A&D Aircraft 20cc Gee Bee R3

[Doozer]

processed through the Phoenix sort facility. I'm guessing it will be out for delivery tomorrow, though it says expected delivery date is the 10th. I guess I'll know when it says out for delivery. Anyway, got a 12 oz Rotoflow fuel tank and This:



Quickfire

keeps a 1/4 oz of fuel in it, has a filter and is a fueling T. It was a shiny gadget. Looks cool, thought I'd give it a shot. I bought a DLE 20RA (exhaust port faces the fire wall)from Chief Aircraft, they had it listed as in stock, but I got an email stating it's not and it wont be shipped until the 20th. No biggie. I've still got the Sukhoi to work on anyway.

School's winding down for the semester and I'll have a little more free time to work on these projects.

[Doozer]

Exactly the same plane. I guess "Goldwing" means A&D Aircraft in Chinese. I noticed other people selling A&D's as "Goldwings" as well. Same box, same manual. I looked at the parts bag and it's the same parts, only not as yellow. I wont be using any of the linkage, or the pull pull that comes with the plane... just too risky in my opinion. I want to look at alternatives, but at the very least, a decent aftermarket pull pull system. The good news is that I didn't pay $500 bucks for this one. I ordered it from General Hobbies at 10PM on a Friday night and it got here today at two. So 5 business days for $300 shipped.

I should add that I didn't use the General Hobby website. Rich Yan, the owner of General Hobbies a.k.a. Factories To You, Inc. Sells planes on RC Groups, RC Universe and Ebay as well as his General Hobbies site. Chances are if you see ric*** in the online handle and that person is selling a plane, it's him. So I emailed him on RC Universe and offered him $300 shipped on the Goldwing Gee Bee that he had for $300 on his website, and he accepted. That's $200 dollars less than what I paid last time. Giant Model Products still has the plane listed $400 plus shipping ($75).

General Hobbies doesn't have a stellar record when it comes to dealing with problems, but as far as delivering what I purchased, I'll give him a "A-." It's sold as a Goldwing, but the best that I can tell is that everyone sells this plane as a Goldwing. However, the price was right and the shipping, for it being Christmas time, was fast. I would use him again.

Also, cancelled my 20cc order with Chief aircraft and bought the same engine from Valley View RC for $20 dollars cheaper, shipped. Got the tracking number for it, and it's on it's way. See the "Hot Deals" forum.

[19000rpm]

Sounds like quite a good deal.

Generally speaking, most planes are sold under a variety of names depending on who is doing the selling, unless it is sold exclusively, which companies like Horizon, insist on. They have to have a good volume though to hold a China manufacturer to exclusivity.

Hobby-Lobby, for example, tried to brand some planes, but they couldn't sustain the volume so now a number of other sellers are carrying the same planes; some even using the Hobby-Lobby branded instructions. And there can be some huge price disparities like you just found with your plane. It certainly pays to do the research.

[Doozer]

Just got my engine from Valley View. Not only did they give a 10% Christmas discount, but they threw in a digital mini tach that connects to the ignition. The also sent it Fed-ex ground, and it got here in 4 days. Pretty pleased. I'll be using them again.

[Doozer]

I've decided to take my time with this. I'm going to start building after I finish rebuilding the Sukhoi. I'm not going to be in a big hurry because I want to do this right. I'm considering a couple of options for the rudder at this point, but I'm leaning toward a Secraft pull pull system. I was really considering no pull pull at all and just using a push-rod... still not 100% on the pull pull... could use some advice. I've read a bunch about them, but the consensus is that some like them, some don't. I had one in the other Gee Bee, but...

I'm going to buy some Secraft servo boxes as well. One for the throttle servo, and the other for the choke servo. I also want to start this bird off with fresh servos and a nice JR Rx. I want an Rx with two satellites.

So that's the plan until I change it.  I'm not sure when this will see air time, but I'll start on it soon.

[19000rpm]

I'm not a big fan of pull-pull systems for basic sport flying. I think they are more complicated than is warranted in most applications. If you've got a stiff push-rod, i.e. no flexing, and a high torque MG servo, a simple push-rod is what I'd prefer.

On the other hand, if you're doing a lot of high load precision rudder maneuvers (flat spins, knife edge, etc.)then a pull-pull makes more sense because the loads on the components are more evenly distributed and deliver more precise movement of the control surface.

