First flight of Gee Bee

[B17BUCK]

Hi, I'm new here, so hello everyone.
I know this isn't a real warbird, but this struck me as the best place to put my post. Sorry if I upset anyone.
I just bought the Horizon Gee Bee R2 and flew it for the first time today, wow it is fast ( for me anyway) and fun. It flew great, I'm just new, so I had a little crash landing, nothing terrible though.
A bit of glue and touch up paint and it will be as good as knew.
Really fun to fly. Does anyone else have a Gee Bee? How do you like it?

 

[PHugger]

One of the Master Builder here is WILLSONMAN.
He recently built a Gee Bee -
http://forum.flitetest.com/showthre...n-all-balsa-Gee-Bee-Z-build&highlight=gee+bee

He made a summary video as well -

Best regards,
PCH

 

[B17BUCK]

PHugger, thank you that was cool.

 

[Capt_Beavis]

Just under Electric Fixed Wing would be a fine place to post this.

I don't have the GB but I have the Pitts which is on the same platform. I have been flying for about a year and the Pitts is a really handful to land nicely. I have had several very hard landings with it. The Gee Bee was discontinued, where did you find yours?

 

[B17BUCK]

Captain_Beavis, it was easy to take off, I had trouble trying to bring it back around, so my landing was a small crash. I've got her all fixed though, I just need to touch up the paint a bit.
Thank you for letting me know where to post next time.
I found it in a little shop in Monroe, Wi.

 

[Capt_Beavis]

If it flies like the Pitts then it will have a tendency to lose altitude in turns, make banked turns or coordinate with elevator, rudder and throttle. This isn't a "cut the throttle and glide in" plane. It has to be flown the whole way. I would definitely pick up a Gee Bee if I could find one. It would look great on the shelf.

 

[willsonman]

Ok, so the scoop on a Bee is simple... design it right and it will fly well... Build it scale and it will fly... scale (poorly). Generally simple things can be done to the Bees to make them fly well. They use standard Clark Y airfoils which ARE inherently stable. Add some wing twist (washout or wash in) and you have a much more stable platform. The thing about them that I find fun is that the wheel pants are aerodynamically stabilizing. They are additional vertical stabilizers. This is how they can track so well. But being near the aerodynamic center when the rudder is used there is no negative effect on stability vertically so you do not get side-slip (crabbing). There are a lot of really neat things about these planes. They are very well-thought-out planes but you have to use certain techniques to overcome some attributes of scaling a plane and the air not scaling as well.

All that being said... I LOVE my Z. I only wish I had one BIGGER! I would love to build an Adrian Page Z. The Hostetler Z has some challenges to it but follows the scale building. More for a purist build. It builds heavy. The Page Z has had nothing but praise.

 

[B17BUCK]

If it flies like the Pitts then it will have a tendency to lose altitude in turns, make banked turns or coordinate with elevator, rudder and throttle. This isn't a "cut the throttle and glide in" plane. It has to be flown the whole way. I would definitely pick up a Gee Bee if I could find one. It would look great on the shelf.

Thank you for the info and tips. Would you like me to ask the guy if he has another?

 

[B17BUCK]

Ok, so the scoop on a Bee is simple... design it right and it will fly well... Build it scale and it will fly... scale (poorly). Generally simple things can be done to the Bees to make them fly well. They use standard Clark Y airfoils which ARE inherently stable. Add some wing twist (washout or wash in) and you have a much more stable platform. The thing about them that I find fun is that the wheel pants are aerodynamically stabilizing. They are additional vertical stabilizers. This is how they can track so well. But being near the aerodynamic center when the rudder is used there is no negative effect on stability vertically so you do not get side-slip (crabbing). There are a lot of really neat things about these planes. They are very well-thought-out planes but you have to use certain techniques to overcome some attributes of scaling a plane and the air not scaling as well.

All that being said... I LOVE my Z. I only wish I had one BIGGER! I would love to build an Adrian Page Z. The Hostetler Z has some challenges to it but follows the scale building. More for a purist build. It builds heavy. The Page Z has had nothing but praise.

Thank you for all the great info.