ctshepherd

My Feedback: (34)

Flew mine March 1st. Take off at 1/4 throttle and buzzed around the pattern at about that setting. Rolls and loops nicely. Idle set a bit high for landing, so had to make a couple of passes to figure out the best landing approach to slow it down. Finally get it to a nice landing speed, wheels touch down and landing gear departs the airframe. Bottom of fuse ripped out, motor box came apart when prop hit the earth.

End result:

One prop history
Cowling cracked multiple places
Wheel pants trashed
Wing sheeting cracked on bottom of wing from landing gear(both sides)

Finally got around to tearing it down last night and was amazed at the total lack of glue holding the most stressed portion of the airframe together. They must of used some of the new air based glues as I could pop things apart with slight finger pressure. The stringers that run from front to back basically fell out when I removed the covering. All of the landing gear plywood delaminated. No traces of epoxy anywhere.

Needless to say, I am not amused that I have to rebuild a plane after one flight. I'll post some pictures tonight after I get home from the club meeting. I've got a video of the flight as well. Just need to get it on the computer at home and upload.

It's no wonder that people are getting their planes to 16# and under... there is no glue weight. [>:]

PUREPECHA

sorry to hear that!!! [&o]

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

WOW! Sorry to hear about the breakage! We have harrier landed and beat the extra up, with no problems, that goes for the edge and yak as well.

Look forward to the video.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

I always pour thin CA all over the place, especially landing gear areas and firewall. I did this with my Edge and it's on its third year this season. I did hear of a landing gear block breaking out on an Edge. That's why I added a little glass and epoxy in that area.

Needless to say, I'm sorry about your maiden. The pain is felt states away.

Bass1

I witnessed AWCFlyer's maiden today. Flew great including an uneventful deadstick due to fuel starvation. (I believe he ran out of gas having way too much fun!) Looks like a winner to me.

AWCFlyr

Maiden Flight Report:

Today was the day that I was able to break away from work, grab the Extra and get her to the field amidst some 10-15 mph winds. They were right down the pipe and you couldn't have asked for a better test flight day. Engine tuning took about 2 minutes to get it dialed in with the trottle settings. Smoke system primed and checked good-a shrug of the shoulders and it was off to the runway. Ground handling was solid with high rates on and rudder for days. Got her centered up-took one last deep breath and started to push on the left stick. I was suprised when she took off after about a 30 ft roll out and only 1/3 throttle (had to be the wind) but she climbed straight out and needed only 2 clicks of up and zero aileron.

I went through the standard maidern pattern of simple upwind and downwind passes checking for attitude pitch sensitivity (seems a tad pitchy just like Plane-R's was. Low rates on the elev produced an shar pitch change as it was and with the high rates moving to 47 degrees- it wanted to flip around the canopy hard so those will be adjusted. Snap roll test on low rates were very controlled and at a decent rate. I did 2 with high rates on and the plane tumbled the full 360 in a span of about 5-6 feet (read: violent) Landings were like flying a giant ugly stick including the dead stick that Bass1 mentioned. After 13 minutes of solid air time and in an inverted flat spin, she just starved out. I was able to make it back to the runway right at the approach end but it still entered ground effect and floated another 30 feet before finidhing in a great 3-pointer. She needs some control throw dampning but the overall report is a huge success and the plane is a thing of beauty. I really wish I would've gotten a second kit to toss in the attic as this one is a keeper. Will try for some inflight pix this weekend.

PAU did a great job on this one!

ctshepherd

My Feedback: (34)

Ok, here is the link to the video of the landing....



http://www.rcuvideos.com/item/SRD6WDYMBVN3N69M

jgraham10

My Feedback: (3)

Ouch

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

wow, no wonder the gear came out, drove that one on kinda hard didnt ya? ouch!!

Flyfalcons

Generally these planes like to be landed at a controlled rate of descent with the nose level or slightly up, with a flare when close to the ground.

dgfick

My Feedback: (1)

You mean you can't just get close and point it at the ground?????

Grotesquebass

My Feedback: (16)

I have to agree on the bad landing being at fault you can see that the front of the wheel pants touch ground before the wheels however i think it is up to everyone to examine for weak glue joints before flying and to reinforce accordingly

yarom

My Feedback: (82)

I would expect the gear to fail on this landing - especially with wheel pants on.

