Gee Bee Y 50CC 97.4'' RC Airplane
01-30-2018, 03:35 AM
#26
Hello All:
First off please excuse the photos taken in my living room as my garage workshop is being used for a woodworking project. Future photos will be a little better as my workshop has much better lighting and I will not have to use flash.
As you can see by the photos the Gee Bee was packaged fairly well from the trip from overseas to the supplier than to me. Packaged in 2 layers with the cowl and dummy engine in a section all its own. No damage was realized by any of the parts from shipping.
I am going to simply state my thoughts in two categories: The Good and the Needs Improvement.
The Good:
The paint finish on the fiberglass parts is flawless.
The covering (I am assuming is Oracover/Ultracote) has a few minor wrinkles that will be easy to remedy with a heat gun.
Construction is all Light Weight Plywood making it strong and light. If I find any Balsa I will point it out as I am building.
The Carbon Fiber wing tube fits perfectly in both wings and fuselage.
The machining on the landing gear and wheel hubs is outstanding.
Cowl ring installed at the factory.
Access hatch is huge allowing plenty of working room for component installation.
All hinges are pre-drilled installed but still need gluing.
Needs Improvement:
Each wing half is in two sections. I think a one-piece wing half would be the norm.
The factory supplied threaded hold down screws that hold the hatch in place look out of place on the fuselage. Several alternative solutions come to mind but I will give it some thought before I implement one.
An assembly manual was not included in the box. I did search the web site but could not find it. Thanks to RickVB I do have a manual. Thank you Rick!
I will be back with the build photos and progress in about a week. My woodworking project is almost done than to the Gee Bee.
Till the next time.
Ta Ta for now.
Paul
First off please excuse the photos taken in my living room as my garage workshop is being used for a woodworking project. Future photos will be a little better as my workshop has much better lighting and I will not have to use flash.
As you can see by the photos the Gee Bee was packaged fairly well from the trip from overseas to the supplier than to me. Packaged in 2 layers with the cowl and dummy engine in a section all its own. No damage was realized by any of the parts from shipping.
I am going to simply state my thoughts in two categories: The Good and the Needs Improvement.
The Good:
The paint finish on the fiberglass parts is flawless.
The covering (I am assuming is Oracover/Ultracote) has a few minor wrinkles that will be easy to remedy with a heat gun.
Construction is all Light Weight Plywood making it strong and light. If I find any Balsa I will point it out as I am building.
The Carbon Fiber wing tube fits perfectly in both wings and fuselage.
The machining on the landing gear and wheel hubs is outstanding.
Cowl ring installed at the factory.
Access hatch is huge allowing plenty of working room for component installation.
All hinges are pre-drilled installed but still need gluing.
Needs Improvement:
Each wing half is in two sections. I think a one-piece wing half would be the norm.
The factory supplied threaded hold down screws that hold the hatch in place look out of place on the fuselage. Several alternative solutions come to mind but I will give it some thought before I implement one.
An assembly manual was not included in the box. I did search the web site but could not find it. Thanks to RickVB I do have a manual. Thank you Rick!
I will be back with the build photos and progress in about a week. My woodworking project is almost done than to the Gee Bee.
Till the next time.
Ta Ta for now.
Paul
01-30-2018, 05:13 AM
#27
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Yeah, it's kind of an odd way of doing it. Usually, they make a three piece wing with the center section carrying the gear, and mounting on the bottom of the fuse with a belly pan cover under it. But in this case, they had engineered the fuse with through tubes and side mounted wing panels already, so I guess rather than re-engineer the entire fuse they just cut each wing panel in half. I can envision some problems with that approach; I guess we'll see how well that works.
Last edited by RickVB; 01-30-2018 at 05:15 AM.
02-11-2018, 04:38 PM
#31
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Hello all:
As of right now I have no build progress as yesterday was shop cleanup from my woodworking project. Today I helped my wife with some reorganizing till mid day.
I did have a chance to remove all the contents of the shipping box the Gee Bee Y was shipped in and placed them on my work table and fuselage stand. Much to my surprise the box was not only taped together but glued as well making for a secure carton.
With the few comments about the 2 piece wing halves I opened the hardware packet in search of joining hardware which I did find as well as a mini disk that had the assembly manuals for many models from the manufacturer including the 50CC Gee Bee Y. The manual was identical to the posted by RickVB so nothing to note except one was included with the ARF.
