John Horsfield Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 I picked up a Phoenix Seabee this week and as I couldn't find much info on this plane on the web, I thought Id post a build blog that might help others who might be interested in the plane.This is the link to the phoenix website which is surprisingly good and also includes an instruction manual downloads section which is always helpful when comparing models: Phoenix wesiteI was initially interested in the Black Horse Home Run, (Ive had Black Horse models before and have always been happy with them) but the seabee is a bit cheaper, and IMO better looking, so I thought Id give it a shot, despite begin unfamiliar with Phoenix models.First Impressions... It cost me £105 from TJD models and on first impressions the kit is very good value. Everything you'd expect from a modern far eastern ARTF is there, all the fittings, nice cowl and canopy, tank, spinner, engine mount (already fitted), etc etc. In fact the accessory kit is suspiciously like what is supplied in Seagull kits...The model itself seems to be very nicely built, In fact its better than I was expecting. All the formers seem to be light ply, there seems to be plenty of glue around the joints, everything seems straight and crucially it looks pretty strong and light. The under carriage mount (which I confess is fairly hard to see) appears to be robust and is solid hard wood, NOT ply. The covering (which according to the box is oracover) is also very good with very few bubbles or ripples. It'll be interesting to see if any develop once the kit is out of the box... The wings are built up, again from light ply ribs, the front 3rd or so of the wing is sheeted and the wing tips are solid. Control surfaces are pre pinned and the pilot and canopy are already fitted. The instructions seem to be Okay (ish), they are pretty basic and lack photos but they'll do the job. Ive already noticed one or two errors, but I'll highlight those during the build. The build is typical ARTF, and to be honest for anyone that has already built a ARTF, the instructions will be more of an occasional reference than a must stick to build sequence.I'm NOT going to go into loads of detail of the build, we all know how ARTF's go together and this doesn't look like its going to be a complicated build, but I will try to highlight any problems I come across and I'll post a few pics along the way. Out of the Box, Pretty typical far eastern ARTF Accesory kit, again typical of similar kits which makes me think they all come out of the same factories...It even included a cuppa, swiss army knife and a ballpoint, not bad... Nylon engine mount is pre installed and suits my SC46 just fine. I'll be giving the firewall a couple of coats of fuel proofer. Yep, you've seen him before, the same Noel Edmonds lookalike pilot that seems to come with many far eastern kits! My god hes ugly... Above is a pilot I salvaged from my crashed Seagull Stearman, as you can see, exactly the same... Servo tray, Okay I admit, its not a very interesting photo... Wing top, I like these wings a lot, the build seems solid and light Wing bottom, I think the orange should make for good orientation in the sky although I dont think the orange will look too good on the built up model. (the photos in the instructions show a white wing bottom) Edited By John Horsfield on 07/05/2010 23:42:54 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 7, 2010 Author Share Posted May 7, 2010 Vertical and horizontal Stabs, also known as tail feathers (just to annoy the purists out there)Anyway, first job, I'm going to have a look at joining the wing. I'll keep you updated...Cheers John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 Nice presentation John, well done. As you say, many of the fittings appear to be very familiar, infact I would swear blind that those undercarriage legs are identical to those in my Seagull Spacewalker kit...and very substantial they have proved to be also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Grigg Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 Ive not come across a phoenix model John,Ive had plenty of Seagull and Blackhorse ARTF.nice looking model,looking forward to your further reports.Are you going electric or IC ? if so have you selected a power pack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Smalley Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 in forum posts from across the pond the seebee has a good reputation, sorry but noel would be ripped out and burned like the heathen he obviously is!!! burn him burn him !!! calm ...calm.... calm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 If it helps, Lee, I'm putting Noel in my Fournier. Unfortunately, I had to do him a mischief with the Dremel before he would fit............. There, that should make you feel better Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Smalley Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 yeah it does he he now if it was not for the restraining order!