Hi
I live in Norway and I have just finished my Rare Bear.
Mine is set up with a Saito 180, and attention has been made to deatails.
My bear carryes "eagle" data logging system togheter with "intellegent" glowdriver. All servos are Futaba digital, and personal I think it has been the most butiful plane I ever owned.
I dont know how to put pichures in here so if anybody could assist me, I would be glad.
Anyway, I have not been able to fly it yet, but I am looking forward to it.
Regarding prices. In Norway the Bear has a pris in the shop for approx. 650US$

G'day Rudi,
To post pics - Click on "reply" in the top right hand corner (you'll see "reply" on each post), when the "reply to message" box appears click on the "click here to upload". There you'll be able upload your pic.

Good luck with your RareBear, you'll love it.
Mines awesome, looks the part both on the ground and in the air. She's powered by a ST G2300.
Cheers
Ken

I get message that file has been uploaded, but ther is no pichures.

Oh, It did work, here are more pics.

And more pics.
Any comments?`both positive and negative, please.
The gear for retrakt has been changed, now it is more rigid.

more pics
Does anybody have videoclips of the bear in flight?`

Nice pics! I am at the same stage, just buttoning it up, putting on the canopy and decals over the next few days. I am using the same onboard glow ignition system.. Nelson I believe it is. I changed the wings to bolt on from the inside instead of the set screw as I have heard of some people having trouble removing the wings after a while. I am using the 150 saito inverted so only a bit of the rocker covers shows from below the cowl. I used robart pneumatic retarcts with the straigh robo struts while retaining the coil for added protection. I really beefed up the landing gear mounts as they are really bad as shipped from the factory. I had to move the fire wall back 3/4" to get the spinner to go where it is suppose to, other wise the carb interfered with the engine mount. I also changed the wheels to dave brown treaded 3 1/4" lights to fit the wheel well. Im not crazy about the rear tail wheel spring mounting but I will see how she ground handles.
This arf has taken me longer to build than most of my kits, lol. But she is pretty. I am using the 14MZ radio with it with high torque servos on the tail group and semi high torque servos on the wings. To avoid the fuel tank, I mounted a high torque mini servo on the fire wall to run the throttle. I kept all the wieght forward including the air reservoir, the retract servo and the reciever. Everything is mounted on top of the fuel tank but are removable with a few screws.

Thanks again for the great photos, I still cannont figure out how to add pics on this forum.

Make sure you guys address the horizontal stab defect (and it sounds like you allready addresed the retract mounts)!!! nice work!!

Here are more pics.
I have been using some afternones now for finetuning the engine-setup regarding the glowdriver and engine (squishband clearense).
I now have a safe idle of 1800 rpm with a 16/8 threeblade prop.
One of the pics showing the gauges in the dashboard ( dont know if that is the right word) that has lights in. My batteri-indicator is glued to the backside of the dashboard so the led,s are acting as lights for the pilot.
Some pichures show how the house for the exhaust is wraped around the engine to make sure the smoke will escape out of the plane on the same place as the original Bear.

more pics

Here is some early video of my RB http://www.valkyriesrc.com/Videos.htm.

Looks like you guys have done OUTSTANDING work with your RB's. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you read this thread about the stab mods. If you haven't, I give you 80% odds that you will loose you plane in the first 10 flights. THere is a SERIOUS problem with the rear stab on this plane.

Keep us posted..............................

Ok
I have done everything to my bear, but the mods to the stab.
Can anyone descibe exact what I should change on the stab, where to cut hole, and how to glue it?`

Rudi

G'day Rudi,
Go back to page 27, I posted a method that I used to assemble the tailplanes.
I mentioned back then I was not convinced that a modification is needed. I still believe that to be the case. Correct length and correctly fitted spars ensuring epoxy is where it should be will provide more than adequate strength in the assembly.
DON' T use quick drying epoxies. Take your time, I can assure you it WILL be worth it...........
Cheers
Ken

I have been reading this review of the Rare Bear almost from the the first posting. I have had this Bear for about 5 months and when time is available I would work on it. I am about 95% done doing all of the suggested rebuilding (stabilizer,retracts ETC) I was hooking up the retracts and had the wing tube in place and noticed I had about 3/16 gap on the right wing at the trailing edge. Left wing fit fine no gap nice fit! without the wing tube good fit all the way around. Has anybody else had this problem? If so what did you do about it? Any advice on this would be appreciated. Skip

Dear Robart retract users :

Do you use offset struts or straight struts ?

Thanks.

