Willy Nillies Gentle Lady 250 Beta Build

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

It's been a good week for me! I spent the week in Mexico, my last family trip before the Corps, and when I got back I had a triangular USPS box sitting on my porch. The Gentle Lady is a model I've had my eye on for a long time, along with the Bird of Time. Both were "whenever I have the money" planes, as no one really makes a kit for either anymore (although you can still get BoT kits on ebay for ~$100) I would have to scratch build and my experience with balsa is limited at best. I was thinking about designing a foam version a few weeks ago, when I brought this up to the forum @SquirrelTail pointed out that @Willy Nillies was releasing theirs in a few weeks. At less than $50 I couldn't refuse.

Opened up the bag this afternoon to see what I've got.

This one's pretty easy, two balsa sheets and one plywood. All the parts for the fuse.

Tail feathers

Wing pieces. The thick balsa pieces look to be the wingtips, after browsing the build group for a few minutes it looks like they're glued together in pairs and sanded to shape.

This one threw me for a bit of a loop. From watching a few of the Eaglet 250 builds I know that the smaller pieces are the shear webs the go between the wing ribs, but the longer pieces aren't immediately obvious. According to the build group I think they're to sheet the fuse with.

I found some decent pics on the build group so I can start piecing things together. Should be fun. I'll be doing it with transparent blue wings and fuse with a transparent yellow tail. I accidentally forgot to order covering with the plane so I did a separate order, unfortunately it still hasn't shipped yet and I leave to Basic Training on the 24th. I might need to find an alternative if I'm going to fly before then.

 

[OliverW]

It's been a good week for me! I spent the week in Mexico, my last family trip before the Corps, and when I got back I had a triangular USPS box sitting on my porch. The Gentle Lady is a model I've had my eye on for a long time, along with the Bird of Time. Both were "whenever I have the money" planes, as no one really makes a kit for either anymore (although you can still get BoT kits on ebay for ~$100) I would have to scratch build and my experience with balsa is limited at best. I was thinking about designing a foam version a few weeks ago, when I brought this up to the forum @SquirrelTail pointed out that @Willy Nillies was releasing theirs in a few weeks. At less than $50 I couldn't refuse.

Opened up the bag this afternoon to see what I've got.

This one's pretty easy, two balsa sheets and one plywood. All the parts for the fuse.
View attachment 176371

Tail feathers
View attachment 176372

Wing pieces. The thick balsa pieces look to be the wingtips, after browsing the build group for a few minutes it looks like they're glued together in pairs and sanded to shape.
View attachment 176373

This one threw me for a bit of a loop. From watching a few of the Eaglet 250 builds I know that the smaller pieces are the shear webs the go between the wing ribs, but the longer pieces aren't immediately obvious. According to the build group I think they're to sheet the fuse with.
View attachment 176374

I found some decent pics on the build group so I can start piecing things together. Should be fun. I'll be doing it with transparent blue wings and fuse with a transparent yellow tail. I accidentally forgot to order covering with the plane so I did a separate order, unfortunately it still hasn't shipped yet and I leave to Basic Training on the 24th. I might need to find an alternative if I'm going to fly before then.

The big squares are for wing sheeting if I'm correct. I bet you can get it framed up in a couple of days! I framed my GLH up in a couple of hours

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Coming along nicely.

H-stab and top sheet aren't glued yet, I'll finish the sheeting after I install electronics. Might do the wing in a minute or go grab some servos.

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

I love it when this happens! My smallest-ish battery is gigantic next to this thing. I guess I could run it on 1s but I don't know if I could get cg that way.

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Started putting the wing together. I've gotta slow down, for $50 I expect at least a week's worth of entertainment haha.

I might do a bit of modification to this one. It's already a small plane by glider standards, but I want it smaller. This is the perfect plane to take on hikes but it doesn't exactly fit in a backpack, I want to be able to separate the wing halves for transport. I have some dowels that should work I just don't know how to go about doing that.

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Calling it quits for today

 

[Grifflyer]

Awesome work! It looks great!!

 

["Corpse"]

Calling it quits for today

View attachment 176446

Lookin' schnazzy! Looks like a old stik and a glh had a baby! Are you doing tissue or covering film?

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Lookin' schnazzy! Looks like a old stik and a glh had a baby! Are you doing tissue or covering film?

Definitely film for this one! I'd only really use tissue for free flight.

 

[speedbirdted]

Great work so far! I built a fullsize Gentle Lady earlier this year and it's an amazing plane. It does amazing with a bungee hi-start. Though, I wouldn't try this one with a full 2-meter bungee because you would probably rip the wings off. You could probably get a length of surgical tubing to do launches with.

Also that battery is... not gonna work I think Doug has been flying his with a 350 2s and he says it's perfect. You really don't need much power at all with one of these things, mostly the motor is just to find thermals. If you plan to use no motor you could probably use a 1s if you can find a reciever that will operate on that voltage. You could maybe use a BEC.

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Great work so far! I built a fullsize Gentle Lady earlier this year and it's an amazing plane. It does amazing with a bungee hi-start. Though, I wouldn't try this one with a full 2-meter bungee because you would probably rip the wings off. You could probably get a length of surgical tubing to do launches with.

Also that battery is... not gonna work I think Doug has been flying his with a 350 2s and he says it's perfect. You really don't need much power at all with one of these things, mostly the motor is just to find thermals. If you plan to use no motor you could probably use a 1s if you can find a reciever that will operate on that voltage. You could maybe use a BEC.

