PZL 62 + Baby Bee

Dirk!

That was a good hit you took on the hand. Hope you are OK. 10K is a touch on the low side as you know. I agree that a 5x3 would be more suited in this case. Do you have another Babe Bee? You could cut down your 6x4 like you suggested. At least the plane is still intact. If you need access into rhe cockpit area you could always just glue on some ply tabs and mount the canopy with a couple screws.

If that Bee doesn't work out let me know an I can build you a strong one and send it to you. All it will cost is shipping.

Ron

hey cribbs74,

I received two separate hits, one with each blade. Each resulted with a long, but thin and shallow cut. There was *a lot* of blood initially (I wasn't able to drive home by myself), some of which is still on the plane, but the wounds closed fast and there hardly was any pain. I actually did not notice I was bleeding until I landed (if you agree to call the headfirst hit straight into the ground a landing).

I do have another Bee. I believe it is - or used to be - a Killer Bee, like the ones found in CL P40s. It is now heavily modded, with an 8cc tank and a throttle. Due to the modifications, it is not very well suited to this plane.

I will assume for now, that my Bee is in shape (it should be - it's basically brand new, not altered in any way and received a proper run-in) and try to tweak it to get some more RPM out of it. In case I'm not successful, I will remember about your generous offer

Ok then, hopefully yours works out. You have been working on that thing for a long time so I would be glad to help get it flying.

Ron

cribbs74 wrote:

If that Bee doesn't work out let me know an I can build you a strong one and send it to you. All it will cost is shipping.

Ron

Dear Uncle Ronnie
Can you build your favourite
Nephew a PeeWee that
Bloody works?

Yeah,

do PeeWees work at all? I overhauled mine completely, and the RPMs are still going up and down all the time. Also, it seems to run for less than a minute on full tank.

Yeah they do work, they are more succeptible to air leaks than the Babe Bee's though. Well, maybe not more succeptible, but more intolerant of air leaks.

John, if you want one shoot me a PM and we can work something out.

Uncle Ron (10 yrs your jr.)

Congrats on your maiden flight!

I would focus more on the CG location and possibly reducing the throws a little, or at least make them a little less sensitive.

Yep, I think a 6x3 or 5x3 might be better, but the change would not be ‘night and day’, the engine seemed to have more than enough power to fly the plane, however it did seem a little rich?

If you don’t already be sure to use at least two rubber bands per side of wing.

Remember super glue works great for gluing small cuts!

good luck!

According to my guitar (yes, I measure RPMs with a guitar - I don't have a tachometer), the engine turns just over 11k. I think it is safe to assume that the engine is in perfect shape, considering the prop size and the fact I deliberately set it a tad rich.

Prop in mail.

Cool, thanks.

I can't wait, I'm going to take it for another flight tomorrow.

Will your lovely camera'man'
Be with her camera?

Sadly, no.
I have a day off tomorrow, but some people still have to go to work
If it flies, you will have to take my word for it.

Well,

I woke up today and the weather is so bad that I guess I'm not going flying after all

I run my SureStart today to compare the performance with the Bee.
All i can get from it with the 6x4 prop is 11700 RPM. This is probably what i can get from the Bee if I set the needle for highest RPM. Not sure how did the guys that done the performance review get 13k with the same prop.

John,
with your prop the engine only does 15000 RPM, which corresponds to 30W of power and 6.3oz thrust

I am wondering if this may be because of the spring starter I am using? The plastic part that you put on the driveplate hits the spring twice with every revolution, doesn't it?

I'm going to try my Killer Bee to compare performance. I will also see how much is the Sure Start doing on the smaller prop.

Hmm you got me P.
15000 sounds as though something's up.
I had a hex cam spring on my surestartedee
On my old timer 2 summers ago if memory
Serves when I swapped to a non drag it
Gained about 300 rpm.

The short fuel tank has the narrow air passage (venturi) and the bee backplate has the smaller hole in it.

To even check the engine will need to come out. If you do pull the engine take a 5/64 inch or 2 mm drill bit and probe as a go/nogo gauge.

Phil

I have no problem with taking the engine out.
So you're saying I should check if the air intake is not clogged?

If you're taking it apart Piotr, perhaps consider what
I did with my Peewee recently, this was a new engine too.
Spray through all the orifices with brake cleaner.
Conduct a suck blow test on the reed to
Make sure it's sealing when blowing.
If not, clean the reed and reassemble. If still not sealing consider
Turning the reed over.
Reassemble and use smear a tiny amount of sealant under
The heads and do the sealant and fuel tube n/v trick.
Unless the problem is the fuel or glow head it will
Run like a champ. Mine went from 15/17ish to 19.5/20

Hi P
As you can see I have slid it over the spring as well.
J

I hope to be able to go out flying again this Saturday, should the weather permit.
I'm going to put a different engine on it, as the original Bee won't stop acting up.
I disassembled it to clean it, put in a new reed as the old one did not pass the blow test. Put in a new tank gasket just in case. Tightened the head, as it was loose.

Sure enough, now the overhauled engine won't start at all

There's so little to go wrong enough to stop them starting P, that I bet it's something simple....
Glow?
Battery?
Does it 'braaaaap' on a prime?
Fuel not getting through?


PS I've just re read my post above It should have read 'smear a tiny amount of sealant under
the tank screw heads as well/ or use some dental floss wrapped around them'.