I used the straight struts so I could retain the wheel well liner. I was able to put in a little larger wheel with out modifing wheel well. When I tried the off sets the wheel sat too low in the well and would have required cutting into it.

Thanks bstratos, can you please tell me which retract and strut model you used ?

Thanks in advance.

I believe they were the 660's (Robart). They ran about $80 for the pair as they sell individually. I acutally cut the origional landing gear off and mounted these directly to the robostrut thus retaining the coil for protection against a hard landing.

Regards,
Randy

Rich
I do not agree that Rare Bear is a good buy. I had one and the stabs blew out on the second flight at part throttle, using a ys91 with a 14x10 prop. I purchased a CMP F6F Hellcat for $200 and found that model to be a better product for less money. The bulkheads were glued in with sufficient glue and all I did was add glue to the retract mounts with a hypodermic needle. It has taken some rough landings without damaging the structure. It also has a fiberglass fuse. Ace is way behind and they refuse to acknowledge it.
Dan

My TT Rare Bear horizontal stab broke off on the 4th flight... right in front of about 40 people... there is nothing left of it worth saving. I was at about 2/3 throttle and straight and level about 50 ft off the ground. We all saw the right stabilizer flutter violently up and down and then 'pop' it broke off. I rolled it to the left and pulled the throttle back and it went in nose down. It destroyed the plane and broke the motor. I have flown and built airplanes since 1958 and I have never until this plane had one to literally fall apart on me. Yes I had opened the bottom of the stabilizer and added extra glue. I think the problem is that this airplane is a marginal design and will eventually cause someone to get hurt. In my opinion it is unsafe to fly around spectators. Had the structural failure occurred 4 seconds earlier the plane would have crashed into the crowd of people. I have contacted ACE and they say they have no responsibility for this and are refusing to return my money for a defective product and fix the engine. I don't understand why they are doing this but it will clearly have an effect on my decision to buy their products in the future.

have anyone considered putting wires to hold the stabs, like biplane have togheter with gluing as suggested.

We have almost completed our Rare Bear. For the retracts, we used Robart 550 mains with Robart 661 offset struts. I have enclosed three photos of the installation.

sjcrash,

You stated

You obviously didn't read the LAST SENTENCE of my post.

I still stand by this statement. I've flown mine several times at full throttle going downhill and I haven't had a single problem. However I have made modifications to correct the deficiencies identified by others that haven't been as fortunate with their RBs.

To recap the mods.

1) Installed blocking in the horz. stabs and elevators for Robart Hinge Points.

2) Opened the stab skins and reglued ever joint.

3)Ensured that the fiberglass tube spars where properly fitted and then glued to each rib it penetracted with 2hr epoxy and BVM mill fibre mix.

4)Gap sealed the elevator hinge lines.

5) Tossed all the elevator hardware and utilized high quality parts with 4-40 threads

6) Doubled the thickness of the rudder post inside the vert stab. Installed blocking in the rudder for large hinge points.

7) Utilized the large Robart Hinge Points for the rudder.

8)Installed redesigned and proper retract mounts constructed from 1/4" 5-ply plywood.

9)Removed the front former, cleaned up interior of fuselage and the former, reglued front former into the fuselage with industrial grade epoxy (12 hour set) mixed will BVM mill fibre.

10)Decreased the downthrust and right thrust by approximately 1 degree each.

11) Threw away all the aileron hardware and replaced with quality US manufactured components.

12) Replaced the aileron hinges with Radio South Giant Scale CA Hinges.

I'm running an ASP 1.08 Redhead with Bisson Pitts muffler, turning a 14 x7 Master Airscrew 3-blade. Level flight speed is in excess of 100 mph and the plane flys like it's on rails. No flutter, and no other problems.

There are many others that are also having success with the RB. Sorry to hear you didn't find out about the mods that where needed to prevent the tail from seperating in flight.

Rich

.:.

In my opinion the plane is not safe to fly anywhere near spectators because of the defective design of the horizontal Stabilizer. Ace representatives explained that you cannot make any modification to the plane or the warranty will be voided. Using a Saito 150 engine or the opening of the covering on the wings or tail would result in a voided warranty... So, this means that virtually anything you do to correct their design flaws will result in a voided warranty. This plane is described as an "Unlimited Pylon Racer" and they say that it is an ARF (almost ready to fly???)... Not even close!
They have won the argument. It is too bad they feel this way... too bad for me too. I will not consider ever buying another product from Ace or Thunder Tiger because of their "perfect legally worded policy".