Wingspan: 75” Wing Area: 960 sq. in Weight: 12 - 14 lbs. Wing Loading: 28 - 33 oz/sq. ft  Radio required: plain 4-channel with 5 servos Download the manual as a PDF

Laser cut balsa and plywood parts Glass cowl and wheelpants Top quality hardware Pre-bent wire landing gear 2 sheets of rolled plans Illustrated assembly manual Kit price: $324.95

Go fast and turn left! The 1932 Gee Bee R2 was designed to do just that. This 75 inch span, ¼ scale replica will thrill you with its awesome performance. Although the Gee Bee was designed to go around pylons, it is also a very capable aerobatic plane. It is nearly perfectly neutral in flight…it goes where you point it until you point it somewhere else. The incredibly low wing loading and careful attention to design make this notorious plane a real pussycat to fly. Washout prevents the elliptical wings from tip stalling, even at very low speeds. The huge 15-inch diameter fibreglass cowl will hide any engine in the recommended range. 1.60 cu in two-stroke or a 1.80 cu in four-stroke. Carefully selected laser cut balsa and ply make this kit a pleasure to build.

Oct. 13/03
I flew the plane on Saturday and was very pleased with the performance. The MVVS 1.60 ran fine and there was no over heating. It turned an APC 17 x 8 prop at 8000 rpm after less than 3 minutes run time. This gives the plane good scale looking performance. It is not a hot rod but it is also not at all marginal. It should pick up a few hundred rpm as it breaks in. The plane would not hang on the prop because the prop would stall and cavitate losing thrust. You would have to switch to a lower pitch if you're into torque rolls. An 18 x 6 Master Airscrew prop would allow me to "hang" the plane in mid air during nose up testing of the needle settings, with my hands just steadying the plane and not holding up any weight.

Flight is very gentle and stable. The control throws listed in the manual would be a good choice for low rates.
Rolls are very axial. Knife edge is very good and there is almost no roll coupling. All you need to do is roll the plane on its side and hold a bit of rudder and it will cross the field in knife edge. Stall tests were the same as the smaller version only even slower. It doesn't stall and recover, it just flies really slow and sinks a tiny bit while turning slightly to the right. The ailerons are still fully functional. It will not tip stall.

It was difficult to get the plane back on the runway in zero wind conditions. It took quite of few go arounds to get it slowed down enough. It would have been much easier if there was some wind to head into. It just wants to keep on flying. People are amazed when they see this. They think it will fall out of the sky like a brick when it slows down. It took a very long low approach to get it down so there was enough runway left to stop. I recommend waiting for a day with a good breeze blowing down the runway for the first flights. This will lower the ground speed, "lengthen" the runway, and keep good airflow over the tail.

A little R2 history: