...having some fun The little GeeBee is kind-of strange to fly, as I may have said before - it appears to be dragged around by its engine and has the very characteristic forward-jutting undercarriage. However, despite odd characteristics, it does fly quite sweetly, although don't fly it too slow or you'll have it upside down in the grass from a tip stall
One thing it does for you, almost without trying too hard, it knife edge. Maybe not exactly perfectly, however very stable and most entertainingly. So, while I was buzzing it around, I put it into increasingly steep turns and had it knife-edging around for my amusement. A fun little plane, except when you try and land it on grass...
...a few surprises The GeeBee got its chance for a first flight on a beautiful, if somewhat breezy, afternoon with lovely clouds spread across a giant canvas of bright blue sky. Playing it safe for the first take-off, I had the GeeBee on the dirt to give it a take-off smoother run. After a quick taxi-test, I headed it into the breeze and eased up the power.
It takes off pretty easily and without fuss, but the first surprise came when I eased off the elevator and found it nose-diving rapidly, so much so that I only just caught it in time. It was also turning right, so I had a tense minute or so as I steered it clear of trouble as I adjusted the trims.
After that things were a lot more enjoyable; it turns out that the GeeBee is very floaty, another surprise, and is fun and easy to fly. In fact its characteristics lead me to believe it has 3D capabilities, now I just need to develop mine! It turns very quickly and easily and, with full power, is pretty brisk without being super-fast, so it didn't take long before I was flying it with some confidence. Bringing it into land it floated in straight enough, rounding out well. I let it drop just a fraction, still a good landing, but this small jolt was enough to dislodge one side of the undercarriage and loosen the other mount. However this is easily corrected with a little superglue, and I'm looking forward to exploring the GeeBee's abilities further...
...so how does this work? The GeeBee is a nice-quality kit, with solid EPO fuselage making it a smarter-looking proposition than a Rarebear, for example. While having a simple screw-together construction, it does however its construction poses a few questions. How does the battery setup work, and where's the best spot for the receiver?
The first question is a puzzler, for me anyway having only had planes with unfettered access to the battery. Obviously, unless you're happy remove the wing every time you fly it, you need the ESC lead to remain in the battery hatch so it's accessible through the small hatch opening.
This I found achievable by mounting the ESC against the side of the fuselage, preventing the lead from falling back into the fuselage. This setup seems quite reliable, although packing the battery in and then feeding in the lead and connectors is still squeezy and awkward. Regarding the receiver, in this case a twin-antenna Orange R615x, I mounted it in the central fuselage cavity which corresponds to a cavity in the wing moulding above. And, connecting all the servos from the back and the ESC from the front gives a very neat installation. Next challenge is the bracing wire; five pairs of different length wires needing to be clipped into tiny hooks. Fifteen tediously fiddly minutes later I was finished. The last trick was spinner and propellor. The latter simply gets tightened with a nut, with the spinner base in behind it. Then the spinner is installed; it comes with double-sided tape but, really, that's never going to hold. So I superglued it in place, with cardboard slipped in behind the base to keep it spaced off the cowling. With everything in place the little GeeBee was looking good...
I’d had the GeeBee sitting in the corner for a while and finally got around to unboxing it.
It’s a nice quality kit, coming safely boxed and individually wrapped so that all parts were in perfect condition. The fuselage is even secured in place with velcro straps, a first for me.
The GeeBee comes in the classic Texaco livery which looks great and the decal application is nice. The fuselage is full EPO including the cowling which is nice, however there is a downside - the battery access is a small hatch on the underside.
The 5g servos, in wings and fuselage, are pre-installed along with the control horns. The high-standing tail wheel is also fitted, leaving only the tail planes to be screwed into place. The wing, with locating pins up front, is also screwed into place - a glue-free assembly.
The iconic GeeBee undercarriage comes pre-assembled, with integrated wire reinforcing which also serves as the mount slotting into the wing. Included is sprung bracing wires stabilising the undercarriage as well as bracing the wings to the fuselage, which should look great assembled.
The kit comes with two three-blade props and two spinners, the latter being the only disappointment - they're EPO, with the cone apparently needing to be stuck onto the base with double-sided tape! I'm not surprised to read that people have ditched these for real spinners. In fact, had I known, I’d have tried to get a replacement spinner when I ordered the kit…
