Intro

I would like to clear up future gaps in my posts. This is not my primary build right now. When the weather breaks I have a few projects to do outside. For these reasons I will post when I work on it but there will be periods of time without posts. I will let you know before this happens. I do promise to run this log till the end. I hate reading a log and it suddenly stops. I don’t care if it takes years I will post till the end and that will be a flight report. But I hope to be finished before fall. My original plan was to build this summer but things changed these plans. You will understand later. Rather than making this post as long as a novel I decided to post each subject separately. First why and then what makes me think it will fly and so on. So on to the next post.

I enjoy reading build logs and discussion threads. I have learned so much from them but there are too many to read them all. I choose a plane or subject and do a search to find one to read. On one someone mentioned a Lazy Bee. I was curious what this plane looked like. Another search and I found a Lazy Bee repair log. A guy acquired a damaged Lazy Bee and posted his repairs. At first I thought the Bee was the ugliest plane I ever saw. Since I like to read to the end I continued reading and looking at the pictures. By the end of the log I changed my opinion and thought it was cute and adorable. With its exaggerated tail and wings plus the balloon tires and the beer belly I realized that it looks like it came out of a cartoon. So on to a search for bees. I found a log on Lazy Bee plans http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...hp?t=916960.It was started in 2008 and still runs today with 51 pages so far. It has discussions on any of the bees and plans for all. I will post the Turbo Bee plans at the end of this post. In this log one guy borrowed a TB kit took pics and did whatever cad magic to make templates of the parts. The plans from the kit did not have these. One guy said he was planning to redesign it to accept a 60mm EDF but I never saw a post of this. I decided to build one and see what size EDF will fit without a major redesign.

I took the plans to a printer that I used before. When I got the plans home I measured the inside of the fuse formers. I found I could fit a 90mm EDF inside a balsa tube made of 3/32 or 1/16 balsa sheets. All of this will fit inside the fuse formers nicely. I had my answer so I put the plans away for building in the summer. Then a storm called Hurricane Sandy came through and shut the power down for days. Since I had the material and plans for the TB and another plane I cut all the parts out by hand by sunlight and flashlight. Where it called for 1/16” balsa or ply I changed the balsa to 3/32” and ply to 1/8”. I packed up the parts again for summer but I like to think out my builds before hand to get answers or parts ahead of the build. The Turbo Bee had more questions than answers. This drove me crazy. I ordered the EDF. One question was would this plane fly with the EDF weighing more than the original plane. Even the battery is heavier. I started to find the weights of all the parts for the plane added them together to get a target finished weight. I figured it to be around 3lbs. Then I figured the total wing area at 432sqin. Now I checked many websites for 90mm ARF wood framed planes. I was pleasantly surprised that most were heavier with smaller wing area. I’m talking about 5.5lbs at 372cuin and 6.8lbs at 350cuin as examples. This thing is very possible. This proved my theory that Clancy’s plans are designed for their time and for future changes. The Lazy Bee proves this over and over.

Now you would think knowing it will fly, in fact should fly very well, I would be happy. The questions without answers bothered me so much that it affected my other plane build. Getting the answers is why I started early. As I built a piece it made me do another piece for more answers and so on. Now I will describe how I built each step starting with the balsa tube to take the place of the paper tube in the kit.

First I placed sheets of 3/32 balsa, 19” or longer, tightly together and taped the joints longwise. Flip the sheets over and bend each joint open just enough to place wood glue in the joints. Place wax paper over and place some weight to hold it down flat till the glue dries. I cut the sheets a little longer than the plans show the fuse tube. This is the same process that is used when covering wings with sheet balsa. The next day I had a real wide sheet of balsa. The EDF has a flange around the front that is for the airflow into the fan. I didn’t want to cut this off but I need it flush from front to rear. I CA glued some sheets of balsa behind the flange. I made long enough to mount the speed control behind the fan. I also found a can that is the same diameter as the glued up fan. Using paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol I saturated the glued up sheet balsa. The alcohol makes the balsa pliable and when dry it goes back to hard. I wrapped the soaked balsa around the EDF and can to form a tube. Clamped it with large hose clamps and let dry. When dry removed the clamps trimmed the edge to make a tight joint. Placed wax paper under glue joint at fan and can. Glue joint and tighten again with hose clamps. When dry I removed the clamps and with a lot of pressure I was able to remove the fan and can from the inside. After a little sanding on the fan and inside tube I was able to push the fan through the tube with a fair amount of pressure. I want it tight so it doesn’t rattle in the tube but I need it to slide when I balance the plane. The tube in the kit has been described as a larger paper towel tube. A decent EDF would tear this up. By making it out of balsa it is stronger and should take the torque and other loads.

With the tube built I now had the size of the hole in the center of the fuse formers. You want them snug but not so tight as to distort the tube. Most of the pieces are made so it can be assembled by the directions. First place tube flat on a table. Using a large book or a cereal box, placed next to it, draw a straight line from front to back. This will be your top reference line. Next place tube on top of the plans and mark the placement of the formers. I would make small lines at the top reference line. All these marks will help in the assembly of the fuse. Former F-2-3 has wing support parts to be glued on first (this is in the directions). Place the formers on the tube in the proper order and line them up with the reference lines you drew earlier. DO NOT GLUE ANYTHING YET. I left off the stringers F-3-3 through F-3-7 because they make the bottom battery box. This box is too small for the 5s lipo battery that will be used. I started at the top installing stringers and worked my way down both sides, still no glue. When done put rubber bands around the assembly to hold it together. Double check for square and plumb. Wick CA glue in all joints including the feet on the stringers that touch the tube. Let dry. The little feet I mentioned I had to sand down a little so the stringers fit into the slots of the formers. The whole process of assembly including the fitting took less than an hour. This thing goes together easily.

