Something about a Gee Bee, huh! I cheated and have the Kyosho .46 size Z model ARF powered with a Magnum .61 4 cycle. Been flying it for a little less than a year. First flight was a doozy! Had way too much elevator and learned a lot about flying 3-D that day. Had a bud help me trim it and then I flew it around till I could master the EXTREME sensitivity of the elevator. When I finally got calmed down enough, I remembered the Model Airplane News review of this plane and how the reviewer just lined it up and slowly backed off the throttle until it set down on the mains. Mine landed perfectly the first time, however I'm also running about .500 on it still being on the wheels to taxi back to the pits. I never had much luck with a 3-point landing. I come in hot enough that the elevator is still effective and hold the tail down as it slows. Got 6 good ones in a row! Crushed the wheel pants on the second flight and finally gave up repairing them leaving them off entirely. The thin fiber glass cowl has been reinforced and repaired several times.

Flight characteristics for the Kyosho Gee Bee is that it takes off easier than most of the tail draggers I've ever had. It flies like a sport plane most of the time at full speed and is a little touchy at low speed. It flies very scale like with the .61 and the 4 cycle sounds really nice under that cowl. My field is at 5500 feet but doesn't seem to have much effect on its flying. 750 ft long, 100 ft wide decomposed granite runway comes in handy with this plane especially when I had my one and only dead stick Glad to hear about others building and flyng this historic plane. There used to be a full sized Z model at the Smithsonian Air Museum and if you ever get a chance to see Delmar Benjamin fly his full scale R2 replica, it is one of the most amazing things you'll ever see!