“New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (Full Version)

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FlyinTiger -> “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 7:36:20 AM)

Welcome! I will start with this thread for reviewing the NEW Wild Hare Extra 300 and then do a Product Review to submit to RCU Admin for posting in the "Product Reviews" section when I am finished.

I will be assembling this aircraft with stock hardware available from Tom at Wild Hare RC, including the MTW-75 canister kit that he offers for the DA-50.

Wild Hare R/C aircraft and accessories: www.wildharerc.com

Esprit Model Spinners: www.espritmodel.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=618

Accessories of all kinds: www.troybuiltmodels.com



Here's the picture now that the NEW 84" Extra is finished! The New Extra is available in red, white and blue or red, yellow and black. Check out the building process below that resulted in this beautiful aircraft... [8D]

Albert.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 7:56:17 AM)

Let’s begin!

I'll start with some pictures of the box as it arrived from UPS. There were very good markings and NO damage to the box or contents. Everything was well packed and carefully secured.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 8:05:47 AM)

Unpacking the box revealed double wrapped foam and plastic bubble wrap/bags around the parts. Initial inspection was good without any damage. All covering was smooth with no wrinkles.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 8:21:25 AM)

After unpacking, I carefully inspected each piece of the aircraft for completeness and structural integrity.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 8:26:31 AM)

More pictures.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 8:41:05 AM)

Differences:

Anodized aluminum wing tube
Improved tail wheel assembly
Cowl ring for clean mounting look
Canister tunnel built in
Horizontal stab attachments – stronger
Four hatch mounting tabs
Lightened hatch area
More scale cockpit and cowling shape
Nylon thumb screws for wing bolts
Stabilizer moved forward on the fuselage
Formers designed to clear rudder pull-pull wires
Larger tapered ailerons
Built-up wings and stabs - no foam
Wider fuselage
Pre-tinted canopy
Improved covering - seams are carefully overlapped in the correct direction in relation to wind
Polished landing gear is pre-drilled
Fiberglass landing gear fairings
Smaller, lighter wheel pants



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 8:59:39 AM)

While inspecting all the parts, we weighed every component of the aircraft...down to the smallest sub-assembly, piece of hardware, and electrical system.

Aircraft Weight (g):

Fuselage 1350
L Wing 414
R Wing 406
L Aileron 96
R Aileron 88
L Horiz Stab 56
R Horiz Stab 50
L Elevator 64
R Elevator 64
Rudder 88
Hinges (24) 24
Landing gear 284
Fairings 14
Wheel pants 74
Wheels 124
Al Wing tube 246
Al stab tube 32
Hatch 230
Canopy (untrimmed) 152
Tail wheel assembly 62
Misc. screws 122
Fuel tank 70
Fuel tubing 34
Gas tank Velcro 8
Spinner 85
Cowling 254

Engine Weight (g):

DA-50 1374
Ignition Module 118
Standoffs (4) + bolts 140
Canister header 124
Canister 254
Coupler clamps (2) 36
Rubber coupler (missing) 14
Mounting plywood 26
Wild Hare 22x8 Prop 122

Radio Installation Weight (g):

JR 945S Receiver 32
Duralite regulated switch (3) 102
JR DS8611 (5) 330
Hitec HS5245MG (2) 72
TBM 2350mAh Li-Ion Batteries (3) 296
12" ext (2) 12
SWB horn and linkage (4) 56
Rudder pull-pull linkage 14
Rudder pull-pull wire 6
Elevator extensions (2) 28
Aileron extensions (2) 16



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 9:11:48 AM)

Total Aircraft Weight (g): 7663

Total Aircraft Weight (lb): 16.89

Slim line Pitts muffler (g/oz): 318 / 11.2

MTW 75 Canister Setup (g/oz): 454 / 16.0

Difference: 5.2 oz heavier with a canister setup…before trimming header and stinger pipe! We’ll give you an update of the weight change after the trimming has been done. Yes, the rubber coupler weight has been added in, I just didn't remember to put it in the picture.

I think I can trim off some of that "extra" weight with CF main wing tube and CF stab tube, and trimming the can set-up to fit the plane. We'll see! [;)]





FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/18/2006 9:31:52 AM)

Now that the aircraft has been inspected and an initial weight has been determined, I'm going actually start building this baby!

1. I took a sealing iron and sealed all the trim edges so the seams are secured. I didn't want a rapid shrinking of the trim covering when I applied heat with the gun.
2. I applied heat with a heat gun as I put pressure on the covering with a soft mitt so it stuck to the wood under it. I was careful not to get the gun too close and overheat the covering.
3. Again I used a sealing iron to get all the covering secured around any edges or where it overlaps wood, like on the hatch or the ends of the wings.
4. I sealed all the trim edges with trim solvent to make sure none of the trim will come up after my one-hundredth flight!
5. I trimmed the covering on the fuselage and wing to open all the holes I will be using (like wing tube, wing aligning dowel, elevator servos, canister cooling air exits, etc).

