Republic Seabee Scratchbuild

[Bill G]

Hello EC. I've been doing a lot of reading on this stuff. I would like to go to a large float fly-in where there are long term gurus there. This plane's getting a better chance of getting flown, as I've been getting heavily interested in seaplanes lately. I guess after so long we get bored with all the other stuff. How many WWII warbirds do you need? I now will soon have 4 seaplanes to experiment with, as my Macchi M33 build is pretty far along now. The 4th plane is the good ol' GWS Beaver on floats.

[Chris F]

That's a beautiful finish on the Saro TG263 Bill. What a great looking model!

[wilmracer]

So I'm watching TV tonight and catch a glimps of something in a commercial that I immediately recognized...

@ 8 sec

Snapple: Better Stuff

Maiden this one yet?

[Bill G]

Pretty cool. Interesting that these vintage planes can pop up from time to time, even in a commercial.

[pd1]

Bill, Are you working on the Sea Bee?

Paul

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by pd1

Bill, Are you working on the Sea Bee?

Paul

It's flight ready. Just a few decals, etc, that I want to put on. I just missed a fly-in not too far away, and have good reason to get out to one soon. Almost finished with a GWS Zero bashed into an Arado AR 196. I'll have 5 seaplanes now, that need to be flown.

[pd1]

You just keep turning out one nice one after the other.
You do have to fly some though.

Paul

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by pd1

You just keep turning out one nice one after the other.
You do have to fly some though.

Paul

Yes I do. I was thinking just today, while at the park. There is a large wetland area, but it has been slowly draining off, as they added a drainage channel at the edge of the field, when they paved a path around it. The runoff keeps eating away the drainage, and has pretty much removed all standing water from it.

There is a bunch of heavy equipment at the sewage plant, just 200 yards away, now that they have an enlargement project going on. If I go into the park at night, maybe I can swipe a dozer and fill in the drainage area at the end of the wetland and make a large dam. Withing a few months or so, it would probably begin to fill in and create a nice 4 acre lake.

Whether I ever do it or not, I actually do think about these type of things.

[E-Challenged]

But seriously Bill, I think that an ROG takeoff for the maiden flight of the Seabee is probably safer than a water attempt. If you can get the feel of rudder as needed to get it to track straight and fast taxi, you can let it lift off when the speed is up and it is ready.After you get it trimmed out and know it's tricks, a water attempt will be much easier. In any case be ready to counter extreme nose up or down tendencies after lift off. No tail heaviness allowed for first flights.

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by E-Challenged

But seriously Bill, I think that an ROG takeoff for the maiden flight of the Seabee is probably safer than a water attempt. If you can get the feel of rudder as needed to get it to track straight and fast taxi, you can let it lift off when the speed is up and it is ready.After you get it trimmed out and know it's tricks, a water attempt will be much easier. In any case be ready to counter extreme nose up or down tendencies after lift off. No tail heaviness allowed for first flights.

I never fly anything tail heavy, as I'm more conservatively forward than many folks. Possibly why some have crashes with their warbirds.
The Seabee has a water rudder along with the large rudder in the air, which should help with water tracking. The tailwheel is steerable also. Remember that I'm not just a proven, good flying ARF flying type. I come from the heavy, small Guillows and heavy, small EDF school also. I'm ready for things many would never encounter with proven purchase planes.

I have no access to fields anywhere nearby with paved runways. They are all grass. The park would be out of the question for this plane. I could probably get access to ponds and lakes in the area much easier than fields with runways, which are quite a ways from here.

[E-Challenged]

If you can find manicured scale sized grass ( 1/8 inch) to take off from, it might even help. I prefer our hard dirt/pebbles and weed stubble to grass. It's scary watching huge expensive models on You Tube jolting along and bounding into the air from typical grass fields.

[T_om]

Just finished the WHOLE thread/story here and on "the other place".

Nice build. But I gotta ask... when will it fly?

Tom

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by T_om

Just finished the WHOLE thread/story here and on "the other place".

Nice build. But I gotta ask... when will it fly?

