I’m surprised by how well it could stay together in such a brutal crash, I loved the sound of it

Couple thoughts: First rebuild the plane with 2 changes, taller vertical stabilizer and 2 to 3 degrees of right thrust in the engine. Second, always keep in mind that with the Gee Bee R3 that wing design is very prone to stalls at low speeds so you have to keep the speed at no less than 1/3rd throttle at all times especially on approach for landing. Hope this helps.

Beautifully constructed with near perfectly matching flight characteristics of the real airplane. Namely a widow maker. Looked to be a scale stall spin.

Was really looking forward to seeing this flying - it’s a beautiful build and a work of art. Really sad for you for it to end like that - whatever happens with the R3 I’m sure we will see something else amazing from your workshop. Commiserations and best wishes from the UK.

Sorry on such a beutiful build. There is a reason that conceptual art aircraft dont fly well (the R3 is originally from a graphical designer and not an engineer). The R3 just dont have enough vertical tail size. Looks cool, but directional stability is poor, as evident from the video. Look at the massive nose area and the the landing gear fairings acting as destabilizing surfaces in front of the cg. Then look at the tail and its aerodynamically inefficient planform. Scale up the vertical tail and she will fly again! And give that bush a hug for catching the aircraft softly. Best of luck!

Tell ya what, that could have been 100% worse! That’s not that bad.

As the old saying goes, any landing you can walk away from is a good one! 😊

Sorry for you loss. Looks like it just got a little to slow and stalled/spun. An absolutely beautiful build though! Your work is inspiring!

honestly i thought there would have been more damage. Looks like you built it like a tank. Hope you can get it back in the air.

Bummer mate. Was all good right up until the stall that it wouldn't recover from. Perfect example of an accelerated stall spin.

Hello Marko, first of all compliments for the very nice build. The plane can and MUST be rebuilt, it's too nice to be forgotten. I have read several comments blaming the designer Mirco Pecorari because he's not an aeronautical engineer. Honestly I don't think that has anything to do with the issues your plane has. I don't think the rudder size is an issue, there are other Gee-Bee R3 flying with no issue at all, so the problems must be somewhere else. In my opinion there are three problems, two are easy(er) to solve then the other: - First issue is the engine alignment, the engine must be tilted right and down about 2 or 3 degrees right and 2 or 3 degrees down. Honestly I don't recall from your videos if you already did this or not. If you already mounted the engine with a tilt you should increase it. The higher the engine power compared to the plane size, the more angle you have to tilt the engine. This is done also on real airplanes, very easy to notice on the Bearcat, when the plane is sitting on the ground the propeller is almost perpendicular to the ground, but the nose is pointing the sky. This will take the spinner/propeller out of the center of the nose cowling so you have to move the engine mount attaching points to the firewall from the center of the plane in order for the spinner to be centred; - Second issue is the CG, it definitely was tail heavy, move the CG forward about 7-8 mm or 1/4 of an inch and you'll be fine. This will improve also the stall and spin characteristics; - Third way to improve stall and spin characteristics would be to build a washout on the wings ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washout_(aeronautics) ), but you would need to rebuild the wings. Something you can do is to lift both ailerons 1 or 2 mm in order to decrees the average incidence of the wing tips. Hope this will help, keep up the awesome job you've done and keep on inspiring us. Blue skies.

It's beautiful, but the Gee Bee R3 is an artist's conception. It wasn't designed by an aeronautical engineer. Due to the small vertical tail and the huge wheel pants, it doesn't have sufficient yaw stability. A few degrees of right thrust would help with the tendency to pull to the left at full throttle. Moving the CG forward might also help. I'm surprised that it wasn't totally destroyed.