The joining hardware
The joining hardware consists of 4 pieces of aluminum stock with slotted openings on opposite ends of the stock. (I will post pictures this week) The stock is designed to be inserted into aligned openings in the wing panels. I however will not be using the hardware for the intended purpose for two important reasons which I will explain with photos in my next post.
Ta Ta for now.
Paul
As of right now I have no build progress as yesterday was shop cleanup from my woodworking project. Today I helped my wife with some reorganizing till mid day.
I did have a chance to remove all the contents of the shipping box the Gee Bee Y was shipped in and placed them on my work table and fuselage stand. Much to my surprise the box was not only taped together but glued as well making for a secure carton.
With the few comments about the 2 piece wing halves I opened the hardware packet in search of joining hardware which I did find as well as a mini disk that had the assembly manuals for many models from the manufacturer including the 50CC Gee Bee Y. The manual was identical to the posted by RickVB so nothing to note except one was included with the ARF.
The joining hardware
The joining hardware consists of 4 pieces of aluminum stock with slotted openings on opposite ends of the stock. (I will post pictures this week) The stock is designed to be inserted into aligned openings in the wing panels. I however will not be using the hardware for the intended purpose for two important reasons which I will explain with photos in my next post.
Ta Ta for now.
Paul
02-17-2018, 05:26 PM
#32
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Hello all:
Another late start today so another day without build progress.
I did take the time to photograph the wing halves and the way the manufacturer intended to have the outer portions of the wings detachable.
The images below show the two portions of the wing halves to be joined using aligned slots in each of the wings. The plywood platform installed in the wing halves to hold the joining hardware.
I have already stated I will not be using the hardware for 2 reasons.
1 – The hardware comes with threaded Allen bolts for securing them to the wing. The manufacturer installed blind huts in the outer portion of the wing but did not install them on the inner portion. This would force the builder to use a wood or sheet metal screw to secure the hardware to the inner portion of the wing.
2 – The access holes are on the top of both wings halves. The holes in the inner halves can be covered up permanently but the holes in the outer halves would need to be left open. Not a great look to have holes in the top of a wing.
I also pictured the thickness of the hardware which I will be replacing with wood and epoxy in place than join the halves together. First thought is to use plywood but the 1/8 inch hardware was a tad loose for me so I will likely re-saw some hardwood scrap I have in the workshop.
Till the next time.
Ta Ta for now.
Paul
Another late start today so another day without build progress.
I did take the time to photograph the wing halves and the way the manufacturer intended to have the outer portions of the wings detachable.
The images below show the two portions of the wing halves to be joined using aligned slots in each of the wings. The plywood platform installed in the wing halves to hold the joining hardware.
I have already stated I will not be using the hardware for 2 reasons.
1 – The hardware comes with threaded Allen bolts for securing them to the wing. The manufacturer installed blind huts in the outer portion of the wing but did not install them on the inner portion. This would force the builder to use a wood or sheet metal screw to secure the hardware to the inner portion of the wing.
2 – The access holes are on the top of both wings halves. The holes in the inner halves can be covered up permanently but the holes in the outer halves would need to be left open. Not a great look to have holes in the top of a wing.
I also pictured the thickness of the hardware which I will be replacing with wood and epoxy in place than join the halves together. First thought is to use plywood but the 1/8 inch hardware was a tad loose for me so I will likely re-saw some hardwood scrap I have in the workshop.
Till the next time.
Ta Ta for now.
Paul
02-20-2018, 05:22 PM
#34
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To fulfill Lifer’s request here are some photos of the wing sockets and how the wings go together.
Note the center hole of the wing socket is for a holding bolt tightened from the inside of the fuselage to hold the wing to the fuselage. The two outer holes are for alignment pins already installed on the inner wing half.
And as a heads up note; Maxford USA’s red/white 2 seat version Gee Bee is back in stock.
Note the center hole of the wing socket is for a holding bolt tightened from the inside of the fuselage to hold the wing to the fuselage. The two outer holes are for alignment pins already installed on the inner wing half.
And as a heads up note; Maxford USA’s red/white 2 seat version Gee Bee is back in stock.
