Mini Buzzard Bombshell

[Megowcoupe]

Well, I've actually gone flying in 2008 (today) with the newest thing off the building board. Actually, I haven't been building much of late- and I've got to build some FF stuff or I'm going to be tossed out of my indoor group.

Anyhow- I've had a penchant for these scaled down replica's of some of FF gas's glory years for quite a while. I've built the CG Clipper Mk. II, the Mercury, the Miss America, and the Super Buccaneer in this size range (around 36" give or take), and this one may beat them all.

Here's the setup- Speed 300 7.2V motor (brushless is a waste of time on these airplanes, they generally need noseweight) very tired 3 cell 400 mAH pack, Gunther spoon prop, pair of HS 55s (hey, they were handy and these days, cheap- plus they're good servos.) Pixie 7 and a Berg 4 rounds things out- weighs in at 6.7 oz sans batteries.

I had to come up with my own elevator and rudder, but that's not hard. The elevator is pretty limited in what it can do- no tight loops for this airplane. But I've got enough rudder to throw the airplane around and what I like about it is that it stays flat in a turn and doesn't drop a wing. Let the airplane get slow and it'll mush from side to side like a Sniffer- but it's got a great glide- not hyper slow, but it just doesn't lose altitude.

I think the wing may be the secret- it's nice and low aspect ratio with a great airfoil (partical undercamber)- and the dihedral setup is just wonderful for wheeling around tightly.

I built a somewhat larger version (the 50") version years ago- originally glow and then converted to electric after a dork, and I was always happy with how it flew- one of the most capable old timers- you could fly it in some breeze. Gotta build another one of these days- I've still got the gear.

If I put some decent cells, it'll certainly have some nads. Wonder if I can tow up a little DLG with it?

Sam

[misfitsailor]

Congrats on your baby Buzzard!

I've been thinking about a mini Lanzo Record Breaker...

[Snorks]

Nice one Sam. I love recycling the bits & pieces lying around the workshop. There was another of these somewhere on the forum, cox .010 powered I think. Did the original have a lifting tail? I've built flat tails on designs which were meant to have a lifting section & wondered if it were responsible for the faster glide?
by the way, some neat bleach should get rid of that grey stuff on your lawn chair.

[Megowcoupe]

Hi Misfit

I don't see any reason why a mini Lanzo wouldn't work well too- don't think the wing is too high aspect ratio.

Snorks- Yah, I think the original full size version (I think it was the 72" airplane) did have a lifting stab as did my 50" version. I should have said that the mini Buzzard was from a 4K's kit that I inherited.

I know that lifting stabs allow the cg to be further back, which theoretically reduces the wing loading (increased lifting surface) but I'm not sure how critical that is. The reason I like lifting stabs is that it makes for a more stable airplane- less likely to roller coaster. I've sanded a bit of an airfoil into my Buzzards stab, but it's still largely a flat plate- which by the way- does lift at 0 degrees incidence- you have to go to a few degrees negative before it doesn't if I remember some of my aerodynamics correctly.

Some of these smaller airplanes have had a real lifting stab like the Comet Clipper which uses the wing and the tail group off the Sailplane. (One of these days I'll built the Sailplane too- I've got an RN kit lying around.) The Clipper had a relatively fast glide, with a sharp stall, but good hang time. I suspect it's a very efficient wing, but not a forgiving one. The Bombshell's stall is much more forgiving.

Sam

[chainlink]

I have a Baby Buzzard hanging from the ceiling - last flown in those bygone days. I am tempted to refit it to electric - but can not imagine how I could get the cog right w/o a couple dozen wheel weights (think it has 4 oz in the nose already, and 6 oz landing gear).

[Bob Chiang]

Great model Sam. It looks like it would be fun for zooming around at low level as well as soaring up high hunting for thermals.

What is the covering material? Any problems getting it to stick to the undercamber?

-Bob

[Megowcoupe]

Hi Bob

It does, very, very well at dragging the antenna height- it's so stable and forgiving, yet has enough rudder to boot around.

The covering material is doculam (don't remember the thickness- and I didn't weigh it before and after, but I'll bet it's not much heavier than So-Lite- think lighter than Oracover light. I bought something like a 20 lb roll for $50 and it's enough covering material for a lifetime or a full size B-36. I tend to use a fog of something like Testor's Spray Enamel- one is copper and the other is some bright fluorescent green that's actually not very aggressive- fuse is white So-Lite. Just fog it on the adhesive side so it's protected. It's not wildly consistent the way I do it- just hanging some of the material off a yardstick, but I actually like the streaky effect.

I had no trouble sticking it to the undercamber, but then again, I learned a long time ago not to go near an undercambered surface with a heat gun. The stuff shrinks up fine- lots more shrink than say the polyester tissue, maybe comparable to Monocote?

