The Refried Bean Build-It flies

That looks impressive. I hope it flies as good as it looks. Nice job Rusty. Ken

Smokin' !!!!!

Very nice.

I agree, very nice job.

Like Ken said, looks good, hope it flies. But then Kim said if it looks good it'll fly good, so maybe I'm okay.
I could bolt up the engine and fly it any time. It's completely fuel proofed. But I came this far so I'll pretty it up some more. And I keep forgetting about landing gear. I think I'll put a Streak style single wheel on it. I thought that was weird when I first saw it, but after using it, it makes sense. No need for two, just adds drag.

NICE!

Well flames are okay, but you wanna know what's really cool..........?


The boy's got numbers now! I'm Bonafide!


I painted the nose white and made flames for it. When the paint dries I'll stick them on and mount the engine. I'm tired of piddling with decorations, it's time to fly this thing. With a 6x3 prop the Norvel only turns 18k on the ground, so Thanksgiving afternoon I might take it across the street to the churchyard and maiden the little thing on 35' lines. I may add landing gear between now and then.

It looks like the balancing will be easy. With no weights it's already balancing at the original Bean CG. That will be a tad nose heavy, but probably a good starting point. I don't want to be stupid and belly whop it like I did on the Streak's maiden. I'll never forgive myself for that bit of stupidity. It hasn't hit the ground since then though.

cribbs74 wrote:...have you weighed it yet?

The finished airframe without the engine and fuel bladder weighs 120 grams/4.2oz

Slap an engine on it and go!

Get some video......

cribbs74 wrote:Slap an engine on it and go!

Get some video......

Soon come. I have to go find some 2-56x3/4" bolts. Hobbytown USA says they have them but their inventory methods are questionable. I'll call before I drive out there. Worst case, just to get me going, Radio Shack has cheap ones, but... in the specs under material, it said... brace yourself ...Metal. Well That's reassuring.

My suggestion for hardware, http://www.microfasteners.com/. You get quality hardware in a neat little case of various types. I have about a dozen of the cases available. It doesn't even make saving old hardware feasible. Your getting 10 times the amount for the same cost as hobby shop hardware packages like Du-bro and Great planes items. Look at the assortments. Ken

Yes, I have been looking over that supplier. I do need to stock up. It's silly to have to scrounge for bits like that.

What do you think of my final airframe weight? 120g/4.2oz. I don't know what the Bean weighed, but I think it's pretty reasonable considering all the strengthening I did to the wing, plus the additional wing area I built onto it.

I put the engine on it again last night and it balances at the old Bean's recommended CG. That may make it a bit nose heavy considering the slightly increased average chord, but that's probably a good safe place to start.

I also wanted to ask if you think I should put a drop of sealer(nail polish?) in the thread holes in the elevator, or just leave it alone. I don't want to stiffen it, but i don't want oil getting into it either.

I think your weight is exceptional. Keep in mind, that the engine your using will fly a lot of squares. Your dealing with a lot of power. I myself usually put a drop of white glue on the threads using a toothpick. Don't use CA. I use a drop of CA on the finishing knot and that's all. It will certainly wick into the threads causing premature failure. A lot of success comes with failures. Much of what I've learned over the years has come through building several models and not just one. This hobby can mystify the best. It may fly terrifically . I had mentioned about the Cosmic Wind wing I saw at Brodak's this year. It utilized the wing and it had twin booms which by no means were built to a quality standard. I asked if it was flown and the answer was no. To my surprise it flew remarkably well. In the hands of a decent pilot it would've done even better. Ken

I put a tiny dot of clear epoxy on the knots. I'll look for some white glue at the store today. My Titebond II is great stuff but ugly as puke. I know I've got an overpowered plane here, so when she maidens it will be with a 6" prop.

All done. I put flames on the inboard side of the nose, seated the blind nuts for the engine and checked the balance. At the 1" mark behind the LE(the original Bean spec.), it balances with the tail slightly tilted down. About 1/8" farther back it balances with the nose slightly tilted down. The average chord is slightly longer now, so that might be the sweet spot. If so, I consider myself pretty freakin' lucky to have nailed it without adding any ballast. The only way to know for sure is to fly it. The last of the clearcoat is gassing off now so there's nothing but weather between now and flying.

That frees me up to try and get Streak II ready to fly. I mentioned its problems in more detail in the Norvel thread.

Soon this old .061(the old greaser) will be flying the Streak II. The only problems with this plane are the elevator doesn't move far enough down before the bellcrank hits the rib. That leaves me with two options. One is to use the closest hole in the horn and solder a stop on the rod where it passes through a guide eyelet(which it also needs) to restrict the Up throw. That might make it too twitchy for my taste. The other option is to cut open the covering and cut a relief in the rib that's the real problem. I'll just have to put a different colored patch on the wing.

Its other problem is some of the sealer, or whatever it is, is separating along the fillets on the wing root. I hope the glue inside is not falling apart. I'll just paint some thin epoxy along the fillet and call it done. I have no idea how old this model is. It appears to have only flown a maiden, crashed and then was stored. Probably because it didn't fly worth a crap with the wonky elevator.

