LuvBipes

My Feedback: (4)

Elevators were connected via a Futaba SR10 reversing Y-connector. If you have a good computer radio like the Airtronics RD8000, Futaba 8 or 9 channel radios or a 8 channel JR the radio will allow you to perfectly slave a free channel to the elevator.

nogarojet

got mine up and runnin yesterday, running it with a zenoah g26. In one word, AWESOME! 3D is unlimited as with the vertical. The kit was easy to assemble and looks amazing! definitely the best kit i've built, an absolute show stopper, couldnt be happier! good luck!

mvigod

I'm doing an in-depth RCU style review on this for the online magazine here (http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine). I have completed the plane and the construction was excellent on this plane. The assembly process was easy and quick. I am charged up and ready for the maiden flights and video but....I need to know how far back the CG can go on this plane if anyone has tested the limits? I put a 2700 Ni-mh in the tail and it is balancing about 6 1/4" which is 1/4" beyond the rearward range in the manual. I don't want to fly it if this will be too hairy with such a rearward CG of course.

Anybody who has flown this can you PLEASE let me know where your CG is and how it flew there?

Mine came in at 13 pounds and 5 oz dry. If it turns out the 6.25" CG is too far back I'll have to pop out the 2700 Ni-mh in the back and put i a 1650 or 1450 mah which will save 1.5-2 oz and bring me into the 5 7/8" to 6 1/8" range. I'd rather keep the bigger battery in there and fly with a CG as far back as is safe for 3D.

thanks for any advice!


BTW..mine has an OS 1.60FX up front. I'm going to be pushing an APC 18x6W. 9252's on all flying surfaces except 9151 on rudder.

LuvBipes

My Feedback: (4)

Marc, may ask why such a big battery, is it for the CG?? I fly a 80: WS Hangar 9 Cap 232 with only a 1000 mah Rx pack, because I have measure the load of the typical 10 mins. flight on that setup to be +/- 100 mah, which gives 7 flights before recharging w/ plenty of safety margin.

mvigod

Big battery is because I am running 5 digitals and since they draw more juice especially if flying agressively I want all the breathing room I can to get a lot of safe flying time. I thought that it would balance at 6" dry with that battery but overshot it a bit. However there are times where going a bit beyond the recommended CG doesn't have any ill effects and sometimes is advatageous for 3D flying. Just don't want the maiden to be too squirrely so if I can't find anybody who has gone into the 6" plus CG range I'll put a lighter pack back there and approach the 6" mark slowly to make sure it isn't a handful

Blueyonder

My Feedback: (3)

Marc,
Is this review available yet?

bentgear

Marc, you might want to stick a smaller pack in there for a couple of flights just to give info on how it flies with forward and rearward cg.
Ed M.

mvigod

Review will be online right after the test flights are complete. I'll have video and detail build guide.

I wanted to fly it first with rearward CG for 3D on the video and then move forward to test afterwards. Just don't want a hairy maiden with the 6" plus CG.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

anyone have any updates on this plane? I am anxious to hear more reports on it. Im surprised not that many people jumped on this plane.

Marc is that reporrt online yet? Love to see the vid



regards

mvigod

Have not test flown it yet. I just came up from the workshop and am deliberating on where to put the CG for the test flights. Ideally I would stick a 1450 nimh pack in the tail and it would balance a little under 6" which should be safe especially with the load of fuel on takeoff up front. I don't have one on hand and the 2700Ni-mh back there was bringing the CG beyond 6" so I'm playing around with different packs I have on hand to get between 5.5" and 6" for test flights. Other than that the plane is ready to go and the weather here in jersey should allow test flights this week. Once complete I'll try to get the entire thing done within a few days after the flights so I can post it here.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

yay! good luck with the battery pack and the weather hehe I live in Va and it is not condusive to flying lately

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

A friend called and asked if I would build him a plane (for a fee of course). We talked about a few planes in this catagory and based on the comments here and my GP Patty Wagstaff decided on the Gene Soucy. I got him the OS 1.60 with Pitts muffler four Hitec 605's and one 645 for the rudder. We'll run it on a 6 volt 1400mah Nicad with a regulator and I plan to use all the stock gear unless someone has a better suggestion.

After I opened the box in the shop I decided the press photo's don't do it justice as the Monocote trim is very nice and as the others here mentioned no wrinkles. I'm sure he'll be very pleased with the looks and since he paid $900. today without even going to the shop he's putting a lot of faith in my opinion. He hasn't flown anything this big and won't be doing any 3D. I'll set it up with the wieght on the forward CG range with minimal low rates.

I'm looking forward to doing the maiden on this one in about a week so I'll let you know how it goes.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

I got the wings done tonite. The distance from the servo to the control horn is really close and I am concerned about the geometry of the control rod as the servo moves through it's range. I might switch to ball links to eleveate any bind. Anyone else have this?

Brylee

I have ball links on mine works great. Never had the oppurtunity to see if they would bind otherwise. I already have the links set up and just moved the servos from one plane to the extra. Good luck

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

I went ahead and used the stock hinges. I'm concerned about only having three of them on the rudder. I would recomend anyone assembleing one to cut the rudder hinges wider as you get enough extra hinge material to do so.