Now is a perfect time to check the wing and horizontal stab icidences...before the elevators are glued on! All the surfaces should be at zero degrees. There is a detailed description of this process on page two of this forum.




moterhead -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 3:19:00 AM)

looks good..I`m subscribed :)



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 11:12:33 AM)

Now that the airframe has been carefully prepared for the final building stage, I decided to follow the order of events in the instruction manual and mount the motor. Mounting the motor can be a nightmare or it can be a refreshing experience, of which one can be proud.

Here is a list of things I used while mounting the motor:

DA-50R
Cowling
Spinner - 4"
Aluminum standoffs - 3.25"
4 Plywood Spacers - 0.25"
4 Plywood Spacers - 0.125"
Bolts to hold engine onto standoffs
Masking tape - easy release
Dremel w/ cutoff wheel and sanding wheel
Drill w/ 1/4" drill bit
Allen wrench
rubbing alcohol
rag or paper towel
fine tipped pen

Using easily released masking tape I strapped the fuselage to the side of a table with the vertical fin on the floor and the firewall pointing straight up. After bolting on the 3.25" standoffs I CA'd the 0.25" spacers to the standoffs, making sure they were centered by screwing in a bolt a couple threads to center it. This will allow me to place the engine on the firewall and balance it there while I get the cowling on.

The trick is to get the motor centered using a square on the firewall. I made a mark on the horizontal center on the bottom of the firewall between the lower cowl mounts and used that to get the square centered. Next I centered the front of the crankshaft on the square and was confident the engine would be very close to it's horizontal mounting center. For the vertical mounting, if you have a DA-50, push the spacers/standoffs right up against the top of the firewall to get pretty close to center.

Now that the engine is close to where it will be mounted I was able to make a template for cutting the cowling using a cereal box (stiff cardboard). By lining up the cardboard on the cylinder and drawing around it I then was able to cut out an approximate head cylinder hole by aligning the cardboard on the cowl and marking inside the cut out cardboard.




FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 11:26:42 AM)

I got the cowl to fit by only widening the hole enough for the head to go through with about 1/4" on each side. Once I got the cowl on and seated, I checked the spinner alignment with the cowling. Measuring between the outer edges of the front air inlet holes to the crankcase helped me make sure it was centered. The spinner is from Esprit, a 4" diameter fiberglass work of art for $29 plus shipping. The back plate is lightened and it looks like someone really took their time making it right...and the price is right, that is for sure!

Note: a small bevel needs to be cut out of the center hole on the spinner back plate to accommodate the rounded edge of the crankshaft where the spinner back plate comes in contact with the thrust washer. Some spinners already have this, but the Esprit spinner didn't, easy to incorporate.

To view the spinners and great prices available from Esprit Models, visit: http://www.espritmodel.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=618

Side Note: I couldn't get the spinner to line up with the contour of the cowl, it is off by 1/8" or so. The standoffs were right up against the top of the motor box to get it perfect and I didn't feel comfortable with them being up so high, for vibration's sake, so I brought them down 1/8" into the meat of the wood. This is only a problem for obsessive compulsive perfection maniacs like myself, and, as you can see from the pictures, it still looks really good and is soon forgotten.

I like the 4" spinner option...it follows the scale theme and completes the wider fuselage and cowling. This 84" Extra is one I will be proud to show off at flying events all over!




FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 11:40:02 AM)

I found that the spacers are too small at only 1/4," so I guess I could get 3/8" plywood from the scrap heap. After the firewall was marked (so I could tell exactly where to put the 0.25" spacer disks), I glued the spacers in place with medium CA. I drilled the holes using the center of the spacers as a guide. Since I already had 1/4" spacers, I decided to make additional 1/8" spacers from plywood to add on, no problem and it gave me perfect spacing.

I don't worry to much about getting the spinner close to the cowling as the right thrust Tom designed into the airframe will be a great starting point in the trimming process. If I need to fine tune any thrust issues I'll use a "throttle-to-rudder" mix that will take care of any wacky behaviors. I'll be going through the trimming process that Peter Goldsmith has outlined and giving everyone the results here in the flying portion of the review...stay tuned for that later on...we've got to finish building her first! I like a purpose built aircraft, and set-up can really make the aircraft easier to maintain as well as more robust in the long run (read "200+ fifteen minute flights").

