FlyBaby

[Glo4U]

I have plans for the Davey Systems Corp. Fly Baby. Has anyone built one. Can you give me plus's and minus's. Improvements?
Gloria

[Sky Sharkster]

Hello Gloria, Welcome to Wattflyer!
I had a Davey "Fly Baby" back when they were new, think it was the late 1980's. It was a fine model but suffered from the very heavy batteries of the time and a weak brushed motor.
When I did get it flying (it wouldn't ROG, too heavy, had to be hand launched) it was a blast! Very realistic in the air, sort of puttered around like a real home-built. Nice and stable, easy to fly, no bad habits I can recall.
I did add tapered spar doublers out from the wing center, the sheeting ends abruptly and creates a stress riser, the point where it will always break. Had to beef up the landing gear after a few flights, this was more the fault of the 10 ounce (I'm not kidding!) battery than any design flaw.
With today's motors and batteries, sub-micro electronics, it would be a fine park flyer. As I recall it had a "Speed 500" or "550" motor but a good brushless 480 or geared 400 should be plenty.
Good luck with the build, keep us posted!
Ron

[Glo4U]

Thanks for the information. I think an E-Fite 450 and a 2100 3 cell lipoly DX6 and hs55's should do the trick. I did a google search and found some OLD articles and they all called it a dog. But from what they were saying it was all because of the weight.
Gloria

[CorsairJock]

I also had one 'back in the days', and it was one of the few electric powered dogs that I had. High wing loading and a very draggy designed made it a poor choice for electric power. I had a geared AP29 on mine (smaller/ lighter, but more efficient than recommended '500/075 can'), and 800 mAh SCR NiCad pack (again: lighter than recommeded), but I had to maintain full power to keep it in the air.
Back then: most electrics were designed to be efficient: streamlined and light. This was an exception, and thus was a real dog.
Maybe LiPos and brushless motors can save this design, but I know that I'll never try again.

[Matt Dyer]

I just acquired a Davey Flybaby kit and intend to build it this winter. Around 1993, I built the Davey Curtiss Robin, and it hardly flew. With that battery "brick" and can motor, it was no surprise. Recently, I built an Ace Puddlemaster (still available from Hobby Hangar as the Pondside). The instructions said to keep the weight of the receiver, ESC and servos to 6 oz! That was good advice in 1991. How about the motor along with the ESC, receiver and servos coming in at 4 oz? It flies beautifully on modern brushless-lipoly power. I expect the same performance from the Flybaby. Gloria, I think your proposed power system will work out fine. I might go for the Park 480, but that is a quibble.

[ragbag]

If you would like to see a nice rebuild look art this thread

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26853&highlight=russell+lewis



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[jd2001]

I have plans for the Davey Systems Corp. Fly Baby. Has anyone built one. Can you give me plus's and minus's. Improvements?
Gloria

I built one and even added an extra couple of rib bays in the wing to give more area and increased the area of the tail. It was still a lead-sled with the old motors and batteries.

Last year I dug it out of storage and put a brushess motor and Lipos in it with small servos and it flew just fine. Made me wish I had put ailerons on it.

It was a design before it's time....:)

jd