Deliberately done

The Granville Brothers designs had a checkered history with numerous lives lost. With the long months you put into this beauty, that doesn't make it any easier but believe me when I say thank you for sharing. Jim

You are a strong man Sr. YOU COULD CREATE THIS PEASE OF ART SO YOU ARE UNSTOPABLE!!! drink a beer and do it again ...go for it...

so sorry about your plane. fortunately you are the builder you can build as many as you want. tks fir sharing!!

never forget that Geebees are speed planes!! Geebees are planes known to be sensitive and unforgiving. Trying to make a committed turn without speed or a propeller blowing the wings is the best way to send it to the ground :( once the stall is engaged you pull on the elevator which has the effect of engaging it to the right which does not help anything. You have just paid dearly for a basic piloting error :( I hope you reassemble this plane as quickly as possible and enjoy it fully.

An absolute work of art!

Wow. Sorry for your loss. This is why I’ve never flown my R3. It’s too beautiful to crash. Red and white. Bought a ARF kit at an auction for $75. It hangs from the rafters at the warehouse.

Right thrust would cure most of the issue like the last poster said. I also think some wing dihedral would be benificial. Beautiful plane! I watched the whole build series.

Watched this build from start to finish Beautiful maiden flight Hope that drone didn’t interfere with signal

Just keep on with the great work good luck Peter

Classic stall.

Hey Marko, i am sorry for the temporary loss of the GeeBee. That hurts but is still a part of our hobby. I am sure you can rebuilt the plane, it was more or less in one piece after the crash. GeeBee's are real aviation diva's...they don't want to do what the pilot want most of the time 😅 Good luck for the remaiden! 😉👋❤

I know it has been said before but since I noticed it in the video before reading the comments there are three things. The plane looked tail heavy, if you look in the turns the tail is flying way below the nose. Yaw instability at different throttle settings is typically an issue of incorrect thrust angle. This plane does not like to fly slowly, particularly the elliptical wing and the short vertical stabilizer. I don't know if you were flying with flight stabilization or not but I would consider it for this kind of plane, it won't save you from a slow speed stall but it will help smooth things out in general flight (make up for some of the difficulties of this type of airplane). Still, beautiful build and it seems to have survived remarkably well, hope to see it flying again.

Beautiful airplane! As it is specific design, used for speed racing, it needs to be piloted cautiously. I am not as good pilot to give advices to somebody else, but I would recommend you to use expos especially on elevator and maybe ailerons, too. I have much smaller Spitfire (similar conception, eliptical wing, rudder not so big and prone to stalling), and have some experience (crashes :)) with it. I would say, during flight maintain speed, at least half throttle, use more rudder and less ailerons in turns (the last turn was at 90° bank angle and without speed, if I can assess from the view taken by the drone, also moving). You could also lift both ailerons up, 2-3 mm, simulating twisting of the tips, or ad turbulators on the outer parts of the wing. I wish You good luck and many flights with the beauty in the future!

Well, this was one of my favorite projects throughout the winter season... So sorry to see such an unfortunate crash 😢

What a beauty! Awesome! 2 thumbs up!! Then it went down, and I cried.

Hey Marko. So sad to see this beauty crash. Flying planes with tricky behavior fast, always helps. Even on my RC SCRAPPY, it feels best at half throttle or higher. Would be great to see your GeeBee R3 fly again.

I would add retractable landing gear for next version

Beautiful plane, sorry for your loss

Such a nice plane, I hope you will get it up in the air again! 😀

Very sad - such a wonderful build! Hope you can rebuild her with improvements and fly again 👏

Good job….. keep going

Lost radio signal, maybe 😢 ,so sorry rc buddy

Lo siento mucho. Ánimo y seguro que nos asombrarás con futuros proyectos

Too tail heavy for an elliptical wing, needs more dihedral as well, at-least so the top surface of the wings are level, needs right thrust on the engine mount with counter clockwise prop and, most importantly, lose the wheel pants. They are causing lift when banked which lifts the nose up/tail down as they are in-front of the CG. Vert stab is about the right size if you lose the pants. But a fantastic build, and I cant believe the prop survived a vertical crash!

Hope that beautiful engine will be OK to live next plane, sound is impressive. Your planes look like art.