Like Tom of Wild Hare R/C suggests, I wicked thin CA into all the joints on the firewall and forward ply area. This is just to make sure everything is secure. [:)]



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 11:49:39 AM)

Here are some photos after the engine was temporarily mounted. I am mounting a canister muffler and will be using the rear tunnel exits for air flow, so the opening around my engine's head won't be much bigger than what you see here.



WW2 Ace -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 5:18:47 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: FlyinTiger

I found that the spacers are too small at only 1/4," so I guess I could get 3/8" plywood front the scrap heap. After the firewall was marked so I could tell exactly where to put the 0.25" spacer disks I glued the spacers in place with medium CA. I drilled the holes using the center of the spacers as a guide. Since I aleady had 1/4" spaceers, I decided to make additional 1/8" spacers for the oher standoffs.



I had to do the same thing with my Extra and DA50 combo. I think I ended up with 5/16" spacers.



RC_DESI -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/19/2006 7:37:51 PM)

FlyinTiger , Can u post the coordinates of your mounting holes? Will give us (in progress) an appx starting point for mounting our DA50's ;-)



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/20/2006 12:37:19 AM)

Yes sir, I'll measure out the firewall and post a template so everyone with the DA50 can start close to the right spot. The most critical part is getting close so you don't cut your cowling in the incorrect place.[:@] That would be bad!

"Coordinates" coming...



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/20/2006 7:36:00 AM)

I thought about it for a minute, and you still need to go through the alignment process to make sure your spinner is lining up with the cowl correctly, so here's some measurements to get you close. If you use this location for the motor, then use the cardboard technique for cutting your cowl, you'll be golden!

These are measured from the outside edge of the motor box to the center of the hole.

Starting from the LEFT side as you are looking at the front of the firewall (tail farthest away from you):
Measure across with the LEFT side as your zero reference point to 1-7/8 inches, then to 4-15/16 inches to the center for the second standoff.

Now, from the TOP, measure down 9/16 inch and then down to 3-1/4 inches.

With these cross hairs you should have an approximate center for all four holes



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/20/2006 10:06:00 AM)

Not a lot got done on the plane today, the small part of my life that doesn't have to do with model aircraft got in the way.

Prepping the servo mounts in the fuselage for the elevator servos took longer than I anticipated. I had to trim back some of the plywood to make room for the DS 8611s that will guide the elevators. Here are two pictures, a before and after (opposite sides of the plane).

I was concerned with not cutting into the underlying plywood that holds the servo in place as a cut would compromise the integrity of the mount and could come loose at the most in-opportune time (like during a 'wall').

It looks like the aileron servo holes will have to be opened up a bit to accept the servos as well. I'll use the same technique as I did for the elevator cutouts. After the size is correct and I'm happy with the fit of each servo in its mount I will use thin CA to be double sure the mount is secure in the fuse/wing and nothing will work its way loose (remember the 200+ flights the airframe will need to endure?). The CA will also firm up the screw threads for the servo screws so they will stay tight and take abuse.[;)]



RC_DESI -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/20/2006 4:53:46 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: FlyinTiger

I thought about it for a minute, and you still need to go through the alignment process to make sure your spinner is lining up with the cowl correctly, so here's some measurements to get you close. If you use this location for the motor, then use the cardboard technique for cutting your cowl, you'll be golden!...


Thanks
--Arvind



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/21/2006 7:36:22 AM)

It's time to glue the hinges in! The second most involved process in building the Wild Hare Extra 300.

Here are the items I used to successfully complete the hinging of my control surfaces:

1. Gorilla glue
2. Paper towels cut into small scraps
3. Exacto knife
4. Blue masking tape
5. Glue application stick
6. Q-tips
7. Small container of water
8. Acetone
9. Control surfaces cleaned and prepped

Let me stress the importance of keeping the hinges clean and oil free. Clean them with rubbing alcohol if needed.

My biggest piece of advice is to have everything out and ready to use before starting as the glue expands and foams out within minutes after application. I checked every hole for the fit of the hinge making sure they would go all the way in. Some had to be drilled out slightly at the opening with a 1/4" drill bit. Now, I started by applying the tape over each hole and cutting the hole out with a sharp exacto knife. Then, I dampened each hole with a small amount of water with a Q-tip after pulling most of the cotton off the tip so that it would fit. This allows the glue to foam and expand properly. Next, I applied the glue using a small, round stick and inserted the hinges in - one side at a time.

