Jim Walkers FireBee - This is going to be fun

The FB continues to suffer.  I'm not sure which suffers worse, it or me.  Despite obstacles I press on.  

Old engine paint, it could go back to my MG TC build but likely one of my more recent MG Midgets. A darker red than I would like but no way I'm spending another $7.50 for a can of red paint when I have half-empties on the shelf.  This one began spitting toward the end just like the old silver paint I used on the wings and fuselage.  Par for the course. Discouraging?  Not a bit, perhaps it's the most entertaining build I have done, scratch, clone, or kit.  





I got some paint bleed but not as much as expected.  White border will mask it.  Pin striping bought as an assortment on ebay.  Using it is not beneath me.  Easy way out and within my capabilites, barely!  I could never spray as clean a thin white line.  I'm not sure about the durability, I may have to over-spray with clear.  




My goal:




I'm going to use a Royal Spitfire, same engine as the JW without the throttle.  Tatone engine stand perhaps not the best option but it will have to do for testing.  I have never ran this engine but it has decent compression and the plug is good.





  If the FBee survives I will mount one of the Jim Walkers.

I know Ken posted somewhere on how to keep paint from bleeding and can't remember what it was ? I have that prob. with rattle cans and brush not to much with air brush though . Plane is coming along nicely even with some issues your having just all in the fun . Hope the Anderson runs good for you .

Nice work on the paint Bob…. Perfectly fine for a worker bee model….You mentioned maybe over spraying the pin stripes with clear, I would anyway just to keep fuel and oil from getting under them ….

Hope that Spitfire does good for you….One of the things I’ve learned on messing with some of the pre-Cox engines is to use a Cox 6-3 black nylon prop at least in the beginning ….They’re fairly heavy compared to what these older engines were spec’d for and will help them flywheel thru to the next rev when hand starting….

Cox 6/3 mounted Robert, but there is no way I can put a happy face on this puppy.  To add a little more disappointment SIG is out of airfoils which negates a redo.




That said it should be a happy flier, although a bit tail heavy.  Maybe I can find a spinner.  I need to add black access treading and get my son to trace in some flap/ailerons.

Are you going to pin strip the fin/Rudder ? Tail heavy not good got one of those spinner oversized weight nuts .. Looks Good ! as the box art .

getback wrote:Are you going to pin strip the fin/Rudder ? Tail heavy not good got one of those spinner oversized weight nuts .. Looks Good ! as the box art .

When I get the courage Eric, or probably better let my son do it. Four short strips close together would not be as easy as the tips were. The paper backed pin striping sticks better but I don't have it in white. Used it for canopy defination.



Touchy in balance. I have the tips of the dowels knife edged, I had to turn them 90 degrees to get it to sit.



Quite a difference between it and FireBaby 0ne and two.



No more balsa sanding for a while. A clone using the original FireBee pieces as guides I had to do a lot of it. Nice and quick but it creates a lot of dust. Wet dusted my whole shop with a microfiber towel.

Nice group shot of JW aircraft Bob…If you get a chance, weigh the later version with the Bee on it… Just curious of the change….Yep, important to get that balance close before any attempts with FireBee…. Tail heavy can be exciting but no fun!! …. My balancer/incidence meter looks like a relative to yours…

I will weigh all three Robert and post. The Babe Bee version is a clone but it should be close to the originals weight.

There is no hope for me Robert........Got this coming. I have been watching it but asking price was way above my comfort zone for these. Made a low offer that I was sure would be rejected.

FireBaby Jr. with a Cox .020 w/high compression head. I have never seen another.





I have plans to sell much of my in the box stuff, i don't need to but I'm starting to get a guilty conscience.

Weights. My clone FireBee probably is heavier due to paint vice ink.

Thanks Bob, I suspected the later versions were just a bit heavier … Even if yours is a clone…Certainly within the window for a Bee….Bee’s were a good bit more powerful than the older engines too…. Just a curious thing for me……. FireBee may need a little longer run but it’ll go too!!…. Actually may be kind of cool with its trike gear and all…. Accelerate, Pull the nose up, ride on the mains for awhile then lift off!!

