scott282

My Feedback: (7)

I purchased this kit a while ago and finally have it started. I'm going to power it with a OS .91 4-Stroke. I'm going to make a couple of mods to this build.

1st - Enlarging the rudder by one inch on the bottom and on half inch on the top. I'm also going to make the top cut out section (not sure what that's called) a bit larger than stock.

2nd - Reinforce the landing gear attachment points in the fuse.

3rd - Purchased a fiberglass cowl from fiberglass specialties.

The first steps are to build the horz stab and elevators. The stab is sheeted while the elevators are left open.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Here's a couple of pics of the rudder mod and the fin.

In the first pic you can see where I shortened the fin to allow me to make the rudder cut out area larger.

The second pic shows how the rudder is build larger (than the plans show) and the fin is sheeted.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Here's a pic of the rudder after it's been sanded.

So far it has been a good kit to build. Directions are easy to follow and the plans are very nice.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Just A question, why are you making the counter weight/balancer larger??
Which model Extra is this being built?

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Good question Gray Beard,

A couple of reasons for the larger counter balance -

First, because I enlarged the rudder area, the larger counter balance should help in making the rudder servo work less.
Second, because I think it looks better.
Third, mainly because I can't leave well enough alone!

It's the Great Planes 60 size Extra 300S - here's a link http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJ580&P=7

Hughes500E

My Feedback: (16)

This is an awesome plane

I can't say enough good things about it. I have a YS 110 on mine and the tank on the CofG.
I did modify the stab/elevator and when I build my next one, I will build larger ailerons!

I love this plane!

Deadeye

I finished mine about a year ago. Powered it with a Saito 125, modified the tail feathers with extra width and counter balances. Fiberglass cowl, pants; sullivan tail wheel. I also mounted an elevator servo for each elevator half in the rear of the plane. Pull-pull on the rudder.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Great looking Extra's Hughes and Deadeye,

I'm going with a smaller engine than either of you (OS .91 4-stroke) but the pics you posted give me inspiration to get mine done!

The tail feathers are finished up on mine and now I'm moving to the wings. I've got the ribs, spars and part of the sheeting done on one of the wings. Will keep moving along and get the other wing done and joined.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

I made some progress on the airplane. I've got both wing halfs built, sheeted, and joined. For the sheeting I use magazines to hold everything in place while the medium CA dries. The joiner is just 2 pieces of light ply that sandwich the spars on each wing half. The joiner is glued using 30 minute epoxy.

The balsa that came with the kit for sheeting the built up ailerons is too light and flimsy so I'm going with some stronger wood when I build them.

Hughes500E

My Feedback: (16)

WOWS, them have to be the biggest pic tures I have seen on RCU

The best part of this plane is how it flies 'cause it's light!

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

I resized the pictures in post #9 - Much better.

Yeah, I don't know why the pics are so big. I didn't do anything different from the earlier posts than have multiple pictures in the same post. I guess I'll only add one picture for each post and see if that works.

The wing is done and sanded and now I'm moving on to the fuse. The instructions say to draw a straight line on your building board and build the fuse upside down on this line. Sounds easy enough!

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Another pic with the fuse sides and bottom added.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

This picture shows how to attach the wing and build the belly pan. I'm surprised the belly pan is not sheeted. I hope I don't stick a finger through the monokote when handling the wing.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

After the wing is mounted nice and straight I built the engine box and firewall. The firewall is epoxied on to the box but the box is only CA'd onto the fuse. I added a number of reinforements where the box attaches to the fuse so it should be strong enough.

chashint

I am glad you are doing a build on this model. I have thought about getting this plane for a long time but always seem to choose something different when it is time to buy a kit. Seeing how it goes together might be the nudge I need to add it to the squadron.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Charlie,

I would recommend this airplane to you or anyone else that's thinking of building it. The plans are nice and the step by step instructions (with pictures) are easy to follow.

