I meant to say 48-52 four stroke in the previous post. when you have to fly at full throttle it means you need more power. You could sand a taper on the leading edges of the struts to reduce drag there. other than that there is not much you can do. I have a 2" spinner on it to help in the front. any larger and you reduce prop efficiency. you might try 2 1/2. When Junior gets it in December I might try an 11 inch prop. the os 40 la is about the weakest 40 on the market. If you have a stronger 40 you will be better off. I can email my version of the instructions to anyone who asks. they will help a novice like me but maybe not a pro. phil

PROOF!!

Hay Philreuman...
What s that ugly thing flying in hte air....!
Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

Hey Guys, I was wonderin if this biplane flies better then a Global Fokker D-7? I have one of those but not built yet. I'm still in trainer flying.....

Bobby this thing is cuter than a new born speckled pup. I have a tiger moth with a 91 four stroke in it and it is pretty. this one is CUTE. phil

Hay Philreuman,
No matter what any one can say about the looks of a stick model...they will grow on you in time. And they all fly up a storm too...can handle hi winds, simple to fix and land as sweet as can be. I bought the Cedar Hobies ARF of the model...and I have a kit in the garage too. Tell me I don't like the stick biplane.
Soft landings always,
Bobby of Maui

I see that Cedar Hobbies is "sold out" of the bipe

They have an order in for another 100 kits. Although they are aware of the shortcomings in this run of kits I doubt they will address any of them. All builders are pretty much the same. How many years have you been re gluing all the wood in an ARF? I re wrote their instructions for them but they never did use them. All in all it is not a bad ARF. just minor things like most of the chinese stuff.

I Lied. I just went to Cedar Hobbies and checked the Bipe instructions. They include the changes I made. Maybe they will address some of the other things as well.

I just got done flying this biplane. Actually I'm writing the instruction manual for this plane. So I'll start by saying this is the easiest ARF I have had to build. It went together in less than 1/2 day and built absolutely true. All surfaces built at zero incidences. The hardware package needs some upgrading like all ARF's usually do, but other than that it was basic. Flying the plane almost reminds me of a single wing ugly stick. There was no ground looping problems and only slight bite of right rudder was needed. It looks like it was made for a .35 size engine, but I went ahead and change that to fit my .46OS. The plane should fly well with a .35, if that’s what you want. A .46 will give nearly unlimited vertical and some pretty good 3D. Knife edge is no problem and flat spins is possible with full elevator deflection. The plane is docile at slow speed and shows no sign of tip stall. I did get to experience a dead stick landing with wing speed of ~20mph. It's a typical biplane that will fall out of the sky without power, but on a near "stall speed" landing the plane just dropped straight down. No snap what so ever.
I'm really happy with this plane and will fly it before others in my hanger.
Spinman

If you are writing the instruction manual, you should write it as a .PDF file so it would be easier to download. Not many people have OFFICE. It will not run in Word Pad

If you need a free PDF creator go to [link=http://www.cutepdf.com]www.cutepdf.com[/link]

Exactly what will be done

Spinman

I just checkeed and it is converted to word pad with all the revisions I made to it. they are still in red and blue. I am surprised you are doing it as I already did although better pictures and professional revision would be better than what I did.

Spinman let others try this..Now, I have a reputation for excentricity to protect..It is KIND of a twin,,,,if you count the wings!! This is only the second biplane I have ever flown and found it great. Spinman is using a 12x4 propellor and has UNLIMITED ACCELERATING VERTICAL!!
Landing is, I guess typical for a biplane in that you do NOT GLIDE!! Too much wing resistance to those wings, but lands with some power like a trainer!!
Such a small plane fits in the back of most cars with the wings attached.
Knife edge is great and climbing with full rudder and loops can be instant.
My two cents..Go see the current movie Fly Boys...Great action and CG, then try at stuff on this...OK OK..tearing the wings off a triplane is probably not in accordance with AMA, but the movie makes this more fun to look at and had great TWIN ENGINE WWI bombers!!
Spinman really did go on about ease of assembly and alignment. I know, he borrowed my incidence meter to check...Hey..he still has it...Got to go.
Twinman

I also got a chance to fly the same bird that Spinman and Twinman flew. It was a very nice and easy fly and will not be a boring bipe, like some. it will get up and go as well as flop and spin with no complaints or hassels.

