A&D Aircraft 20cc Gee Bee R3

[Doozer]

I had forgotten how "great" the manual was... I'm gonna line the bird cage with it. So it's been slow going. I just finished the tail. Just need to servo it up. I also mounted the engine. Couple of things... the recommended, $42 dollar Dubro engine mount will not work with the RA version of the DLE 20... well, that is and stay within 140mm from firewall to prop nut. I spent about 3 hrs trying to get that to work and I finally used the stock nylon engine mount. It's actually a nice little mount. I have just a little clearance from the firewall and I'm at 148mm. I

I Wish I would have just gone with a 20cc last time. It's a perfect fit.


I took some pictures, but it's late and I've had a little too much Crown.

[19000rpm]

If you ever run out of bad manuals to line the birdcage with I've got a few stacks I can send you. I've written a few manuals in my day and it isn't rocket science. Maybe that's why it's taken the Chinese so long to get to the moon.

[Doozer]

It's economics. Look at me.... I knew how $hitty this kit was the first time around, but guess who bought a second one. As long as we keep buying garbage, they'll keep selling it. But honestly, if you put a little extra time and money into the plane, you can make it look pretty good. I would love to find a kit version of this, or at least a ready to cover.

[Doozer]

Just about finished. I installed all the electronics including the ignition, hung the gas tank, ran the fuel lines, installed all linkages... Took my time a bit... didn't force myself to keep going becaue "now is not a good time to quit." That's when I start making the stupid mistakes. Here's some pics:

Love the Robart stand...  Break it apart and take it to the field. I'd like to get a good one but I'm running out of room. Anyway, going with the Bullet prop nut.  I'm a huge fan of these now.  I like them because they accentuate the lines of the plane.


Using Secraft Ball links. I hate trusting my links to clevises.


Quick Fire fuel balancer/filter.   It uses an automotive filter you can go to the parts store and replace. It also supplies a constant fuel supply. It holds 1/4 ounce of fuel and eliminates air in the line.



 These are the stacks.  That isn't soft high temp silicone... it's rock hard.  I was a little disappointed. So I ordered up some soft high temp from Mcmaster-Carr. This way I don't have to cut a huge hole in the bottom of the cowl because the stacks won't bend. So no pics with the cowl just yet

This is kind of a crappy shot no real point of reference, but my ignition is on the inside of the firewall. 


Better shot here, but this also shows my suspended gas tank. 


Using 3 servos on the tail (JR Matchbox)

I hated this the last time I built this. Tape, sticks and wire. Couldn't tolerate it this time. 


I mounted the dual switches and the fuel dot inside the plane. When you remove the canopy, you expose so much room. As long as you have enough Popsicle sticks, you can get pretty creative.


Another shot of the Quick fire...  running the line through the firewall and through the length of the plane stopping at the fuel dot.

Running the ignition wire through the bottom


This piece comes whole in the kit. I glued it on last time. This time I cut it in half and covered it with ultracote. 


Then I screwed it in so I can remove it if I need to. 


Ignition wire now


I'll finish it tomorrow and I should have a video of a first start up later tomorrow. 

[Doozer]

wanted to get it started today, but life happened. I'm working on the CG right now. It's tail heavy without the batteries. I'm using two 6.6V LiFe Batteries (1800 and 1600). If I mount them just behind the firewall, it balances out quite nice. Problem though... that's where my choke and throttle servo are. So I'm going to make a bracket and raise them above the servos. I'll take pics. Hopefully I'll get to start it up tomorrow.

[Doozer]

I worked pretty late last night getting the CG close. The plane actually slid off the table I was using to check the CG but I caught it. I snapped 3 clevises so I replaced those and went to bed. I was tired and not being as careful as I would if I were fresh. No other damage. I made some brackets and mounted the batteries here's what I did:


I made my own plywood out of tongue depressors. 


I made another bracket and mounted the ignition battery on top. I really like the size of the Hyperion 1600 LiFe battery. The 1800 Hobbico battery weighs twice as much and it's only 200 mAh more. If I would have had another one of these i would have used it. 

And here's the first start up today:

[19000rpm]

That went really well. Nice start up.

[Doozer]

Jan 12, 2014 18:33:52 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

That went really well. Nice start up.

I'm pretty sure I could have flip started it once I opened up the choke. I hit the starter button for a fraction of a second and it just turned right over. I closed down the low needle and opened up the high a tiny amount but I didn't veer from the factory settings too far. The DLE's require less needle adjustments than the Evolution engines, so that's probably where they will stay unless I start having idle issues.

With a bubble level on the fuse directly on the CG mark (83mm behind the leading edge of the wing), and with everything installed including the cowl hanging on the prop, the plane will stay level for a few seconds then tip forward slowly. So I'm a touch nose heavy and I'll probably leave it that way for now since I still have to cut the cowl. Now I'm waiting on the the high temp tubing from McMaster-Carr so I can cut the cowl and install it. If all goes well, I'm only cutting two holes so the tubing can slide right in.

I didn't notice any air bubbles in the line, but I wasn't really giving that much attention. The quickfire did its job. I'm pretty happy with the way things worked out. I'm not sure what the AUW is, but I'm pretty sure it's a bit on the porky side since I added an extra servo and some mounting brackets. I'm worried about the power, so that's why I'm going to break it in, for a couple of hours, on the ground. I start my spring semester tomorrow, so there's no telling when I'll get to maiden it.

I want to add, and I think I've said this before, that this plane is not for a newbie or for someone coming directly from RTF's. Saying that the instructions are bad is an understatement. The text doesn't even match the images. It would be very easy, if you didn't know any better, to use the hardware that comes with the plane. I used M2 ball links on my control horns and screw-lock pushrod connectors on the other end of my pushrods. I'm not sure a newbie could pull off a pull-pull tail without a good manual. The landing gear is another issue, and the wing tips twist easy if you overheat the covering. So if you've ordered this plane and you want it to be your first, you should wait and build something else... maybe build this a couple of planes down the road. This kit is not that great and you will spend extra money making it flight worthy... however, it's a beautiful plane when it's all said and done.

[Doozer]

The very soft high temp tubing came in today:

That's how soft it is

This allowed me to cut the cowl the way I wanted because I could bend this any way I wanted:

With the new soft stacks, I didn't have to chop up the cowl so I could fit the stacks in. 



So other than some cable management it's all done:










 I'll be doing the first hour of break in on the ground so I'm not sure when I'll be doing a maiden. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks. 

[19000rpm]

It looks like it's ready to leap into the air.

[Doozer]

I've only had a chance to put about 1/2 gallon through. And I need to lean it out a bit, but I've got to pull the cowl off. I didn't want to drill a hole in the cowl, so this is the price a pay. It's kind of good because it forces me to stay off the needles. Anyway, the soft high temp silicone has worked perfectly as exhaust stacks.. It also gives it a very distinct sound.

[Doozer]

Jan 25, 2014 22:01:32 GMT -6 Doozer said:

......Anyway, the soft high temp silicone has worked perfectly as exhaust stacks.. It also gives it a very distinct sound.

LOL yeah like a wet fart.

It's kind of fun going through these builds ... remembering why you did things, or thinking why you didn't do things. I had forgotten that I'm using Hyperion servos in this bird. I know I have new servos in the tail on my Reactor, and brand new Savox servos in the Sbach, but those Hyperions in this plane are old. At least two of them are rebuilt transplants from a dead heli.