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BIG BIRD
Read Ray Hayes' article
for insight into the mysterious ways of spoilers.

Ray Hayes and his Big Bird placed 3rd at the AMA RES NATS event, July, 2001
Click here for in flight photos of this beautiful Woody Big Bird.
My first Big Bird, I still remember the thrill and satisfaction of how well
my new design flew right off the building board.
Ray Hayes
LSF 803
Toledo MSL Contest 2001
L-R, top, Richard Albin, Ray Hayes,
bottom, Doug Adams and Tom Gates
with their Big Birds and 2M Lil Birds.
The Sky Bench Bird series is not to be
confused with the Bird of Time. Close observation of the Big Bird will reveal
the stab is fixed, not an all flying stab, and the
wing plan form is very different and so is the all important airfoil. The inner
wing panels are longer and the outer panels are
shorter. Also, the wings mount to the sides of the Big Bird fuse. See our
ASSEMBLY TIPS for construction photos and optional
ballast hatch.
Click on cameras for photos of Big
Bird laser cut parts.
Specifications:
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Wing Span 100 in.
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Wing Area 820 sq. in.
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Airfoil S3014
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Wing Loading 7.5 oz. per sq. ft.
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Flying weight with spoilers 42 oz.
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Ballast up to 54 oz.
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Requires two to three channel radio
Big Bird is a scaled up version of my highly successful Lil
Bird 2 hand launch kit. This design is an extremely easy sailplane to build
and fly as the Lil Bird 2 and 2M Lil Bird kits are. The plans are drawn in CAD
and all parts are laser cut for dead on accuracy. Laser cut parts include:
wing ribs, plywood dihedral braces and root caps, wing tip panel rear trailing
edges, fuse sides and 1/64" plywood doublers both slotted to receive
tabbed plywood fuse formers, top and bottom of fuse, stab with slots to
receive tabbed fin, elevator and rudder with pre cut holes to mount control
horns easily, 1/64" plywood rudder doublers. Building doesn't get any easier
and quicker than this. Build the wing, fuse and round the corners on the stab/
elevator and fin/rudder and your finished.
The wing is two piece with a Sky Bench 5-1/16" OD
hardened steel joiner rod. The wing spar is designed to zoom launch without
fear of breaking and pre cut D-Tube wing sheeting is used for airfoil accuracy
and strength. The wings do not flutter. Our Bird series wings are built
without washout and do not have tip stall tendencies even for the beginner.
Twisting a wing tip ( washout ) compromises the wings flight performance.
Click on 'ASSEMBLY TIPS' in our menu for construction
photos.
Big Bird is great for slow flying in the late afternoon when
the wind has died down and thermals are weakening, just pull the nose up with
some up trim and watch it float and float and float. Thanks to the airfoil,
Big Bird will also fly fast, even without ballast. Just put in a little down
trim and it will really move. Ballast is not needed until the winds reach 20 -
25 MPH.
Big Bird is an excellent choice for the popular RES
(rudder-elevator-spoiler) class or any thermal duration contest. It will out
zoom launch and out perform any other built up kit. This is not a high
production over priced cheap sailplane kit, we don't design our kits to price
compete with the cheapies sold by others. The Bird series kits are the very
best quality and performance wood construction kits available.

Jim Schaffer's Big Bird, waiting for it's first flight.
Jim used a servo in each wing to activate
the spoilers as shown on the plans.

Dennis Brackett and his Big Bird. A hi start, chair, Big Bird, and
one of the worlds best soaring sites equals hours of relaxation,
thanks for sharing Dennis.

Ray,
Here's a resend of one of the pictures I sent a couple weeks ago. The
attached is the maiden launch of my Big Bird. A fifteen minute plus flight
and needed only minimal trimming.
By the way, I am ready to order one of the new "Mini Lil'Bird E" when it
is available.
Dan Lavender

Wynton Tavill, Cape Town, South Africa sent these photos of his beautiful
Big Bird held by his friend. His next project is an electric powered Big
Bird XL.
Here's a message we received recently:
Hi Ray,
Okay, I'm convinced. Now Drop every thing you are doing and get the Skybird in
the box. I just had another
super day of flying my Bigbird today, (being retired as some advantages). I have
logged a total of 3.5 hours
on my last two flights. This Bird has as much adversion to the ground as I have,
it just doesn't want to come
down! There is another member of our club that would also like some info on
Skybird so please keep us up to
date.
Thanks again,
Richard "Gil" Gilliland
Here's another message we received recently:

Ray, are you going to show pictures or supply sketches of your flap
modification to the Sky Bird wing? I am contemplating building one.
Sold my Big Bird after many hours of flying and one almost serious
mishap. It was back in the air 10 minutes later with no damage. Hard
to believe. The new owner is a beginner with sailplanes and is having a
ball with the Big Bird.
Thanks
Morris
Subject: Big Bird No Banana!
Hi Ray. My new Big Bird is under construction.
Larry
Straight as an arrow, no banana!
----
Thanks for the Photo Larry,
I hope your wings build straight and true also. Ray
----

