Gee Bee Model D

[Erfolg]

Aldo, are you in Germany? As I can read "rechts" on one of the spats.

To date i have nit fastened my spats on. Although they have been on, without anything other than masking tape holding them on.

I have been agonising over the white or cream to use, and does it really matter.I have noticed that the decal has white, a titanium type white, although I have read that the colour was more of a cream colour.

The blue I hope to obtain via having the Decal scanned and colour matched.

I am modifying my Sterling PT19 at the moment. Having put the Gee Bee on the back burner, whilst I continue to prevaricate.

I really think your build does look the cats whiskers.

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Hi,

Thanks for compliment. Yours will become the same nice Gee Bee. Please use "low bounce wheels" because undercarrige is rigid. Otherwise the 3mm maingear-wire bends each landing since the Gee Bee is about 3kg. I am building the Model E from coverite-kit and I changed main wire to 4mm and rear wire 2.5mm got a bend for some spring movement.

About colors. I tried to match the Blue towards the Decals. Although I think it is darker than the original Gee Bee Blue. But i like it better as it matches more. The Creme is white with yellow and some red until it looked like the picture on the box.

Yes I do live south of Germany in Switzerland, close to Lake Constance.

little Gee Bee on flying field last Friday. Aldo

[Erfolg]

I obtained as many colour chips from the DIY store and endeavoured to match the Gee Bee colours. You would not believe how many shades of both cream and blue there are, and yet not one of them matched the photoes I have obtained. Then trying to use the colour scanner to match the blue was not possible, as the scanner did not like the reflective surface of the pictures. although it is now done, hopefully a reasonable match.

The next problem I have is that woven materials are ourside my exereince. I have shrunk the Coverite as much as is possible with my iron on maximum setting. It is not drum tight, so will ask a club memmber with greater experience at these things than myself.

The other issue, using "Tester" paints, the pigments atc. are not as finally ground as art acrylic or artists inks. Even when diluted to less than milk thick my airbrushes do not like them. Just as bad, I have used car windscreen washer to dilute and fluidise my piants, which ran out. I bought another bottle, only to find that it reduces viscosity, making the fluid a higher shear fluid. To hopefully to alleviate the problem, i have bought another Badger, which is in the packing, my old but knackered Badger is in the picture. A replacement jet cost more than a complete set. All the other airbrushes work well on good quality paints and inks,and are much better for art work, even the HK single action.

I hope to make further progress shortly.

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Hello "Erfolg"

I normally brush the woven covering with "Nitro-Spannlack" before painting (sorry no idea how its called in English). This gives the covering the drum-effect since it does shrink the woven stuff.

About colors. Just do it to your taste. No One has proof of the real blue and cream. Bahama Blue and Tuscon Creame, sounds good but the painters have no clue about it. So its up to your liking. And the Gee Bee will have your personal signature, very good!

Regards Aldo

Edited By Aldo Rebsamen on 25/10/2017 21:26:19

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Hello "Erfolg"

How is your Gee Bee doing?

Here some pictures of my Model E.

Regards Aldo

Edited By Aldo Rebsamen on 09/12/2017 21:03:57

[onetenor]

Nitro- Spannlack appears to be clear nitrocellulose clear/ dope see here.

https://www.topmodel.fr/en/product-detail-20152-spannlack-1000ml

[onetenor]

Nitro- Spannlack appears to be clear nitrocellulose clear/ dope see here.

https://www.topmodel.fr/en/product-detail-20152-spannlack-1000ml  £15.91 I think .Is that a good price?  Oh yes it claims fuel proof.Hot or what I can't tell

Edited By onetenor on 09/12/2017 21:48:12

[Erfolg]

Wow

Your model E looks really good.

I have just about completed a Slingsby T67, I am just going to check the incidence of the tail plane with the wing. The model can then have a test flight when the UK weather makes a turn for the better.

I guess you will have snow now in die Schweiz, here in England our snow is wet, and is essentially slush, absolutely awful and we have it at the moment.

Then it will be back to finishing the Gee Bee. I have the paint. I have discovered that some of my methods and techniques are a little rusty on the T67. Hopefully the practice will result in a better finished Gee Bee.

I will be looking again at the pictures you have posted as they seem to indicate that there are many aspects which I should learn from.

I will post again tomorrow.

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Thanks for the nice words.

Still some details to make before painting. And the Gee Bee has to share building time with a glider, made by an Italien designer, Andrea Barborini:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkDXvyKE1qI

plenty fast !

Aldo

 btw: nitro-dope is not fuel-proof. You need to do a final paint with some fuel-proof stuff. 

 

Edited By Aldo Rebsamen on 09/12/2017 23:09:42

[Erfolg]

Although I do have cellulose dope I do not intend using it. Partly because the Coverite is airtight.

I did have a set back with this model which I have just more or less finished (now flyable).

The body is tissue and dope. Before the pigmented paint, I used white primer. This was not a success, the first was because there was no filler in the primer, as with that sold as high build. The second, the primer reacted with the dope in some places.