The only knock I can say about it is that as we are on a paved runway and as it was the first bipe in a very long time I made a landing with a small bounce and on the second touch the prop touched the runway and killed the motor. I would say that it is a combination of a large prop and a short set of gear (the stance is low), but it could even be a better incentive to make sure your greasing all your landings.

A 35 and 10X4 could take care of all that.

Does anyone have recommendations on control throws?

If you hook up the ailerons in the 4th hole at the servo and the second from uotside at the horn you will have twice as much as you need. I did not get a chance to measure before we wrapped it for christmas. You need a good amount of elevator so leave them about 70% of max. This guy spinman that put the 46 on it did a smart thing. The 40 la is minimum power it needs.

This looks like a decent candidate for an electric conversion..

great news,
the ugly stick bipe is back in stock.

Hi Philreuman, I just purchased a new Ugly Stick 40 Biplane on ebay and doing some research I ran across your notes in RCU Forum. I would like your version of the instructions if you don't mind sending them to me on email. This sounds like a really neat plane and I am looking forward to building it (assembling). I downloaded instructions from Cedar Hobbies but they are a little (a lot) lacking in detail.
Thank You
Gary Poe
[email protected]

The new instructions on cedar hobbies are better than the originals. I will send you my version. we crashed our first one and just built the second. we were stupid and did not check the battery on the fifth flight of the day and it went dead in flight. the plane flies like a dream. I put a 48 four stroke on the second one but for some reason it does not have as much power as I expected. hint...mount the engine as far forward on the mount as it will go. mount it at a 90 degree algle to keep the carb in line with the tank and the muffler under the plane. use a 46 or 48 engine, a 40 will have to be flown full throttle most of the time. throw all the control wires away and buy new 2-56 wires and sleeves. sand and soak ALL silver plywood with thin CA. YOU WILL BREAK SEVERAL HOLES OFF DURING ASSEMBLY IF YOU DON'T SOAK THEM FIRST. all the wing, hatch, firewall braces need extra glue. the hinge slots do not line up. be careful to keep them centered. all the screws are slotted head. I upgraded all 8 strut screws to socket head 4-40. the plane rolls, loops, hovers, flies inverted like a million bucks. everyone at the club really likes it.

Phil,

Richmond, Virginia here. I had one of the Great Planes and it flew great. I have been watching this site and with the info I have now I AM READY TO ORDER THAT BIPE. I am really looking forward to having THAT GREAT LOOKING BIPE STICK for some great flying fun.

ANYTHING ELSE NEW WITH THE BIPE?

Thanks for sharing all the great learnings. I will take everything into consideration. I have an ASP 52 Four Stroke or an Evolution 46, from a trainer I once had, for a power plant. Mounting the engine at 90 is an easy mod as well as the hardware change. Mine should be here in a few days and I hope to get it in the air in a couple of weeks. I will try to post some pics before I have to put things away and go back to work. Once again thanks for all the good tips. Ebay price $105.00 total. BTW: How did things work out with the balance. Was it nose heavy, tail heavy?? My 4 stroke is a little heavier than the Evo .46. I tried the Cedear Hobbies web site and it came back a negative find. Are they still in business??
Thanks
Gary

try cedarhobbies.net either engine would be great. I like four stroke sound. I wish I had a 52 to put on it and I may switch the 48 to a strong 46 in the future. this plane glides like a refrigerator so you need to heep power on all the way down. you should not have cg problems with either engine. you can always move the battery back from the tank compartment if nose heavy. mine with the 4 stroke 46 3./8 back from the front of the mount and the battery behind the tank is perfect. keep in mind the guy who said this was the easiest arf he ever built was only saying that because the plane he built was FREE. It is not Hard to build but by far not the easiest arf on the market.