Just can't beleive ! Everything was perfect ! And bam ! I d'ont think it's the plane ! Look like the electronic problem ! Signal or receiver ! Hope you will find out ! You put so much work and times on every planes you make ! I feel so bad for you ! 💙✈️

Noooooooooooo 😱😱😱😱🤯🤯😭😭😭 Shit happens ! But you are a great modeller, i think she fly's in two weeks. 👍

First turn we can see it does not want to turn, maybe add angle to the engine, differential to the ailerons. Maybe it spin at the end because it need negative twist at the tip of wings?

It went into a spin after one of the tips stalled. The Gee-bee is well know for being a tetchy plane to fly. Given how hard it crashed, it’s a testament to how well she was made. Maybe add some winglets and a flight controller. She looks like a handful to fly. Also retracts. I think there may have been a side gust and the legs are causing aerodynamic drag along the lateral side.

Very strong airframe. Faired well considering the crash. Looks very repairable.

Sorry to see that. I myself am a fan of that model and I enjoyed your building videos. From seeing the video I think of two probale cause: Either a switch failed or a severe overheat of the electric module. Good luck on your rebuild.

this "Gee Bee R-3" was simply designet by MIRCO PECORARI, Bologna, Italy....

So sorry!! Gorgeous plane. That engine sound is fantastic. But it was almost knife flying all the time. A bit of rudder would ease the turns.... Maybe a mix will help next time.

Need more right thrust for P factor. And more rpm

not the end of the world! i think you must keep up with the good work of yours

Awww damn bro, gorgeous plane! Sorry to see her go down. Tip stalls are a b****! Hope you can get her back in the air again soon brother!

I thorougly enjoy all your videos, mainly the construction techniques. Sorry about your maiden, crashes are near inevitable in RC, and we can only hope for more time before our models leave us! damage looks limited though so I'll bet you'll get it fixed soon. you definately had it in a spin and some planes are non recoverable. a forward CG is generally helpful but your wing might just always be prone. best of luck with the rebuild and refly.

A very unfortunate episode, it's an interesting looking AC. It looks like a standard GB from the past with a stretched fuselage and Spitfire wings. Hopefully you'll bring it back to life.

shame... Its a beautiful plane!! One of the prettiest I have seen

Without touching on the characteristics of the aircraft, I can say that the drone operator interfered, the first time on landing, and the second time when the plane slowed down in front of him.

I could see the yaw right from the takeoff. That engine has some serious torque that's a forsure. Beautiful build. Sorry it ended this way

That's a solid plane. From the crash video I thought it was a total loss. But after disassembling it, it looks like repairable damage after all. Keep on pushing. Next time it will be better. 👍

That’s just a characteristic of that design with the tiny vertical area, trailing rudder and large prop with a powerful engine. They aren’t very stable in yaw but shouldn’t depart controlled flight just from throttle changes. That crash was clearly due to a stall. These do have a tendency of reverse aileron control at lower speeds. The uncoordinated spiral suggests that’s what happened. Pilot induced but unrecoverable from that altitude once induced.

Sad about this beautiful model. I think the problem of the fictional R3 is, that the landing gear covers cause a too high aerodynamic damping in front of the neutral point and make it instable around the vertical axis. The vertical stabilizer / rudder should have more surface ( I guess about 30% would make it stable).

Богатые тоже плачут...

I think you need a yaw dumper(whatever that is)

My first thought was stall, as well. With the bank angels necessary to make turns it could be easy to sneak up on it when the nose comes up. I do know they drop like a set set of car keys when you do stall, but can’t be certain that was what happened here. Also could be the tail stalling as well. Even though it appeared to have enough forward speed it is deceptive to know when the wing is flying again. The Ryan STA has similar flight characteristics but not nearly as amplified as this design. It would be considered a challenge to set one of these up to neutralize all or some of the inherent power and aerodynamics instability, as the idea was all about speed. It looked like something I would try and salvage, but hate those things when they misbehaved.

both ailerons come off after crashing were they attached properlly?

So sorry for you Marko such a beautiful plane. Looks like it will repair OK

I think the drone disturbed the air around your plane and that is why the wing stalled. The drone caused the crash. Watch your video closely. When he was above you your plane dropped a wing and started to spin

bad luck , feel your pain ,you told it like a man well done .

