Fly Baby Build
02-28-2005, 08:46 PM
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Fly Baby Build
I purchased one of the last Dynaflite Fly Baby kits available at retail suppliers a year or so back. I decided to build it this past winter. I was very happy with the wood in the kit.......... except for the one fuse side,
all wood was great! I strayed from the plans in several areas...... one was the placement of the cockpit floor. I added a floor, up high, to use a pilot bust, and then altered the original deep floor piece to accommodate smoke and fuel tanks on the CG and other mods. I made this deep floor piece a "split level" to place my RX, and two Hitec HS-81 servos for the TX kill switch and throttle. Rudder and evevator servos are in the rear to help balance for the G-26. The standoffs were cut from oak dowels and about 1/8" thicker firewall was achieved by not using ONE of their 1/8' lite ply pieces and cutting a new 1/4" aircraft ply piece. Tailwheel bracket is hand made using an old Sullivan bracket, enclosing it in wood, and making it removeable with 4-40 bolts and blind nuts. Steering is accomplished by setting it up with springs and double steering arm like Ohio Superstar Tailwheel etc. I soldered small hooks on the pull-pull 4-40 rods, running to rudder, to attach the steering springs to.
More to come..... lownslo.....
all wood was great! I strayed from the plans in several areas...... one was the placement of the cockpit floor. I added a floor, up high, to use a pilot bust, and then altered the original deep floor piece to accommodate smoke and fuel tanks on the CG and other mods. I made this deep floor piece a "split level" to place my RX, and two Hitec HS-81 servos for the TX kill switch and throttle. Rudder and evevator servos are in the rear to help balance for the G-26. The standoffs were cut from oak dowels and about 1/8" thicker firewall was achieved by not using ONE of their 1/8' lite ply pieces and cutting a new 1/4" aircraft ply piece. Tailwheel bracket is hand made using an old Sullivan bracket, enclosing it in wood, and making it removeable with 4-40 bolts and blind nuts. Steering is accomplished by setting it up with springs and double steering arm like Ohio Superstar Tailwheel etc. I soldered small hooks on the pull-pull 4-40 rods, running to rudder, to attach the steering springs to.More to come..... lownslo.....
02-28-2005, 09:29 PM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
More on the Fly Baby Build..... With the exception of the BADLY warped fuse side, the only other miss in this kit is the landing gear build and the way it mounts on the plane. The rear wire "clamps" need a screw taken out of each one, the clamp swung aside, and the wire swung out of the wing slot. Now pull the wing out. The gear is now free to rotate on it's larger 1/4" front wire. I made an arrangement to "secure" the rear wire on the wing saddle temporarly, to transport and handle without the gear swinging back and forth.[
] The gear was also hard to make look decent...... at least for me. I only covered the front, heavy wire, with the air foil basswood. I routed it out with a dremmel to "hug" the solder lump better, epoxied it to the wire so I could shape it with bondo, glass cloth, and some filler. The props you see here are Zinger wood props. The one I did for my Fly Baby has been re-finished and Hartzel decals applied and clear coated. I used paint/varnish remover and mixed the stain till I got the shade I wanted. I have been experimenting with decals and have a VERY COOL looking decal for "nose art". I will post it on the next reply......lownslo....
Bob
] The gear was also hard to make look decent...... at least for me. I only covered the front, heavy wire, with the air foil basswood. I routed it out with a dremmel to "hug" the solder lump better, epoxied it to the wire so I could shape it with bondo, glass cloth, and some filler. The props you see here are Zinger wood props. The one I did for my Fly Baby has been re-finished and Hartzel decals applied and clear coated. I used paint/varnish remover and mixed the stain till I got the shade I wanted. I have been experimenting with decals and have a VERY COOL looking decal for "nose art". I will post it on the next reply......lownslo....Bob
02-28-2005, 09:54 PM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
Here are some of the decals I will be putting on my Fly Baby. I am new to this decal thing and have been experimenting with different combos of clear to seal etc. I will not try to explain anything because I don't really know yet myself!! I have sized these different than the pictures below so they look OK size-wise. My favorite is the nose art, "Flying Baby"[8D] I got these images from a full scale Fly Baby site, Shell, and Hartzel sites. The plane will be covered in Solartex colored fabric. Red on the wing and stab...top and bottom. The cowl is painted silver and the whole fuselage, fin, and rudder, will be covered in silver. The Solartex will be covered in water based PolyU, clear satin. It would need this for the clean up anyway, (according to Balsa USA and Solartex). I will expecially need a good surface to clean as the Baby will have smoke too...... Hope to start on the covering soon.....
lownslo.......
