Mine will have a O.S. .91fx on the nose, will let you know how it flies.

I hope to fly it fast.

If you prop that .90 right you will have no problems going fast, but I agree with the lighter is better concept. As to the earlier questions on Flapperons I did try this on a Kyosho Stearman and It would slow to a walk on landing and only roll 2 or 3 lengths in the grass on landing. Trouble is, if you get it too slow there is a lot of glass on the Gee Bee to repair.

The one thing that I am trying out new is to couple the elevator trim to the throttle to trim the model slower as I throttle back. I am finding that if you trim nose up to slow down on approach you don't have to monkey with the elevator to hold a steady speed.


As I fly off of grass I am wondering about the Gee Bee's handling on take off on the asphalt. The thing tracks like it is on rails in the grass.

And let me add, that if Adrian Pages model Z flys better than the Kyosho, then one of the major reasons is; it's LIGHTER ! Think about it before loading it up with that Satio 150.
Food for thought guys. The heavier the wing loading, the faster that you are going to have to land it. Just tryin to help.

I bow to Mr Lynchs advice. I got a chance to slip out to our field Friday on what was a windy overcast 40 degree day. I concentrated on making slow nose high steep approches and had the most fun I have had in a while. The more I am able to fly it the more comfortable it becomes. you don't need flaps at all as the Gee Bee will slow to a crawl once you pull the nose up. As far as the power needed I am using a new Saito .56 that I am running rich and the thing is off the grass in 20 to 30 feet and will climb out at an easy 45 degree climb. The little bit of stiffness I added to the gear helped out a lot on the grass strip we fly on and even though I bent the gear back a little to get the wheel pants off of the deck I still have no problems with nose over.

As far as coupling the trim to the throttle it was not worth the trouble and I went back to just flying the thing. I am not really noticing any change in trim from full throttle to idle


Keep it light

PIPESCS: You make being here, all worthwhile. Glad to hear that you are doing so well with it. Your confidence will increase with flight time, and you'll enjoy it even more. Just imagine yourself sitting in that cockpit with your leather helmet and goggles on back in 1931, and fly it by the "Seat of your pants". ( Old time saying ) With the sticks ! That's where the fun is !
Didn't have on-board computers back then.

I didn't get to fly this week but was able to do a little more detail work on the cockpit and canopy. (I had been flying with the canopy taped on). I cut out the area of the cockpit and installed a floor and instrument panel. I painted up a williams 1/5th scale pilot figure and installed it without having to trim any off. I used Sig yellow stripping tape to detail out the canopy. Everyone agrees it looks better than just a head in the canopy. I also was able to finally put it on a Great Planes CG machine to get a good check of the CG. I am flying with a 2 1/2 oz prop nut and it is making the model slightly nose heavy. Without it the model is a little on the tail heavy side. I will be moving the battery into the cowl so I can remove the brass nut.

I travel to Sierra Vista AZ from time to time on my job. It is about an hour from Tucson. Maybe we can hook up to see you Gee Bee.

While in Maryland last week I checked in with the club there as I knew of one Gee Bee out there. I heard it was lost on it's first flight due to engine failure on takeoff. They have a great field exept it is surrounded by trees. If you can't make it back to the field you can pretty much count it as a write off.

Sure, Y'all come on down to Tucson anytime. We have club members from Sierra Vista, most notable being Chip Hyde. Chipper, and others fly them there remote powered vehicles for TRW at Fort Huachuca.

I will give you a call before I come out next Time

Had a chance to try it on asphalt yesterday. YOU Can Have it. I made two perfect takeoffs and flights only to ground loop both landings. I have not had this problem on grass.

I will say I have never flown off of pavement before and that the problem was getting behind the curve and then over correcting with too much rudder on roll out leading to a classic ground loop landing on it's back.

I am going back to the grass were it is much more forgiving on roll out and when you do run into problems, the grass is less abbrasive on the fiber glass. I will also cut down my rudder throws on landing to help me with my overcorrecting problem.

Damage is limited to a dinged prop and I'll have to sand out and repaint the top of the vertical stab and cowl. I still have not put the decals on the cowl so I did not loose them. The black on the pants will need a little work also. Ill try to get the photos on the net after I get them scanned.

Repairs to my two ground loops are complete.

Things that may come in handy are:

Monocote/Lustercote paint in yellow (Not Cub Yellow) on their white primer is a good match for the Gee Bee. I also used their black for the cowl. Sig makes a 3/16th red trim tabe that also matches the pin stripping.

Fiber Glass boat color restorer is great for buffing the asphalt stains off the yellow on the wing bottom


As to why I ground looped, I went back and reviewed my throws on the rudder. I had set the model up with max throw and it makes the model squirley on the ground. I set it up at 1/2 of what I had and it now rolls out a lot straighter with less input from me.

My battery is now mounted on the cowl mount ring and I was able to replace the heavy spinner nut with a light aluminum one.

My CG is now at 65 mm vice the 70 shown in the manual.

Making repairs again. Nothing pad just a couple of scrape marks to the Wheel Pants.

I have had to cut and regalia the other landing gear block as the gear failed again. In my case it is just not enough glue was used on these blocks and they just popped loose on landing.

On my second of six flights this last weekend I lost power on take off (Poor needle valve adjustment on my part) and had to put down in a pasture. This resulted in a cartwheel tumble that was sickening to see. I will give Kyosho this, the thing is tough as a boot. Not a mark on it.

One note on my flying, I am now dialing in right rudder trim for take off.