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edited By Lee Smalley on 08/05/2010 16:27:51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 8, 2010 Author Share Posted May 8, 2010 Posted by Stephen Grigg on 08/05/2010 11:45:36:Ive not come across a phoenix model John,Ive had plenty of Seagull and Blackhorse ARTF.nice looking model,looking forward to your further reports.Are you going electric or IC ? if so have you selected a power pack Hi Stephen, I think Phoenix must be fairly new on the scene in this country. I think I saw an advert in a magazine a couple of months ago and a few of the larger online model stores are now advertising them. Very comparable to Black Horse & seagull IMO. Logic RC are the importers, who were VERY helpful on the phone when I rang them to find out which dealers had recently ordered Seabees. I'll be going IC, with my spare SC.46 Back to the build, I joined the wing halves last night with no problems, noraml ARTF procedure, trial fit them to make sure of a good fit then plenty of epoxy and some tape to hold everything straight. The first inconsistency in the manual is at this point, where it shows a hardwood spar, however the one in the kit is tubular aluminum. As I have done with ARTF models in the past, I may consider stripping some of the covering off at the joint and giving it a thin wrap of fiberglass for extra strength, we'll see, I want to keep the weight to a minimum. As you can see from the above pic, the cutout for the servo arm in the aileron servo hatch is MASSIVE, So Ive made them a bit smaller with some scrap balsa. Im waiting for some longer servo arms to come mail order, so I'll fit the servos later. Ive also fitted the horizontal and vertical stabilizers tonight with no particular issues, the slots in the fuselage seem pretty accurate and Ive had to do very little to get things all lined up. Any problems will be down to my poor measuring skills and bad eyesight! Its starting to look like a plane!! More to come... Edited By John Horsfield on 08/05/2010 23:55:08 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Card Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 Great stuff John! I do like a nice build thread.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 9, 2010 Author Share Posted May 9, 2010 Posted by Chris Card - Moderator on 09/05/2010 05:58:29:Great stuff John! I do like a nice build thread.... Cheers mate, I'll try and get on it for an hour tonight so watch for updates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Richards Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 We had a presentation at our club meeting, on Friday, from LogicRC. They are a small company made up of 2 ex directors from Ripmax. They have been going a couple of years now and the presenter said they were concentrating on electric power, Lipos, motors, ESCs, chargers and power supplies. I am guessing they approached one of the far east factories, that make models for Ripmax, to produce the Phoenix brand models. Possible the same supplier that makes Seagull models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 11, 2010 Author Share Posted May 11, 2010 Just a quick update, the tank, and fuselarge servos are now fitted along with the rudder and elavator control linkages. I think I'll have a look at mounting the engine tonight and take a few more pics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 11, 2010 Author Share Posted May 11, 2010 Okay, had an hour on the build tonight and made some progress fitting the engine. I have noticed some vagueness and inconstancy with the engine installation instructions. For a starters the are VERY vague, more or less saying "screw the engine to the mount. Secondly the mount shown in the pictures is a clamp down metal type not nylon. Further still there is a small and confusing diagram showing the thrust lines that the engine should be mounted at, however on closer inspection, its clear that the firewall already has the necessary angles built into it and the engine simple needs mounting square in the mount... Spot the not so deliberate mistake, an easy fix though... Servos mounted. Again another manual inconsistency at this point. The manual shows the rudder and elevator servos mounted towards the centre of the fuselage with the servo arms pointing to the outside. It basically reads "mount the servos as shown".However the control linkage tubes run to the centre of the fuselage... The control linkages fitted very easily, with the guide tubes running neatly to the fuselage side enabling me to cut a nice neat exit slot... So far the build is coming on well, Ive got a new rx battery and some longer servo arms for the Ailerons coming in the post, hopefully they'll come soon as Im getting ready for fitting them. I think I'll try and get the cowl cut out if they dont come tomorrow... Edited By John Horsfield on 11/05/2010 23:22:05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Philbrick Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Hello John. We have four of these flying at our club and everybody is pleased with how well they fly. On mine I did notice after quite a lot of hard flying that the pins through the aileron hinge on one wing had come out, on checking the others quite a few were loose, just put a spot of cyano on them to make sure. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks for the tip Glenn, I'll have a look at that. Nice to here that your club mates are happy with them. How well are the undercarriage mounts fairing? Ive made more progress over the last couple of evenings but I'll post tomorrow as its late and Ive got a few pics to upload... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Had a bit of a push over the last couple of evenings to get the plane finished, most of the final jobs were easy and straight forwards... Aileron linkages set up... The under wing belly pan. As you can see the access holes to the wing screws needed cutting out and the covering ironing out. The pan doesn't have much surface area to glue to so I fitted some horizontal sections to make it easy to glue down... Glued in position... Next job is fitting the cowl. The cowling is of a perfectly reasonable quality and the colour match is perfect. Now I don't know about everyone else but attacking the cowl with the dremell is always a job I hate, Im always scared of slipping! Measuring up... Marking the position... Trial fit before screwing it down... Edited By John Horsfield on 18/05/2010 22:42:06Edited By John Horsfield on 18/05/2010 