Bob
I have sized these different than the pictures below so they look OK size-wise. My favorite is the nose art, "Flying Baby"[8D] I got these images from a full scale Fly Baby site, Shell, and Hartzel sites. The plane will be covered in Solartex colored fabric. Red on the wing and stab...top and bottom. The cowl is painted silver and the whole fuselage, fin, and rudder, will be covered in silver. The Solartex will be covered in water based PolyU, clear satin. It would need this for the clean up anyway, (according to Balsa USA and Solartex). I will expecially need a good surface to clean as the Baby will have smoke too...... Hope to start on the covering soon.....lownslo.......
Bob
03-04-2005, 06:30 AM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
Hmmmmmm. I guess since these are now out of production, no one is interested in the old Fly Baby. [] I guess I am a easy mark for this type of plane. I had a GP Spacewalker for about 3 years and sold it. It has the same classic old lines as the Fly Baby. I hope someone out there has some photos of their "Baby" they could post. I can't wait to see this Baby smokin' !!!
..... lownslo
] I guess I am a easy mark for this type of plane. I had a GP Spacewalker for about 3 years and sold it. It has the same classic old lines as the Fly Baby. I hope someone out there has some photos of their "Baby" they could post. I can't wait to see this Baby smokin' !!!..... lownslo
03-04-2005, 09:57 AM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
I have the bipe that I built from an old BalsaUSA kit. I used to work with Pete Bowers at Boeing. I was going to take my airplane back and show it to him but he died just a few months before I got there.
03-04-2005, 12:09 PM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
Dirty Bird........I love the Fly Baby Bipe. That is very, very, nice!! I got lazy on the LG and only put air foil shaped wood on the front wire. The plans just didn't show any close ups or detail etc. I am usually pretty good at designing and altering things, but this one had me stumped on how to make it look like I wanted or??? Are there any other of you out there that would like to show off your "Baby" ?? ...... lownslo
03-04-2005, 01:30 PM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
I'm just finishing mine up, and should have it in the air before long. I missed out on the Dynaflite kit before it was discontinued, but I bought the plans, the gear, cowl and a few of the remaining die-cut sheets that GP had left. Cowl was junk, so I scratched one. Used the die-cuts for templates, and built most of it from contest balsa. I'll agree the fairings on the gear were a bit tricky, but I think they came out OK. Saito 1.00 in the nose- should be alright, as the AUW is a shade over 9 lbs., although since I put two servos in the tail, it's going to need some weight up front for the CG. Covered in cream/dark blue Coverite- I'll post pics later this weekend- I have to "borrow" the office camera...
Cheers,
Brett
Cheers,
Brett
03-04-2005, 03:23 PM
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RE: Fly Baby Build
Wow Brett...... Sounds like you had a real project on your hands. I am looking forward to the photos. I agree the cowl was junk. I just could not see piecing together, 2 halves of plastic. I am sure many out there have...... and have done a good job too. I was lazy. I did look them over, but then got on the net and ordered a fiberglass cowl from Stans.
I am waiting for my covering to come in. I am not in a real big hurry, the weather here in IN is not good in March... (At least for me, as I am a sissy and like 60 plus weather). In the meantime I have some finishing touches on the sanding AND filling dents. Just when you think it is perfect....... you see another dent. I had some scrap pine around the house, so I built a quickie test stand and will run up my G 26 on it. Note the gas tank. It is from a junked leaf blower that lasted 1 1/2 seasons.[] The long throttle nyrod, held by the clothes pin, is the one that goes in the plane. I will screw the test stand down to a saw horse .......... although.......... my 1.50 Satio almost made it a "flying sawhorse". Seriously... it did want to tip it forward at full throttle.... so I added weight to the "tail"
...lownslo
I am waiting for my covering to come in. I am not in a real big hurry, the weather here in IN is not good in March... (At least for me, as I am a sissy and like 60 plus weather). In the meantime I have some finishing touches on the sanding AND filling dents. Just when you think it is perfect....... you see another dent.
I had some scrap pine around the house, so I built a quickie test stand and will run up my G 26 on it. Note the gas tank. It is from a junked leaf blower that lasted 1 1/2 seasons.[] The long throttle nyrod, held by the clothes pin, is the one that goes in the plane. I will screw the test stand down to a saw horse .......... although.......... my 1.50 Satio almost made it a "flying sawhorse". Seriously... it did want to tip it forward at full throttle.... so I added weight to the "tail" ...lownslo
