Building Tips and technical articles. > 1/2 A building.
QUEEN BEE FLIGHT REPORT (Phase II)
minnesotamodeler:
See the last "reply" for news.
I did it! Got my Queen Bee airborne in my back yard, 15' lines, just barely fits between the garage, 2 trees and a lilac thicket. (Not quite, as it turns out.)
GOOD NEWS: It flies, and flies well. Pretty stable, and cute in the air.
BAD NEWS: I must report it is GROSSLY OVERPOWERED with the .020...I think the PeeWee .020 could fly the 1/2A Snapper with no problem. On the tiny Queen Bee, .010 would probably even be too much. Does anyone make a .005?
The controls are GROSSLY OVERSENSITIVE...it could do with half, or less, elevator.
I used my picnic table for a takeoff deck, worried if it was long enough...HAH! I might have used 2 feet of it, probably not that much. FAST, well, you can imagine, on 15' lines. It was subjectively WAY quicker than the fastest combat wing I ever flew...maybe 1-sec. laps!
First flight only lasted about 10 sec., then engine quit (thank goodness). Second flight, I started stunting in self-defense. First loop nearly stalled it out of the air--that's when I found the controls were a bit on the sensitive side. Second loop looked much better, flew through it at full speed; next I WAS gonna do a lazy eight but when I pulled up into the inside part I clipped a tree branch at the top...the rest is history, and three distinct pieces.
This thing is more fun than oughtta be legal! I'm gluing it back together...but already planning a home-design for the .020, much larger, less fragile (weight was certainly no problem!)--with a more conventional nose and MM that will make it much easier to fuel, needle, etc.--the Queen Bee is entirely too cramped at the front for comfort.
Come to think of it, you could probably double the size of the Queen Bee and still be flyable with an .020. Hmmmmm..."King Bee"?
Also, I've been running some engines in, in my back yard. Two of my Cox production engines, in particular, seem to have some pretty severe vibration. The harmonics one of them set up made the props on the other engines (bolted to the same boardI) " blur", they shook so badly (these engines were not running). I changed props thinking that must be it; it wasn't. Anyone else experiencing this? I'm afraid this will shake a plane apart. Bummer...Before you ask, yes, I have reset the piston/rod ball joints.
--Ray
dennis lipsett:
Ray, Hopefully you did put the prop on backwards to fly that little sucker, didn't you? Also the old Cox white plastic props were the ones to use for flying. They were a fat blades that held down the rpm, but thrust was good. They show up on the bay frequently at a reasonable price, usually a dozen at a time. If you used the Cox grey props you would or should have been drilled right into the ground and you could have made a competition F/F guy happy by selling him the prop.
All bipes are pretty maneuverable, smaller short coupled ones can really do tight turns. By all means reduce the elevator throw and perhaps add a little weight to the front to slow down the response. thats the trouble with getting older we forget that we can't keep up with these little 'toy' planes like we used to, thats why 5.3 second laps are so favored in P/A . You don'treally buy the adage that it presents the plane better at that speed do you? ;D LL~
frank carlisle:
Clipped a tree!!! Now that's the sign of a mature and seasoned pilot. y1
What prop did you have on it? Did you put it in backwards? What length lines do you think you'll try next?
Clancy Arnold:
Ray
I have NO pity for you. I TOLD YOU SO. LOL LL~ LL~
Remember the first flight report on my IBTW Barnstormer I warned everyone about using 15 foot lines on these Pee Wee 020 planes.
Now you know what it felt like for me.
Glad someone else is getting their 020's flying. Where are the rest of flight reports?
Clancy
minnesotamodeler:
Yup, Clancy, I freely admit, you told me so...I was kind of expecting something like this, or it would have been even worse. No, I didn't have the prop on backwards; a rather serious oversight. I was using an APC 4.2x2; also have a black Thimbledrome (Cox) 4.5x2, and a 4x 2.5.
Concerning the tree, Frank, what it's a sign of is a "mature and seasoned" tree! When measuring out a circle, one should always look UP as well as checking clearance at ground (or eye-) level...a little more overhang in that branch than I realized. Also, these little planes are fragile; it didn't take much of a clip to break it up. But I did hit bare branches, not just leaves... no leaves here as yet, still melting the last of the snow. And you know me, Frank, I'm gonna try the 15' lines again, with a reversed prop. I think if I move about 2 feet further to the west...
Dennis, I may add a a little nose weight just in reinforcing the breaks, but the CG is really just about right, it grooves well for all its sensitivity. I am gonna cut down the elevator travel, probably use a taller horn, maybe limit the BC travel. I'm using about 2" line spacing at the handle.
The other thing: I'm only getting about 1-minute runs out of that tiny tank, admittedly I'm not running fully leaned out but still... by the time you get the battery off, tweak the needle a little, set the plane in the stooge and get out to the handle, you're left with maybe 30 seconds or so of flight time. 'Course that amounts to 20-30 laps with these short lines, so it's enough for now! But it does need a bigger tank. Must be some way of adding an auxiliary.
No comments on the production engine shakes?
--Ray
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version