Calflyer

sorry to hear about the engine troubles! Nothing worse than a great flying airplane damaged by engine failure! Better luck next time!

SNIGGEMANN

My Feedback: (10)

Just an up-date. I flew my Extra 300S 58" five times today so I got some good flying time. The engine quit again on the first flight. Thankfully it quit at a good spot so landing was a breeze. Tuned the engine a little more and the following flights went well except for a one thing that I don't really understand. When I tried to do loops it rolls out of it....kind of like a corkscrew. I reduced the rates on the elevator below the 15° recommended starting point (30° full through, 50% of that is what Vector recommends, so I was below the 15%.) The elevator seemed to be difficult to trim..one click seems to be making too much of a difference. The CG is within the range that is specified. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? By the way the plane rolls really nice on low rates.....I did not try it on high rates. It flies very nicely going fast or slow. It seems really good thus far with the exception of the loops for now. Any help would be appreciated.

Calflyer

Sniggemann, I had to reduce the elevator throws too. An important point to remember is that on most radios, the dual rates do not affect the trim movement. So while your stick response will be reduced by using dual rates, the trim response will remain the same. Therefore if the elevator is sensitive, which is the usually the case with hard skin wings, you should reduce the physical throw at the control horn by connecting the clevis further away from the hinge line. Increase the distance by about 25% as a starting point. That should make the trims about 25% less sensitive, and you wont have to use a high increment dual rate. You will also put less stress on the servos by getting better mechanical leverage.
Sorry cant say about the loop as mine tracked absolutely straight through big and tight ones. You might want to adjust engine thrust angle and prop size to get it right.

sydwys

On the 66" Extra, VectorFlight recommends 2 degrees right thrust. The 58" should be similar. I had none when I first got it flying and it would start rolling to the left past the first quarter of the loop. I also needed to apply quite a bit of right rudder while taking off in order to keep it straight. After adjusting the right thrust to about 2 degrees, it now takes off with no rudder input and does the roll pretty straight.

SNIGGEMANN

My Feedback: (10)

I do have some right thrust added. I used one small washer on each side of the front holes in the engine mount. I don't know if that is enough but I have a few other things to look at before I make any changes there. First I need to go back and zero out my trim for the aileron and see if I should have trimmed the rubber instead. During the first flight I gave it three clicks of right aileron to get it to fly straight and level but I am now wondering if I should have trimmed the rudder and not the aileron. VectorFlight gave me some good instruction on how to determine if it is an aileron trim issue which is what I am thinking is going on. Hopefully I will know this evening weather permitting.

GYANNI

OK guys,
I ordered the 300 66" few weeks ago and I should receive it next week.
I cannot figure out this part out, so I need your help.
Is it right that each time I will have to install and remove the belly pan to install and remove the wings??

Thanks fro your reply.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

I have the 58" version and I glued my belly pan to the wing. Mine had holes in it the pan that lined up with the mounting screws for the wing. Is your similar?

btw Gyanni where do you fly? I fly with the Prince William county flyers

SNIGGEMANN

My Feedback: (10)

I do install and remove the belly pan each time. I used small nylon bolts and brass inserts to hold it on the plane at the points indicated in the supplemental instructions on VF website. This makes it really easy to install and remove it at the field. If you do it that way you will need to add some wood blocks in which to anchor the brass inserts. Not a big job at all and it looks pretty good too.

David_Moen

I like the nylon bolt idea...I've knoked the wing off mine a couple of times now testing my Webra 91 and have stripped the screws out or broke the belly pan.

Calflyer

Love that wing! I've cartwheeled mine a couple of times while trying to land in strong crosswinds. A built up wing would have disintegrated, but mine got away with just a few scratches.
......Am I hearng of too many engine problems! A bad engine is just not worth it. Throw em out before they do more damage!