To start the finishing process with the Gee Bee, I intend finding some "high build primer". Seems not to be as easy to buy now that not many people do any work on their cars anymore. All I have found in the shops so far is ordinary metal primer.

[Erfolg]

Right. I have restarted building the model "D".

It seems I am not much good at covering with Coverite, but will attempt to obtain a reasonable finish. In the case of the Gee Bee, all the aircraft had immaculate finishes, unfortunately I will fall short.

I have pretty much stole Aldos spat concept, although I have used a semi structural foam,rather than springs, to centralise. Also i intend to use Silicon sealant to hod the two halves of the shells together rather than screws.

In the case of the silicon, I will try dabs of the the stuff, rather than a continuous bead, with a view to easing maintenance.

[Kim Taylor]

Posted by Erfolg on 10/12/2017 14:27:20:

Although I do have cellulose dope I do not intend using it. Partly because the Coverite is airtight.

I did have a set back with this model which I have just more or less finished (now flyable).

The body is tissue and dope. Before the pigmented paint, I used white primer. This was not a success, the first was because there was no filler in the primer, as with that sold as high build. The second, the primer reacted with the dope in some places.

To start the finishing process with the Gee Bee, I intend finding some "high build primer". Seems not to be as easy to buy now that not many people do any work on their cars anymore. All I have found in the shops so far is ordinary metal primer.

Hi Erfolg

Sorry I didn't see this until today.

WRT primer, if you use a rattle can, get U-Pol No.5 (I think) high build primer. It's available in grey white & black and builds well. Just don't put it on wet, or it'll react with what's underneath for sure.

Around here it's stocked by Halfords in the bigger stores anyway. I never use Halfords own high build primer, its useless (imo)!!

If you want it in a can to spray with your own gun, your best bet is to find your local motor trade paint supplier, they'll definitely have something. I would suggest using either cellulose (the old favourite grey primer) or nowadays you can get a waterbased high build, which is really nice to use and doesn't smell, which her indoors would approve of, I'm sure. Again, don't put it on too wet and use a hairdryer or hot air (covering) gun to dry it. Just keep the air stream moving all the time and you can see as it dries it goes matt. Once you're there, go again with another coat.

When you get the knack you can put on two or three coats one after the other really quickly, let it harden for half an hour and get sanding!

I use these people **LINK** because they're local for me, but they will ship if you can't find anywhere .

Hope that helps & not too late

Kim

Edited By Kim Taylor on 17/12/2017 16:51:46

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Hi Erfolg,

nice idea to mount the fairings with a foam.

I am working on fairings as well. Prominent Gee Bee feature. I did lengthen the landing gear a bit. Now the Gee Bee sits more scale. With the big ring on the cowl the gear supplied just did not look right on the model E.

I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Regards Aldo

Edited By Aldo Rebsamen on 22/12/2017 22:06:53

[Erfolg]

Merry Christmas Aldo.

I have been to see Star Wars (this morning) and I am thinking, next model a Depron "X" wing perhaps. Now we are getting ready for Church, The buffet is ready for the return form church, drinks sorted. I guess you and your family, along with the rest of this forum are doing much the same.

Are your Gee Bee compression struts permanently attached to the model? I need to be able to remove my wing easily to charge the Lipo, any ideas?

Again, a very happy Christmas to all.

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Hi Erfolg,

My struts are mounted as follwing:

- short pieces of the next larger tubing are glued on to wing.

- the struts feed in there, finally some wrap of textiltape will prevent rattling.

- the struts are then attached to fuse with one screw each.

For LIPO there could be a possiblity to make a hatch on the bottom-cover of engine compartment, just forward of the wing there the big balsablock is.

Regards Aldo

[Erfolg]

Back on the job again.

I have made all the connctions to the control services. Although for some reason the battery tray is not fitting as I thought it had. I will deal with this later.

The one build issue that has been causing me concern, has been the spats. I have looked at how others have solved the problem and borrowed ideas. I have had some concern as to the condition of the spats due to age, the issue is mainly with regard plastiser migration, which normally leads to a film or a tacky surface. Enbrittlemant with respect to photondegregation should be a non issue having been hidden in a box for 30 years.

What actually lies behind these apparent worries and pondering is the question of maintenance. That is being able to take them of if really, really required to.

On that basis I have decided to use a limited amount of Silicon Sealant.

Firstly I masked off all adjacent areas. Then smeared a limited amount of Silicon Sealant in each part of the joint. Then reassembled the spat.

Much later I took of the masking tape and carefully removed any excess Silicon. This is the poor side visually.

I used No nonscence silicon as it was very cheap. The down side is that I have used very little. I went to the garden centre/tropical fish outlet, to buy a tube of Aquarium sealant as suggested, only to find that the tube cost almost twice the price of the building trade stuff. With the additional insult of being abused by an Anti_fracker for driving a petrol guzzler. My Diesel is doing 53 to the gallon, I suspect that there eco friendly Land Rover is not quite so frugal. Anyway I continued to the flying field, shows how long I have been putting this off.

