Guillows Morse bipe

Ken Cook Sun Mar 20, 2022 2:08 pm

My son decided to give this one a try. He brought it to me the other day. He wants to try and make it free flight. All I could say is that it's going to make a spectacular mess when it crashes. Plan calls for a .020, I'm not so certain that's a good idea so were going to use the Anderson Spitzy. The Spitzy also has a long stroke in which it's cylinder is quite long which should get it outside of the cowling. Another option is the capacitor motors we've been playing around with. Honestly, I think that's the route we should go but he wants the Spitzy. In order to strengthen up the nose, it needs to be sheeted. What a pain in the rear that is. Compound curves and angles in every direction makes for some interesting sheeting techniques. I don't do CA, I hate it so I use yellow glues. Pins, tape and rubber bands. It actually isn't terrible to do just time consuming.

I guess I'm going to silkspan the wings as I already completed the stab with silkspan. The amber color is a dye that I added to the clear in which I probably will do the wings with as well. The real color of the plane was olive drab. As much as I would love to paint it, I think it will get too heavy so clear it us.

rdw777 Sun Mar 20, 2022 2:20 pm

Looks challenging!…. But after watching some of your FF videos I bet you have a good chance to make it go….Cool project…. Good luck!

rsv1cox Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:52 pm

Very similar to The Nieuport 28 Ken, an airframe that I love and have flown control line.

I don't imagine that you will string it, but it adds authenticity and eye appeal. Maybe after you retire it.

roddie Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:44 pm

Coming along nice Ken. I have three models from that series that were built by my late Uncle Len. The Morse, the DR-1 and the Nieuport II. Same scale.. same rubber/.020 glow power FF options.

I kept them reasonably free from harm over the course of 20 some odd years.. and 3 moves. It was a kitten that would destroy all three of them.

Mostly skin and strut damage.

706jim Sun Mar 20, 2022 8:48 pm

I built one of these about 1972. Powered with the Pee Wee 0.020. Even with a 5" prop there really wasn't much of the fan protruding beyond the cowling. As a free flight it never flew. Later I converted it to U/C glow powered by a Golden Bee 0.049. It flew fine on the 10' lines I could fit into my front yard. Mine was covered with lightweight nylon and clear dope.

roddie Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:17 pm

I have a Sterling Models Fokker DR1 (the E2 1/2 A kit) which I built for a Cox Babe Bee .049 engine. The scale propeller would be an 8 ft. dia. 2-blade.

my kit..

The firewall in my Sterling E2 kit..

I'd had previous experience running 8 X 3 woodies with their hubs bushed for the #5 machine-screw. They will run.. and they will "sound" incredibly scale..

Here's a Babe Bee with an 8 X 3 J Zinger..

I admit.. that running "non-spec." propellers will void your warranty.. Smile

706jim Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:22 pm

What warranty?

firstwordisee Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:53 pm

I will fly Ken, landing is the tricky part.
My first build years ago was a Guillows Piper Cub, it actually flew very well with pee wee and came right back to me, but was a short lived plane, they are fragile as you mentioned.
I also built that Fokker Roddie, couldn't get it to fly well with rubber so hung it in my sons bedroom at his birth, when he was 10 it took an errant nerf basketball as was destroyed, actually just yesterday I ripped out the landing gear wire for another project.

706jim Sun Mar 27, 2022 4:30 pm

As I mentioned earlier, my Thomas Morris Scout would not fly as a free flight. I found biplanes to be fussier stability wise than a monoplane, plus the large diameter cowling blanked off much of the slipstream with the relatively small prop you would use with the Pee Wee.

Now the Piper Cub was another thing altogether. This one flew like a bird with the 0.020. I would take it out in the early evening (before heading off to the bar to play my guitar) and fly it several times. I could get between 7 and 9 flights before I had to reglue the wing. To do this, I used a syringe full of Ambroid which I would inject into the failed joint right through the nylon covering.
I would use 0.4cc of fuel to get a manageable engine run of about 30 seconds. So in my case the model was very durable. Probably flew it over 60 times.

I've since bought two of the Guillows kits with the intention of installing radio gear but it has never passed the talking stages.

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