So if I can get a bit more shop time before taking the Refried Bean out, I can try this other new beauty the same day. My wife and have already confirmed we have no major plans for the weekend except for a bit of Christmas decorating. I'll be checking weather.com between now and then. I might sneak out Thursday and just try the Bean by itself. I'm dying to know how she flies. I could do it on 35' over at the church, but that's more risky if it's really fast. And it doesn't like to run rich on the bladder. The old greaser(on the Streak II) will run downright gargling on suction, but I guess the bladder and the stiffer new engine doesn't take to the extra gas. Maybe it'll cooperate better with another shim and a 6x3 prop. I don't remember what prop I used for the bladder test run. Probably a 5-1/2x3.

Anyway, that's the latest update.

One last look before I risk its life.

Excellent! All will go well.

cribbs74 wrote:Excellent! All will go well.

Yeah I think so. It's a tad nose heavy so I'll take a pocket full of coins with me.

It's funny looking! I won't go so far as calling it fugly though. Kind of retro looking like a '38 roadster.

She flies.
After watching Mike wreck his Shoestring Stunter(see the other thread), he and I unloaded my stuff from the car at the control line field. He goes flying with a jug of fuel, a 3/4 empty flight box and a plane. When I go flying, I go with 40 pounds of gear. Thank goodness I can drive onto the circle. I really should downsize.

So, President Jim shows up just in time for our antics. I was feeling a little uncoordinated at first so I rigged up the Baby Flite streak to tune up with. Mike's shaking his head at the sight of my stooge; bungees, Barstool, yard table, brick, bathmat and shish kabob guy-line.

So anyway I flew my usual Streak routine and that calmed me down and reset my confidence. Anybody else get nerves before the first flight? Jim left for the RC field, which is within eyeshot, and Mike had hung around which turned out to be a big help. I pumped what I thought was a quarter ounce of fuel in it and it cranked right up. I had him hand launch it for me to add some height and it flew straight out of his hands with a neutral elevator. The engine was at peak speed right off the bat and in no time I had flown a couple of flat laps at the same height it was launched from. The Big Mig has ample power to say the least. No adjusting, neutral elevator does exactly what it should. I didn't notice any wing dip or yawing out, so far so good.

No sense in waiting, I raised it up to about 20 feet and snapped it into an inside loop. Nice and round and quick, just like the Baby Streak, with one exception... the Norvel doesn't slow down in a high gee pull-up. And it sounded really cool too, with the muffler on it makes a fast throaty purr, just zooming around. I flipped it over and did about 5 laps inverted and pulled an "outside" loop. Same size as the inside loop. So apparently I did get it all put together straight. Since it passed all of my tests, I just cut loose and flew it like I do with my other planes and it performed beautifully. The lines never once slacked on me, even in extended 8s and 3 or 4 loops at a time. I've got myself another little flyer here.

The maiden was by far my best flight. After that, the venturi started leaking and it got a little boggier in the loops. That venturi has been a problem. I think the holes in the assembly are too big and it won't pinch a gasket. Even with a fat fuel tube gasket it wobbles around, so next time I'm gonna JB Weld that sucker on. I videoed my second or third flight and it went pretty well but I ran out of fuel upside down so I landed it that way. I thought about trying to flip it but it wasn't gliding that fast so I didn't. I knocked a little of the pretty off. The canopy broke, but CA fixed that pretty well. Got a fingernail sized hole in one wing, like the Monokote just broke when something poked it. And I bent the needle 90 degrees. It seems to run fine like that, so I kept on flying. I got in 5 or 6 flights. It's a really fun plane to fly. Thank goodness. I'd hate to have built a pretty hunk of junk.

One thing I noticed is the loops are a tad larger than the BFS, and it was so stable in the flat circles, it could be a trainer. Well, a fast trainer. When I was doing my final CG checks last night, I taped a dime on the stab to get it to hang right on the original Bean's CG. I'm thinking another Dime's weight might liven it up without making it unstable. Opinions are welcome. When I get that figured out, I'll add the weight in a more professional manner.

Another thing is I have to launch at almost peak RPMs. It won't let me rich it up the slightest bit. The one time I tried to, it cut off after about 5 laps. I think maybe a faster turning prop could solve that problem. Like Surfer Kris said in the Norvel thread, a 6" prop doesn't let it get up to it's happy place. Maybe a lower pitch too, to keep me from getting too dizzy.

I'll post videos later.
Happy flying and thanks to all the attention my thread got.

Here's the video:
Full screen is enabled


A couple of times today, I practiced standing still and flying behind myself out of site. I didn't do too bad for the first time. I did some better wingovers with the Streak too.

Great stuff Rusty! I am also a bit jealous as I have not been flying for a while and last time I did the plane flew like crap!

Looks like you nailed it on this build. Give yourself a pat on the back!

cribbs74 wrote:Great stuff Rusty! I am also a bit jealous as I have not been flying for a while and last time I did the plane flew like crap!

Looks like you nailed it on this build. Give yourself a pat on the back!

Haha, I'll try. I might have to pat it with a back scratcher. I think I only flew once in November, on the first Sunday of the month.

Bob