The original plans instruct you to use the template, on the plans, to cut a piece of cardboard to make the point on the rear of the fuse. Then glue this cardboard to the paper tube. I didn’t like gluing cardboard on the balsa tube; this is why I made the tube extra long. I used the template to mark this shape using the top center line. Then I cut it off to form the tail point. I did it right after the formers and stringers were dry. I used them to determine where to cut for the point. From front of tube to the tip of the point is 18”. After a lot of measuring and thinking I cut 2 pieces of 1/8 ply 2”x15”. I cut slots in the ply and matching slots in the formers so the ply pieces could be glued 2 ¼” apart on the bottom to form the new battery box. Right now it looks stupid but it is functional. When I figure out how things will fit in it I will cut it down and try to shape it to blend into the style of the plane. On the top behind the cockpit I topped it with balsa to the tail. This made a nice flat spot for the rudder. I then planked this on both sides.

When the fuse is covered with Monokote it creates flat spots between stringers. It may be round but it is a series of flat spots making a circle just like a hexagon. I wanted to keep this look with my planking. All my planking and sheeting is done with 3/32” balsa sheets. I started at the bottom with the first plank. I cut it to fit against the side of the battery box. I cut it off just past the next stringer glued and clamped it. I did this to the other bottom and both top planks. When glue dried I trimmed the plank overhang back to the stringer. I took a sanding block and placed it on the next stringer and the edge of the first plank. I sanded a flat spot in the first plank to make good glue joint. The next planks were glued with overhang at the stringer and over the first plank. When dry trimmed at the stringer like the last on and cut the overhang over the first plank at the same angle of the first plank. With a little sanding I had a nice clean joint line. I repeated this till it was all planked. The planking helps strengthen the plane plus gives me a solid place to glue the wings on.
There is a vacuformed piece that is glued in front of the tube assembly. This like the paper tube and the canopy are not available. I made it out of 2 layers of 3/16” balsa. Then I added 2 more pieces at the top to make the point that is similar to the tail. I carved the top pieces to make the point then a quick sanding. I still have to round it for the intake but I will do that when I do the finishing.

Another big question that was eating at me was “will retractable landing gear fit in the wing?” I also wanted to mount a small servo on its side in the last section. This servo will run a Rotation Drive System to control the Elevon. So I had to build the wings. Cleared off the building board, placed and covered the plans. I like to dry fit parts before gluing just to make sure they fit right. I found I was missing the parts that make the back of the wing W-1-3, W-2-3 and W-3-3. They were missing from the template sheets. I ended making 2 sets, one for each wing, by cutting 6 strips about ½” wide and cutting the cross piece slots in 4 of them. Them I glued it all together. This whole process took about ½ hour. When I built the second wing it took 15 min. This thing goes together nice. The next step is to install 2 pieces that spread the wing open by the cross pieces. This gives the wing a bowed shape in the middle. I laid the wing on the plan and marked each cross piece as to where the spreader goes. Pushed the spreaders in the middle from mount to tip and worked then out to the marks then glued. And yes the retracts will fit and also the servo as I wanted it. Next I cover sheeted the top of both wings. With enough clamps it glues down nicely. As I was admiring my progress I saw that the leading edge was rather thick and to sand a nice curved leading edge I may not have enough material. I glued a ¼ x ¼ balsa stick to the leading edge and around the wing tip. When this was dry I trimmed the cover sheeting.

While I was building the wings I made the rudder. The added power and speed will cause a lot more stress on the control surfaces. They will have to be strengthened starting with the rudder. The rudder goes together just like the wing. When I laid the parts over the plans to check fit I realized I screwed up. I made all the balsa parts out of 3/32. The outer edge pieces R-1-1 to R-1-3 were to be 1/8 balsa and the cross pieces R-1-4 & R-1-5 from 1/16 balsa to fit in the outer pieces. I made another set of outer pieces to make up the difference. Glued everything together making sure I didn’t glue the upper and lower cross pieces together. When dry I slid the spreader pieces in just like the wing and glued. The plan called for a bamboo stick for the rudder axle or pivot. This definitely won’t hold up. I used a piece of 1/8” music wire and bent the top the same angle to match the middle cross piece and fit between the spreaders. Then I determined where to mount the rudder and drilled an 1/8” hole top and bottom of plane. The rod runs through the tube and comes out the bottom in the battery box. I installed the rudder with wire on fuse with wax paper between rudder and fuse. Using scrap balsa I glued pieces on either side of wire and top and bottom of bent wire. This will lock the wire to the rudder. When dried I trimmed the pieces.

This will catch this build to where I am today.

Bruce

Something different.Brilliant!

Something to watch while I build my Speedy Bee ARF.

Bruce thanks you will probably see things you would do. Like I said I watch and learn from your builds.

Stupot welcome aboard. It should be interesting

Ncrealestateguy hope you enjoy but post some pics of your Speedy here or Lazybee discussion thread

Rick

i admit i got side tracked on redoing the turbo bee as my computer crashed and i have not gotten back to it. so good job for keeping bee's alive

I would like to introduce Gaexcalibur to everyone. This is the person I wrote about earlier. He is the one that made the parts template files.

Gaexcalibur
I am glad to see you will be watching you work being used. The parts fit great. Thanks again for drawing the templates.

Rick