Larry's completed Big Bird XL
Here is a picture of the Big Bird that I completed as a winter project in
March.
The plane is a beautiful flyer. It penetrates well in 10 to 15 mph wind and
is sensitive to thermals. The following are some modified construction
details:
* Monokote finish--Chrome Monokote on the tail feathers and wing tips.
* Tow Hook System--Used 1/2 of an Airtronic rail centered at the CG
* Fabricated a tow hook from a common nail cut to about 1 1/4", then bent 90
degrees. Thread one end to 6-32 thread. This gives a much stronger tow hook
that is infinitly adjustableat least plus or minus1/2" from center CG.
* Spoilers--mounted 1" closer to the trailing edge. Operated by 2 JR 55
servos. Electrical connections using Deans connectors joining at the fuse.
This system is superior to operating the spoilers with a cord attached to a
servo in the fuse.
* Wing mounting--Held to the fuse by spring tension. This eliminates taping
and untaping the wing to the fuse
The all up wgt is 44 1/2 oz. It is one of the few planes I have built that
was not tail heavy.
Best regards, John D Root
Ray,
Just finished the Big Bird and Wanted to show you a
picture of it. I am so pleased with it. Came out at 38
Oz. I used Ultracote Lite and carbon fiber push rods to
keep tail light. No weight added to balance! Came out
perfect on CG by just adjusting servo and Rx location.
I want to add a ballast tube in the fuse. Would you add
ballast at 4, 8 or 12oz? On light days would you just fly
without any ballast?
Thanks for a well designed kit and excellent balsa
selection.
Dave Mumford
Bountiful, Utah
...
David
I use a 12oz ballast, my Bird series make excellent electric powered
gliders, the weight doesn't bother them.
Learn to fly the Bird with stab trim adjustment. Before adding ballast,
add two clicks of down trim, this usually takes care of 10 to 15 mph winds.
Takes flight time to catch on to all the Bird can do with just stab trim
changes.
You won't need to add ballast on light days, learn the trim settings and
fly and fly and fly in all kinds of wind conditions to lean the Bird.
Enjoy.
Ray Hayes
http://www.skybench.com
Home of Wood Crafters
Mr. Ray Hayes,
I though you might like a picture of our Bird family. Little Birds, Big
Birds, one newly finished extended wing Big Bird and one old crow. We
finished the extended wing bird this morning and tested it on an anemic
high start this afternoon. On the first flight, we got about 300 feet off the
high start and landed 12 minutes later because of an approaching storm.
Bill May was flying as well as being in 7th heaven. Wow! What a sailplane.
Now, if Bill will just stay out of the cornfield he will be competitive at the
Nats.
Tony Stamp
Dunlap, TN
Big Bird is outstanding with an
electric motor installation.
Among the many
choices of motors available today, one of the good performers for the Big
Bird and Big Bird XL is an AXI 2820/10 Outrunner with a Jeti "Advance Plus"
40 amp Brushless Controller.
Plans show electric installation for a Speed 600 type motor and
spoilers. The steel joiner rod can be substituted with a light weight carbon
rod at time of purchase.
ELECTRIC FLIGHTS OF ONE HOUR DURATION OR
MORE ARE EASY!
BIG BIRD KIT PRICE... $138.95
Big Bird Construction Manual
My old Big Bird and I are still collecting contest trophies, it is a great
flying sailplane, Ray.
2006 AMA NATS RES Winners
Watch out for 2007, there will be more Sky Bench woodys in the
mix.
AMA 2006 RES
write up by Don Richmond
It was a really fine day for 3-function Soaring. The sky was a bit gloomy in
the early hours, but the clouds gave way to some sunshine midday. There was
something for everyone as the wind velocity remained roughly 10 mph or less.
In almost every flight group there were the haves and the have-nots. A
correct quick decision immediately off the winch and you could be up and
away while your opponents were struggling to get the 10-minute task time.
You know you did it wrong when all of your flight group has landed and there
is one pilot still looking upward. A few of these resulted in some
flight-group members earning only a few hundred points.
Ray Hayes did a magnificent job of piloting his Big Bird to third place.
His model is built up construction using balsa wood, spruce, and MonoKote. A
far technological reach from the prevalent almost-ready-to-fly models.
Everyone enjoyed watching Ray as his fine model turned in a great
performance.
-Don Richmond
Big Bird XL
Same as the Big Bird, 110" wing span
Rick McKenney Seattle WA
Construction is identical to the Big Bird with the exception of two more
bays in each wing panel. The added wing span will offer the Bird Series
builder another great flyer for either an electric powered or thermal
duration RC sailplane.
The XL can easily be built with flaps for great landing control and a larger
speed envelope. Most pilots over use the flaps and never realizes the full
potential flaps have to improve flight times. To increase the cruise speed,
move the flaps up approx. 1/16 to 1/18. To increase the climb rate, drop
the flaps about the same amount. Also, 1/16 of down flap combined with one
or two trim notches of down elevator can produce great results in weak lift.
You may also set the flaps up as flapereons with 1/16 down position and
appox. 3/8 up coupled to the rudder.
The smallest electric motor to be used for the XL is a geared Graupner 600
and it will be slow. Many of the Big Bird electric sailplanes have been
built using the top hatch for access to the battery instead of the bottom
hatch as shown on the plan. Life is just full of choices.
BIG BIRD XL KIT... $148.95
Hay Ray,
few more pics for the records. Big Bird XL REF.
after about 6 flights, I've already dialed CG back to your recommended spot.
Flaps are awesome, I love them, dialed in rather quick with about 20%elev
comp, makes that nice swish sound as I turn them off right before landing
and the plane comes in flat.
Sanders
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