02-20-2018, 05:57 PM
#35
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Joining the wing halves
I did not have to re-saw material for the joining spurs because I had some over spec 1/8 inch plywood in my building materials that fit nice and snug in the alignment slots of the two wing halves. The joiners measured 4 7/8 X ¾ inches wing rib to wing rib. To insure the wing tube would align properly once the wings were joined I inserted the wing tube while the epoxy cured. Also note I smeared some petroleum jelly around the wing tube where the two halves met to make sure I did not epoxy the wing tube to the wing halves while the epoxy cured. To hold the wing halves in place during the epoxy cure I used painters tape stretched from end to end of the now one piece wing half to apply light pressure on the joint. The white under the tape in the photo is simple paper to keep the tape from sticking to the covering. Using the paper will avoid pulling stress on the covering when the tape is removed.
The wing was given a day to cure, after removing the tape the bond seems solid to me. I tested the dependability of the wing by firmly twisting the wing without the joint cracking and the epoxy held strong.
Paul
The wing was given a day to cure, after removing the tape the bond seems solid to me. I tested the dependability of the wing by firmly twisting the wing without the joint cracking and the epoxy held strong.
Paul
03-18-2018, 05:39 PM
#37
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I have the General Hobbies 97" Gee Bee also Just getting started. First I ordered the Red and White version and they shipped the Yellow and Black. I've got 2 calls and 2 emails in to General Hobbies and they have not responded. I also have a damaged cowl. Not impressed with the customer service to date.
03-18-2018, 05:56 PM
#38
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Spacewalker, how is your cowl damaged? Mine came out of the packing with several smashed places on the edge at the fuse end. The original owner tried for several months to get General to respond on that, but they never did.
08-27-2018, 06:43 AM
#44
Rick said in post#17 that GH sent him a manual and he posted it here. I have down loaded that manual from Ricks post and it is a pretty poor manual but it will help in the assembly process. I am sill hoping to find out how wide the cowl is before I order this plane. My engine is pretty wide and I really don't want to mess up the cowl trying to get it to fit.
Thanks
Jim
09-03-2018, 06:28 PM
#46
I just heard from General Hobby and they shipped this plane by Greyhound. I ordered it on 8/29/18 and here it is 9/3/18 and I just got a notice from Greyhound that they received it today and shipped it from their LA California terminal. They said it was because of it size it was better to ship it threw Greyhound. We will see how this goes. I will have to go into Memphis to pick it up
09-22-2018, 05:07 PM
#48
I have my General Hobby 97" Gee Bee Model Y now. I tool 2 weeks for it to arrive because General Hobby sent it on Grey Hound and I had to go into Memphis to pick it up. I like the hardware that came with the plane. All the Robart like hinges where install all I had to do was glue them in place. I have the pull-pull Rudder setup and the elevator servo's installed. I will take some pic's tomorrow and post them. The plane was package so well it took 20 minutes to get the box top off. There was no damage to any part. The instructions came on a small CD and are not very good but I have built enough ARF's I think I can figure it out
09-23-2018, 06:15 AM
#50
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Hi All:
I have been away from this thread for a while and see I have missed much. I had to take the summer off for two big reasons. I live at a camp ground for the summer and the GeeBee is to large for my shed and I have no place to park my Cargo Trailer. I will continue the build soon once I am at home for the season. I do have some more build photos which I will post sometime this week or next. Right now I have all the servos in and using the Carbon Fiber extension arms included with the kit. My next step will be to mount the motor and cowl which I have started problem solving as I will be powering with electric at about 8000 watts.
To answer the question of cowl size it is 12 1/8 inches inside dimension.
Catch you all soon.
Paul
I have been away from this thread for a while and see I have missed much. I had to take the summer off for two big reasons. I live at a camp ground for the summer and the GeeBee is to large for my shed and I have no place to park my Cargo Trailer. I will continue the build soon once I am at home for the season. I do have some more build photos which I will post sometime this week or next. Right now I have all the servos in and using the Carbon Fiber extension arms included with the kit. My next step will be to mount the motor and cowl which I have started problem solving as I will be powering with electric at about 8000 watts.
To answer the question of cowl size it is 12 1/8 inches inside dimension.
Catch you all soon.
Paul