Chase aircraft, especially close, can impact your signal....just a thought

Sorry to hear. Hopefully it’s repaired able. Keep us posted on what possibly happened that you lost control.

Bigger tail surface and try again! Subscribed.

Really sad because it was such a beautiful plane!

As someone else said the design was gorgeous but flawed. Those spats have a great effect during takeoff and need to be balanced by a larger fin area. My take is that it has poor slow speed control. When it was banked the correction on the ailerons caused a tip stall at that airspeed which resulted in a spin at low level and there was not enough room for recovery. Sad to see it crash this early in it's career. However, when you consider our hobby all of our models end up crashing sooner or later ; sorry this was sooner.

OMG, Somtimes we must be Strong. Make a new and make it better.

Very nice model ! Tho. Hope to see it or another one flying soon !

So sorry man, it suks to put all ur time an heart into sumthin an it doesnt work out. Ur one of the best builders ive ever seen, im sure ull come bak with sumthin even better!!!

Sorry for your crash.. what a nice plane it is, and seems plenty fixable. You can get some cues from your maiden flight landing. The plane seems a bit tail heavy and prone to tip stall instead of droping the nose forward. The usual fixes are less elevator authority, some washout on the wings and some extra nose weight. Also consider that this plane is not the easiest to fly and control at low speeds. Cheers!

So it is what we all hate, even the cost of a loss like that one, it could have been worse, no one was hurt, we all can relate too the loss of a beautiful plane. It hurts every time.

The right aileron was left behind in the bush.

Difficult to diagnose that one. A possible clue may lie with the fin /rudder instability varying with engine revs. Sympathetic resonance perhaps or,, possibly, 'flutter' even. It may be possible to reproduce this on the bench. Sometimes, changing the Mass of a component can do the trick,,,,,,good hunting !

The full scale was inherently unstable on the yaw axis. That happens when an artist designs a plane and not an aeronautical engineer. Looks over performance. I have seen one guy add a false vertical tail out of clear material to keep the scale look but give it better yaw authority. It was a small foam model though. Sorry about the crash. Hopefully, you will get the bird in the air again soon. Best of luck.

Identical to the real thing! In those days they did not understand the importance of a tall vertical stabilizer ! Since you can scale the plane but not the air, models amplify this design flaw.... big time!

What a beautiful plane, what a pity!

Sorry to see that, hopefully no damage to your engine, part of our great hobby unfortunately

So sorry to see the crash. Beatiful build! On the bright side, I think you gained lots of subscribes today and support. Love all your videos and can't wait to see your next project or fix 🤗 I just wonder, out of all the other gee bee r3's flying out there is that adverse yaw with thrust common? I know by design this plane is a handful no matter what. Looked like a stall for sure. Again, sorry to hear, was great to see her fly 👍

Hope you rebuild a new one like you did with Scrappy

There is a very intresting vidéo on you tube talking about the story of the brothers who built and developped the gee bee family They say at one moment the pilote had to fight to maintain the plane il flight. Very touchy and several pilots where killed

Well definitely a stall. But it all started when the plane was in knife edge attitude and dropped the nose, that’s the moment where you might have been able to save it by using aileron only to level out the wings and get them flying again (even with a nose down attitude). But once it developed into a (more or less) vertical dive and you used (too much? It’s hard to judge between ”too much” and ”not enough” when the Earth is rushing towards the plane and you have nothing but your feeling to rely on) elevator to pull up, the planes fate was sealed. When you tried to pull up, it caused a high speed (may also be called a high G) stall, it snapped and went into a spin. All that said, it might have been an unrecoverable situation (from the very start with the ”knife edge” attitude) given the lack of altitude and the characteristics of the plane. So If I were you, I wouldn’t beat myself up too much over it. I see others commenting on the R3 in general. I’d like to state that one R3 is not comparable to another from another manufacturer or a different scale. I worked for a ”manufacturer” (using the quotes to clarify that Chinese companys actually designed and built our ARF’s, but they where sold under our brand exclusively, the brand was Above All RC). We had a GeeBee R3 (scale outline) which was built for electric, glow or petrol. With the electric it was a pussycat (though not a trainer, you really needed to keep on top of the rudder, or the tail would try to overtake the nose!), with petrol and glow, it was still a nice flyer, but not on par with the electric. Why? Wingloading! The electric setup was lighter than the ”slimers”. Anyway, sorry about the crasch! Maybe it could have been saved at an early stage, but then again maybe not. It was never an easy recovery!