At present it seems quite resilient and i am hopeful that i can slit the joint for access if need be.

[Erfolg]

It is some time since I did any work on the model, due to a hiatus of what I should do. I kicked around a few ideas, tried a few leads, considered and took up an idea suggested on this thread.

Metal work is not my thing, that is marking out, drilling, sawing and filing is something I dislike intensely. It was in my youth when making various test pieces, that I knew that being a tradesman was something that would suit me like a swimmer with a mill stone around there neck. It was the couple of surviving items that spurred me on to the long drag (for me) to a degree and being an Engineer. I do use to this date the Vee Blocks, Tap wrenches and a few other bits and pieces to this day.

The jobs done now, good enough for my low standards, after all the model will, crash, sooner or later.

[Spencer CARNEY]

Erfolg,

I was excited to discover your build log of the Model D.

I have been building the version of Haffke's Model D kit that is now sold in the U.S. by Brodak/Spirit of Yesteryear. I started in January and have almost finished (10 hours? Ha!).

I covered mine in Coverite's pre-painted 21st Century Fabric (light blue and cream). Still need to install hinges, apply graphics, add pilot and balance.

Please continue updating your progress and include lots of pictures! This is definitely a kit where the modeler is left making decisions and solving problems without guidance.

Spencer

North Carolina, USA

[Erfolg]

Well, right, hmm, I have made some progress, in that the model is now painted. Unfortunately the adhesion of the paint or rather the primer is not great, nor is the paint finish.

I am contemplating giving the model a coat of water based varnish, to try and improve the toughness of the finish.

I am now considering the decals. They are some 35 years old, and are probably fragile. I am thinking of getting a new set copied, but by whom. i will type a septate thread to try and get a broad response as to who can do these things and some idea of cost.

The control surfaces are linked up, I now need to put in a Rx, probably from my defunct Do 335. Fasten the battery tray in, then a Lipo and consider the balance point.

I desperately need a tidy up, however hard I try at house keeping, things to deteriorate into a mess.

[Aldo Rebsamen]

Hello Erfolg

Great looking Gee Bee. I wish you a good maiden-flight.

Regards Aldo

[Erfolg]

Aldo

Things have slowed to a halt.

I am having trouble getting a replacement set of transfers made, as i do not trust the ones that came with the kit due to age.

The other thing is I am waiting for for some items from Hobby King, which are out of stock items.

[Kurt RS]

I just found this thread, and it would seem that we were building our Gee Bees around the same time. I had a devil of a time with it and agree with you that the instructions were terrible. I consider it the most poorly designed and engineered kit I’ve ever assembled. Were it not for many years of building experience I think I would have tossed in in the trash in disgust. But, I got it done, albeit with a lot of head scratching and construction creativity.

However, once finally done it does seem to fly fairly well!

Did you ever source the graphics? Did you ever finish and fly it?

Kurt

Sacramento, CA

[Erfolg]

Yes I have made my own, the USA seems to be the most viable for both service and price. The only fly in the ointment was UK letter charges which were going to be higher than the cost of the Decals.

This is my model finished almost.

I made a Lipo tray, had a Lipo ready for it as well as a RX, the problem is I have now found the Rx tray which I rely should fit. Last week stumbled upon the Rx, which i should fit. Now I need a Lipo, I will read the thread, and hopefully identify what size Lipo I used to balance the model.

If I remember the delay was mainly down to needing some "P" clips. I ordered some from HK, which did not turn up for many, many months. In the meantime I placed another order, which did come. It was in the hiatus of the delay that I mislaid my bits and pieces. Although I do remember sticking them in a box, the box was empty when I came to retrieve the bits. I now live so far from any MS, that I increasingly rely on mail order. plus MS often do not have what I want. Plus it is expensive in money and time to travel.

Then come summer, it should have its first outing.

[Kurt RS]

Looking good! I took a bunch of photos during the build process, and collected photos I found online. They’re all together in this album.

**LINK**

For the graphics, I used Callie Graphics here in the US. I attempted to use the decals from the kit but they were all cracked and brittle and they just came apart. It is sprayed with latex, then a waterbased clear poly was sprayed on after the graphics were applied. I decided not to add all the flying wires in order to keep it simple and easy to assemble. So far no one has noticed. It has been labeled an ARF by several club members who were then surprised when I said no, this was a box of sticks from the early 80s!

I should get mine out again and fly it, I only flew it a couple times before hanging it up on the wall. I never found a pilot figure I liked but it definitely needs one. I’ll be looking forward to reading about your first flight!

Kurt

[Chris Freeman 3]

My son is busy finishing one at the moment, he is going for the X scheme. Covered in Hobby King white with the black sprayed on. Dummy rib tapes done with vinal. Will be electric. Any advice regarding the CG and control movements?