NP extra 260 ***VIDEO Link in Post #20
01-25-2008, 04:09 PM
#1
Thread Starter
NP extra 260 ***VIDEO Link in Post #20
I finished the assembly of my NP Extra 260 and ran in the OS .55ax engine today
I also took some pictures of the finished product with my Funtana 40s next to it for comparison. The Funtana is larger and noticably heavier. The extra wing area on the Funtana should put them at about the same wing loading though and the Funtana has obviously larger control surfaces. My freind who also bought one of these Extra 260's is almost complete with his as well. He opted to use the Thunder Tiger Pro .61 for a power plant. The engine is significantly heavier than mine and this will make ballancing more challenging (likely having to build a tray behind the canopy in the fuse for the battery pack.) He said he might get a digital fish scale so we can compare weight. It will definately be interesting to compare the two in flight. I will add a flight report after the maiden and hopefully a video link.
EDIT://
Just some comments on the Extra 260 for those concidering purchacing one. The hardware is usable but not of sufficient quality that I would. I replaced the conecting rods with Dubro .256 solder on conectors/rods so I would not have any Z or L bend connections. Clevices on both sides for me. The fuel cell is fairly small but I was able to replace it with a 14oz Dubro in mine and a 16oz Dubro in my freinds. I replaced the tailwheel with a Sullivan because I hate the ones that you have to bend the rod and put it through the rudder. I installed Dubro pinned hinges on the ailerons and Radio South CA hinges on the tail feathers. The pinned hinges or more of a PITA than they are worth. Bottom line though I did not use the supplied CA hinges. The foam main wheels are hard like hockey pucks so they got replaced with 2 1/4 in Dubro Low-Bounce rubber tires (2 1/2 may look better). The Mounting meathod of the wheel pants are such that they would not stay on the plane very long so I just left them off (2 1/2 in wheels will not fit the wheel pants without modification). I also replaced the axles as I do not feel a bolt is a sufficient axle. I did use the supplied control surface control horns. The plane does NOT come with a spinner. A 2 1/4 spinner looks about right on it.
Recomendation to NP: Leave the hardware out of the kit and put in a nice alluminium spinner or a Carbon Fiber wing tube in it
I also took some pictures of the finished product with my Funtana 40s next to it for comparison. The Funtana is larger and noticably heavier. The extra wing area on the Funtana should put them at about the same wing loading though and the Funtana has obviously larger control surfaces. My freind who also bought one of these Extra 260's is almost complete with his as well. He opted to use the Thunder Tiger Pro .61 for a power plant. The engine is significantly heavier than mine and this will make ballancing more challenging (likely having to build a tray behind the canopy in the fuse for the battery pack.) He said he might get a digital fish scale so we can compare weight. It will definately be interesting to compare the two in flight. I will add a flight report after the maiden and hopefully a video link.EDIT://
Just some comments on the Extra 260 for those concidering purchacing one. The hardware is usable but not of sufficient quality that I would. I replaced the conecting rods with Dubro .256 solder on conectors/rods so I would not have any Z or L bend connections. Clevices on both sides for me. The fuel cell is fairly small but I was able to replace it with a 14oz Dubro in mine and a 16oz Dubro in my freinds. I replaced the tailwheel with a Sullivan because I hate the ones that you have to bend the rod and put it through the rudder. I installed Dubro pinned hinges on the ailerons and Radio South CA hinges on the tail feathers. The pinned hinges or more of a PITA than they are worth. Bottom line though I did not use the supplied CA hinges. The foam main wheels are hard like hockey pucks so they got replaced with 2 1/4 in Dubro Low-Bounce rubber tires (2 1/2 may look better). The Mounting meathod of the wheel pants are such that they would not stay on the plane very long so I just left them off (2 1/2 in wheels will not fit the wheel pants without modification). I also replaced the axles as I do not feel a bolt is a sufficient axle. I did use the supplied control surface control horns. The plane does NOT come with a spinner. A 2 1/4 spinner looks about right on it.
Recomendation to NP: Leave the hardware out of the kit and put in a nice alluminium spinner or a Carbon Fiber wing tube in it
01-26-2008, 06:59 PM
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RE: NP extra 260
Good job!
You touched on most of the build considerations very well.
IMHO I find the CMP kits they sell a bit better, while the Evergreen type ARFs require a bit more "fiddley stuff" exactly as you've noted.
I also recommend applying a few coats of Top Flite Clear coat after your model is built but before you fly it the first time or run the engine.
