serge1

My Feedback: (1)

Mine landed home today and I am so relieved. Purolator did some damage to the box but fortunately everything is damage free. Oufff...

That thing is huge. I am wondering if my DA 85 will be enough.

Awesome design Mike! That's a hell of a plane!

Pics:

serge1

My Feedback: (1)

some more...

bjamesjr

My Feedback: (2)

Here is what I did to open the wing tube sockets. It actually very well and this is a take off from the suggestions I had on how to do it from my earlier post

What I did was go to Home Depot and get a cheap 1 1/4 inch dowel rod. I then used 1/4 inch thick foam and glued it to the rod covering about 6 inches using 3M spray glue. I then used sticky back 80 grit sandpaper onto the foam but you could use the 3M glue as well for the sandpaper. Since the sockets are roughly 1 1/2 inch in diameter the sandpaper when glued to the foam and dowel make it a bit snug going in. I just turned the rod until it got a little easier and worked it from the bottom of the socket out to the root and viola, the tube went in nice and smooth, a little snug but it does not take much to get it out. Before that I could only get the tube into one panel about an inch and the other about 3 inches. took about 20 minutes per panel

bjamesjr

My Feedback: (2)

Folks,

You want to check your fuel tank. I looked under mine and found no foam so I cut the wire ties and when I did I decided to check the tank clunk to make sure it moved freely and what I found was the vent line went almost half way back into the tank and the clunk itself was a lite weight glow fuel version and very slow changing positions in the tank. Granted it was a bit cold in the workshop, roughly 45 degrees but I tend to fly in that temps or colder over the winter.

You may want to consider replacing the clunk with a heavier version and adding some foam under the tank.

serge1

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks.

I will open te tank for sure and put some foam under. The fuel tank is not something to mess with.

Ahhhhhhh, the ARFs.....

RICK9303

My Feedback: (172)

You might also want to glue a small bass wood strip under the front and back tank support. It doesn't have to be very large, like 1/4 sq., but it will stiffen up the support. I did this on my H9 Extra 260, 32 ozs. of gas will have some weight and force on high G manuvers. I'm still waiting for my LHS to get mine in on the next shipment, which was suppose to be end of March. I have a DA85 and MTW110 canister to go in mine. What are you guys going to use in yours?
Serge1 your pics are great, makes me jealous you got yours already. I'm pretty locked in to taking the one that my LHS is getting in, other wise I would, order from Chief Hobbies. This is the second batch of planes they have got. Horizon, I was told got a small order in, mid March, and no word on when the next order will come. I sure hope that it is in the next 2 weeks. Bought a new 9303 2.4ghz system, and a new ar9100 smartsafe receiver. It is set up for high power servos, with 2 16ga wire power leads, going right inside the receiver, a single fail safe switch is used to turn on power. It has hd ec3 connectors, and comes with extra connectors to hook up what ever batteries you want you use. If your into to nimh packs, Spektrum has 1650-4500mah packs already wired with matching 16ga. wire and connectors. They even sell extensions to add to lengh of lead. Sorry if this sounds like a JR ad, but being a heavy JR user, it is about time that some thing as simple as this has come to users of this size plane. Hope you guys will keep up posting your progress. The EXtra 260 had the same tank issue, no foam, and too light a clunk pick up.

RICK

diamondave

My Feedback: (29)

interesting reading so far

Simo330

There seems to be so little info available on the DA-85, nothing on their website re specs. Anyone got any ideas on weight or HP of this engine?

Andrew_S

My Feedback: (12)

Sooooooo anyone flew theirs yet? How about the finsished weight? Mine will hit the air this saturday. I haven't weighed mine..I am running a zdz80 with a pits muffler, 2 2700 nimh 6 volt packs for the receiver and 3500 nimh for the ignition, and an extra servo for the choke. I will let you know about the first flight.

quist

My Feedback: (198)

I have flown mine. Mine is setup with a DA 85 with KS 95 rear exit pipe. All up wieght is 21lb 12oz. I didn't do anything to lighten the plane, just a straight build.

I am running a Smart Fly Powersytem sport and duralite 1500 li-mag batteries. These are installed at the same location as the plane in the manual. cg is very good at this spot, it is a little just forward of neutral balance. It does drop the tail when I slow down for landing, but not bad.

This plane flies very light, even more then my old Troy built 35% 260. It is very stable in a harrier. This plane snaps very well both postive and negitive. The power is great, big fun.

I am looking forward to flying it in good weather. It has been very windy for the last 3 weeks.

RICK9303

My Feedback: (172)

The info I have on the DA85 is that it weights 1953 grams/ 4.3 lbs- igntion 108 grams/ .24 lbs. No specs on horse power, but it calls for 26x10,26x12,27x10 props. I've got one and a MTW110 canister, waiting for the next order of Sukhoi's to arrive at Horizon.
Rick

Andrew_S

My Feedback: (12)

Quist,

glad to hear she's flyin good.....So where did u get the red bull sticker on the cowl??