Tom

I should have taken it to a recent seaplane meet. It did give me some motivation though, after flying my Macchi M33.
I have one last change for it, which is to use a Castle ESC, as I understand they have better filtering than others, and are actually rated for the batt cable length that I have. It's possibly good that I didn't attempt it a few weeks ago, as I almost brought it to the meet.

[E-Challenged]

Well? . I'm finishing my 1 year with delays Tritle Stinson SR-7 build will maiden in about 3 weeks. Are you going to attempt aviation with the Seabee? I won't blame you if you make a permanent ceiling queen out of it but would like to sea another Seabee flying successfully. I e-mailed Park Zone and suggested that they produce a foamy Seabee for the masses.

[Texas Don]

+1 on that. I would like to see it fly as well since I'm considering modelling this subject.

[Gary Bullock]

I just discovered this thread, and I wonder if your plans are available? I found a set on ebay, sold by "us wings", that look exactly like the photo of your Seabee on your workbench. Is it yours? BTW, it is advertised as glow powered, .23 - .35, I believe. You do great work. What a challenge!

Gary Bullock

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by Gary Bullock

I just discovered this thread, and I wonder if your plans are available? I found a set on ebay, sold by "us wings", that look exactly like the photo of your Seabee on your workbench. Is it yours? BTW, it is advertised as glow powered, .23 - .35, I believe. You do great work. What a challenge!

Gary Bullock

Just caught that. My build is scratch built, from a DaVe Blum drawing that was basically a 3-view, developed a bit further. It's all in the thread.
That guy on Ebay is using my photo to sell a plan that creates a cartoon scale rendition of the plane. Yet another first rate Ebay seller, just fully dedicated to the hobby.

Originally Posted by E-Challenged

Well? . I'm finishing my 1 year with delays Tritle Stinson SR-7 build will maiden in about 3 weeks. Are you going to attempt aviation with the Seabee? I won't blame you if you make a permanent ceiling queen out of it but would like to sea another Seabee flying successfully. I e-mailed Park Zone and suggested that they produce a foamy Seabee for the masses.

Who knows, maybe never. The AMA clubs don't seem to have any seaplane activity in the area, and the local state park lake allows all kinds of nonsense, but of course not rc seaplanes. I haven't sent in my AMA membership this year, and may not. The local park field 2 blocks away pretty much does the job for everything, other than not having a pond. I have a number of other seaplanes that I really want to fly also. I hope nobody lectures me on why I'm obligated to send in my dues in again this year, when the only service I use is receiving a magazine with articles written by the Don King of rc.

BTW, any of you folks have videos of planes flying? It's a good thing to do for the community. I obviously don't have this one flying, but I've been putting up videos, for the enjoyment of others. I put up a WTFLYR channel a while back, and have been adding videos. I wish I had done it a few years back, but I'm slowly adding to the collection.

As for the Tritle Stinson, it's pretty much an ARF, compared with what I do. I generally finish builds like that in a few weeks and then give them a toss. About as straightforward, hands down simple as it gets. That's part of why I moved on from kits to scratch building.

[Gary Bullock]

Thanks, But you didn't answer my question. Do you have plans available for your scratch build of the Sea Bee? Yes or No?

[foodstick]

Awesome full scale plane .... KILLER rc build ! I will have to build one sometime no ifs, ands, or buts.....

[Bill G]

Thanks Foodstick

Originally Posted by Gary Bullock

Thanks, But you didn't answer my question. Do you have plans available for your scratch build of the Sea Bee? Yes or No?

Originally Posted by Bill G

Just caught that. My build is scratch built, from a Dave Blum drawing that was basically a 3-view, developed a bit further. It's all in the thread.

Clarify that a bit further. Dave developed the 3-view a bit further than a minimal 3-view. I didn't develop it any further than that. There are no plans other than Dave's drawing, which is somewhere near the beginning of the thread. In plain English, No. I do go to great length to discuss the builds in my threads, and usually most questions are answered. I can understand not wanting to read through, but it takes considerably less time than the writeup itself. I still would appreciate it if people would read through them however, considering the amount of effort I have placed in creating these build threads.