johnb300

Got mine in the air today,WOW it is aw some.Construction was simple and the workmanship is great.Considering the wait this thing was put together great ( not a rush job ).Just minor trim adjustments in the air and it was flying strait and level.I used 2 washer's behind the top right corner of the engine mount and 1 on the right bottom and top left and this gave me the correct engine thrust.I did replace the control horns with DU-BRO and the aileron push rod's with 4-40.Everything else that was provided I used.I put cushion foam behind the fire wall and carved out a place for the fuel tank and mounted 2 pieces of 1/4" balsa stock across the first open bay just outside of the fuel compartment and mounted the battery above them and the RX below and she balanced perfectly.I used a couple of extra hinges on all of the surfaces and soldered the elevator push rods on either side of the collars.This thing Handel's great on the ground ( with wheel pants on ) on the grass runway at our field.I have a O.S. 91 FX for power and it is plenty.The engine is new and not fully broke in so I did not do much vertical but the little I did do it seemed to have plenty of power,I cant wait until the engine is fully broke in so I can lean it out and see what it's got.I did install tail braces ( sullivan ) as they warn if you are going to do anything to wild with the plane this should be done.First flight did include a blender and man does it flat spin nice,and a knife edge from one side of the field to the other and the pitching was not to bad.I was having so much fun with it I lost track of time and ran it out of fuel,so first flight ends in a dead stick landing.Now the knees are shaking but she came in nice and smooth and set down perfectly ( I LOVE THIS PLANE ).I will definitely buy from them again and the customer service could not be better.

johnb300

Here she is.........

David_Moen

Hey, good job on the maiden John!

It is a lovley airplane, I can't wait to have a bit more time with mine! So far out of 5 flights, 4 have had dead-stick landings, 2 that required repairs. While making my repairs I've made several suggestions to the fine folks at VF. They have been very good about customer service and have critiqued my suggestions with detailed considerations. I beleive that a couple of my "mods" are going to be incorporated into the plane at some time.

Would you mind taking a couple more shots of your Extra? I would like to see the cut-outs you made for your head and exhaust. Some have suggested that my engine troubles may be related to inadequate cooling, I'm not so sure...

johnb300

Here is the bottom.

johnb300

And the side.

johnb300

Servo compartment.

David_Moen

Spank you veddy nice!

Is that your fill line hanging out the bottom?

Your opening around the head is bigger than mine, but the exhaust outlet is about the same. I guess I'm going to have to re-work it though as I just got word that an ASP .91 that I'd ordered some time ago and had actually forgotten about shipped from JustEngines today. The Webra is going back to it's old home...

johnb300

I was told by a good friend who fly's larger planes that for proper cooling the opening at the bottom should be double the size of the intake.On the ground and in the air I saw no signs of over heating with mine,hope this helps.

johnb300

The line at the bottom is a vent to catch the fuel in a smaller tank when I fill it.I use scissor clamp to block the muffler and have a fill valve on the side.

cootertwo

Hey David, how big are the openings on the front of your cowl? I wallered mine out pretty good, as I've cooked an engine or two in the past with cowls. Cowls look nice, but you got to make sure you get a lot of air around that engine.

cootertwo

air in, and out

David_Moen

Oh I hogged 'em out good. You know what it's like...once you fire up the Dremel it can be hard to control yourself.

I really don't think the problem was overheating thoug. My Webra has a Super Tiger carb on it for some reason. I've been told that these carbs work OK but will leave you with a very rich mid-range. My modelling guru, the guy who was on the sticks for the last two flights thinks that excess fuel was putting out the glow plug. We were going to try an idle-bar plug, but I just got an e-mail from Justengines -- seems like they just shipped me the ASP .91 "s" that I'd ordered back in June. To tell you the truth I had forgotten all about it. The guy I bought the Webra from told me he would take it back after my last "landing", so an ASP .91 it is. I'll let y'all know how it works out!

cbreeze

My Feedback: (26)

Just ordered the 66" for myself and a 58" for a flying buddy. So far, I have really been impressed with their customer service. I had a number of questions and each was answered promptly and honestly. Can't wait to get mine.

Opinions anyone? For the 66", what would be a better choice? Saito 100-OS91FX or pumped OS91 Surpass? Thanks for any advice on this topic.

David-Moen, if you are having carb problems, you might want to try a Perry carb. I just bought one for my OS46FX and it is great. Very reasonable and their customer service is also excellent. They make carbs for all different engines. They can be reached at Connley precision engines. I can get anyone a TX if interested. They are located in Illinois.

johnb300

Got three flight's in on Sunday and without incident.Happy to report that this plane fly's great.O.S. 91FX performed wonderfully and no dead stick.First landing was a little touchy as I had the elevator rates way to high but after setting them much lower this thing is a gem to land.I bought this to prepare myself for a 27% CA models Extra and could not be more pleased.Swapped out the throttle push rod for a cable type and just installed brass inserts for the belly pan,now all that's left to do is fly.........Good luck to everyone with yours.I will be happy to answer any questions about this plane.

David_Moen

Johnb,

What control throws did you end up with?