Dynaflite Fly Baby
Anatomy of a kit bash
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I picked up a partially built Fly Baby several months ago, and while I like the Fly Baby,
I saw a whole other plane waiting to be let out.
I saw a golden age racer, something between a GeeBee Y and a Weddell -Williams,
with a little Mystery ship thrown in.
The wing was almost done and had been
modified for flaps, the tail feathers were ready to cover,
really the only thing that needed to be built was the fuselage.
I built the fuse stock up to the point
you sheet and run the turtle deck stringers.
The first thing after that was formers made for the outside to make a barrel
front for the fuse.
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Then came the stringers, and sheeting. I have to say,
I am not afraid of sheeting,
but me and my big ideas 
.
It was a bear sheeting the big round front end and matching it up
where it changes angles, not to mention running stringers to go from round
to flat surface.
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I then had to make a turtle deck to fit the top flight P-47 razorback canopy
By the time I looked for block of balsa big enough to
carve,
I decided I would just make a hollow turtle deck.
3/32" sheeting like the rest of the sheeting and 1 former in the front, and
it worked out great, and is very light.
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It turned out a 9" radial cowl is needed, which is pretty common supposedly.
Since I am using a radial cowl, I have lowered the engine thrust line to center it, this moves the engine down almost 2 ".
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All in all it hasn't been to bad to get to this
point. I have piddled around a little here, a little there
so progress is slow, but I don't have more than 4 or 5 extra hours in the
modifications.
As far as the kit goes, the plans mismatched a couple
places,
like the tail post was off and the wing had to be cut some to fit the
fuse.
Also the tank floor plate was almost a 1/4" shorter than the plans which
threw everything off as I went.
Besides sheeting, some spruce stringers and I re-cut the
firewall and made it 3/8" thick,
I don't have a lot of extra material into it.
The canopy was a left over, and will be removable so I can get into the tank and radio compartment
The most expensive parts will be a cowl and wheel pants,
which will run almost as much as the kit itself! 
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On to covering the beast
I will update this as I progress
I have set it up for a G23, since I have one,
I haven't balanced it yet, but I will put servos in the tail from the looks of
it.