This build also used ideas borrowed from a build by Christer Bergstrom, that is also discussed in the build. If I remember correctly, he heavily modified the Tom Mountjoy plan, which may be the plan that the Ebay seller mentioned is selling. Any decent 3-view or plan can be a good starting point, but for a an accurate scale build, there is often a considerable amount of modification necessary. That was the case, for this build. So much of it is done on the fly, that it is not practical or even possible to document the work. For example, the rear fuse formers could not be resolved into a clean compound curve, without some reshaping and test running of stringers and sheet. That's often the kind of work that goes into these scratchbuilds, and this is a case of that.

One thing I can personally vouch for, is that I was able to considerably expand my horizons, when I started scratch building without plans. There are so many subjects where there simply are no plans available for, or often the plans are lacking. That is a focus of a number of my builds, and especially scratcbuilds.

[Gary Bullock]

Thanks, Bill. I have read your thread, and now I understand the complexity of the project. I have the Mountjoy plans, but I think I won't use them.
I scratch build a lot, but never have, except for simple projects, done them without plans. The TLAR approach only goes so far, for me.
Thanks again.

[Bill G]

Christer Bergstrom's build, along with the Mountjoy plan could produce a decent model, with a good bit of "customization". His build was a great reference for my build, as I mix ideas from numerous plans and builds for some of my builds:
http://christer.bergstrom.se/rchangar/rcseebee.html
The GP sales fiberglass Seabee is a nice model also. I believe Christer is working on a highly detailed build, using the GP glass fuse.
The TLAR does take some time to perfect. Some of my early attempts at it were "that is barely recognizable as what it is supposed to be". One feature with this plane which is easier than it looks to resolve is the nose. The window glass actually uses flat panels, which are simply flexed to meet the shape. The appear to have a complex curve, but do not. The darn tail boom was the difficult part. Once I had the frame and formers built from the 3-view, I had to slowly add thin strips of sheet to the formers and reshape, until I could hold test stringers and test sheet sections against the framing, and end up with something that was not full of waves. This is one plane I would not be anxious to build again, as much as I enjoyed the build. As always, they are the most rewarding though.

[Christer_B]

Originally Posted by Bill G

Christer Bergstrom's build, along with the Mountjoy plan could produce a decent model, with a good bit of "customization". His build was a great reference for my build, as I mix ideas from numerous plans and builds for some of my builds:
The GP sales fiberglass Seabee is a nice model also. I believe Christer is working on a highly detailed build, using the GP glass fuse.
The TLAR does take some time to perfect. Some of my early attempts at it were "that is barely recognizable as what it is supposed to be". One feature with this plane which is easier than it looks to resolve is the nose. The window glass actually uses flat panels, which are simply flexed to meet the shape. The appear to have a complex curve, but do not. The darn tail boom was the difficult part. Once I had the frame and formers built from the 3-view, I had to slowly add thin strips of sheet to the formers and reshape, until I could hold test stringers and test sheet sections against the framing, and end up with something that was not full of waves. This is one plane I would not be anxious to build again, as much as I enjoyed the build. As always, they are the most rewarding though.

No, it´s NOT from GP Sales. The hull is made in Sweden 1984. You can watch the maiden here:
(Sorry no links yet)
Note that Laser 200V twin engine was too weak. I have now installed an Emax GT5335 250 kv motor running 19x10 prop on 10S 8Ah LiPo. Its winter now so I have to wait until Maj 1013.... But this engine is specified to 3250W. Seabee weight is 13.5 kg.


Regards
Christer
Sweden

[Christer_B]

Try to post links again.
1:4.5 Seabee maiden: https://vimeo.com/45295843
My Gallery: http://christer.bergstrom.se/gallery...p/scale-seabee

//Christer
Sweden

[dpetsel]

Bill,
I have a question on your Seabee build.
I sent you a PM
Thanks
Dave in Iowa