BBI Zero Questions

Rogo · Post by **Rogo** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:09 pm

Hello Board,

I received a green BBI Zero for Christmas and had a few questions about its assembly...

1. Does the tail wheel lock in the down position? Mine doesn't want to and I didn't want to break it by forcing it down too much.

2. Does the wing just snap into the fuselage? I didn't see any screw attachments, but I notice that the top surface of the wing is about 1/8 inch below the top edge of the wing fillet. The bottom seems to be in alignment.

3. Are the mass balance weights on the ailerons installed backwards? If so, do you just slice them of with a blade and reglue in the correct position?

Thanks for any help with this bird. Very nice detail on this one.
Rogo

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:22 pm

I have the BBI Zero in the "Pearl Harbor," BCA exclusive scheme, which save for the paintscheme, is identical to the "Green" Zero. Here's the answers to your questions:

1.) The tail wheel should lock in the down position. You have to force it a little, but it should snap down. That caused alot of confusion when the Zero first came out as no one thought it locked. I had the plane on display with a little brace to hold the tail wheel until I gave in and forced it into the locking position after another boardmember noted that it could be done!

2.) The wing just does snap into the fuselage. The wings on my plane don't line up flush either, but it is too small of a gap to really worry about, IMHO. You may want to try pushing the cockpit assembly in further, as it could be sticking down too far, causing the gap to form. The wing assembly should connect rather securely to the fuselage, despite the absence of screws.

Also, the wings do not have as much dihedral as the actual plane does.

3.) You are correct in noting that the counter-ballances are installed backwards. They can be easily pulled off and reglued in the correct position.

The BBI Zero does have some faults, but overall they are minor. BBI was the company that responded to our pleas for a Zero in 1:18 and despite proposals by Admiral Toys and 21c, we have yet to see another! The BBI Zero is a fine representation of that famous aircraft

Sabrefan · Post by **Sabrefan** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:07 pm

Getting the cockpit in the the correct position in the BBI Zero is really a pain. And the instructions don't help at all. I finally got it in, and I cut the little post off that sticks out the bottom of the cockpit. The wings do have a gap on either side, but I fixed that with some CA glue. What I did was mask off the wing and fuselage to where you just see the gap between the wing and fuse. Then I filled the gap with CA glue gel. Then I wipped off the excess and ran tape from the wingtip to the fuse to hold the gap closed. This worked great, and now it has some dihedral. It really is a great looking plane, but getting that darn cockpit in is a pain.

Rogo · Post by **Rogo** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:17 am

Thanks for the response guys. This is very helpful information!

Time to finish it and hang it up to dogfight that AVG P-40.

Thanks again,
Rogo

VMF115 · Post by **VMF115** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:39 pm

Also be careful with the control stick in the cockpit it can break easy.

Rogo · Post by **Rogo** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:37 pm

Thanks VMF, I'll keep a close eye on that.

Rogo