[Doozer]

Dec 11, 2013 8:09:54 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

I'm not a big fan of pull-pull systems for basic sport flying. I think they are more complicated than is warranted in most applications. If you've got a stiff push-rod, i.e. no flexing, and a high torque MG servo, a simple push-rod is what I'd prefer.

On the other hand, if you're doing a lot of high load precision rudder maneuvers (flat spins, knife edge, etc.)then a pull-pull makes more sense because the loads on the components are more evenly distributed and deliver more precise movement of the control surface.

Exactly the advice I was looking for. I am just that... a sport flier. I do like the idea of doing knife edges, but I think you've helped me... and actually saved me a bit of cash. I was going to lay out about $100 dollars on an after market pull pull. Thanks man.

[19000rpm]

You'll still be able to do knife edge. Very nice knife edge. Maybe with less precision than an aerobatic contest winner, but that's not what you're after.

[akphill]

Just a thought here
I was flying my ryan doing a knife edge maneuver
It has a push pull system on the rudder and elevators
as i was going past me doing a very nice knife edge the model did an aprut spin outof the knife edge
and what it came down to was the push pull system allowed the elevator to flex out of true plane twisting the model
just saying on a bigger model a pull pull system mightr be better

[Doozer]

Dec 12, 2013 13:38:36 GMT -6 akphill said:

Just a thought here
I was flying my ryan doing a knife edge maneuver
It has a push pull system on the rudder and elevators
as i was going past me doing a very nice knife edge the model did an aprut spin outof the knife edge
and what it came down to was the push pull system allowed the elevator to flex out of true plane twisting the model
just saying on a bigger model a pull pull system mightr be better

What I think I'm going to do is buy a pull pull, but install a push pull and fly it that way to start. Either way, I'm waiting until after Christmas to build this. I'm mulling over my servo choices. I'm considering Savox servos, but they are a bit more expensive than Hitecs. I'm just sport flying, so I don't know.... I'm also hucking the foam wheels and installing low bounce rubber wheels. I'll post more when I start putting it all together.

[ifly2]

I'm use to having engine mounting templates and this plane doesn't have one. How do I go about ensuring correct engine placement? Line it up with the hole or vertical line?

[Doozer]

Yes, where the two lines intersect should be where you center your engine. What engine are you using? I'm putting in a DLE 20 and the Du-Bro 688 (SKU-DUBG1307; the recommended mount for this engine), and the engine manual has a mounting template in it for this mount. The firewall is marked. If you want to use the Nylon mount that comes with the plane, you'll want to make sure the prop nut extends beyond 140mm (cowl clearance) then mount your engine on the mount, then draw your template on some cardboard or paper.

You can always measure and mark by using the dimensions of the engine, but I found making my own templates to be just as effective.

Here's an example from another plane:






I made a mount template out of a box I had lying around. Then taped it to the firewall and drilled my holes straight though it.

[ifly2]

Thank you so much. This is very helpful. I'm using the DLE20. After reading about all the crashes I'm considering not building the plane. We'll see. Thanks for the info!

[Doozer]

the crashes weren't the planes fault That's why I bought a second one. The DLE 20 is a great engine, and what the plane was designed for. I had a DLE 30 in my first one, along with all the same electronics from a plane I crashed before. I think that was a big mistake. The DLE 30 was too much engine for this plane. So go ahead and build it. The instructions suck, but I'll try to help as much as I can. You can post pics here.

[Doozer]

I started working on this a couple of days ago, but the going is slow. I've got both wings hinged, Wired (support); the landing gear and pants installed; wing servos installed; and the rear landing gear on installed, with pants, on it's axle. Here's some pics:

The holes were new. This plane used to have a hatch so you could mount your landing gear in the wing. The changed that and drilled these holes. Pretty inconvenient. The plastic straps (below) were wedged stuck in the wing which left these holes useless.

they weren't even symmetrical. Looks like somebody just popped eight holes in the wing.

I cut out the holes to get to the screws on the straps

I had white tape and red ultracote and just patched the holes. I went to the hobby shop to purchase small amounts of red and white tape, but none of the tape matched, or was even close to, the red of the plane. I got the ultracote as close as I could, but it wasn't exact.  I had to peel off the numbering on the wing because they drilled holes right through the first two.  I am disappointed with the changes.

I'm making sure to take my time.... CA in pre-drilled holes in the wood; thread lock on every metal to metal fastener. Part of me wanted to Pin Hinge the control surfaces, but I'm not feeling like going through that aggravation.... I could do that at any time.