Nu-Bee ARC

[PoorManRC]

Paint Jobs have ALWAYS been subjective...
That looks GOOD!! 👍👍
Add some Polyhedral, and it looks like where Bix got the idea for the Sportster. 😉

I have always loved the Bees, and other Golden Era Aircraft. They almost don't look like they could even get off the ground!!
Fantastic work!!!

 

[rockyboy]

Thanks!

One more "final touch" coming soon - gotta do one more addition to help with orientation. The all white bottom didn't have enough (any) contrasting elements to help it stand out - but I found a roll of checkerboard in the pile...

 

[rockyboy]

And here we go!

 

[PoorManRC]

And here we go!

View attachment 142391

Now THAT'S very 1930's!!! 😁 Excellent finishing touch.

 

[bracesport]

@rockyboy - at first glance I thought you had stuck the squares on individually!

 

[TooJung2Die]

The red checkers fit the airplane's personality perfectly.

 

[rockyboy]

Thanks guys! Quite proud of her now - can't wait to get her back in the air again!

 

[rockyboy]

I really need to get some video, but she's had 7 flights so far and I'm getting her dialed in, one step at a time. With the short fuselage, extra wide flying surfaces, and generous control surfaces it's taking a little while - but she's getting to be very responsive in a way that makes me think I have a new fun-fly competition plane here

Dialing in steps - after the first pair of flights, I moved the control rods all to the outer holes on the control horns to increase resolution and decrease throw as she just wanted to jump all over the place. Then it was time for a little more weight in the nose after the next flight. Then more reductions in aileron and elevator throws through programming, since she was still giving me butterflies. Next I put in some aileron to rudder mixing (rather than just trying to manually coordinate the turns all the time) and she started to settle down finally so I felt better about doing more adventurous maneuvers and trying some inverted flight. Weird vertical stall behavior lead me to check out the lateral balance, and wow- I needed to add a 1/4 ounce of lead to the right wing tip to get her level! I think this will probably help out the performance all around too.

The red checkers looked great, but didn't do quite enough for orientation. I almost lost her flying at the club meeting this Thursday when everything started to look like a little red and white dot going away from me. But she came home, and since I needed to open up the wing to add lead for balance anyway, I switched covering on the bottom and she now has a new set of checkers!

I also need to do something to strengthen the landing gear. If I perfectly grease the landing in (which I've done about 4 out of 7 flights) it's great. If she evens bumps down a little bit, the landing gear bends and she squats down on the field so the prop starts mowing the grass. I really don't understand how they expected these gear to hold up under the weight of a wet fuel engine! While I've been able to bend the gear back in place each time, I really think a stronger - or slightly shock absorbing - gear setup would be a nice improvement. Any ideas?

 

[rockyboy]

So I came up with an idea for the landing gear. From looking around at stuff, the Cub design seems like a good match for the look and functionality - just need to figure out how to mount the pants.

And a gear set from the discontinued Super Cub 25e seems to be in the right weight class, and on sale too!

https://www.horizonhobby.com/landing-gear:-super-cub-25e-efl460016

Hopefully this won't be too big to mount across the fuselage - the NuBee is a little narrower there than the 25e Cub might be... we'll see when the parts come in.

 

[Joker 53150]

There's another option I've seen (but never tried) to strengthen the gear, here's a pic:

And a link to more details on how it was done:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/tip...inforcement-design-construction-assembly.html

 

[TooJung2Die]

Any ideas?

I was think Cub gear too and then I read your next post. How about an 'X' made of two wires. Each wire has an eyelet on both ends. I see screws on the wheel axles and screws mounting it to the fuselage. Use the existing screws to attach the wires in the 'X' pattern.

 

[rockyboy]

There's another option I've seen (but never tried) to strengthen the gear, here's a pic:

View attachment 143357


And a link to more details on how it was done:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/tip...inforcement-design-construction-assembly.html

That's an interesting approach - not sure if the company that made those stand offs is still operating, but I could do something similar for thinner wire with a larger size of servo linkage adapter - that might be better anyway as the pictures down in that thread show what happens if the landing gear is too strong!

I was think Cub gear too and then I read your next post. How about an 'X' made of two wires. Each wire has an eyelet on both ends. I see screws on the wheel axles and screws mounting it to the fuselage. Use the existing screws to attach the wires in the 'X' pattern.

I think that could work - something with springs might be nicer to the undercarriage than fixed wires but that's the functional idea!

 

[Joker 53150]

That's an interesting approach - not sure if the company that made those stand offs is still operating, but I could do something similar for thinner wire with a larger size of servo linkage adapter - that might be better anyway as the pictures down in that thread show what happens if the landing gear is too strong!

Yeah, it appears that some suspension and springiness is a plus! You can always try different gauge wires to find one that gives you some strength without being too stiff. I may try this on my 1/4 scale Citabria as the original gear tends to sag after a few landings.

 

[rockyboy]

Well..... So I didn't fix the landing gear before I went for another flight with it. And on flight #10 one wheel bent back, caught on the ground, and she cartwheeled down the runway.

Damage was very light though- just the landing gear bracket torn off along with the plywood mounting plate, and the motor mount broke free too. Repairs were simple and a friend gave me a carbon fiber landing gear set that should hold the weight much better. Sits about 2" higher - hopefully that won't impact takeoff and landing performance. Will see next time at the field!

Here she is, hanging up until the next field trip!

 

[TooJung2Die]

Those new landing gear look well proportioned from here.

 

[rockyboy]

Those new landing gear look well proportioned from here.

Thanks - with the same width and just a little extra height, they almost look more appropriate that the stock ones to me now. I'm looking forward to having a little more grass clearance for the prop!