clockguypete

Hope you have a great time a Joe Nall, and pray the weather cooperates!

lomcevac540T

My Feedback: (1)

What prop is that? Looks nice.

clockguypete

The prop is a handmade WILGA 19x7 semi-scale carbon & wood composition by Biela. I am using it as my show prop for now since the Saito 1.80 is new, and want to break it in well before flying with this large prop. The 1.80 FS likes an 18x6, and the 19x7 is just a little above the best power curve for this engine. I may run it in the future, and see what rpms I get before seeing how it pulls the Gee Bee around. This prop is costs 55.00, about the same as everyone elses carbon fiber props. http://www.aircraftinternational.com...rbonProps.aspx

lomcevac540T

My Feedback: (1)

Looks nice and I bet my 33cc would turn the mess out of it

clockguypete

Hahaha, your funny! I think spool up my be slower, but once she cranks up, the top end speed should improve. This prop reminds me of the graupner's, wide right to the tips where all your powerful air flow comes from! The Saito 1.80 is 29cc, and four stroke glow fuel engines do produce more torque than an equivalent gas, so maybe I can run this prop ok. Send me pic's of Nall if you want. [email protected]. Have fun over there buddy;-)

lomcevac540T

My Feedback: (1)

I'll see what I can do.

maneba

My pilot is "Agent Smith" lol

clockguypete

Hahaha, I Love it! The pink shirt is definitly his color ;-)

mbgbe696

While adjusting my rudder push rod metal clevis, the pin that connects to the horn broke loose and fell to the floor. It happened really easy, I soldered it back on, but made me go through and check all the other metal clevises. Just a note you might want to look a yours.

clockguypete

I upgraded all pushrods to 2x56 threaded rods, and new dubro metal clevises in place of the asian metric stuff that came with the ARF. I find most of the supplied hardware with these arf's inferior quality, and try my best to build in better reliability.

lomcevac540T

My Feedback: (1)

Made it to Joe Nall and back! I had a great time and got some good flights in on the Gee Bee. Had lots of people asking about it. Didn't manage to get any pics though. Maybe I will find some that someone else took. I didn't see another one there though.

clockguypete

Finished my Gee Bee and flew the maiden fight Saturday 05-18-13 It flew great and required no trim adjustments! Second flight got the smoke working, and landed in typical bouncing GeeBee style fashion LOL! Need more practice to get the right speed and throttle for a smoother touch down. A fellow member made a video of the two flights which are seperated by a couple of other planes flying that day, so watch the video for the second flight and landing to see the smoke on! Unfortunately on my third flight, something went wrong, and I lost connection to the receiver, plane stopped responding to my controls, and went straight in. Lucky no one got hurt. I had been very meticulous with everything installed, ranged checked, did everything by the book, but something caused a lockout or brown out. I flew this with a spectrum DX8 transmitter. I turned the plane on again, and everything was still working fine. The next day without charging the battery I checked the radio gear again, more range checking with a t1000 telemetry module hooked up, and all is working fine. I have not figured out what failed yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=bbqWsXLibes&feature=share&<wbr></wbr>list=UUtrGjp6iPi1RIcdtglP1ajQ
You may have to copy and paste this entire link to your browser. I will have to build another one soon because this was a great looking plane, and flew really nice! Pete

lomcevac540T

My Feedback: (1)

WOW, really sorry to hear that. I will check the vid out tonight.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

CRAP, that hurts.....

clockguypete

I went through the radio gear still in the wreckage on my bench very thoroughly today. I turned everything on and began wiggling wires and connections. All at once the Orange LED on my receiver flickered out! The problem was located in a brand new 25.00 MPI switch with LED voltage monitoring, and charge jack. The brown wire (negative side) pin connector was not fully seated into the connector plug socket during factory assembly! This meant the pin was too short to make good contact with my battery connector, even when tightly held together with a safety connector clip that was holding them together! As you tap the connection with your finger, you can see the receiver turn off, and stay off till you tap it again! So not just a quick brown out, but a prolonged disconnection, preventing the system from rebooting in a second or two that would have regained control. I am relieved to find the cause of this 1500.00 crash.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Well at least you know the cause of the problem....sadly, MPI isn't going to do anything about your loss......