I know that battery won't work, it doesn't fit! I'm building without a motor so 1s is an option, I could even run two in series as I have plenty. I've got a bunch of jst pigtails on the way so I can mess around a bit.

 

[Zetoyoc]

This looks great. I have been looking more and more at trying a glider. These look like fun. and apparently quick to build
-Jesse

 

[Willy Nillies]

@Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes Great build thread! Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions!

We spent a lot of time on this one and sure enjoy flying ours!

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

 

[Willy Nillies]

The big squares are for wing sheeting if I'm correct. I bet you can get it framed up in a couple of days! I framed my GLH up in a couple of hours

The 3 bigger ones on a single sheet (3/32" thick) are the forward bottom fuselage sheeting. Goes between nose block and to tow hook plate.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

 

[TooJung2Die]

Great build thread. I think I understand the Willy Nillies business model; pick the best loved model airplanes in the whole world and make them smaller and affordable. It's working!

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

@Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes Great build thread! Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions!

We spent a lot of time on this one and sure enjoy flying ours!

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

Everything so far has fit just about perfectly, I haven't had to sand or cut anything that wasn't my own fault or meant to be that way. A very well made kit, especially for a pre-release.

I got the outer wing panels made up today, although I built them backwards by mistake. If I understand correctly the original Gentle Lady had rear-swept outer panels, I swapped the leading and trailing edges by mistake. I doubt it will effect performance at all however.

I haven't glued them on yet as I want to make them removable, I want this to be a backpack glider for hiking.
I assume the cg goes right on the spar but I want to ask to make certain. I'm going to try to make a ballast box for it and that effects where the electronics need to go. I can't find the Emax 9251s in stock anywhere at a reasonable price so I ordered a pair of 9051 5gs.

 

[OliverW]

Everything so far has fit just about perfectly, I haven't had to sand or cut anything that wasn't my own fault or meant to be that way. A very well made kit, especially for a pre-release.

I got the outer wing panels made up today, although I built them backwards by mistake. If I understand correctly the original Gentle Lady had rear-swept outer panels, I swapped the leading and trailing edges by mistake. I doubt it will effect performance at all however.

View attachment 176470

I haven't glued them on yet as I want to make them removable, I want this to be a backpack glider for hiking.
I assume the cg goes right on the spar but I want to ask to make certain. I'm going to try to make a ballast box for it and that effects where the electronics need to go. I can't find the Emax 9251s in stock anywhere at a reasonable price so I ordered a pair of 9051 5gs.

Thats gonna look real cool once completed

 

[Willy Nillies]

Everything so far has fit just about perfectly, I haven't had to sand or cut anything that wasn't my own fault or meant to be that way. A very well made kit, especially for a pre-release.

I got the outer wing panels made up today, although I built them backwards by mistake. If I understand correctly the original Gentle Lady had rear-swept outer panels, I swapped the leading and trailing edges by mistake. I doubt it will effect performance at all however.

View attachment 176470

I haven't glued them on yet as I want to make them removable, I want this to be a backpack glider for hiking.
I assume the cg goes right on the spar but I want to ask to make certain. I'm going to try to make a ballast box for it and that effects where the electronics need to go. I can't find the Emax 9251s in stock anywhere at a reasonable price so I ordered a pair of 9051 5gs.

@Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes - with the forward sweep on the outer panels, it will move CG position forward. Recommended CG with the aft sweep is 3/8" behind center section main spar. With the forward sweep, will probably put it right on the spar, possibly just a little ahead.

With the forward sweep you will need all your electronics as far forward as possible to get to CG. The demo bird we built took 3 pennies on back of the nose block to balance out, with the 9251 servos, receiver, voltage regulator and 350mah 2s battery forward of the wing.

FWIW: We have Emax ES9251II 's in stock for $8.49 and ES9051's in stock for $5.89

Please let us know if you have any more questions or need anything else.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

@Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes - with the forward sweep on the outer panels, it will move CG position forward. Recommended CG with the aft sweep is 3/8" behind center section main spar. With the forward sweep, will probably put it right on the spar, possibly just a little ahead.

With the forward sweep you will need all your electronics as far forward as possible to get to CG. The demo bird we built took 3 pennies on back of the nose block to balance out, with the 9251 servos, receiver, voltage regulator and 350mah 2s battery forward of the wing.

FWIW: We have Emax ES9251II 's in stock for $8.49 and ES9051's in stock for $5.89

Please let us know if you have any more questions or need anything else.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

I did a quick cg test with the electronics I have so far- a Spektrum 4ch Rx, two 220mah 1s in series, and a 9g servo as a placeholder for the two 5g. I don't own any 2s batteries but I have plenty of 1s lying around, by using two I can squeeze the rx in between them where there wouldn't be enough room with a 2s, putting even more hardware forward. With the test weight it balances just behind the spar, it would be perfect if I'd done the wing panels correctly. That doesn't bother me too much, it's completely my fault and the extra weight will help it penetrate the wind better. The cg will probably move forward a bit after I sand everything.

What weight is the film in your covering packs? I can add that to the current auw and get a good impression of where I'm at.

Don't sneeze.

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Great build thread. I think I understand the Willy Nillies business model; pick the best loved model airplanes in the whole world and make them smaller and affordable. It's working!

I know a lot of guys don't like sanding but this has been the most relaxing afternoon I've ever spent building an airplane. I love feeling the final shape of the plane come together under my fingertips, and a lot of imperfections disappear. Having a belt sander certainly helps shape large blocks like the nose.
Waiting on servos at the minute, once those get here I can finish the fuse. For now I need to finish sanding the wings and figure out how I'm going to attach the outer panels.