Remove the canopy or any clear plastic and apply several light coats.
This will seal the trim areas from Nitro.
Nitro WILL cause the adhesive used to give over time, so if you do not do this you may find the trim and covering coming off.
It's a cheap fix needing a few minutes worth of work.
Most ARFs from most manufacturers will benefit from this.
You touched on most of the build considerations very well.
IMHO I find the CMP kits they sell a bit better, while the Evergreen type ARFs require a bit more "fiddley stuff" exactly as you've noted.
I also recommend applying a few coats of Top Flite Clear coat after your model is built but before you fly it the first time or run the engine.
Remove the canopy or any clear plastic and apply several light coats.
This will seal the trim areas from Nitro.
Nitro WILL cause the adhesive used to give over time, so if you do not do this you may find the trim and covering coming off.
It's a cheap fix needing a few minutes worth of work.
Most ARFs from most manufacturers will benefit from this.
01-27-2008, 09:51 AM
#5
Thread Starter
RE: NP extra 260
I used Hitec HS425 BB servos. They are just a standard ball bearing servo. The Funtana 40s in the pictures uses Tower Hobbies standard ball bearing servos as well. I have found that 40 size planes do not need anything more than this. You can of course get high torque metal gear servos if your budjet allows but it really is not required however the extra weight of them may be helpfull on the tail if used only for the rudder and elevator if you choose to use anything larger than a .46 BB engine.
The good news is it's a beautiful Sunday morning here and I will be maidening the Extra 260 today. My camera man is ready so we should have some video. This will be his first time on the camera so we can only hope he can keep the plane in frame. Unfortunately there are no clouds so there will be no backdrop reference to actually see what the plane is doing.
The good news is it's a beautiful Sunday morning here and I will be maidening the Extra 260 today. My camera man is ready so we should have some video. This will be his first time on the camera so we can only hope he can keep the plane in frame. Unfortunately there are no clouds so there will be no backdrop reference to actually see what the plane is doing.
01-27-2008, 10:40 PM
#9
Thread Starter
RE: NP extra 260
The maiden went extremely well concidering the gusty winds, of course blowing perpendicular to the runway[:'(]
The instructions show the ballance point at 103 mm (4.06 in) so I set it at about 4.25 in and called it good. I was truely impressed as the plane needed only two clicks down elevator after getting it in the air for trimmed flight and inverted flight was almost hands off. Just a little down pressure on the elevator. Knife edge pulled to the landing gear but not dramaticly. Inverted flat spins are well within reach of this plane with some more CG adjustment. Snaps are violent and quick. Tumbles and spins are just plain fun. The OS .55 AX with the 13x4w prop is ballistic. I cant wait till it's fully broken in so I can get a propper transition from idle to low/mid power so I can actually work on hovering this thing. I did find it difficult to hover due to my overcontrolling the tail feathers. The relitively short tail moment makes it very responsive. Some thrust alignment may be in order to as it always pulled to the left on virtical climbs and hover attempts. This plane will knife edge loop! I need more practice with it as this is my first plane that I have tried that manouver with but it did it twice for me The roll rate is very good. I will probably say excellent after upping the aileron throws. The elevator is large enough that it will stall the plane when pulled 100% making corkscrew loops so pretty loops will take finess. The gusty conditions probably did not help either.
EDIT// High alpha (harrier) flight wing rocked like crazy past about 25 degrees pitch but as stated it was very gusty and I did NOT laterally ballance the model.
I did get several minutes of video that I will need to cut splice and just plane go through. I will post a link here (probably later this week) when I get something compiled.
The instructions show the ballance point at 103 mm (4.06 in) so I set it at about 4.25 in and called it good. I was truely impressed as the plane needed only two clicks down elevator after getting it in the air for trimmed flight and inverted flight was almost hands off. Just a little down pressure on the elevator. Knife edge pulled to the landing gear but not dramaticly. Inverted flat spins are well within reach of this plane with some more CG adjustment. Snaps are violent and quick. Tumbles and spins are just plain fun. The OS .55 AX with the 13x4w prop is ballistic. I cant wait till it's fully broken in so I can get a propper transition from idle to low/mid power so I can actually work on hovering this thing. I did find it difficult to hover due to my overcontrolling the tail feathers. The relitively short tail moment makes it very responsive. Some thrust alignment may be in order to as it always pulled to the left on virtical climbs and hover attempts. This plane will knife edge loop! I need more practice with it as this is my first plane that I have tried that manouver with but it did it twice for me
The roll rate is very good. I will probably say excellent after upping the aileron throws. The elevator is large enough that it will stall the plane when pulled 100% making corkscrew loops so pretty loops will take finess. The gusty conditions probably did not help either. EDIT// High alpha (harrier) flight wing rocked like crazy past about 25 degrees pitch but as stated it was very gusty and I did NOT laterally ballance the model.
