside of the elbo. They bent it closed and tig welded it. It isn't quite enough. Probably another cut would do it. The elbo needs to be about 90dgs. I'm using a fibre rod for rudder control. I think pull pull cables would work ok. I'm probably the wrong guy to ask. Many years with full scale airplanes but new to RC.

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Thanks for the advice, wish I had more info on the Red Fly Baby but I need to translate the pages. I thought I had read somewhere that the OS muffler ext might work on the Magnum engines. Check out Tower Hobbies they give pretty good descriptions on all of there OS parts.

wjglynn

Sneaky,

Take a look at the attached picture. You will see a notch in the rudder. The elevator halves are connected in the center with a dowel rod. That dowel rod passes through the notch in the rudder. You would have to refab both your rudder and aileron to make it work like mine.

My Fly Baby was originally contructed in the early 90's apparently from scratch. The style then was to build things pretty heavy as compared to today. I spent a fair amount of time skeletonizing solid areas on the wing trying to lighten things. I estimated that I needed tail weight so I have not carved on the tail. No matter what I think this airplane is going to be a 12-16 pound bird. The thick wing and ample area should lift it just fine but it won't be a killer aerobat. More like a nice cruiser for slow fly bys at a giant scale fly in.

Bill

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Hey just for fun look at this web site there is a short video of a flybaby that'll get the creative juices flowing. Thx for the advice, still trying to decide if I want to take mines to the bare bones and start again or leave well enough alone and enjoy what I have. Your right though that red and black looks like def "eye candy", let me know if you want more pix of the red and black I'll email to you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUUvgKO0UI0

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Try this guy on RCU. He might have something for your muffler system (http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemId=357894). I have the muffler on my 1.50 Saito and it works great. I believe he sells a 90 degree adapter for the Magnum engines.

larrysl

Thanks Sneaky, I cut a notch out of mine to make it about 90 deg. I have to go tig weld it when it warms up a little. The shop is so damn cold right now. Larry

wjglynn

Hey bdelmonte,

I saw a Fly Baby in my latest High Flight IMAA magazine. It was a b&w picture but looked alot like your late Fly Baby. Was that one yours?

Bill

wjglynn

Alucid1,

I tried to answer your email but there was a delivery failure at the address you sent. Here is my response to your question.

Thankyou for the compliment. I am still pretty new to building airplanes
so positive feedback helps a lot. On my airplane I was not sure of the
quality of the wood on the bottom of the fuselage so I replace the last
section with aircraft plywood and epoxied it in place.
(See attached file: )
This picture also show where the original tailwheel wire protruded from the
rudder.

I determined the width of the block by making it slightly wider than the
blind nuts that would be imbedded in the block. This is slightly wider
than the Sullivan tail wheel. I chose the .60-1.20 Sullivan tail wheel
because it looked to me to match the scale of the full size plane better
than other plastic versions. Since it is constructed of aluminum and there
is relatively little weight on the tail I was comfortable not using the
larger 1/4 scale tailwheel. Using various thicknesses of aircraft plywood
I epoxied two halves together. Using a stationary disc sander I then
sanded the glued sides flat. Holding the two pieces together on the upside
down plane I scribed a line on the back of the block to match the angle of
the rudder with respect to the back of the fuselage. Note that it is not
90 degrees. I then marked and drilled the block for the tailwheel bolts.
Then between the two pieces I countersunk the block deep enough to
accommodate the thickness of the blind nuts. I sprayed the bolts with PAM
cooking spray to be used as a release agent. I then epoxied the two blocks
together. Even with the release agent I periodically moved the bolts
during curing to make sure the epoxy did not freeze them. Here is a
picture of the block clamped up while the epoxy is drying. If you look
very closely at the picture you can pick out the edges of the blind nuts
peeking out from between the plys. They are a little over half way through
the thickness of the laminated block.
(See attached file

After curing and additional sanding I placed the block onto the bottom of
the fuselage and scribed my cutoff line for the front of the block. I
chose to make the cut angle identical to the downward angle of the aluminum
strap. I then epoxied the block onto the bottom of the fuselage flush with
the back.
(See attached file

I did have to slot the back of the block for the bottom rudder hinge. I
also had to cut the hinge shorter as it extended into the first bolt and
blindnut inside of the block. I am including this last picture to show
that I made the block slightly taller than the rudder. This is to provide
clearance for the "T" shaped strap that will be screwed into the bottom of
the rudder that the springs attach to.
(See attached file

If I had it to do over I might epoxy the blind nuts to a block inside the
fuselage. This would require much longer bolts but covering might be
easier as the block would not have to be fastened to the bottom. I
happened to shoot pictures as I built the tailwheel assembly. Hopefully
these help answer your questions. This is my first work with a scratch
built plane. I hope to use what I am learning to do my first kit and then
a scratch built one of my own.

Bill

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

I did get the email and the attachments. Thanks for the detailed instructions and pix they helped alot. Now jus waiting for the weekend to get started.

sneakywrist

My Feedback: (19)

Hey Guys, looking for advice on replacing the wing tips. I cut the covering and found damage to both wing tips. The look really weak and was wondering if anyone modified theres.

wjglynn

Hey Flybaby fans? The last post here was March. Wow time flies. I am geared back up and trying to finish my flybaby. I have been a covering fool. Here are the latest pics. I used the red and black pattern from above but added more scallops and a little flare on the wingtips. The last picture shows where I have added material to the cockpit. The orginal build did not have the reverse radius on the front of the cockpit edges so I have added to it to make it closer to scale. I am burning through some unused vacation here at the end of the year to make some good progress on this extended project.

Bill

jzrf6c

I'm just finishing up my flybaby kit that I built over the winter. I have installed a zenoah 26cc engine (used but in great shape). I'm wondering what wieght do you guys have on your Flybaby? Mine is coming in at about 13 pounds. Does this seem reasonable? I made a hatch in the side of the plane for battery and receiver (AR7200) access. I'm also using 5 cell NMH 2500 Mah battery, thus 6 volts. Servos are, 5 Hitec HS-475HB. I was surprised to find I placed the battery to far back in the fuse and need to move it forward now in order to balance the plane. I know I had balanced the plane before I started covering it. I used a HobbyKing covering. I'm not sure where I went wrong and the extra weight came from. But, it should not be a big deal to get it to balance at 3 5/8 inches behind the leading edge.

Any pointer, hints, advice will be greatly appreciated.

Larry

wjglynn

Larry,

I am finishing up mine also but not quite far enough to weigh. I am expecting mine to come in at 13-14 pounds also. I am using a G-26EI. I have added smoke, solid struts instead of landing wires, and I am using J3 Cub gear instead of the solid scale gear. How about some pictures? I would like to see your plane?

Bill