Did you consider that the signal controlling the drone may have interfered with your aircraft's control signal?

So sorry for you 😢 this plane is superb and it deserves a second chance even if it's mentally tough. Regards

I had a P51 snap roll on me becuase of the small rudder. I repaired it and increased the area by 20%. Much better now.

I send my condolences to the pilot in there.

Feel sorry with you bro'. I'm sure you will repair it and she will be back in the air. I was a bit curious that both ailerons came loose.

Sorry to see that Marco. It’s definitely impressive to see you design and build such beautiful aircraft. Unfortunately sometimes it is be painful to learn the design needs some improvement. I hope you make some adjustments to create a more stable version. Good luck. 👍🏻

Nice maiden fly even if sadly end. This plane is not a cool choise with short fuselage lenght, small vertical tail, big motor, enormous wheels, Reynolds-wing profile : real nightmare for good aerodynamic mix . After so much work, I understand it could be difficult to proceed in experimental way. Thanks for your work Maestro

que ganas de estresarse con ese modelo, es lindo , pero vuela como un ladrillo

It's a shame with all the hard work and how beautiful the plane looked. I'll leave you a brief analysis I've done of what might have happened: Placing vertical surfaces at the front (or ahead of the neutral point) is practically trying to make the plane fly backward on the yaw axis. It will want to switch ends just like a weather vane would if you reversed it in the direction of the wind and let it go, creating strong instabilities. That's why I believe the huge wheel fairings cause this effect on the plane's aerodynamics. It could even be that these instabilities are intensified since this is a scale model much smaller than the original. But well, since it's a faithful model, it's hard to avoid them. The solutions I can think of are to enforce stability with FBW electronics, actively controlling the surfaces to avoid the instabilities caused by yaw. Another possibly more practical solution to avoid using FBW electronics is to try to shift the vertical neutral point. The aerodynamic center of yaw forces needs to be somewhere aft of the CG for the weather vane effect to work. The closer to the center of gravity, the larger the surface must be, so you can increase the size of the fin and rudder or the extension of the fuselage to achieve this configuration. You're a fabrication master, and I'm sure you'll have the plane as good as new in no time. Good luck with the repair. Best regards!!

CG or engine thrust line change may have helped, or a lighter wing loading. IMO the main issue is the design though. Gee Bees are designed to be racers…short coupled with lots of power and minimal flight controls/stabilizers for less drag. They are a handful and challenging to fly. Deviating from scale and enlarging the tail is hard to do on the Gee Bees without it looking wrong, but is almost required.

Oh man, I´m so sorry....

Lo siento, pero ánimo!...es posible que entrara en pérdida por poca velocidad en el giro. Tienes que fabricar otro!..saludos

Lots of side area on those undercarriage fairings in front of centre of gravity. Once the plane starts to yaw due to an upset from something like turbulence, the small area of vertical stabiliser can’t overcome the effect. Like trying to throw a dart backwards. Didn’t look right how it was flying sort of straight while banking with adverse yaw. Like a slight knife edge attempt.

Sad to see it go down. As you already said in your video: very likely a stall and subsequent vrille. Knee jerk reaction is always to put in up elevator, where in order to get out of it you need down elevator and counter rudder. If you didn't put in any side thrust on the motor it definitely seems to need it. Unfortunately this kind of shit happens in our hobby, especially with scratch builds. I'll be looking forward to what you do next.

So sorry for that😢. I hope you can rebuild it 👍

So, so nice plane. So, so sorry...