- This topic has 5 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated September 25, 2021 at 11:03 am by
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Another of Kermit’s bro’s (John) old planes.
I have no idea if it will fly again, fly well or for that matter fly at all but it is all back together & programmed up for a test flight tomorrow.
Its an interesting setup with fibreglass fuselage, foam core wings coated with hard plastic film, a Vee tail and a DualSky XM2830PGB-9 1045 kV motor driven into a 3 to 1 reduction gearbox & spinning an 11 x 7 folding prop.
By the number of repairs & scars I would guess it’s crashed often but hey Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.
After a good clean and rebranding at least it will look good when we bury it if it crashes.
Still needs a coat of paint on the tail & a bit more tidying up IF it flies OK. I will however paint the spinner black as it currently looks out of place with the BumbleBee livery.
This is how it used to look after just a clean
Bring on calm skies.
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JUST LOOK AT THIS thing “it says” watch me fly yellow…. easy to see as it flashes past but I recon the only way to really see this yellow speed demon is by camera in slow motion THERE WILL BE A SONIC BOOM at the new field…. Horse’s will bolt an the dooby horsey lady will be right up bad angels nose ARHHHH could be fun
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And you are telling us YOU are going to miss it.
I’m happy to come and pick you up if you can’t drive. Just won’t be the same if the Frog is not there.
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Never got around to updating this build thread but if you have been watching our flying day reports you will already know that the BumbleBee flew (and still does) very well after a bit of tuning.
How she looks now I finally got around to painting the tail
A couple of months ago the reduction gearbox (3 to 1) on the drive motor seized so I replaced the motor and gearbox with an FSP 830kV direct drive motor. Using the same 11 x 7 folding prop the new motor is running about 1500rpm slower than the geared drive but it still has more than enough power to quickly launch up to where the thermals are and the much lighter setup in the nose makes BumbleBee an absolute pleasure to fly. The HobbyEagle A3-V2 stabiliser is no longer required to keep the plane flying level & there is now even a bit of room to move the battery forward & aft to better suit the flying conditions.
Having learnt to fly at a later age and using a stabiliser/autopilot all the time it has taken a long time to wean myself off them.
It all started with the Eyas Eagle “Little Eagle” as this was very aerobatic but needed the stabiliser either off or in 3D mode to allow it.
Now BumbleBee flies with no stabiliser as does the new Pulse XT 25e so I’m getting more used to it all the time.
Might have to retune the poor old Bixler 2 Sport for bareback flying as currently it is still equipped with the fullblown FY-41AP autopilot as are all my FPV planes.
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After its rather untimely demise a few weeks ago the mighty BumbleBee is now repaired & ready to take to the skies again. The wing was broken in 4 places and the fuselage also broken in two.
After a lot of “Gorilla Glue” (the foaming variety) and some fibreglass epoxy & matting she is now stronger than when I first received it & only very slightly heavier so here’s hoping.
If no good I may buy an Excalibur V-Tail kit glider & transfer the electronics over to that.
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