Mustang Fever

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Been wanting to try one of these for a long time. Deltas have the advantage of high speed (depending on airfoil thickness) combined with very slow, nose high landings.

I'm using a Rimfire 25, a Flightpower 60 ESC, and a 3300 4S pack. That combination generated over 5 pounds of thrust and around 60 mph using a 10x5 MAS 3 blade. I'll likely use an MAS 10x6 E 2 blade, for a bit more speed.

After much thought, I went with the Great Planes medium motor mount for this installation. What you see in the picture is a layer of 1/8 birch ply epoxied to the factory firewall (which has had the blind nuts removed). Wood screws are clamping it and the motor mount while the epoxy sets. I'll likely remove the screws and through bolt the whole affair with self locking nuts after the glue cures. Then, I'll make fillets on the backside of the firewall using epoxy and milled fiberglass. (I've read at least two posts on other forums about guys busting the firewall out when they catch a prop blade on landing.)

I'll be making a triangular piece to fill in the left hand LE where Extreme Flight has left room for a glow engine cylinder. I'll also make some curved sections to go over and under the motor mount to hide it and make this thing look a little nicer.

Mustang Fever

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By tracing the outlines of the right leading edge, and the bulkhead on the left, I was able to make a couple of false ribs from 1/8 ply. These in combination with some old LE stock resulted in a framework that I can sheet with 1/32 balsa.

Mustang Fever

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And here it is.

The firewall is also reinforced on the aft side with a 1/8" layer of epoxy mixed with milled glass.

Mustang Fever

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Motor installation almost done. Just have to extend the "cowl" sheeting aft from where it ends to the opening for the deck hatch. I'll put a couple holes in that sheeting for air inlet (with scoops) and some outlet holes way back on the hatch.

Mustang Fever

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A bit more sanding, and she'll be ready for some yellow covering. Then I can go ahead and build the airplane according to the remaining instructions!!

smoknrv4

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Looks awesome, nice blending.

Mustang Fever

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Thanks, Smokin

I mostly did it because I expect to land this one on a beach now and then, and I found out the hard way that when sand gets in an outrunner it locks up tight, and the only way to clear it is with compressed air.

Kinda spoiled it with the air scoop for the ESC. If I can find some plastic scoops that look better, I'll get em later.

Weight right now is 3.5#, with all the components stacked on top of it. Should do well with 4.5# of thrust or more.

The only thing glued on in these shots is the lower fin, so I've got a bit more work before RTF day.

Mustang Fever

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These are really fun. Everyone should have one. Maidened today in winds that were 20 gusting 30. Launch was a non issue, very small amount of trim required to get hands off level flight. (See below) Lands easily, as it has the classic delta nose high approach and touchdown quality.

The rest of the story:

1. I used HiTec HS 325 servos instead of the monsters specified. Kept the weight down, and I don't need them. (I don't think I could even watch some of the antics this thing is capable of, much less actually do them.) Control travel is set to that recommended for low rate, with 55% expo on aileron, and 35% for elevator. Seems to be about perfect. A little touchy in roll before the speed gets up to cruising, but that could have been due to all the wind I was fighting at launch.

2. Weight, RTF, came out at exactly 56.6 oz (3.54#). ARFs usually come out way, way heavier than what the supplier states they will. As Extreme claims max weight of 3.25 RTF (dry) for the glow version, I'm impressed.

3. There's always that "delta" question of how much up elevon trim to use, for reflex to hold the nose up. I noticed during assembly that that piece in the center of the TE kicks up a little, and that the tip TEs do as well. I set the initial elevon up trim such that the tops of the elevons were flush with the top of the center section. This resulted in the tips of the elevons being above the fixed wing tip surfaces, so I trimmed it down a little, until they were flush. If you do this, then lay a straight edge on the bottom of the wing, it lays flat across the elevons. On top, there's a gap in the middle, indicating reflex curvature. This is a true reflex wing, designed with a up kick to keep the nose up. Why, oh why, don't they address this in the manual? Anyway, I gave it three beeps of up trim just for safety on the first launch, and it got so high so fast I had a hard time seeing it. Took that out for the subsequent flights and it handles just beautifully. One of the reasons for that is counter torque weighting: I stuck a half oz of lead on the right hand wing tip. Best modeler trick in the book, IMHO.

4. You can see from the second pic that I had plenty of room in the bay for the stuff: the pack fits in ahead of that transverse piece of balsa you see near the ESC choke coil. A similar piece up forward locates it on that end. The ESC sits on top of the pack, and keeps the pack from rattling around. Rx is near the back end, across from the rudder servo. One of the antenna is run straight forward, and one out into the wing root at 90 degrees. Both are in pieces of plastic push rod tube for protection. I set the CG in the middle of the recommended "empty tank" range: 12" forward of the C/L TE.

Probably one of the better engineered and produced ARFs that I've assembled. The only ***** I have is that the clevis pieces for the aft end of the push rods were the wrong hole/thread size. It was a simple matter to bore them out and re thread them with a 4-40 tap.

Well done, Extreme. I'll probably buy another and keep it in the box just so's I have a spare.

Mustang Fever

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And finished. Those U.S. Navy decals are really a challenge. Took about an hour to do both of them.

JimboGreek

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Where can you pick up an outlaw nowadays? Kit, Arf or scratch?

Mustang Fever

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I don't know if there's plans or kits out there, but mine's an ARF.

http://www.extremeflightrc.com/html/outlaw.html

They come in three different color schemes, but the blue and yellow "Navy" version is the only one in stock for now. Probably means they're getting ready to sell out again, and it'll be a long wait for the next batch.

Mustang Fever

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She was pretty scary on launch- always wanting to roll left really fast, due to motor torque. The single, 45 ACP bullet in the right wing tip wasn't enough. (.5 oz) I added a 9mm (.4 oz) and that makes launches straight and true.

Also put some 220 grit sandpaper on both sides of the forward fin so I can get a better grip on her with gloves. (Cold weather flying)

This is the bird you'll wish you had when flying a "park" airplane and the wind comes up. It'll operate out of the same confined areas, but is a high performance bird with great windy weather handling.