MMcConville

My Feedback: (4)

AeroGraphix (Bryan Zang) sells the complete sets of Red Bull graphics for it. They are very nice.

serge1

My Feedback: (1)

Mike,


I have two hobbico 6V Hydrimax 2000 (Nickel meta hybride) battery ready to put in my suckoi for a total capacity of 4000 MAH. Do you thing thats enough?? I am running 5955 all around except for rudder (JR 8711). Should I opt for more capacity?

By the way I like your baby face smile on the suckoi wing box. You remember myself when I was a kid and getting a new Tonka.



Thanks

diamondave

My Feedback: (29)

i am down near tucson, it has been crazy windy[:@], supposed to be windy this weekend too i hear

camss69

My Feedback: (46)

Here's what you need to know about the DA-85.

1. A pound and a half lighter than the DA-100
2. Ridiculous power.


The graphics package from Bryan at Aero-graphix is really nice also.

bjamesjr

My Feedback: (2)

Well I got mine maidened today and OMG, The engine was way rich on the low end and slightly rich on the high end and vertical still was amazing, to say the least.

I'm exactly 22lbs WET. I used a smaller tank (24oz) for a 10 minute flight and as rich as I am I still had 1/4 tank left over.

This plane has loads of potential for IMAC. Though windy today I found no apparent thrust changes needed and KE needed 3% up on both sides of the rudder along with 3% opposite aileron. My CG is somewhere between 7.5 and 8 inches and it seemed perfect for just about everything.

Total setup is

DA85
25mm drop header, MTW110 (not the K version)
Mezjlik 27x10 turning just a touch over 6000
8611's on the elevators and ailerons
One 8711 on the rudder
537 on the throttle
3 Fromeco 2400's, one on the ignition, 2 for the receiver
Smartlfy Super regulator
Smart-Fly optical kill
Smart-Fly 5.2volt ignition regulator
Fromeco badgers switches everywhere
Tru-Turn 4.5 inch Ultimate spinner (what I had)
24ounce Dubro tank. (Did not like the clunk in the stock one but will probably correct the issues and use it as the 24 ounce was fine for IMAC and also no foam under the tank)
All other stock Hardware

Now I did have some problems. The front holes in the wing roots for the wing bolts were not centered over the blind nuts so they had to be sanded out to get the bolts in, the canopy/hatch is very slightly warped and needed sanding to get it to fit properly, the original cowl needed replaced. The cutouts for the canister are a too big so I need to replace the stock silicone tubing with thicker stuff on the front mount and on the back mount as well.

The manual says to cutout the stringers when opening the hole for the canister cooling. I removed the covering but left the stringers in for some strength and I removed the hatch right after landing on the last flight and it was just every so slightly warm inside

Sorry no pics or video

MMcConville

My Feedback: (4)

Hard to say. If the packs are good and everything is set-up well they should be fine. But as always, check them between all flights to be sure.

bmoranx

All - I have flown mine and all seems reasonably well thus far. The day I did the maiden flight, it was fairly windy and the airplane flew extremely lite but most people would find that normal when flying in this kind of wind. The airplane had only out of character tendancy. When I chop the throttle, the airplane climbs. My guess is that it may need a bit of up thrust, but so far, I have not heard of anyone else having this problem. Maybe Mike M can chime in on the propper incidence angle specifics for wing, stab and thrust. For now, everything bolted to the fuse per the instructuons. My ZDZ 80 RV-J is bolted directly to the fire wall. If necessary, I could shim for a degree or so of thrust angle change. As for the other surfaces, as you all know, they pre set so it is doubtful that i can do anythng there. If you guys think thrust angle changes are a bad idea, I could always make a small elevator/throttle mix but I'd rather make all the mechanicals correct before I make mixes.[&o]

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

thanx/Bruce

MMcConville

My Feedback: (4)

Where is the CG?

bmoranx

Hi Mike - My CG is slightly less than 8". Between 7 3/4" and 8"...

MMcConville

My Feedback: (4)

How does it act when you roll inverted and let go? (How much down is needed?
Also, when you pull vertical and let go how does it track, straight ot goes it go toward the canopy or belly?

bmoranx

Inverted requires very little down elevator. I will fly it more this weekend to begin the actual trim process. When pulling long verticals, I believe it pulled slightly to the belly but I will pay more attention during trimming this weekend.

thanx/Bruce

bsipro

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Mike,
I got my plane in. I found one at a hobby shop in TX. real nice plane, I will need to replace the cowl and sand the wing tubes, I also found that the Pro links are not Titanium they are Steel did H9 change them, I had some Ti Pro links that I used. I have all the servo's mounted and I will be mounting the Big Hacker A100 I need to know what the distance is from the fire wall to the back of the spinner (is it 5" 1/2 ) plane is real nice Quality. can wait to fly it.
thanks
I have the 260 27% It flys great

MMcConville

My Feedback: (4)

The pro-links included wit the models are steel. Same with the 35% 260. The ones sold seperately are Titanium.
On the tube, sand the socket not the alum tube.
Yuo we had some issues with cowls getting broken. The packaging has been fixed for the next shipments. You can call in to our Product Support on the cowl and they'll take care if you if you want.