Re: Jim Walker "Firebrand"...It Flys !!!!!

ticomareado Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:13 pm

Someone gifted me an old shagged out Lanier high wing Cessnaesque looking .60 powered model one time and I tore it apart just for forensic fun. They looked kinda scarey inside and the two thermoformed sheet plastic clamshell fuselage halves must have had a pound of hot glue and epoxy in them. They were heavy, but some magazine product review I read about them said they flew like a charm.

rsv1cox Wed Dec 19, 2018 2:21 pm

ticomareado wrote:Someone gifted me an old shagged out Lanier high wing Cessnaesque looking .60 powered model one time and I tore it apart just for forensic fun. They looked kinda scarey inside and the two thermoformed sheet plastic clamshell fuselage halves must have had a pound of hot glue and epoxy in them. They were heavy, but some magazine product review I read about them said they flew like a charm.

My first R/C airplane was a Lanier. A poor choice for a first R/C plane. I smashed it more than once and picked it out of pine trees on an occasion or two. But it was a ball to fly and a tough old bird. I built a four channel Blue Max kit for it. I can't remember it's fate.

There is a similar one on ebay right now, but in high wing configuration.

Jim Walker "Firebrand"...It Flys !!!!! - Page 2 Lanier10

Kim Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:48 pm

balogh wrote:Very nice CL plane, congrats Kim and enjoy flying it..

BTW...How does a foamie resist nitro fuel? Any surface treatment/proofing necessary?

Thanks !!!!

I put on a clear coat of some polyurethane recommended by Ken. Looks like it's holding up OK, and gonna use it (in a little thicker coats) if I build the second one.

roddie Sat Jun 05, 2021 10:44 am

WOW! I never saw this thread Kim. I searched CEF/"Firebrand" today, because of Bob V's. Jim Walker/U-Reely thread.

NICE!!! Babe Bee .049

Jim Walker "Firebrand"...It Flys !!!!! - Page 2 4_3810

Jim Walker "Firebrand"...It Flys !!!!! - Page 2 6_2610

Do you still have the model?

Kim Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:03 pm

Hey, yeah, and i gets flown somewhat regularly.
Another of my "Flash-Back" models!!!

Ken Cook Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:01 am

Kim, is that a original QZ .049? My dad bought a half dozen QZ's in the late 60's. He removed the mufflers most of the time and the engines appeared to be a normal Babe Bee to me. I quickly realized that these things ran like no other Babe Bee's and I never knew why until years later. These were dual ported cylinders to offer power to the restrictive muffler. Some also were offered with the high comp head even furthering the rpm's. Over the past 30+ years, I gathered up all these parts and sought out to return these beauties back to original. Following many threads on here from Mark Bosen, I've put back these beauties to their former glory. I've found parts all over the place. Occasionally my dad will show up with the clip that rotates around the muffler, or the spacer for underneath to eliminate SPI. All in all, it's been fun to run these once again like they were intended. Now I have about 20+ more Babe Bee's which unknowingly as a youth committed a crime in interchanging cylinders, tanks and parts. I did what I needed to do to keep flying. Now I'm faced with the task of enjoying them for what they are instead of what they did for me back then. It really upsets me now knowing what I was doing back then. I find it rewarding when I systematically clean them and carefully associate the proper items back onto these engines. Ken

Kim Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:49 am

I'm pretty sure that this is a straight-stock QZ, like the one in my PT-19QZ, but will check.
As I probably wrote before, this is another flash-back deal for me as my older brother put one in a Firebrand back when we were flying in the late 1960's.
His would do slow graceful loops and wingovers, so I guess the Bee wasn't really honking. His Firebrand was pretty short-lived though as he didn't paint or epoxy it's nose pod, and it quickly succumbed to Castor Cancer!

I'll check on it's porting just to see if it's fairly original.

roddie Thu Jun 10, 2021 6:31 pm

Ken Cook wrote: Kim, is that a original QZ .049? My dad bought a half dozen QZ's in the late 60's. He removed the mufflers most of the time and the engines appeared to be a normal Babe Bee to me. I quickly realized that these things ran like no other Babe Bee's and I never knew why until years later. These were dual ported cylinders to offer power to the restrictive muffler. Some also were offered with the high comp head even furthering the rpm's. Over the past 30+ years, I gathered up all these parts and sought out to return these beauties back to original. Following many threads on here from Mark Bosen, I've put back these beauties to their former glory. I've found parts all over the place. Occasionally my dad will show up with the clip that rotates around the muffler, or the spacer for underneath to eliminate SPI. All in all, it's been fun to run these once again like they were intended. Now I have about 20+ more Babe Bee's which unknowingly as a youth committed a crime in interchanging cylinders, tanks and parts. I did what I needed to do to keep flying. Now I'm faced with the task of enjoying them for what they are instead of what they did for me back then. It really upsets me now knowing what I was doing back then. I find it rewarding when I systematically clean them and carefully associate the proper items back onto these engines. Ken

Hi ya' Ken. I enjoyed reading your response. You mention your dad occasionally showing-up with some QZ parts.. and it made me smile! I have photos of you and Sean.. but none of him. Can you post or PM me a photo or two?

I don't consider it a crime... for you to have swapped some engine-parts in an effort to obtain optimal-performance for a given model-airplane. You're still here.. and still passionate about these engines. I did it.. and still do it. If you hadn't tinkered with those engines.... well.. our paths may have never crossed here at CEF. I am glad that they did Ken.. because you have given me LOADS of helpful modeling information (in general..) that I have applied with favorable results!

Kim Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:25 pm

roddie wrote:
Ken Cook wrote: Kim, is that a original QZ .049? My dad bought a half dozen QZ's in the late 60's. He removed the mufflers most of the time and the engines appeared to be a normal Babe Bee to me. I quickly realized that these things ran like no other Babe Bee's and I never knew why until years later. These were dual ported cylinders to offer power to the restrictive muffler. Some also were offered with the high comp head even furthering the rpm's. Over the past 30+ years, I gathered up all these parts and sought out to return these beauties back to original. Following many threads on here from Mark Bosen, I've put back these beauties to their former glory. I've found parts all over the place. Occasionally my dad will show up with the clip that rotates around the muffler, or the spacer for underneath to eliminate SPI. All in all, it's been fun to run these once again like they were intended. Now I have about 20+ more Babe Bee's which unknowingly as a youth committed a crime in interchanging cylinders, tanks and parts. I did what I needed to do to keep flying. Now I'm faced with the task of enjoying them for what they are instead of what they did for me back then. It really upsets me now knowing what I was doing back then. I find it rewarding when I systematically clean them and carefully associate the proper items back onto these engines. Ken

Hi ya' Ken. I enjoyed reading your response. You mention your dad occasionally showing-up with some QZ parts.. and it made me smile! I have photos of you and Sean.. but none of him. Can you post or PM me a photo or two?

I don't consider it a crime... for you to have swapped some engine-parts in an effort to obtain optimal-performance for a given model-airplane. You're still here.. and still passionate about these engines. I did it.. and still do it. If you hadn't tinkered with those engines.... well.. our paths may have never crossed here at CEF. I am glad that they did Ken.. because you have given me LOADS of helpful modeling information (in general..) that I have applied with favorable results!

DITTO what Roddie said!!!

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