The firewall and engine box are completed. Next is to install the landing gear rails. They fit into slots in 2 of the fuse formers and into the engine box. I beefed this area up by adding a 1/4 inch piece of ply that fits on top of the landing gear rails and fits snug between the formers. Instead of using the screws to attach the landing gear I'm going to drill and tap to 1/4 x 20 and use plastic wing bolts. The bolts will break before the landing gear rails rip out of the fuse in case of a poor landing.

Here's a pic of the 1/4 inch ply I used to reinforce the area.

Hughes500E

My Feedback: (16)

Two things, pin the firewall to the engine box. I use 1/8 dowel and thin CA so it penetrates.
Install 1/4 x 20 blind nuts into the landing gear block. Then screw your nylon bolts into that! One real funny "take off" [:-] and I pulled my nylon bolt thru the block stripping the threads out.

Deadeye

The wood threads stripped before the nylon? Did you CA the threads in the wood after you threaded it? I used to use blind nuts for all my 1/4 inch bolts, but gave up when i found that CAing the threads in the wood after you cut them makes for some pretty tough threads...way tougher than the nylon. And no weight penalty.

!/4 inch nylon bolts hold the gear on 90% of my planes. Make sure you BOIL YOUR BOLTS in water for a 30 minutes or so - especially for landing gear bolts. Boiling them relieves manufacturing stresses, and makes the bolt less brittle. Brittle bolts are the LAST thing you need on landing gear. My Extra has pants that would destroy the wing if my nylon bolts ever broke.

Hughes500E

My Feedback: (16)

Yup, not much of a weight penalty adding 2 blind nuts. Try adding them after the hardwood is in place

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

Thanks for the comments Hughes and Deadeye,

The landing gear attachment area is done and I won't be able to get blind nuts up in there. I have a number of airplanes with landing gear attached that I have drilled and tapped 1/4 x 20 into at least 3/8" thick ply hardened with ca and they havent stripped out yet. If I do have the problem I will certainly add blind nuts. I've also never boiled the plastic 1/4 x 20 bolts. Will look into doing that in the future.

I'm going with the supplied ABS wheel pants on this airplane. They were fairly easy to get together using ca on the 2 halves. I then used Bondo brand glazing and spot putty for the seam. I have at least three coats of the glazing putty on these pants as it does shrink as it drys.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

I got the front turtle deck installed and am now installing the horizontal stab. I used 30 minute epoxy to glue the stab to the fuse. I stood back about 10 feet to ensure it was level with the wing. It did take a little bit of sanding to get it to sit right.

It's starting to look like an Extra 300s!

StPeteFlyer

Its looking good![sm=thumbup.gif] I just ordered one of these today from tower hobbies, I have put many ARF's together but haven't built a kit. How are the directions for a first time build?

Deadeye

Directions are typical Great Planes, which means above average. My first build was the GP Super Sportster. I had no problem with that plane other than a few steps. From what I recall, the single most 'difficult' part of the Extra was the fitting of the Firewall, and landing gear assembly. I had to do a bit of fitting to get it right. Take your time, and read the instruction book several times through before you start the build. Make sure you come back to RCU for advice, and good luck.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

StPeteFlyer,

I agree with Deadeye - The Great Planes instructions are very good. If you follow the instructions you won't have any problems. I have found only a couple of difficult steps. The first was getting the fuse sides to conform to the curved front end - I soaked em and still cracked one side. I fixed the crack with epoxy and sanded it down so it looks and is structually as sound as new, and the built up ailerons are a bit of a pain to build. Otherwise a very easy build.

Speaking of build - I mounted the vertical fin in place. As you can see in the picture, I get it all lined up 90 degrees to the horizontal stab and rubberband it in place so it doesn't move while the epoxy dries. It turned out perfect.

scott282

My Feedback: (7)

I've got the rear turtle deck completed and am now starting to cover the fuse. The first part I cover is the bottom.