Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster (oz16964)

About this Plan

Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster. Radio control scale model racer. Wingspan 45 in, wing area 330 sq in, for electric power with Eflite .10 brushless motor. Scale is 1/8.

Vector format plan.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 27/8/2026: Added article, thanks to rocketpilot.

Quote: "Gee Bee Model-Y Senior Sportster. A sport-scale Golden Age Racer for electric power. By Charles Pipes.

When talking about Gee Bee Golden Age racers, many modelers envision the Granville Brothers’ big, round Model R-1 - the fastest and deadliest plane of its day. Maybe a few would even know that Jimmy Doolittle flew it. Only a few diehard history buffs even know about the earlier Gee Bee versions. Many readers will be interested to know that back in the early days of aviation, there were several very successful female Gee Bee pilots, including Maude Tait.

As the daughter of James Tait, the man who managed the Springfield, Massachusetts airport, Maude learned to fly in the late 1920s. She was introduced to the Granville Brothers when they set up shop at the airport. The Taits become major supporters for the small racing company and James Tait later became president of the Springfield Air Racing Association. It’s no wonder then, that Maude was credited with winning many air races, including the 1931 Cleveland National Air Races, where she set the women’s closed course world speed record of 187.574mph. She did this while flying the Gee Bee Model-Y Senior Sportster. This is the reason I have a female pilot in my RC version of the Model-Y. If you want to learn more about the history of the Gee Bees, I strongly recommend Henry Haffke’s book 'Gee Bee' as excellent source material for the Granville Brothers, Maude, and the Model-Y.

CONSTRUCTION: To speed construction, you can order laser-cut wood parts from Pat Fallacaro of LaserCutUSA.com. I used very traditional balsa and plywood construction throughout. The wheel pants are made from stacked balsa and there is no hard-to-form canopy to be made. The wing panels are constructed over the plans (protected with wax paper), and they are joined on the centerline with plywood doublers. The landing gear blocks are built up plywood, so no table saw is needed to form grooved hardwood blocks. The wingtips are added to the panels after they are built. The laser-cut parts make the construction tasks go very quickly.

LANDING GEAR: The laminated balsa wheel pants are easy to build and are sanded to shape as inboard and outboard sections. After bending and soldering the wire gear together, it is a simple matter to glue the upper fairing blocks around the gear wire with the inboard half of each pant made removable for wheel installation. Dowels glued into the outboard sections are used to align the two sections. As complicated as they look, they can be built up and shaped in only one evening.

FUSELAGE:The fuselage is built using a central box structure that supports the formers while keeping everything straight. The forward fuselage is planked with 1/16-inch-balsa sheeting strips, with the rear of the fuselage shaped with stringers. The battery and servos are accessed through a removable cockpit hatch that is held in place with small rareearth magnets. This allows for quick battery changes at the field without having to turn the model over. An E-flite brushless outrunner motor (horizonhobby.com) is concealed using a removable, dummy radial engine and cowl ring that is attached using three 4-40 screws. The cowl ring is built up from thin balsa sheeting laminated together around a former. A vacuum-formed 5 7/8-inch 9-cylinder radial engine is available from Parkflyer Plastics (parkflyerplastics.com) is glued to the cowl ring support. The tail surfaces are built flat over the plans, then sanded and hinged together before covering. Don’t glue the hinges in yet. For covering I used UltraCote with the red applied over white. It was great for reducing trapped air bubbles under the finish. I applied pin-striping using 1/16-inch black trim tape. The large vinyl wing numbers, the fuselage “Filaloola Bird,” tail numbers and the Gee Bee Logo were all produced by Callie Graphics (calliegraphics.com).

FINAL ASSEMBLY: The power system uses the E-flite Power 10 outrunner motor and an APC 11 x 7E propeller (apcprop.com). Power comes from two CommonSense RC 3s 2000mAh LiPo packs (commonsenserc. com) wired in parallel and is channeled through a Castle Creations Thunderbird 54-amp speed control (castlecreations. com). The motor is easy to get to, thanks to the removable cowl ring. To ensure cooling, the speed control was mounted to the back of the vacuumformed cylinders and allowed maximum airflow. The flight pack was made up using a Futaba R603FS receiver with four Hitec (hitecrcd.com) HS-81 servos (two for ailerons, one for rudder and one for elevator). The receiver, along with rudder and elevator servos are mounted in the battery compartment, with the aileron servos mounted in the outer wing panels. Du-Bro aileron linkages and 0.062 park flyer pushrods are used throughout (dubro.com). The main wheels are E-flite 2.5-inch diameter with a 3/4-inch diameter E-flite tailwheel.

IN THE AIR: The Senior Sportster flies great, but is definitely not a park flier, nor is it intended for beginner pilots. Like any Gee Bee, it is short coupled and requires attention to the rudder and elevator on takeoff. I used 10-percent exponential on the elevator and rudder to smooth out my control inputs.

The first flight was off short grass, but with the wheel pants it is best to fly from pavement. Power is not an issue with the E-flite Power 10 motor turning an 11 x 7E prop; the model became airborne before I was ready. As with any model, don’t pull it off the ground too quickly. At low airspeed and a high angle of attack, an ensuing snap roll can be tough to handle.

For the first few flights, limit your elevator throws to the 1/2-inch range. The model has good response, tracks straight and is not twitchy. The Gee Bee is a true sport model and can easily handle mid-afternoon breezes. It can do aerobatics with ease. Large loops, inverted flight, stall turns, snap rolls, aileron rolls and spins are a breeze. With the twin 2,000mAh flight packs and my flying style (1/2 to 3/4 throttle), flights are between 7 and 10 minutes long. Landings do not require anything out of the ordinary. Keep the nose down and carry a little power on approach. It is best not to attempt three-point fullstall landings. Gently flare and hold the nose level until it settles down onto the mains. Once on the ground, stay on the rudder and ease in some up-elevator and some rudder to avoid a ground loop.

BOTTOM LINE: So, why would you want to build a Gee Bee? For the Wow! factor, of course! When you show up at the field with the Super Sportster, everyone will stop flying just to watch. I did not do it alone; I’d like to acknowledge Robert Somers for his design input, Callie’s Graphics for the great decals and Pat Fallacaro of LaserCutUSA.com for producing lasercut parts."

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