23:07:26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 The engine is now permantly fitted... As is the cowling... Im happy with this, nice and practical engine access while still retaining the shape of the cowling. Radio gear now all fitted and the servos centered. You can just make out the tank bay with the rx battery squeezed on top of the tank. Only just enough room for a flat 4cell. My preferred method for the Ariel exit, a spare servo collet. Edited By John Horsfield on 18/05/2010 22:53:51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Not sure why some of the pics are distorted, double click them for a better view. A few pics... I'm sure most of you would agree, its a pretty handsome plane... It does also come with a sticker sheet, but I think Ill leave it as it is for now. The build is now complete although I do need to balance it and set up the control throws which I'll try to get done over the next couple of evenings. It'll be intresting to see how far off the balance is, it feels about right...( he says optimistically) I think I'll also have a go at balancing it laterally as well, which is something Ive never done before other than a quick "yep that about right" check.I'm thinking of hanging the plane on its crank and tail wheel, is that the normal practice? Any tips? I'll let you know how I get on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 20, 2010 Author Share Posted May 20, 2010 All the control throws are now set up and balancing was a straight forwards affair. The plane turned out to be slightly nose heavy, I could have moved the battery from above the tank to somewhere between the servos, but as it only needed 15g at the tail I decided not to bother, it wouldnt have been as tidy and would have req some kind of mounting making. ( I use slick on alloy wheel weights by the way) Lateral balence was also virtually spot on, only slightly heavy on the left side. 5g at the wing tip soon sorted that out... Conclusion Well I have to say Ive really enjoyed building this model. Its been very easy to put together with no significant problems at all. While the build instructions have at times been slightly vague or misleading (not a major issue for most), the quality of the plane and accessories are undenyably good. As I said at the start of the build, the value of these kits really is great, it looked good out of the box, but now its finished at really does look and feel better than the £105 I paid. I think that anyone who is still "anti ARTF" really needs to reconsider their postion. In my opinion, brands like Blackhorse, Seagull and Phoenix have massively improved their budget products over the last couple of years and for someone like me, with limited time for building and a limited budget, they are perfect... ...of course I say all this without actually having flown it yet!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby - Moderator Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 I like the simple lines of the design John. Nice job. I'm sure the maiden will go well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 Flew her tonight... Success!(notice its a she now...) First flight was very uneventful, she pulled away from a HAND launch quickly and straight as a die. Needed only a couple of clicks of up elevator to keep level when flying at less than half throttle. I must say I'm impressed, its the first plane of this type that if flown so wasn't sure what to expect. Shes very stable, smooth and surprisingly easy to fly. Almost trainer like on half throttle, very similar to the Black Horse Twister Ive been flying, but up the pace a bit and extra nimbleness is very apparent with impressively fast and precise rolls. All very controllable and I felt comfortable withing a couple of circuits. The SC.46 (with a 10x7 APC prop) pulled her along very nicely. Landing is straight forwards as well, you need to be under a little more power than the Twister, but she came in easily enough.I suffered a dead stick on the second flight, I need to get the engine set up better, which highlighted the fact that she will not glide in easily and lost airspeed quickly into the wind. I was lucky, I kept her up for too long trying to make a nice approach into the wind and gave myself a scare, next time I'll be bringing her straight down regardless of wind direction. I should have known better... Overall very positive, and I cant wait for the chance to bet in the air again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Grigg Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Success John.I think our club members hate walking.Time and again they try and turn when they have a deadstick only to tip stall and have a repair or even write off to cope with.I like a walk,lets me have another sticky bun,and collect a complete model to fly 10 minutes later,depending on how long the walk is!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 Posted by Stephen Grigg on 21/05/2010 23:10:01: Success John.I think our club members hate walking.Time and again they try and turn when they have a deadstick only to tip stall and have a repair or even write off to cope with.I like a walk,lets me have another sticky bun,and collect a complete model to fly 10 minutes later,depending on how long the walk is!! Yep, agreed, next time i'll put it down in the next field along if needs be!! Ive had no time for flying over the last few days, but hopefully to have another flight or two at the weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Horsfield Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 Just a quick update, Ive just swapped the .46 (which needs a new con rod) for a .52, hmmm should be interesing....Edited By John Horsfield on 26/06/2010 11:47:51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.