GliderFlyer
Elite member
Sweet.
I see you are using a magnetic building board. Just one question:
What are those triangle thingies that you are using to keep the ribs perpendicular called? They look useful.
Lazy Bee 2020
- Thread starter rockyboy
- Start date
I see you are using a magnetic building board. Just one question:
What are those triangle thingies that you are using to keep the ribs perpendicular called? They look useful.
Alrighty - I’m off to a great start! Thanks for the inspiration guys.Awesome! Start a build thread here and post questions when it's confusing you - lots of us here happy to help decipher plans and parts!And if you did start a build thread already, drop a link to it here so we can make sure to follow it.
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/my-first-balsa-build-the-gentle-lady.65429/
TooJung2Die
Master member
Building the wing is my favorite part. The laminated tips make the Lazy Bee wing more elegant than the usual series of scarfed straight grain pieces. Did you have to sand the lamination to match the height of the leading and trailing edges? Has anyone used the words elegant and Lazy Bee in the same sentence before? 😉
These little building jigs are similar to the ones from RetroRC http://retrorc.us.com/buildingjigsystem.aspx - back when I had access to a laser cutter I made a couple of my own design
There is going to be some serious attention with a carving knife, razor plane, and sanding block to get these tips into shape - the trailing edge part of the tips especially are really tall compared to the trailing edge itself. I'm not sure how easy this is going to be now that it's all assembled, but if (when) I build a second wing I will try to take down that part of the wing tip before the glue up.
I used a sharpened piece of brass tube to make some holes in the ribs right at the spar line. Anyone guess what these are going to be for? Not in the standard instructions....
Holes through all the ribs now...
One more clue - added in a piece of scrap balsa with a hole in it so the covering has a solid connection to this opening into the bottom of the wing.
Let's glue in the sheer webs to connect the top and bottom spars. This gives the wing an I-Beam structural component that is much stronger than the individual spars by themselves, and with only a small weight gain.
More sheer webbing...
If you haven't guessed yet - those holes are for lights! 12v flexible led strips that will go down the front and back side of the sheer webbing with a couple extra out at the wing tips. I'm planning for white down one wing and red down the other so I can tell if it's coming towards me or going away at night. Ask me how I know that's important....
Holes through all the ribs now...
One more clue - added in a piece of scrap balsa with a hole in it so the covering has a solid connection to this opening into the bottom of the wing.
Let's glue in the sheer webs to connect the top and bottom spars. This gives the wing an I-Beam structural component that is much stronger than the individual spars by themselves, and with only a small weight gain.
More sheer webbing...
If you haven't guessed yet - those holes are for lights! 12v flexible led strips that will go down the front and back side of the sheer webbing with a couple extra out at the wing tips. I'm planning for white down one wing and red down the other so I can tell if it's coming towards me or going away at night. Ask me how I know that's important....
bracesport
Legendary member
beautiful!
Lights - what a great idea!I used a sharpened piece of brass tube to make some holes in the ribs right at the spar line. Anyone guess what these are going to be for? Not in the standard instructions....
View attachment 182397
Holes through all the ribs now...
View attachment 182398
One more clue - added in a piece of scrap balsa with a hole in it so the covering has a solid connection to this opening into the bottom of the wing.
View attachment 182402
Let's glue in the sheer webs to connect the top and bottom spars. This gives the wing an I-Beam structural component that is much stronger than the individual spars by themselves, and with only a small weight gain.
View attachment 182400
More sheer webbing...
View attachment 182401
If you haven't guessed yet - those holes are for lights! 12v flexible led strips that will go down the front and back side of the sheer webbing with a couple extra out at the wing tips. I'm planning for white down one wing and red down the other so I can tell if it's coming towards me or going away at night. Ask me how I know that's important....
View attachment 182399
Wing is all shaped sanded and wired up.
Check this out!
Time to start the fuselage. I think the kit might be missing a part in the layout - so I cut a duplicate from scrap.
Let's lay things out and glue them up for one side...
Once that finishes drying it'll be time to flip it over and build the second side right on top of the first.
Check this out!
Time to start the fuselage. I think the kit might be missing a part in the layout - so I cut a duplicate from scrap.
Let's lay things out and glue them up for one side...
Once that finishes drying it'll be time to flip it over and build the second side right on top of the first.
TooJung2Die
Master member
Are you building an airplane or a school bus? 🤣 Just joshing, looking great so far. Very interesting because it's unconventional.
Yeah, she's got a little bit of that school bus charm - but the cool old cartoon style with round portholes, not the 30 year old smelly torture chamber I remember riding in
So let's finish up the other side of the bus...
Hey - two matched sides now!
I'm going a tiny bit out of instruction order putting the front together... being very careful to be all square and aligned...
There we go! Axle box installed. Probably should have drilled the holes for mounting the shocks before this, but I'll make it work.
These are probably 10 or 15 mm longer than they need to be to have a full travel range, but everything is supposed to be cartoony and outsized on this anyway
So let's finish up the other side of the bus...
Hey - two matched sides now!
I'm going a tiny bit out of instruction order putting the front together... being very careful to be all square and aligned...
There we go! Axle box installed. Probably should have drilled the holes for mounting the shocks before this, but I'll make it work.
These are probably 10 or 15 mm longer than they need to be to have a full travel range, but everything is supposed to be cartoony and outsized on this anyway
speedbirdted
Legendary member
Cub yellow is pretty close to the color school buses get painted. If you really wanted the school bus look I would use that on the fuselage
Cub yellow is pretty close to the color school buses get painted. If you really wanted the school bus look I would use that on the fuselage
Yeah, I've seen a couple Bee's go for that
I'm thinking something that will work nicely with red and white led lighting... possibly sort of translucent white covering with the traditional Lazy Bee scallops done in red.
TooJung2Die
Master member
Are the sides of the fuselage parallel under the wing and then taper to the tail behind the trailing edge? If the fuselage begins the taper at the front of the fuselage then bulkheads are not square to the sides. They are 90 degrees minus the degrees of taper. I've made this mistake and the bulkheads were crooked.
So after more reading of the plans and instructions, it turns out the sides are straight and the fuselage is rectangular in cross section, which will help simplify the next part of the build.
To get ready for connecting the fuselage sides together I'm making all of the cross pieces ahead of time and laminating the bulkheads that need that too.
As I was doing that, I found another missing piece in the pre cut sheets. There are supposed to be two F-2 pieces, and only one is in the kit. Simple enough to make a duplicate by hand though.
To get ready for connecting the fuselage sides together I'm making all of the cross pieces ahead of time and laminating the bulkheads that need that too.
As I was doing that, I found another missing piece in the pre cut sheets. There are supposed to be two F-2 pieces, and only one is in the kit. Simple enough to make a duplicate by hand though.