For the next stage, I moved onto another control surface and repeated the above process while going back to the first and monitoring the glue expansion. I used the scraps of paper towel to wipe away excess glue. As the glue dries, when you move the control surfaces, some of the dried glue will break away...the rest will come off with the tape. I continued with the rest of the control surfaces while always going back to check on the previously glued hinges.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/22/2006 5:53:24 AM)

I chose to go ahead and give the new and improved stock tail wheel a chance...it looks fairly robust and shows promise. When installing the tail wheel assembly I made sure to trial fit all the parts first, making certain the wire was seating all the way down onto the fuselage. The hole for the tail-gear wire itself was already drilled, all I had to do was remove the covering over the hole. I had to trim some of the wood under the curvature of the wire to make it fit properly. Once the wire was sitting flat on the fuselage I proceeded to drill the holes for the hold-down brackets.

After everything looked good I took everything off the fuselage, hardened the screw holes and the large wire hole by adding some thin CA, then reassembled the parts.

Now that the tail wheel assembly is finally installed, I adjusted the wheel collars for no slop in the tail wheel trailer piece and made sure to put thread locker on the set screws.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/22/2006 6:03:11 AM)

Landing gear are definitely not the most glamorous part of building aircraft, but at least as important as a reliable engine and consistent servos.

Polished and lightened, these new landing gear are quite nice. Some others have said these gear are "flimsy" and "too weak" but I beg to differ. At this level, even though it is an "entry level" gasser, and possibly a "giant scale trainer" as gently as it is to land, the gear should be more than adequate. I'll report more on ground handling and gear strength later after I fly this Extra from grass and pavement.

I like the new smaller wheel pants. Instead of stuffing the 3-1/2" wheels into the smaller pants, I decided to save a little weight while making the pants more comfortable by using some Dubro 3" Lightweight wheels. They fit nicely into the pants and still give me plenty of wheel to handle the thickest grass runways. I am saving an additional 3 oz (84 grams) by switching to the smaller wheels as well. Soon enough I'll have saved a whole pound! I've already offset the increased weight of the canister muffler over the Slimline Pitts.[:D]

Tom at Wild Hare R/C suggests upgrading the stock axles to a nice set of hardened steel ones, like the Dubro axles. The Dubro set will have to be cut down to fit inside the wheel pants.

A technique I like is to raise up the wheel pants a bit on the wheel to expose more wheel for ease of ground handling on those grass fields.

My wheels had a 5/32" hole, so I had to drill them out to accommodate the 3/16" axles. A prop reaming tool and drill bit did the job and kept the hole in the center of the wheel hub.




FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/22/2006 7:25:59 AM)

Next will be mounting of the main landing gear and securing wheel pants. The polished landing gear were already drilled and so was the fuselage...can't get any easier than that! I just flipped the plane over on my building table, set the gear on (making sure to get the side with the right angle toward the front), put the screws down through the holes which perfectly matched the fuselage and screwed on the lock nuts from the inside. The fuselage is so nice and large that I had no problems reaching in through the canister tunnel and putting the nuts. My ratchet and socket provided a simple and effective way to hold the nuts while I tightened them with an allen wrench from the outside.

By cutting the fiberglass where the wheel pant goes around the wheel axle I was able to make it easy to install or remove the wheel pants...nice for the day I might show up at a fun-fly where the grass is too long for the decorative pants. Also, to make sure the pretty pants don't get torn up on a day to day basis I raised them up 1/4" higher than would have been possible had I not trimmed the fiberglass in the mounting area.

After setting the plane on its wheels for the first time I noticed that the gear seem to give just a little. Perfect balance between stiff and functional for those bumpy runways. As long as it stays springy and doesn't start spreading we'll be all right!

Once I was comfortable with the way the pants were installed I removed them, took off the wheels and axles and proceeded to install the wonderful little fairings that came as a surprise. Silicone "household glue" is what I used to make a flexible and lasting glue joint. I made sure to leave a 1/16" gap between the fuselage and the fairings to give room for the flexing of the landing gear...it shouldn't be much up there at the fuselage sides.

Upon the final installation of the wheel pants I used thread locker to secure the bolts in the blind nuts as well as the lock washers.



FlyinTiger -> RE: “New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow (10/23/2006 5:28:54 AM)

Canopy trimming and mounting:

Notice the 4 integrated mounting tabs on the underbelly of the hatch? Nice improvement! [:D] This change should eliminate the wear between the dowels and the front alignment plate from which the first version of the 84" Extra suffered.

For the canopy mounting, I picked up some Scotch 3M plastic tape at Walmart for $1.97. The red is a perfect match for this aircraft! To ensure a clean look, I cut the sides of the canopy with a straight edge and xacto knife so there was room for the tape to stick to the hatch. I took care not to stretch the tape too much for fear that it would pull off in hot weather. To finish it up, I cut slits in the tape at the rear of the hatch after removing it from the fuselage and secured it all nice and neat. [;)]



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