Firebaby jr is cute as a button!… I like the bright colors… They had to add a little nose weight to compensate for the lighter.020 looks like….. A good looking.020 by the way too!!…. Looks like second generation thin wall cylinder…. Those are good’uns….If you get a chance, When you receive it, Take a photo of it next to a regular Firebaby for comparison  

The final piece of the puzzle.  Rigged up the controls.



Plans say 2 1/2" back, so be it.



RIP

Congratulations on finishing FireBee Bob and sharing the build here!!…Hope you or your son get to fly it!!….Have you tried to run the Firecracker engine?….Something I’m finding out on running these older engines is (I think) they need more break in time than we are used to with Cox engines…. The more I run those two Wasps I have the easier they start and handle…..It seems at least in my experience, engines we buy as old and used have very little run time on them…

Not quite on the FireBee.  That tail pin striping bugged me, loose and flopping around so I pulled it off and masked for spray white paint.  As expected, it did not turn out well.  Got to do it again and let Mark touch it up by hand.  I found a spinner for it which may come in handy at starting time if I need to go electric.  





I was heading out to the garage this morning to do just that.  I had everything ready to go, but noticed the tractor and remembered the tree I cut down yesterday that needed to be cut up and brought to the burn pile.



Soooo

I was browsing the bay looking at old magazines and ran across one that reminded me of your speed plane Bob…. Love the art work on some of those old covers…. Your speeder grouped with the others show how tiny it is….. I bet it was a bullet with the big engine in it…

The speed plane is not forgotten, but it's on the back burner until I can find the proper engine.  The Enya .09 that I thought would fit doesn't.  Mount is ok N/S but off E/W and I'm not modding the plane.

JW obscession gets worse.  The fellow that sold me the FB frame kept offering me a JW assortment.  I kept saying no.  Finally just to quiet him down I made a really, really low-ball offer which to my amazement he accepted.

Like your's I think, different - no wing images top or bottom. 




Strange clean fuselage.  



Firebaby has a Ok Cub attached, but included is a Baby Spitfire with a brass head with a bunch of bell cranks. I do not know what the profile fuselage is.

It appears that at one time the American Junior web site offered a replica  of Firebaby to sell in their online store…A mix of new and old parts…. An interesting collectible in its own right….

https://www.americanjuniorclassics.com/ajstore/firebaby2.html

rdw777 wrote:It appears that at one time the American Junior web site offered a replica  of Firebaby to sell in their online store…A mix of new and old parts…. An interesting collectible in its own right….

https://www.americanjuniorclassics.com/ajstore/firebaby2.html

Well, to quote my long departed father, "Isn't that something."

The top of the wing bell crank mount is a giveaway, perhaps the unpainted fuselage is one that got away from a final inspection.  Probably only four or five people world wide think that's significant.  You and I Robert represent fifty percent of that population.  

You and Eric and your combined internet search skills help keep me informend.  

Took the time to run the Royal Spitfire this morning.

Four turns out and it starts on the second or third flip running on the prime only.  Attached fuel tank leaks.  A tight-rope walk with these,  too tight on the attaching machine screw bows it out, too loose and it leaks around the mount.  I could only get four to six second runs before it leaked out.  I have some different gasket material, I will try that. I might have to use one of my mini Perfect wedgies.  

But the bigger problem is - I'm not getting any fuel draw. I have to check into that.




No problem with the way it runs as it runs with gusto.    A couple of times it started backwards, then changed its mind and flipped back.  Fun to watch and feel the wind switch.  




Had a little fun with the Bonanza also.

Making a new fuselage.  I said I wasn't going too, But I laminated some scrap 3/32" with a sheet of 1/16 giving me the 1/4" of the stock Bonanza fuselage.  A matter of time and economics.  Hobby Lobby a two hour trip away consuming two + gallons of $3.50 gas.  Balsa sheet $7.50 X two or three = about $25.00+  total plus time against free.  No contest.

