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Steve Martinez's Electrified 2ME Lil Bird Max Mills photo of his 2M Lil Bird 2ME Lil Bird Kit Price.............$139.95
This is the first 2m Lil Bird to have an electric motor installed.
Steve reports that it flies extremely well and has a 45 degree climb
angle on a Graupner geared Speed 400 swinging an 11/8 folder on 8
cells.
Specifications: Wing Span: 78", Area: 636 sq. in., Wing Loading: 5.2 oz., R/C: 2ch. Full Size or Micro to reduce weight, Laser cut parts - CAD plans, Quality hand picked pre-cut wing sheeting. Includes wood parts for bolt on wing option or two piece wing. Designed by Ray Hayes, 29REH This is a 2 meter version of our famous hand launch Lil Bird 2 kit and 100" Big Bird kit. The success of this series has been the exceptional flight performance that features an airfoil that does not have wing tip stall tendencies. This Bird series of kits will float very well in late afternoon calm air or fly with complete control in turbulent windy conditions. All my Birds are highly competitive in contests and can be launched from a hi start or electric winch. The high performance airfoil is very much at home on slopes even on windy days. Hand launch enthusiasts will enjoy flying the 2M LIL BIRD from school yards. The Bird series are designed to last. The nose blocks are sandwiched between the fuse sides for extra strength instead of just glued on to the front former. Fuse doublers of 1/64 plywood add tremendous strength and durability. Spruce rails are used to reinforce the wing saddle area. Tab/slot fuse parts are used for accurate and easy construction. The 2M LIL BIRD wing has a no compromise dihedral bracing system of 1/16" plywood laser cut parts on both sides of the inner panels extra strong 1/8 x 3/8 spruce spars. Wood parts are furnished to build the optional bolt-on or two-piece wing. This is a high quality kit and not compromised to increase sellers profit. A good example is the wing has d-tube construction using hand selected 1/16" balsa wing sheeting to add strength and durability to the wing. The wing will not flutter during launching and will survive rough landings and zoom launching. The stab/elevator and fin/rudder are laser cut balsa to simplify construction. One of the famous features of the BIRD series is the ability to turn in exceptionally tight circles. This feature allows the pilot to maximize flight times by specking out from low and tiny thermals. The BIRD series do not have washout in the wing tips, thus a higher performance level is reached by not compromising the airfoil. The flight performance from the extremely light wing loading combined with a great versatile airfoil will amaze you. Illustrated instructions are included, plus you can find updated construction photos and tips on our "Assembly Tips" page. This is a great kit for beginners or
experts.
Ray,
Many Thanks
Mike's First Hand Catch!Mike and his flying buddy Ed are surly enjoying life. Mike is an electric power enthusiast, Ed launches his 2m Lil Bird from a winch. Thanks for the photos.
Hi Ray;
Hi ray,
Thanks,
Well Ray here's a picture of me and my 2MLB. The gang at the field started calling it the Pretty Bird instead of Little Bird. I came out at 22 oz (guess it was over kill on the air brushing I did) with no weight added to the nose, But it fly's much better up here in Denver area with 3oz added over the tow hook. First day was dismal at best 18 min was the best I could do but today it was the worst I could do. The best flight was 48 and change. I am really impressed how flat it will turn or stand on a wing tip in a hot core, Then my practice landings were average 85~90 and this is the first day. I cant wait until I learn how to fly this 2MLB. So my next question is what is going on with the Sky Bird... Started the LB2 last night, Wing is finished and will build the Fuse tonight and I can't wait to start the Big Bird!!! What can I say I am sold. In fact I have four other people that are going to get Birds from you very soon after flying mine. Last night I was flying the 2MLB on a slope that had only a whisper of a wind, and no one else was up so I thought I would hand toss out and practice some landings but I was staying up 15 min at a time, and the locals were POed that they could not stay up, in fact the rest of them got quite a few walks down the hill thinking that they also could stay up with me!!!
Dr. Dan Williams
Hi Ray, I did put 3/8" x .007 CF inside the four aft fuselage sides and also in the inner wing panel trailing edges. It's covered with Ultracoat lightweight white with Ultra-coat transparent violet on the bottom of the wing and stab (it looks great with the sun behind it). I also built a small compartment over the C.G. for two 3 oz bags of shot. As soon as it was done I headed to a local
yard for some hand launches and as expected, it floated around very nicely
without ballast. Today I was at our club field for some winch launches and
I did use 3 oz of ballast. I was amazed how high the Bird got
on launch and how well it penetrates. I think I'll just leave the
ballast in it unless it's a no wind day, but more flying will sort that
out . It's pretty much a "no brainer" finding lift because
the plane really tell you when it's in even the lightest lift. Bob Eagan 
Mark Garvey sent this photo of his 2M Lil Bird and in his letter said, "I absolutely love this model. It is difficult for me to go into it without going for huge exaggerations, but it is simply an excellent model to build and fly. Building is simple due to laser cut parts, and once built, it is an absolute delight to fly"
Lynn Stubblefield sent this photo of his 2M Lil Bird and an email that said, "Hello Ray. I've been intending to send you an email, since August, telling you just how well my Two Meter Bird flies. I should have installed spoilers just about sums it up. Also, I would like to be placed on your email list for Sky Bird notices or anything else that is interesting to sailplane pilots. Thanks for an easy building kit that turns into a great flying plane. Best regards, Lynn Stubblefield, Nashville, TN" RAY: Lynn's photo is about the best one so far to show the overall planform of the 2M lil Bird. Lots of wing area, inner wing panel longer than outer panel and D-Tube construction for airfoil accuracy and wing strength. Kit is designed for simple, fast construction, but with great flight performance for beginners or experts.