clockguypete

Here are a couple of photo'showing the pin not properly seated in the connector, making it too short for a solid connection to the receiver battery. Another photo shows the end result! I bought new stuff, put it together and everything seemed to work fine, so I went flying. Now I have learned I must do my own quality control inspections on all manufacturers products in order to help prevent such expensive losses!

capnduane

Sorry for your loss, Pete. Thats the one big problem with this hobby, all it takes is one little thing to bring a beautiful bird down. I still have my Z, but only fly it at flyins and contests. Just recently took it to the Scale Masters Qualifier here in Hemet, Ca. My friend Mel Santmeyers fabricated a rotating judging stand and asked me to bring my Z so we could have a tutorial for the judges in the use of this new stand. The Z looked great on the stand, but the judges just tore it up! Mostly for the outline.......

clockguypete

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbqWs...i1RIcdtglP1ajQ

This is a full link to my maiden video.

The second flight shows the TME smoke system in operation, and worked very well! Landing was funny, typical bounce , bounce GEE BEE style. I learned that I must keep a bit more power on during final, and fly it all the way in to keep enough airflowing over the tail for a smoother landing and roll out. The Gee Bee really slows down fast when you cut the power.

clockguypete

Glad you had a good time there! Heard someone say the rain had soaked the grounds for camping, but guess everything worked out for flying!

lomcevac540T

My Feedback: (1)

It had rained quite a bit before we got there, but everything was dry while we were there. First flight on my Z, I looked down the runway and someone was starting a giant R-2 with a DA 170 in it. Looked like it flew good but he had to make five or more landing aproaches to get it down. Guess it is a little touchy to land.
He was stealing my thunder! lol But my little Z done great and I was very pleased with it.
One thing I had forgot to mention, I had to remove, clean, and loc-tite the anti rotation pins (screws) in my struts before I left for Joe Nall. I noticed while I was tightening my flying wires, that one of mine was barely in from the previous flights. That could get ugly if a wheel turned sidways on a landing. Checked last night and they were still in place!

clockguypete

Yeah, I can understand that about those screws. I completely disassembled my oleo's just to see for myself how they were put together. I ended up drilling and installing a second pressed in steel pin in each one at the fork assembly, since the factory pin was a little loose in the hole, not pressed in tight. I also had removed the set screws one at a time, and marked and filed flats, so the set screws had a more secure bite instead of trying to hold on just the fork's center socket head screw threads. I also did the same for the three set screws up at the top of the oleo where the Z shaped wire is held in place. It is important to dry fit everything in the plane and check for proper alignment first , before marking and filing anything. I replaced the socket screw that rides up and down in the oleo channel (the anti rotation one you were referring to) with a longer one that threads in further, and can accommodate a flat washer between the screw head and channel. I stoned the rough edges of the channel cut out to remove any burrs before reassembling with loctite on the threads. I also sprayed some corrosion X lube/ rust inhibitor inside the oleo to coat the steel spring, in hopes to prevent future rust and failure. I noticed during taxing, a knock, knock ,knock sound coming from the plane. Figured out that every time the oleo compresses a little to absorb shock, the anti rotation, or travel limiting screw returns to the end of the channel and hits metal on metal. Hence, knock knock noise even when just towing my plane to the pit area by the tail via a soft rope. I can live with that since the plane does not taxi very much before getting airborne! I have ordered another ARF and will transfer everything salvaged into the new one. Luckily, I was able to salvage most of the added equipment, so my loss on a total 1500.00 investment only came to 500.00 for a new ARF, Slimline pitts muffler, Throttle servo, carbon fiber prop, Dubro anti-vibration motor mount, and some miscellaneous items. Ok and 90 hours of build time.... yeah I kept track :-) I just have to do another one of these because it was such a nice plane to look at and flew great! I plan to run redundant power with two batteries, and two switches on the next one, and you can bet I will be inspecting every connector to make sure they were assembled correctly by the manufacturer.

Avaiojet

There for the taking. 72" in span and all the hard work completed. Flies like a dream.

Charles

clockguypete

The cockpit looks more to scale than the seagull ARF. Do you have the plans? What manufacturer's kit is that?

clockguypete

Just ordered another GeeBeeZ today! I just have to build another one, since this was a great flying plane and loads of fun!!!