I'm putting together one of these Geebees. When I balanced my Kyosho Pitts it came out very tail heavy even with a 91 4 stroke in it.Ended up taking the 2.5 oz off the tail and now it flys great.I also had a discrepency in their dihedral specs. Ill be putting either a 91 or Saito 100 in it. Over all I have to say that Ive been satisfied with their ARFs having the CAP also.

I see quite a few entries on putting large engines in the Gee Bee and I would like to hear from those that have tried it.

I am using half right rudder on take off and any time I apply power to climb. The model on take off climb out develops a serious swing on a .56 Saito with a 12 x 6 APC prop.

Every one that has seen mine OOHs and AHHs on the fly bys, saying how scale it looks.

Mine has a O.S. .91fx on it, but I haven't flown it yet.

Gotta wait until spring, I'd like to hear answers to this question also.

To me, a scale Geebee of this size should go by at about 120 mph. I hope mine will go that fast.

daven,

I realize you said "To me, a scale GeeBee of this size......"
But the real Gee Bee Z reached a speed of 281.9 and then broke apart. So a 5th scale Gee Bee Z would have to do 56.38 mph to look scale and hopefully it won't break apart!

I have a video tape showing the Z and R 1 on their speed runs. At 290 the R1 is not exactly screaming when it goes by.

If weather holds off here in Alabama this weekend I will be trying to take mine out again.

I bought Momma a digital Camera for Christmas and will try to post a photo soon.

To Jim Lynch

I am working in Sierra Vista for a few days on a UAV project called the Shadow. I met Chip Hyde at the DPA office and he gave me some pointers on the GEE BEE's landings. I won't be able to call this trip as we will fly out in the morning. Ill be back in January and Feb and will try get with you then as I will be out for a couple of weeks.

When I started out flying the Gee Bee I was impressed with flying it but had both gear blocks fail in the wings when there glue joints failed. (I fly off grass) After the repairs I started having a lot of problems with ground loops and just generaly keeping it straight on the ground. In talking to Nick Ziroli and reading about his Pitts Special plans of 1967 I learned that he had moved the gear back toward the CG to help its ground handling. When I looked at my Gee Bee I had move the gear angle forward to help the nose over problem in the grass and have turned it into a pig on the ground as far as ground loops are concerned. I have now bent it back to where it belongs and all is right in the world.

Is anyone still flying theres?

I just received my Kyosho Gee Bee Z last night and it is too beautiful. I was planning on putting in my Saito .91 because the weight was about the same as the .46FX and 3-1/2 oz. weight that the MAN review used. After reading all these posts, I am a bit timid about the whole thing, especially the landings. My only hope is that all I have ever owned have been tail dragger biplanes, and a Great Planes Triplane, so maybe I can manage this squirrely monoplane. I guess I will just set my jaw and hope the fiberglass survives the first few flights. Maybe my Saito .72....

Definitely go with the .72 over the .91

Fly it off short grass, watch the CG, Stay on the Rudder from take off till you park it. Follow the throws recommended for high rates and half for low rates. (It has a nasty snap if you use too much elevator travel).

I have flipped mine groundlooping it every time I have landed on the asphalt but never on grass. I had my elevator and rudder set too high on the first flight and almost snapped it into the ground trying to loop it.


I would also recommend not flying it early this season if you have gotten rusty during the winter. get current on something you are familial with and on a good no wind day try it.

We must be pretty lucky. My brother Morgothius and I have been flying non stop this winter except for the occasional windy or rained out weekend.

It must be no fun not being able to go flying!

OK, maybe I'm just a whiner, but I need to dump right now. This evening, I was one hours worth of work from flying my beautiful new Kyosho Gee Bee Z with the saito .91 and the fuselage and engine leaped off the bench and landed nose first on the concrete. I'm done. So is the engine and fuse. Count me out of this thread. Do not try this at home. Thanks for listening.

Hey don't give in so easy. Put it away for aweek and then rethink it

I have a new, yet to be built, Kyosho Gee Bee Z. I also have a new Saito 90R3D radial engine I know would look good inside that large cowling. But after reading this thread I'm not sure this is a good engine choice. The radial puts out the same hp as the OS 52 and the Saito 56, so I was thinking I was ok power wise (not overpowered). However the engine weights twice that of the other two mentioned. The radial weights 29.98 ounces. The extra engine weight might take care of the light nose, but what will it do to the wing loading? How will this fly. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I sure would like to use this combination.

I just got out this weekend to fly for the first time in months. I took a Great Planes Cub and a JK Aerotech 1/12 combat fomie (Jap Zero) to warm up on and the Kyosho Gee Bee to fly if things went well with the first two. After 7 flights on the first two I flew my Gee Bee which is powered by a .56 Saito with a 12-6 APC. It was the best flight I remember having with it. The grass was a little high and I had to hold a lot of elevator to keep it from nosing over on taxi. The Saito gets it off the ground in less than 30 feet even in the grass. I fly it at about 2/3 throttle. I have the battery mounted on the firewall/cowl rib that screws to the firewall.

I was able to fly mine with a O.S. .91FX this weekend. Balance was not a problem with this engine, but its definately a bit too much engine. A .61 would probably be about the perfect 2 stroke.

First flight took off at 1/2 throttle within 10 feet. Climbed out nice, and flew around the sky at about 1/4 throttle (Still plenty fast). Flew around a little bit, and even made a few passes at full throttle. I would estimate speeds at close to 120 mph. I had glassed the center section, and the wing is definately strong.

The first landing was a little hotter than I would have liked, but I had a hard time slowing it down with a 14x6 prop on the .91. Thankfully, it rolled out nicely. On my second flight, the engine died (still not sure exactly why). I deadsticked the plane in, and promptly groundlooped it on landing. Damage was relatively minor, but it was done for the day. Can't wait to fly it again.