Alex Janssen sent this photo of his 2M Lil Bird wing with his unusual weightings and an email that said, " Ray. Using plastics bags with shots surely is nice, but having no workshop and my wife being so kind to let me use "her" kitchen, I used whatever was available.
Your Lil Bird kit has been easy and straightforward to build. I build a one
pice wing and are not sure about using elastic bands or plastic bolts as
hold downs. Any suggestions?
"
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 Ray Hayes and his Big Bird placed 3rd at the AMA RES NATS event, July, 2001
My first Big Bird, I still remember the thrill and satisfaction of how well
my new design flew right off the building board.
Toledo MSL Contest 2001 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.
Specifications:
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, 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 Subject: Big Bird No Banana!
Hi Ray. My new Big Bird is under construction. Larry Straight as an arrow, no banana!
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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: 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 ... 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
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 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. ELECTRIC FLIGHTS OF ONE HOUR DURATION OR MORE ARE EASY!BIG BIRD KIT PRICE... $159.95
My old Big Bird and I are still collecting contest trophies, it is a great flying sailplane, Ray.
Watch out for 2007, there will be more Sky Bench woodys in the mix.
AMA 2006 RESwrite up by Don RichmondIt 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
Same as the Big Bird, 110" wing span
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... $169.95
Hay Ray, Sanders |
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Wing Span: 132",
Wing Area: 1340,
Airfoil: S3014
The Sky Bird will absolutely delight you, both in the ease of construction and it's superb flying performance. After many test flights in various weather conditions I can say the final version is an absolute winner and suggest using a five cell Rx battery because you are going to be up a long time. A novice pilot will be able to have very long flights and land it easily. This is a gentle flying big RES sailplane that is very responsive to rudder without dropping a wing tip. You can horse it around like it is a hand launch to stay in the smallest thermal and you will marvel at the extremely flat glide that will allow you to cover large areas looking for lift. The wing ribs are laser cut and not attached to a carrier that requires the builder to cut out the rib, which in my opinion is nothing more than a glorified die crunch rib. Some Mfg. like to offer their kits this way because it saves them time in handling the parts, but in reality, when you cut the rib from a carrier it invariably distorts the shape of the part due to the grain of the wood your trying to cut. The Sky Bench Bird Series kits have a very good reputation in flight performance and kit quality, all hardware is included, if you want something extra special to build and fly then one of the Bird Series kits will work for you. One of the delights of building wood kits is they are easily modified by the builder and many builders have taken up adding flaps to my Bird Series and I'm sure this will happen to the Sky Bird as well and probably ailerons too.
Check out the SKY BIRD CONSTRUCTION GUIDE Click here for Wood Fuse Instructions Electric Power for the Sky Bird Email skybench.aerotech@gte.net for international shipping cost of wood fuse kit.
Ray, This is a picture from the fall of last year of Skybirds built by Weak Signal members. Thought you might like it for the WEB site.
The owners are: In the background is Dave Leach talking over thermal strageties with Dick Peebles. Thanks again for designing a fine sailplane. Tom Como
Hi Ray, Finished the Sky Bird last Monday and took it out for it's maiden flights today. We had 5-8mph winds from the North and clearing skies with the temps in the high 50's. We gave her a hand toss and it needed no adjustments. Put it on the winch and it went up almost hands off. Decided to adjust CG a little and added another ounce of lead in the nose. Ended up taking half of that out. Total added weight is 9 oz and that makes the over all weight 72-73 ounces with both wing rods. This SB has 90 degree flaps, bottom hinged, (used two Airtronics 141's servos)that will act as ailerons when the proper switch is activated. That works well but really used as a back up to the rudder which does and excellent job on it's own. I have down elevator mixed with the flaps and that really makes for a controlled landing. Out of 7-8 flight I was able to land it in front of me most of the time. No skegs on this one. Touch downs are usually slow enough not to need them. A couple pictures are attached.
Thanks for a great design.
Jack Womack, Clovis, NM, launching his Sky Bird December, 2006. It's 52 degrees here in Ft Wayne, Indiana and the grass is still very green. :-)
Tom Tock receiving 4th place trophy at 2008 AMA - LSF NATS RES event with his Big Bird XL. Tom modified the stab to an all flying stab and used a fiber glass fuse from another plane Congratulations Tom, you're a heck of a competitor.
Doug Pike and his Sky Bird
Joe Welch and his Sky Bird in beautiful Texas
Ray, here is a picture of me with the 2m Little Bird and Skybird. Both were completed this winter. I built the LB first and found this to be very beneficial prior to the Skybird project. I have always wanted to build a large sailplane with flaps and spoilers. The Skybird has flaperons and spoilers which you can see in the picture. I installed a DX7 Radio. I limit the aileron movement and mix in the rudder. With the flip of a switch the flaps are coupled with the spoilers or they have 3 positions via the flap switch. I had a very successful day yesterday flying the LB for the first time. I am thrilled with the way the LB flies. Its very light, has a wide speed range, and turns nice and tight. I hand tossed the Skybird a couple of times and hope to fly it this week. Corky |
Big Bird XL