I did get several minutes of video that I will need to cut splice and just plane go through. I will post a link here (probably later this week) when I get something compiled.
01-28-2008, 02:29 AM
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RE: NP extra 260
This plane is actually a replacement for one I got a few weeks ago. Here is the crash thread - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6887833/tm.htm
So i've already got everything I need. Just decided to get a different ARF instead of replacing the exact same one. It will have Hitec HS-225BB Servos, and a Magnum 70 4-stroke engine.
So i've already got everything I need. Just decided to get a different ARF instead of replacing the exact same one. It will have Hitec HS-225BB Servos, and a Magnum 70 4-stroke engine.
01-28-2008, 02:57 AM
#16
Thread Starter
RE: NP extra 260
Just looked through your crash thread. The same thing can easily happen with this Extra 260. Set up some low rates and Expo on the elevator (I am using 45% expo) This plane will snap when stalled. It will recover by simply neutralizing the controls and easing power to it. This of course might require some altitude so get it up high and get used to it with some room for error. When I post my video you will see the first thing I do after getting off the ground is go virtical (not recomending my meathod because if the engine flames out I would have been @#$%^&).
(not recomending my meathod because if the engine flames out I would have been @#$%^&).
01-29-2008, 12:14 AM
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RE: NP extra 260
Hey, If you could try to get the video up by thursday, that would be awesome. I also wouldnt mind if you wanna send it uncut and raw earlier. Contact me for my email...
01-29-2008, 01:11 AM
#18
Thread Starter
RE: NP extra 260
Unfortunately the smallest file of raw footage I have is 34 MB in it's compressed format. That's more than I can Email. I spent a couple hours today converting from the larger MPEG format my video camera creates to compressed WMV files. I think I will have it complete by Thursday though. I will send you a PM when it is posted.
Try not to judge the plane just by what you see in the video as I am an admitted novice pilot and definately a beginner at 3D manouvers. Right off hand I can see I need to play around with the CG, aileron throw, thrust alignment and lateral ballance to get this plane to fly better... not that it's bad as is
Try not to judge the plane just by what you see in the video as I am an admitted novice pilot and definately a beginner at 3D manouvers. Right off hand I can see I need to play around with the CG, aileron throw, thrust alignment and lateral ballance to get this plane to fly better... not that it's bad as is
01-29-2008, 11:48 AM
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RE: NP extra 260
Yup the Extra's have the same snap characteristics as the Yak's to a large degree.
The recommended throws are good to start out for 3D flying ( though you actually end up wanting MORE! ), but they are NOT good to get the plane in the air.
You typically want about 50%-60% of the recommended throws for your low rates at takeoff and landing.
Flip to the 3D rates only while high in the air and once you are beginning a 3D manouver.
This is not an endemic problem to these planes, it is more or less by design.
I've crashed my little Typhoon 2 3D at takeoff because I forgot to flip it to low rates.
When I pulled back to take off, it went right into a loop and nose first into the tarmac.
The recommended throws are good to start out for 3D flying ( though you actually end up wanting MORE! ), but they are NOT good to get the plane in the air.
You typically want about 50%-60% of the recommended throws for your low rates at takeoff and landing.
Flip to the 3D rates only while high in the air and once you are beginning a 3D manouver.
This is not an endemic problem to these planes, it is more or less by design.
I've crashed my little Typhoon 2 3D at takeoff because I forgot to flip it to low rates.
When I pulled back to take off, it went right into a loop and nose first into the tarmac.
02-09-2008, 06:55 PM
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RE: NP extra 260 ***VIDEO Link in Post #20
Mr67Stang, where do you fly at? I am in Archdale,NC...just wondering if you were in the area also. I saw you Something Extra for sale and it looks like the same one I saw at KC Hobby for sale.
02-10-2008, 01:07 PM
#25
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RE: NP extra 260 ***VIDEO Link in Post #20
Archdale is probably about a 3 1/2 hour drive from me. I live out in Raeford, due west of Fayetteville. Pretty windy here today so no flying for me[:@]