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Bad Boy v2 – Step 1 – Tail Servos

First things first. The blank fuselage ready for the elevator and rudder servos. I removed the covering with a soldering iron. The iron melts the covering as a nice seal around the edges without any jagged edges you might get by cutting with a knife.

Fuse as it comes out of the box.

Servo holes before removing the covering.

Servo holes with covering removed.

I covered the lead extension joins with heatshrink as recommended in the manual but found it impossible to fit the join through the small gap provided. I had to cut a small part of the balsa away to get it through. The cut isn't visible once the servos are in so appearance isn't compromised. The thing I don't get is the small cutout on the engine end of the servo cutout. The manual says to mount the servos with the servo arms closest to the control surfaces hence the lead also comes out that end. The cutout at the other end doesn't help fit them at all or with the leads running into the fuse.

I found it best to get the first lead connector into the fuse. Before you pull it all the way through, insert the second connector straight after the first then pull them both through at the same time. I found if you pulled one lead all the way through then try to pull the second through it would get stuck on the extension joiner in the middle of the fuse.

After some stuffing around, the servos fit snugly in the fuse with the leads out the front holes.

Step 1 complete.

Next step - fitting the throttle servo.

Bad Boy v2 – Precision Aerobatics

bad_boy_radio_control 032, originally uploaded by mattmc.

The Bad BoyV2 arrived in the post today from Precision Aerobatics. Pretty quick delivery time seeing as I rang up midday on Monday when I noticed a small notice on the PA website saying they were going to be closed for three days this week. I was really hoping to make some progress on the build this weekend so I rang up straight away. The lady on the phone said she'd try to ship it today but couldn't make any promises. A day and a bit later (wednesday morning) and a small white cardboard box has made it all the way from NSW to Vic in good shape. Thanks lady on the phone!

Total cost of the kit was a little over $255 including postage, insuance, Carbon Fibre servo arms and metal links. Considering I spent close to that on a Great Planes Extra 300 kit (not ARF - and I still haven't finished building it) then it seems pretty good value. Someone else with probably 1000 times more practise at covering and finishing this model has done the hard, tedious work for me. I spend a few hours construction and hopefully she's in the air.

Packaging was excellent. All was well packed and arrived safe and sound through Aus Post. All the pieces were individually wrapped and packed. The horizontal and vertical stab surfaces are huge compared the the fixed surface area. Each wing felt feather light and build quality appears to be excellent. It's hard to match the accuracy of the cuts and joins on this type of model if you tried to scratch build.

I'll post more pictures as I progress through the build which considering the amount of work already done shouldn't take very long.

In the meantime, check out some video of it in action.

Here's some photos of unpacking the contents;

1. Clearly labelled "Bad BoyV2" box. A little crumpled on the outside but no damage on the inside.

2. The fuselage - wrapped in it's own plastic covering.

3. 8 Page Black & White Instructions

4. All the relevant bits and pieces including aluminium undercarriage, fuel tank, carbon fibre wing tube. I splashed out and included the carbon fibre servo arms and metal links.

Main wheels and tailwheel assembly.

Carbon Fibre servo arm extensions

The clear section is the elevator where the red section is fixed! It's huge!

Check out the tiny section fixed to the fuselage compared to the size of the rudder!