Betty Skelton

My clone build, here.
https://www.coxengineforum.com/t16209-logging-again

GallopingGhostler wrote:Amazing historical factoid, Roddie, thanks for sharing. Also amazing that our infamous  @MauricioB would build a replica. That thread was well loved given it is 10 pages long!

Didn't Scientific / Walt Musciano do a half-A full fuselage C/L kit of It'll Stinker?

Duane beat me to it!! There's also an outerzone #13896 free download.

Yes..

(from the web)







also.. Robert @rsv1cox posted an instruction-sheet for a Scientific "Little Biplane" kit for .020 to .035 engines.

Thanks Duane, thanks Roddie!

Duane, you did a great job in not only the clone build, a fantastic build that could be a show plane for Scientific, but also sharing the wealth on Outerzone, plans and patterns, so others can clone a Pitts also.

Yeah, Girls can't fly airplanes.................

Betty Skelton, her name pops up in many of my aviation periodicals.

I still want to build that Little Bipe but SIG is still out of airfoils and I don't want to sand one to shape. But, I have a MasterCraft kit that Mark gave me that has a dandy little plane in it that really does a nice job carving balsa.

rsv1cox wrote:
I still want to build that Little Bipe but SIG is still out of airfoils and I don't want to sand one to shape.  But, I have a MasterCraft kit that Mark gave me that has a dandy little plane in it that really does a nice job carving balsa.  

Remember what Ken said.. it's better (probably easier and faster..) to use a little block-plane.. rather than trying to sand all that wood.. only to end up with a warped panel because of the heat generated. I'll bet you could start turning-out airfoiled panels by the handful once you try it.

There's a concern over heat build up by sanding, but I have never experienced that problem. With the coarsest sandpaper removes a lot of wood with a couple swipes. Then finer for a smooth surface to sanding seal then paint. (Some of the earlier kits used a lot of coarse balsa blocks requiring a lot of sanding for fuselage noses, wing tips, and etc.)

The Little Bipe used 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick balsa sheet, so airfoil is almost non-existant. One could almost just round all edges and still have a satisfactory flying airplane. One could even use 3/32nd inch (2.5 mm) thick balsa sheet for wings.

Roddie, that Little Bipe plan sheet from Bob, that is the kit version I built in high school back in the late 1960's. Painted the fuselage and rudder with Pactra Corsair blue butyrate dope and the wings and elevator with Orange colored Sig dope. Power: Babe Bee, Veco 1 inch rubber tires on the 1/16th inch music wire landing gear.

Yes, my major league sander is some 60 grit stapled on to a 1X2, But........

It's a Mastergrip set, not a Mastercraft. Harbor Freight I think. That little plane is a marvel.

Just a couple "Little Bipe" (not Little Stinker..) photos I found on the web...  





Now "I" wanna' build one!

rsv1cox wrote:Yeah, Girls can't fly airplanes................. Betty Skelton, her name pops up in many of my aviation periodicals.

About 8 years ago under the auspices of the Christian Motorcycle Association local chapter that I was president of, I was helping with volunteer flagging of children and young adult motocross events. This was at a motocross track owned by a farmer about 6 miles outside of Portales, NM, a half hour drive south of Clovis.

Between heats, there appeared to be a high school or college student female doing a practice run on one of the larger dirt bikes. She was an expert rider, doing impressive high jumps on the hills. Her riding style was definitely impressive to watch.

After the motocross event was over and it was time to pack up and go home, after inquiring, I found out that the rider was none other than the farmer's wife. She was then perhaps in her late 20's, early 30's.

Yes, girls can't do motocross neither.

Roddie, is that bipe you show photographs of, the earlier Scientific Little Bipe shown on the Scientic kit boxes, of which the latest is not?

GallopingGhostler wrote:

Roddie, is that bipe you show photographs of, the earlier Scientific Little Bipe shown on the Scientic kit boxes, of which the latest is not?

Hi George, The "Little Stinker" is a Pitts; a different kit.. and I believe is slightly larger. (Edit; NO.. They're about the same size..O)

The photos I posted of the Scientific/Musciano "Little Bipe" are of the first version model.. and was actually built by our member "Juan" (F4D Phantom II)

Here's the Stunthangar thread containing his build-log.

https://stunthanger.com/smf/12-a-building/scientific-little-bipe-first-version/

Roddie, thanks for clarifying. So it is the earlier Little Bipe. Juan did an excellent job in reproducing it, thanks for build link.

I should have been clearer. What I meant is that Scientific continued to show photos of the earlier version, although they simplified Little Bipe to a slightly different and simpler appearance.

To reduce kit production costs, appears that they were doing everything possible to make fuselage and tail parts common with their other models, like Little Devil, Ford Flivver, and etc. plus use less wood. To keep production costs down they also continued to use the same box art and photos, even on the newer plans reflecting changes. The magazine ads continued to march on with the old photos.

Somewhere along the line, perhaps in a now no longer available forum, I downloaded plans for the early Little Devil. It has the same fuselage and tail surfaces of the early Little Bipe.

Back in the late 1960's / early 1970's, I and my brother built the last renditions of the Little Bipe and Little Devil. Although they build into good looking fun planes, still, the earlier ones have a touch of class above the later ones in appearance, a certain finnese.