Guillows 24" Beaver

[Bill G]

I posted a build thread for this plane on the Guillows forum, but figured I'd show it here, as it's a new kit release and a good one. The laser cut it is well designed, very scale, and goes together easily. The float parts for this plane were cut by hand with 1/32" balsa, but Guillows offers an inexpensive laser cut float kit for the plane. Sheeting the small floats is actually quite easy, and locating the float struts/float mounting is the only difficult part of the project. Hope to maiden it soon.

[rawy]

very nice plane Bill, unfortunately hard to find in Europe and too expensive to ship from US.

will have to set it on my todo list

rawy

[BradT]

Bill, I really like your rendition of the Beaver, one of my favorite aircraft. There are dozens of the full scale flying in my part of Canada, I hear the rumble/rattle of those radials many times a day. Last week I hosted an electric "fun scale" event at a local club, and one of the entries was this same kit, though not as colorful, or as neatly built as yours. He had even added functional flaps. Unfortunately, the day was quite windy, so I didn't get to see it fly. In fact, a number of very good looking scratch built models under 36" span chose not to fly, due to the wind, which was a shame, as several had very good static scores, but no flying score, so no chance of winning a prize in their respective classes. Another Guillows entry, from the same builder/pilot, was the Cessna Bird Dog.

My only Beaver build was the 72" Unionville kit, back in '98, built with flaps and both fixed gear and floats. It was a joy to fly, and survived for 7 years, and hundreds of flights, before the inevitable combination of battery failure and pilot error caught up to it. :-(

Brad.

[E-Challenged]

Nice Beave Bill. Just read over your last posts about your Seabee. I've been thinking that carving a foam Seabee fuselage would probably yield a lighter more scale-like flyer than a built-up version. The wings and tail parts could be built-up or of foam.


My Stinson Reliant has flown with some success, but the right wing strut came undone and the wing slid off. Repairs took another six months, Have not re-maidened it yet.

[Bill G]

Thanks Rawy and Brad. Missed your replies. There have been a lot of old plans popping up on the web lately. I'm sure a good Beaver plan could be found. I had been thinking of building a larger one, using a GWS float set I have laying around, at the time the Guillows kit came out. Still would like to build a 36"-40" version.
I saw the BeavAir scheme on a flight sim ad, and had to have one. I recently saw a build in progress, using the old Berkeley plan. Looks like it would build an excellent Beaver.

Originally Posted by E-Challenged

Nice Beave Bill. Just read over your last posts about your Seabee. I've been thinking that carving a foam Seabee fuselage would probably yield a lighter more scale-like flyer than a built-up version. The wings and tail parts could be built-up or of foam.


My Stinson Reliant has flown with some success, but the right wing strut came undone and the wing slid off. Repairs took another six months, Have not re-maidened it yet.

Take a look at outerzone.uk. They have a few Seabee plans. Some aren't very scale, such as not having the cabin front correct, but this one looks decent. It's made me think of building a smaller one that would be more convenient. They have some nice Stinson plans also, and keep adding plans daily. Awesome plans collection.
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2308

[DHC Beaver]

Though the M.A.N. Beaver is big,it is very light when built as per the plan:
http://www.airagestore.com/planes/de...-2-beaver.html
I built one years ago,and it was way overpowered with a Saito 45 4-stroke engine,even though I had added an inch to the wing chord to improve stability.It would be an ideal electric candidate,and could be easily scaled down.
I still have the plan,and will revisit the Beaver sometime.

[Bill G]

The Berkeley is also a nice plan for a 48" build, a bit smaller than 45 size though I believe. The plan is free at outerzone.uk.
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=245