The Big Bipe is one of the best flying foamy planes in my hanger. Designed to be flown in the heavier winds we get in the winters here in Florida, the plane features a full 1" wide profile fuselage and half inch wings and stabilizer.

For this project you will need 3 sheets of Dow FFF and 1 sheet of 1/2" white styrofoam insulation foam, all available from Lowes. You will also need a can of 3M 77 or equivalent spray adhesive although you could use TiteBond or other adhesives as an alternate choice.

Electronics consist of a Brushless motor capable of handling a 36 oz plane, 40 AMP ESC, APC 11x7 E prop, 4 TG9 servos, a 2200 3 cell LIPO, receiver and optional 3 axis stabilizer.

Wheels, landing gear, piano wire, control rods, Robart Pin hinges, and a sheet of 1/8" plywood, plus some scrap 1/16" balsa round out the rest of the materials you will need.

After cutting out the foam, you will need to laminate the wings, ailerons, stab, rudder, and fuse. I prefer to use Locktite spray adhesive for this, but glue choice is up to you. When laminated, no additional carbon fiber is needed and the plane will be very stiff.

The skin side of the FFF is always placed to the outside when laminating.

The fuse and rudder get 3 pieces of foam, 2 being the FFF outsides and 1 being the 1/2" sytrofoam insulation. Note: This stuff makes a mess when cut! The little white beads and dust particles go everywhere!

The cutouts for the cabanes go to the inside of the top and bottom wings. This keeps the slots from being exposed to the outside top and bottom for a cleaner look.

Painting is best done before assembling the wings and stabilizer.

Be sure to use a square when gluing the stabilizer to ensure that it is perfectly centered and perpendicular to the fuse. Same goes for the bottom wing! The top wing is keyed so it will not require any special attention.

I installed a HobbyKing stabilizer on my Bipe because I wanted to see how well they worked. What a dream these little gadgets are! Flying in gusty wind conditions is a piece of cake as the stabilizer takes the shocks from the gusts of wind out of the equation altogether and lets you fly the plane like it was a calm day. Landing is straight down the runway with no deviation from the center line and makes you look like you are professional pilot!

The AUW on my completed Big Bipe with a 2200 3 cell LIPO was 36 oz. I selected a BP Hobbies 2814-8 for my choice of motors. It is a 380 watt motor turning 1100 RPM/volt. A 480 size motor may work, but will probably be a bit underpowered, so I would recommend the step up if you want good performance.

I use the 1/8 plywood to make motor mounts, battery tray, servo backing plates, control horns and control rod supports. I tie the upper and lower ailerons together by cutting of some nylon servo arms and forming a sharp point in one end that I then push into the edge of the top aileron and glue. I make up a second servo arm for the bottom wing and push into place but do not glue. Tape both upper and lower ailerons so they are in neutral position before completing the next step which is to form a Z bend in the wire, insert it into the top wing and carefully clamp your needle nose pliers exactly over the hole in the servo arm of the bottom wing and make the second Z bend. Now remove the servo arm and insert the wire into it and glue the bottom servo arm in place.

To ensure that the rudder does not pull out of the soft styrofoam center of the fuse and rudder, I cut out some scrap balsa and glued it to the edges of the surfaces where the pin hinges would go. I also inserted some bent piano wire for the tail wheel into the rudder and glued it in with epoxy before attaching the rudder to the fuse.

The Battery tray gets glued into place as far forward on the top side of the fuse as you can. Velcro is placed on the top of the battery tray and an opening in the battery tray serves as a place to insert a velcro strap to hold down the battery. You will have to ream the opening out in the foam since I did not include that in the cut files in case someone does not wish to use the battery tray I provide.

The motor mount is pre drilled for two sizes of BP Hobbies motors. I only use BP Hobbies motors for the most part, so if you are going to use something other than those, you might want to check the dimensions of your motor and alter the SKP file accordingly before you cut out the plywood parts.

Should you have any questions feel free to message me. This is the 7th generation of a design given to me originally as a poster board template from a fellow at one of the flying clubs where I fly. It is a proven winner with several hundred being made from the original patterns. This version uses a slightly extended fuse length up front to be able to get the CG balanced at about 4" behind the top wing.

I don't have a video yet of this one, but I do have video of some of the earlier versions which you may enjoy watching...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN6TO5KB1Lg Attached files HalfInchBaisdenBipe.skp (1.4 MB)Â HalfInchBaisdenBipePlywoodParts.skp (629.5 KB)Â

 

Nicely done, Flashsolutions! I too will take a look at the 'sissy' gadget from Hobby King.

 

I make pretty much everything for my planes if I can.

The landing gear is made from 1/8" sheet ABS plastic. I made a forming template out of MDF and use a hot wire to heat the bends, then place it in the template to get the same angle on each bend.

Getting the feed rate and spindle RPM just right is difficult since the ABS has a tendency to melt on the bit. Multi-pass at a faster feed rate works best, but chipping leaves little pieces that can easily jam the upper rollers. I have to use a vacumn blower to keep the chips clear while cutting.

One layer is not substantial enough to hold the weight of the plane, so I laminate a second piece (which is bent to match the main gear) of plastic to the main piece to give it more support. That still was not enough for the Big Bipe and I ended up putting a length of piano wire between them.

As to the stabilizers, Eagle Tree makes the best one for around $65 to $75, but I have the el cheapo $18 one mounted in my plane. I took it out this morning to test it in some ferocious wind that was ahead of a front moving in. Wind speed on our anemometer was showing readings from 8 at the lowest, 18 most of the time, and gusts to 24. I did not think to use my wind meter which usually reads about 5 mph higher than the one at the field, but it was really more than I should have been trying to fly at all.

I set the plane on the ground, turned to walk back and the wind picked it up and threw it 3 feet upside down. No damage, so I took it to the grassy area, pointed into the wind and held the throttle at 1/3rd to maintain position while I walked back to the flying station.

I got airborne and flew for about 4 minutes. The stabilizer did a great job, but some gusts were still too much for it and sent the bipe into a 30 to 45 degree bank in a heart beat. I finally got it back on the ground, although it was a bit hairy because the wind wanted to slam it down as I got closer to the ground.

But now I know what it can do.

So anyway, here is the Sketchup file for the landing gear and a photo of the hot wire template. Attached files LandingGearFlatWithSupport.skp (271.5 KB)Â

 

I was bugging 3dmon to post up a bipe.. Ill give flash a try (although birds the word didnt go to well for me...but it looked great). Once i get my fury flyer done ill start in on the big bipe. I think i should order up some electronics from hobby king. Have you got a shopping list i can use?

 

Other than motor and stabilizer, I had everything else in stock.

http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=V4 ... d=B1858544

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... nQoddQ0A5w is the best stabilzer and it is currently in stock from HK.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... duct=28456 is the one I have.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... duct=23036 male to male leads.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... oduct=9549 - 4 servos