I discovered why the Royal Spitfire would only run on the prime.  A clogged NVA right at the fuel tube.  My old bug-a-boo that has caught me more than once.  I had not cleaned this engine or I would have checked that.  Standard procedure for me.  I pushed a common pin through the NVA followed by aerosol RemOil followed by compressed air.  A see-through now.  



Comfortible that it will run and run well I mounted it on the plane and secured it with 2/56's washers and nuts and gave it a little "out" with interior washers on the nose screws.  Probably not necessary but forced due to the prop drive rubbing on the fuselage.  Tight fit and I had forgotten that a layer of paint .............

2/56" assortments make using the correct size easy.



Replaced the nylon prop with a 6/3 Top Flight.  Jim Walker handle and Carl Goldberg 56' line should do nicely.




Close but no cigar:




Done.  Mark is gone for a few days, but we will get this thing in the air.

Looks like the Spitfire is going to cooperate with you Bob, Fun to run those old engines ……065, Slightly larger displacement to handle a slightly larger CL plane of that time….A little blurb in the article below on “piston being lapped to a mirror finish and individually fitted to the cylinder” ….Probably a help on the ease of starting you have experienced…..I like your determination to fly the thing…. Firebaby wants to fly too but been pretty busy lately…. We’ll get there though!!

Thanks a lot for that review Robert, I learned a lot from it. But I don't quite understand "The Royal Spitfire is a two part rotary valve job." But it sounds good to me.

"Needle opened 4 1/2 turns." I guessed counting the rotation of the slit on the compression/pinch held needle, but it could have been 3 1/2 or 4 1/2. All I know is that it ran perfect neither rich or lean on old Cox 25% fuel. Duration was determined by how much prime I gave it through the intake and the exhaust ports. I can still see it kicking back from CW to CCW or visa versa. Not possible on a RV? but I saw it a couple of times. I just wish I have checked for a clogged NVA before running it. Mounted on a profile the position of the pickup may not be in the best position.

I'm wavering on using the new JW handle and CG dacron as I have a well used Perfect handle with used line probably from some broken up old plastic what-ever. "Runs of 1 1/2 to 2 minutes" is more than enough to put me on the ground.

Crashed. I will rebuild it and hang it from the ceiling.

rsv1cox wrote:Thanks a lot for that review Robert, I learned a lot from it.  But I don't quite understand  "The Royal Spitfire is a two part rotary valve job."  But it sounds good to me.  

"Needle opened 4 1/2 turns."  I guessed counting the rotation of the slit on the compression/pinch held needle, but it could have been 3 1/2 or 4 1/2.  All I know is that it ran perfect neither rich or lean on old Cox 25% fuel.  Duration was determined by how much prime I gave it through the intake and the exhaust ports. I can still see it kicking back from CW to CCW or visa versa.  Not possible on a RV? but I saw it a couple of times.   I just wish I have checked for a clogged NVA before running it.  Mounted on a profile the position of the pickup may not be in the best position.  

I'm wavering on using the new JW handle and CG dacron as I have a well used Perfect handle with used line probably from some broken up old plastic what-ever.  "Runs of 1 1/2 to 2 minutes" is more than enough to put me on the ground.

Crashed.  I will rebuild it and hang it from the ceiling.  

Could they be referring to two bypass ports and the front rotor induction valve? I think they were just trying to sound "cool" ... ie: "It's fuel injected, Nitro burning, with a turbo fed (and clutched) supercharger on a 351 Cleveland Big Block from Australia! " So many things wrong with that statement... any Mad Max fans here?
Caveat: there is a guy on the 'Tube that supposedly has a BBC set up that way, minus the "clutched" Blower. There are screaming, two-stroke DD's with both types of blower, the huffer force feeds the diesels lack of vacuum and the turbo is the real boost. Whew! Then, add Nitro... blow the head off like one of our little "jobs" blowing the glow plug out! That sound cool?