All that is left is the engine and cowl as soon as the OS 1.60 gets in. I'm not using the supplied screws for the cowl as they caused problems on my patty. I went to the hardware store and got sealing washers (rubber and metal) some threaded inserts and countersunk screws( I'll try metal and nylon to see what works best as I think nylon might not vibrate out).

As nice as this one looks I'm surprised that more folks are not buying them and posting here.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

BasinBum how about some pics?

mvigod

My Extra has flown! I have video and pictures and I'm working on the review as fast as possible. Hopefully I can get it up by next week or the following latest.

To the poster above...I used ball links because of the geometry and the stiffness of the provided metal clevis. The dubro ball links worked fine plus ball links give close to zero slop.

So how did it fly? Awesome! The OS 1.60 FX started right up out of the box in the proverbial one flip and after a short break in I did the test flights. My CG was at 5.75" with the battery to the rear of the wing compartment (as far back as possible). I figured with all that fuel up front it would fly the majority of the flight nose heavy anyway.

The plane has plenty of power w/the 1.60fx up front. Hovering was no problem and I was running the OS very rich. As noted above a slight tuck to the belly. I mixed it out with about 5% on my 9C on subsequent flights. The plane looks gorgeous as it takes off and just beautiful in the air. The scheme is very easy to see.

I don't want to give away the farm before the review is done but suffice it to say this is a wonderful flying aircraft and again as noted above the construction was top notch and assembly VERY easy.

Ok..off to write this up for you guys!

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

I flew mine today (actually not mine but I assembled and maidened it). It flew great and the engine sounded wonderful. Lot's of vertical, slight pressure on the stick while inverted so the CG is good and slow flight was very stable. No bounce on landing like my Patty does and very smooth, shes a big baby. Only had time for one flight because it was getting dark and I like to pull the cowl after a maiden and tighten everything.

What prop is everyone using on the OS 1.60? I got a Pro Zinger 18x8 and it sounds good but won't sit still and throttle response could be better.

I think for anyone who wants a big plane without the initial cost of gas or a large 4stroke (which isn't economical before or after purchase IMO) this plane should be popular. Great construction light and complete and perfect for the $249. 1.60FX

Diablo, I'll try to get ahold of the pics we took so I can post them here.

mvigod

I am using an APC 18x6W on my 1.60FX for the Extra. I used the Bisson muffler and clamped the 2nd exhaust hole shut with a vise grip to get back pressure so the motor would run correct. Without the needle (high speed) has no response since there is not enough back pressure. This is noted often here w/regards to the bisson pitts style mufflers.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Marc,
I looked around for info on the 1.60 but didn't check up on the muffler. I thought I was going nuts trying to needle the carb on the high end. It wasn't responding and I had it turned way out. I didn't worry for the maiden because after take off I never had it at full throttle but I thought I should be able to get it to slobber rich on the ground. I'll make that mod to the muffler.

I guess the 18x8 pro zinger wasn't a bad choice to start out with but I'll look for the APC to compare. The documentation that comes with the OS recomends smaller props for Aerobatics and larger ones for sport flying with a really wide range of pitches that overlap and are somewhat vauge. I think it's old school pattern thinking and doesn't reflect the new breed of Scale Aerobatic planes that are much lighter than a few years ago.

mvigod

Yes...I also couldn't richen up my 1.60fx on the ground due to the backpressure issue. Clamping it shut or if you want a less permanent solution you can put a dowel in it or attach an exhust deflector on a tube and stuff a dowel in it or something. The motor just won't go rich with both exhaust tubes open.

The large diameter and wide pitch props are the way to go for the 3D stuff. The 18x10-12 recommended probably won't do as well as the wide blade prop on this plane.

Another sidenote is that I set my throws up a bit more aggressive then the manual recommended but used around 30% expo. After the first flight I did increase the low rates. I think the elevator low rate recommendation was 3/8" but I ended up closer to 3/4" along with the expo to soften the center. I typically setup all surfaces for 45 degrees and then use the radio to hold back by way of dual rate and expo. I was surprised to see the 3/8" setting which was recommended by the manual since it seemed to be so little. After flying it with the higher rate that I set I still didn't think it was oversensitive for my taste.

I can't wait for some better weather here in jersey to get some more time on it!

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Yes I might get another chance this weekend and want to find out how much elevator till it'll snap. The recomended 3/8's did seem strange and I went farther also. The ailerons had more than recomended and I really liked the roll rate so I'll add some expo and stick with that. I have to check the slow speed and see what it does in a stall but I'm guessing it'll be minimal.

I don't want to get to hyped after only one flight but it was a pretty easy maiden and I think once my friend gets over the pucker factor he'll really enjoy this one.

mvigod

just a test post to see the title on notifies...

PlaneKrazee

My Feedback: (14)

I used hobbico extentions on my Bisson ST4500 muffler, it would richen just fine, 1 1/4 turns out. I wonder if they changed the needle valve assembly.

RJConnet

Yes...I also couldn't lean out my 1.60fx on the ground due to the backpressure issue. Clamping it shut or if you want a less permanent solution you can put a dowel in it or attach an exhust deflector on a tube and stuff a dowel in it or something. The motor just won't lean with both exhaust tubes open.


Does this sound right to all of you motor-heads out there? I always thought it was the other way around. That is, not enough muffler pressure makes it impossible to get a slobbery rich setting. It seems that you should be able to get a lean setting even without any muffler pressure. Am I wrong here?

RJ