Fly Baby
While a single-seat airplane, the Fly Baby isn't small. It has a wingspan just two feet less than a Cessna 150. It's got a big cockpit. Pete Bowers is six feet two inches tall, and I weigh about 250 pounds. That gives you an idea of the range of sizes that can be accommodated.
The Fly Baby can be built as a biplane as well as a monoplane. The two monoplane wing panels are replaced by four smaller ones, plus a center section for the top wing. The aircraft can be switched back and forth between versions in about an hour, but it does take a helper. The biplane, while cool in concept, doesn't really offer too much. It's slower, and the wings don't fold. Still, its swept-back upper wings make it look a bit like a Bucker or Tiger Moth in the air, so if you'd really rather have a biplane, the Fly Baby would do the trick.
My advice: Build a monoplane first, to have something to fly, and build the biplane wings in your spare time after the first flight. The biplane wings take longer to build, since there are four panels and a center section, and they're swept rather than straight. If you build the monoplane wings first, you'll have something to fly while building the extra wings.
The monoplane/biplane issue is more than a wing swap...there are some internal braces and external tangs that have to be added to the fuselage. You can do this once the fuselage is done (The prototype was converted after completion), but it is, of course, easier during construction.
Switching back and forth between the wings takes two people about an hour. This assumes the rigging has already been set. While I helped on a wing swap, I never flew the biplane version. Other than appearances, there isn't much advantage. It's slower, and glides at an even steeper angle.
Text from "The Unofficial Fly Baby Homepage." Ron Wanttaja.
My Fly Baby is from a Dynaflite kit. I'm still undecided on the power source, defiantly a .90 or 1.20 four stroke, just not sure which brand yet.
My RC Fly Baby
I have decided to install the flying wires like the original Fly Baby. This option is not included in the kit but I am installing them in the scale positions for a better looking plane. I won't however install them under the wing due to the fact that I fly off a bumpy grass field.
Construction:
The wing is now finished and the fuse is about 1/3 done.
Here are
model specs:
Span: 84"
Length: 56"
Wing area: 1059 sq in
Wing loading: 22-26 oz/sq ft
Weight: 10-12 Lbs
Power: 91-1.20 four stroke, 25cc Gas
Radio: 4 channel with 6 servos.
Click on thumbnails for full size image.
Left wing half in the bones, very easy to build!!
Another look at the competed left wing half.
The right wing half only needs cap strips and tip.
Yours truly with the wing (I'm only 5ft.)
Servos are in! It was very hard to get the paper tubes in, should have
done that before joining the wings. Center sheeting is almost complete.
Servo area, the red marks are where I'm going to install reinforcement to mount
the flying wires.
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