Sam

[philami]

You might be intrested to know how free flight flew. It turned into the wind and immediately turned to go down wind. Trust me they flew into the upwind direction you launched into only after the wind shifted l80 degrees or so. Oh, those hot days when you had to hunt for your model in tall corn always resulted in all kinds of skin scratches and itching (often tall grass did this too).

We always had the stabalizer tilted some to facilitate the 'left twisted' rudder for circling about 30 to 100 feet, depending on the wingspan. Determalizers were a must but often were not on the larger gas engine models. Gas model free flights would turn you into a long distance runner real quick like. No wonder, back then, flying models was truly a healthy thing to do!

Those free flight models were truly graceful in flight in ways difficult to explain. You can get this with high performance soarable models by trimming left with a touch of up elevator with the engine off to get a similar affect. You will also notice how quickly it flies away from where you are. Modern models generally fly faster then old timers and will go away quicker in this trim mode. Incidentally this trim mode gives the best results in working thermals. Try this and you'll come to this conclusion too. Just let the model do the thermaling for you. It'll do a better job then you can via your rc controls. Above all, enjoy!

[Megowcoupe]

Hi Phil

I wholeheartedly agree that the airplane is better at finding thermals than I am. My penultimate outing, I flew the airplane in "guided Free Flight mode"- I'd steer her back to me- whack the throttle open, let her climb to a goodly height- shut down the motor and just watch her go. Using the trims I could get either a left hand or a right hand circle- I tend to prefer left hand, but I think she does better in a right hand- I've probably got a little washin in the starboard inner panel (both tips are washed out a bit.) and just let her do lazy circles. I wouldn't touch the sticks unless she was going off the field or out of sight. She found lift better than me- I need to buy Dave Thornburg's book. By the way- I still fly rubber powered FF, I was never very successful with gas FF.

Sam

[jjscott]

This poor old girl sure needs a restoration. 32" span built by my father many years ago. Cox 020 Pee Wee, no downthrust, but has 1/4" of packing under the stab LE to make her fly. Free flight. One of many Bombshells he built over the years.

Jim

[Megowcoupe]

Oy- yup, that does need some help. I hope the woods not too oil soaked...

Sam

[Ojimy]

Did the original have a lifting tail? I've built flat tails on designs which were meant to have a lifting section & wondered if it were responsible for the faster glide?I built the full-size version (72") of the Bombshell from a 4-K's kit some years ago, and I'm almost positive (9.5 on a scale of 1-10) that the horizontal stab was of symmetrical cross section. I don't recall the force setup, but due to it's size and the short nose moment, I assume it was operating as a lifting section.

I followed that with a 36" version with a flat-plate stab, powered by an Astro 020. It never flew half as well as my similarly-powered 36" Powerhouses (which all had lifting stabs) but was rugged and easy to trim.

As Megowcoupe has pointed out, a lifting stab effectively lowers wing loading, allowing the model to fly at a lower trim speed. If you're setting your flat-plate models up with positive decalage it's possible they need to glide faster than they would with lifting stabs.

[Luis_Claudio]

Hey guys! I´m looking for a Mini Buzzard Bombshell plans for a while.. could you please send it to me?

My e-mail is: lmoraisvieira@gmail.com

Do you still have the plane? Still flying?

Tks!
Luis

[Megowcoupe]

Hi Luis

I'll have to scrounge around and see if I still have what I built the airplane from.

Sam

[Luis_Claudio]

Ok my friend! No problem.. :rolleyes:

Hi Luis

I'll have to scrounge around and see if I still have what I built the airplane from.

Sam

[orson]

Hey guys! I´m looking for a Mini Buzzard Bombshell plans for a while.. could you please send it to me?

My e-mail is: lmoraisvieira@gmail.com

Do you still have the plane? Still flying?

Tks!
Luis

Hi, Luis,
nice to see you around here! :D :D

Have you tried this page? http://www.e-voo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39279&postdays=&postorder=asc&start=325.

You'll get the plans of Baby Bombshell, that is a reduced version of the original Buzzard Bombshell. There you'll also find some shots of the one I've built. It flies very stable and docile with no or low wind conditions. Easy to be built. I strongly recommend it to you!!! Setup I used: GWS350 brushed, 800mAh 2S Lipo and 9x6SF props.

Good luck!

[Luis_Claudio]

Hello my friend,

We are from the same country, but we found each other right here :eek:
Yes! I saw the e-mail you sent to me and I already have the plans in my hands, now let´s build this beauty!

Thanks a lot again!
Luis.

Hi, Luis,
nice to see you around here! :D :D

Have you tried this page? http://www.e-voo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39279&postdays=&postorder=asc&start=325.

You'll get the plans of Baby Bombshell, that is a reduced version of the original Buzzard Bombshell. There you'll also find some shots of the one I've built. It flies very stable and docile with no or low wind conditions. Easy to be built. I strongly recommend it to you!!! Setup I used: GWS350 brushed, 800mAh 2S Lipo and 9x6SF props.

Good luck!