I generally don't mount the wheel pants until after the plane has been fully maidened and everything is under control...

lenz rc

My Feedback: (228)

I will be sure to run CA in and around the landing gear area. I did the MM a few weeks ago. And toss the pants . I never used them anyway for that reason on grass if you miss the landing or have to come in hot you are looking to fix something. Our club has mole holes with dirt mounds that pop up daily. Hit one of them and a fix is in order as well. S**t happens fix it and move on. [8D]

Plane_Reaction

Haven't seen Ken around on this thread in a while. Are you still coming to Fresno 3D Huckfest Ken. I heard you were coming to huck it with the best of the best. If so I will look for you and say hi.

lenz rc

My Feedback: (228)

Ok sorry for the long wait for my Picks I have been having such a good time with this bird for the last few weeks I forgot to post them. Yesterday I got the bird to knife edge any where I wanted to go with it. Inside outside it did not matter it truly a fine flying bird. Thank you BME Bad Brad graphics Hitec Jr and Desert Aircraft for the X-Mass special. I will post a few more picks I will try getting at the club. There is a twin of mine I will get them together.

bobby218

My Feedback: (5)

HOW DO YOU LIKE THE 330 I JUT BOUGHT ONE WITH A DA 50

maukaonyx

I just finished spraying RC car window tint on my canopy. It came out good (no runs, very even) EXCEPT for one thing...it is way too dark for me. I have a pilot (not mounted yet) that I can't even see in there when I put the canopy over him. Oh well, looks like I will not have a pilot in mine after all. Anybody have a new clear one they want to trade for my black tinted one? Jon

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

Mines still going strong!! These are from last weekend at Billings MT.

maukaonyx

WOW, it's been nearly 2 years since any activity on this thread, but I hope the planes have been flying well!!! Believe it or not, I am still completing mine, lol, dolt. I have a reason, or 5 of them...I built that many other ARFs and have been flying them in the meantime! I just got back onto this Extra 330L which is the one by Richmond and sold by AKModels. See prior posts on this thread...it appeared then to be the exact same airframe as the PAU/BME plane with a different color covering. I stripped some trim off and added new trim and a bunch of BadBradGraphics stuff to make it look much better IMO. Almost done with it now. Just need to tie down the ignition, batteries, and 42% opto kill, finish the cowl openings, and attach wheel pants. It's been slow just due to my diversions to a P-47, T-28, Yak 54, Apache DLG, and and Excelleron 50 , but still fun to get it this far.

So how are you guys doing with your Extra 330L's from Richmond, BME, or PAU now? Still flying, or maybe you too are SLOW as molasses, and still assembling yours like me?

For those that missed getting one of these planes, here is GREAT news...AKM has a sale right now and just brought this plane BACK!! I think it is the exact same plane that I got from them 2 years ago because they are using the exact same photos and language, although we know sometimes that doesn't always mean it is the same frame, lol. The awesome thing is that AKM is having their Christmas sale, so it is 20% off, and I am thinking the price comes out to just $380 plus SH!!! Holy moly, that is less than what I paid 2 years ago. http://ak-models.com/mm5/merchant.mv...Model_GasPower

Would like to hear of experiences with the plane in the last couple years that this thread has been dormant! Take care, happy holidays. Jon

maukaonyx

Here are a couple pics of my 330L today. I wanted a lightly tinted canopy with a pilot inside. My tint came out way too dark, so I am not installing the pilot. Oh well...I saved some weight, haha. Jon

Bass1

Looks nice Jon! Any idea what it weighs?

maukaonyx

Just under 16# without the wheel pants. Everything else is on board. That made me happy to see, when I weighed it just now. DL-50 should do it fine. Oh, and that is with the CG around 5.5-6.0" from LE, putting the batts all up near the firewall. Range is 5.0-6.5". I can move the CG aft real easy by relocating the batts rearward, one or both later on. Jon

Bass1

Sweet. She should be an awesome flier at that weight! I have a Richmodel Yak with just about the same size wing area and it flies super at just a tad under 18 lbs and that's with an old well worn Brison 3.2.

madman75

I was still flying mine (PAU plane) until a few weeks ago. I had a not so good landing due to a dead stick and ripped the landing gear out which in turn ripped out the firewall and damaged one wing. I got replacement parts from Lenz RC who gave me a great price. I'm still getting it back together. I have to cut out the cowl. Mine weighed 15# 13oz. before it was crashed. I don't see it weighing more than an oz. or so more. It's a nice flying plane that makes me look like a better pilot than I am. I should have it back together this weekend. Too bad the weather suck and will suck for a while. Never had any real issues with the plane.
If you can, try to get some glue around the landing gear area. I found mine to have very little glue in that area. I feel if it was glued better, the landing gear would have stayed in place. Another thing is the cowl fiberglass is pretty thin and can be damaged easily. I have already broken 2 cowls. One from hangar damage and one from the bad landing. One can be fixed but the other on was junk.