Sky Bench Big Bird

[SchiessCo]

I ordered up a Sky Bench Big Bird - just looking for a nice RES plane to play around with. Does anybody have any hints or tips before I start building?

Thanks, Pete

[Superman]

I've never had one but have always thought it was one of the coolest RES planes ever... I was just wondering if you had a digital camera then you would do a built thread on it? I just thought it would be neat to see how those wing tips are made...

Thanks,

-Superman

[wingsnapper]

I've got one thats about to get stuck to the board. I'm waiting for enough time to get the fuse and inner pannel of the wings built and aligned. This to me would be the most critical part of the build. All of the other skybench birds I have use a band on one piece wing. This allows for shimming and basically cheating the plane into rig. My advice is to read the instructions over and over. Also visit the skybench web site and look up building tips. Good luck, JS

[SchiessCo]

Superman - I don't have my own digi-cam, but maybe I can borrow one and put up some pics. There doesn't appear to be much info on this airplane, so maybe I'll have to start something.

JS - Thanks, will do. Good luck with your as well.

Pete

[Eye Sore]

I don't have a Big Bird, just eh regular 2m Bird. Unfortunately I didn't build it either... :( paid a friend to do it, he's better than me. Anyway, I love the plane and the way it flies. I also really like the way the wing is put together, it's very strong.

As far as the builder goes, I think the instructions were top notch, and the kit was beautiful. It has to be one of the easier kits to put together. Everything fit together nicely. Wingsnapper has great advice though. Pre-read those instructions an re-read them. Plus, the web site is full of additional info. Good luck and I'd love to see some picts of the plane when you have it done.

Here are some of mine.
Some picts of the skeleton of the bird (http://www.hankandheather.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=planes)
Finished (http://www.hankandheather.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=lilbird)

Good luck,

Hank

[SchiessCo]

Thanks Hank, your 2M is a looker. I'm planning a similar covering job, but using transparent violet instead of the yellow, and adding some stripes underneath. I'll definitely post some finished pics.

[black alder]

I just completed a flight of over 1 hour with my Skybench big bird this week. I would say for about 15 minutes of the flight I had the spoilers fully deployed. Launched on a highstart and after being up for more than an hour I decided to bring it down due to a sore neck.
I built mine over the winter and had no problems with the plans or instructions. Mine was an earlier version with the balsa fuse.
I might suggest that you drill out the nose block so as you can fill it with lead ballast as required, this worked well for me.
I also fiberglassed the fuse using .75 oz. fiberglass and used water based polyurethane with baby powder as a filler. This is a lot easier to work with than epoxy, no smell and lots of time to work with it, also it will not stick to your fingers.
A great sailplane with no bad habits, and will turn on a wingtip with no tip stall.
You might also want to make provisions for ballast at the c of g for windy days for better penetration
Make the hatch behind the canopy totally removable, it makes it easier to hook up the spoilers to the servo. Also make provisions when building your wings to accept small eye hooks so that you can install a small spring to retain your wings together. This is also accessed through the removable hatch. As I recall looking at the pics. on Ray's web site he used some tape under the fuse. The spring is a much better idea.
Good luck

[wingsnapper]

I've been thinking of not including the spoilers in this model. Less cost, weight and construction makes me a happy man. Has anyone had trouble leaving themal in this model with the ol' full up- full rudder please come down method? I have a 2M Bird that is fine this way, but I wonder if it will work on the larger brother.
Looking for more North Texas glider guiders,
JS

[Ollie]

Even more effective and safer than the spiral dive is a steep inverted descent. You can loose about ten to twenty feet of altitude per second in a 30 to 45 degree inverted dive without exceeding an air speed of 20 MPH. The Big Bird wants to roll out so it takes some concentration and a quick thumb on the rudder to keep it from rolling out. It takes some practise but it is far more effective than most spoilers. The inverted airfoil produces huge drag to limit the air speed.

[Hawksnest]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ollie
[B]Even more effective and safer than the spiral dive is a steep inverted descent. You can loose about ten to twenty feet of altitude per second in a 30 to 45 degree inverted dive without exceeding an air speed of 20 MPH.


Ollie is right, I have spoilers on three of my four Skybench Birds, 2M (no spoilers), 2-100" Big Birds, and a 132" Skybird. Rolling inverted and descending is quicker than using spoilers. Inverted with spoilers is quickest. :D I met Ollie at Woodcrafters 2003, and I want to be like him when I grow up. Listen to what he says, he knows soaring. Bill G.

[wingsnapper]

Hey Hawk, Did you find installing the wing rod system to be difficult? Just seems to be a pretty tricky and imprortant step. This will be my 4th skybench bird to build ( 1st big bird ). I have yet to be totally satisfied with my skills as a builder... I always end up with something out of whack. First off, I don't really like the "tab and slot" formers. Using this system one must have perfectly identical sides or the fuse will end up like a banana. Also the wing is not as easy to build correctly as one would think. The whole D-tube thing/ getting the ribs to glue to the LE sheeting while weighting behind the spar kinda sucks.. Yes it is easy to do if you don't care about the small gap that occurs between the spar and first 1/4 in forward. If you eliminate this by glueing each rib in at the spar and 1/8" forward... then rocking it back into position and glueing the TE you are sure to introduce a warp. Got any insite?? Am I the only one that has had this much trouble building this design? JS

[Hawksnest]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wingsnapper
[B]Hey Hawk, Did you find installing the wing rod system to be difficult? Just seems to be a pretty tricky and imprortant step. This will be my 4th skybench bird to build ( 1st big bird ). I have yet to be totally satisfied with my skills as a builder... I always end up with something out of whack. First off, I don't really like the "tab and slot" formers. Using this system one must have perfectly identical sides or the fuse will end up like a banana.

Draw a line on your workbench longer than the fuse, and build the fuse over it after squaring up and gluing the first couple formers in the front. Put center marks on the formers to line up with the line you drew. I use bricks to hold the fuse in place as I bring the nose together on the nose block, and the tail end together, also on the center line.
I haven't had any problem with the wing rod mounts in any of them, it is all laser cut which helps. As for the joiner boxes, when you set up the wings at the correct angle and distance from each other, use a long straight edge to insure both wing leading edges are on line before tack gluing the brass tubes in with 5 minute epoxy, then remove the rod when cured, and embed the tubes in epoxy and micro balloons. Let me know if I didn't cover the problem you are having. Have you looked at Ray's assembly tips on the Skybench website? Also, maybe Ollie has a different/better way of building the fuse and wings to align correctly. Bill

[Ollie]

Usually the accuracy of laser cut parts with tab and slot construction will allow the fuselage to be assembled dry with just rubberbands to hold it together and then CA wicked into the joints. Perhaps the problem was caused by not having the 1/64 ply in perfect register with the balsa fuselage sides when they were laminated. I can't think of any other reason for the difficulty.

One of the advantages of belonging to a club is that there is usually an experienced builder among the membership that is willing to demonstrate proper building techniques and coach you through the construction process so that you can learn some proper techniques. One of the weakness of these forums is that we can't always diagnose problems when we can't see what's happening in real time.